December 28, 2011 Grace Notes

Waiting...We'll be doing a little waiting this week as Carla has knee
surgery.

Waiting at several presurgery appointments the day before. Waiting during
the surgery. Waiting for healing. While we can't help but feel some
anxiety, we wait with confidence...confidence in the skills of doctors and
staff, confidence in the prayer and support of so many family and friends.
Most of all...confidence in God's complete love and care.

We have just finished a season of waiting in the church year. All through
Advent we waited once again for the gift of the savior. And amidst the
uncertainties and troubles of these times, we still waited with confidence
in the sure and certain fulfillment of God's promised son.

Salem is in a time of waiting for our next pastor. Perhaps there is a
little uncertainty. A little anxiety. But we can wait with confidence.
God loved the world so much that he gave his son...isn't he most certainly
preparing a new pastor to walk with Salem in our call to live Christ's
love?

May God bless our waiting. May he grant us confidence in his love and care
that never ends. Let him keep us moving forward in faith and trust.

Ron Vanatta
Salem Lutheran Church

Salem Grace Notes 12-21-11

Christmas is almost here. Most of us are exhausted, some of us are
excited, and many of us carry sorrows from one Christmas to the next.
Though it is my favorite time of the year, I am keenly aware of the losses
and life changes which can affect how we feel about this sacred holiday.
The best advice I can give is to keep it sacred. Enjoy the fun with
family and friends if you are so blessed, but deep in your heart let the
precious gift of a tiny baby, full of hope and promise and love, be the
center of your celebration….the wonder of God with us, Emmanuel, and all
that means.

Marty Haugen, hymn-writer, pens these sentiments. May they bring our
celebrating into focus with much hope and love.

Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn

1 Awake! Awake, and greet the new morn, for angels herald its dawning.
Sing out your joy, for soon he is born, behold! the Child of our longing.
Come as a baby weak and poor, to bring all hearts together,
he opens wide the heav'nly door and lives now inside us forever.

2 To us, to all in sorrow and fear, Emmanuel comes a-singing,
his humble song is quiet and near, yet fills the earth with its ringing;
music to heal the broken soul and hymns of lovingkindness,
the thunder of his anthems roll to shatter all hatred and blindness.

3 In darkest night his coming shall be, when all the world is despairing,
as morning light so quiet and free, so warm and gentle and caring.
Then shall the mute break forth in song, the lame shall leap in wonder,
the weak be raised above the strong, and weapons be broken asunder.

4 Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night, though dark the winter and
cheerless,
the rising sun shall crown you with light, be strong and loving and
fearless.
Love be our song and love our prayer and love our endless story;
may God fill ev'ry day we share and bring us at last into glory.

Text: Marty Haugen, b. 1950
Text © 1983 GIA Publications, Inc., 7404 S. Mason Ave., Chicago, IL 60638.
www.giamusic.com. 800.442.3358. All rights reserved.
Used by permission, Reprinted under OneLicense.net A-708 303

May your Christmas be blessed by the One whose birth we celebrate,

Carla Vanatta, Associate in Ministry
Salem Lutheran Church
Sycamore, IL

Salem Reminders:
· Last Advent service Wed. Dec. 21st, 7 p.m.
· Christmas Eve services at 4,7,11 p.m.
· Christmas Day service 10:30 a.m.

Grace Notes, 12/7/2011

"Make a joyful noise unto the Lord, all ye lands"!

That sentence from Psalm 100 has been echoing in my head for many days
now, as Salem celebrated Thanksgiving with blessings and pie, as we enter
Advent with gorgeously decorated trees and candles to be lit on the Advent
wreath, as we watch the children begin to get more excited. And then I
just plain stopped and listened. The Salem Sounds around here are just
wonderful! We have Food Pantry workers welcoming families as they come in
search of food to serve. We have Altar Guild members laughing as they
decorate the altar beautifully to prepare for worship. We have women in
the office typing, collating, answering phones, planning, and laughing.
We have men washing windows and putting up storms, quietly preparing for
winter. We have Sunday School teachers faithfully showing up weekly to
teach our children stories about Jesus with words, paint, colors, books,
puzzles. We have choir members from age 3 till older who come to sing in
such dear harmony. They add to the beauty of the worship of our Lord. We
have mowers who come a day or two before the weekend, so Salem's huge lawn
looks manicured, ready for all who come to its doors. We have bells that
ring in glorious song every hour. They say "Welcome!" They say "We
worship Jesus here!" They say "You can too, just come on in!" We have
three generations of puppets who show us a different way to worship, a way
that enchants the children. The Confirmation children do lovely, loving
service projects, both for our shut-ins and for others who need to be
remembered with warm scarves and pretty handmade Christmas cards. We have
members of the Witness Team making hot chocolate and cookies to pass out
at Santa's new house on the Courthouse lawn. We have a history of such
fine pastors, who teach us by their very presence. They are kind and
smart and steeped in the Word of our Lord. They care deeply about us,
their parishioners. They do so many constructive acts that we marvel.

The second verse of Psalm 100 is, "Serve the Lord with gladness; come
before His presence with singing." All these Salem Sounds do exactly
that. We say to that "Hallelujah!" We say "Thanks be to God!" God's
people say "Amen!"

Judy Bergeson
Diaconal Minister

UPCOMING EVENTS AT SALEM
Each year we put up a Christmas tree with names on it from Avancer
(formerly Genesis House), home for 90 mentally challenged adults. The
cognitive age and a couple of wished-for items are on this tag. We
purchase them, wrap them, and return them to Salem by the weekend of Dec.
10/11. Everyone may help in this effort to make Christmas nicer, better
for those less fortunate.

The High School students will have a Christmas baked goods sale on Sunday,
December 18th. This is a fine time to get your baking done! The
selection is always varied and delicious.

Salem's choir will give us an always beautiful Christmas concert at 5 PM
Saturday, December 10 and again Sunday, December 11th at 10:30. All are
welcome.

"Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight." In the Gospel of
Sunday, December 4, 2011 that is the call issued to God's people. Quoting
the prophet Isaiah, John the Baptist announces the Lord's coming.
In the middle of the week, as I write this, I'm aware of the Spirit's
claim on me, you and Salem. It strikes me that this cry is not just a
part of a story about another time and place. It is a present reality for
all of us as disciples. Our mission is to make His paths straight so that
our Savior and Lord is available to those who hear the Spirit calling them
to join the "kingdom life".

The thought was impressed upon my mind and spirit that this is not
something added to our already busy lives. "Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight." is about discerning the Spirit's direction and
pursuing the mission that has been given to all disciples, personally and
collectively—"Living Christ's Love" in every situation and circumstance.
Again, this isn't something added onto living, it is the way of living the
gift of life that we have. The challenge lies in how we act Christ's love
in the presence of others and in the company of only our own self. It can
be tough to do. Indeed on our own, it often seems impossible. BUT as we
are willing and as we surrender ourselves to the Lord, His Spirit can work
"living Christ's love" through us.

It is simple, but not simplistic. Simplistic actions tend to lead us into
a maze of seeking a problem—solution models for each different situation.
That sounds exhausting at best. Simple action means seeking and being
open to the same solution in any setting; namely, asking the Lord to "let
others see Christ in me" in every encounter. I believe this is what the
wisdom writer meant when writing in Proverbs. "Trust in the Lord with
all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. In all your ways,
acknowledge Him and He will direct your paths."

Does that mean we'll always get it right? No, and that is when we make
straight the Lord's path for the Child of God in us. We make the path
straight by hearing, receiving and accepting, by faith, heaven's grace.
Advent is here. The Lord is coming to us in the celebration of God's
birth as a little baby boy—the angel said his name is Jesus— Emmanuel.

May you sense "God with us" Emmanuel as we gather for the activities of
Salem's faith community as we journey to the manger outside of Bethlehem.

Advent blessings,
Pr. Rob