Psalms 86:15

Psalms 86:15 But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth.

“A Christmas without light is not Christmas. Let there be light in the soul, in the heart; let there be forgiveness to others; let there be no hostilities, which are dark. Let there be the beautiful light of Jesus.” —Pope Francis

"Silent Night" (Official Music Video) | GENTRI

Beautiful video.

Memory from 2020

Yesterday, I got semi-sidetracked. Does that ever happen to you? My intention was to contact someone who was alone, who needed to know someone cared about them this Christmas. I planned to ask them about their Christmas memories, and help them remember the good times. Dean and I prepared goodie bags with apples, oranges, grapes, and granola bars and delivered them to various families in the area. We shared memories with many of them. At one home, we talked about the Fisher Price nativity set I own and how much our children enjoyed playing with the pieces when they were young. It’s not out this year, or I should say that it wasn’t out until yesterday. When I got home and looked at the empty spot where it usually sits, I had to put it out. So many memories of playing with my youngest daughter, Gina, and all of our grandchildren flooded back. One memory replayed itself over and over in my mind. Four years ago our grandson Lucas was here. We played with my set. I told Lucas a “service” stressed version of the nativity story. Lucas told me the names of the figurines, and every one of them was “Jesus” - the shepherds, the wise men, and Joseph. Even Mary and the angel were “Jesus”. The last piece was “baby Jesus”. I asked Lucas to tell me the story. He picked up the first wise man and said “serve Jesus”. Then said the same for each figurine, then finally picked up the baby in the manger again and said, “love Jesus”. He got that right! I wish I was a child and could serve through their eyes. ~~ Marilee

No Knead Sandwich Bread

1 c + 3 T whole milk, lukewarm

2 T sugar

2 T olive oil

2 t yeast

1 t salt

3 c. white flour

Warm the milk.  Combine warm milk, salt, sugar, oil and yeast.  Mix everything together with a fork, until it forms a rough, shaggy dough.  Wet your hand with water, and continue mixing, making sure there are no dry patches of flour and dough. Cover the dough, and let it rest for 30 minutes to allow the flour to continue to hydrate. After 30 minutes stretch the dough.  Wet your hand.  Take one side of the dough, stretch and fold the dough onto the opposite side. Make quarter turn of bowl.  Do four folds. .Then take your wet hand, and push the dough under itself, creating a rounded ball. Cover the no-knead dough and set aside for 30 minutes to allow the gluten to develop and to relax so it’s ready to stretch again. Then come back and do a second series of stretch and folds. You want to do about 4 folds per session. Repeat this process another two times. So four series in total. After every series, ball up the dough, pushing the dough under itself and creating a smooth plump dough.  After the last series of stretch and folds, cover the dough and allow to rise for 1h.  Once the dough has tripled in size, shape the loaf and bake the bread.  Shape into loaf. Place in buttered loaf pan.  bake in a preheated oven at 350 F 25 minutes.  

Saturday afternoon, I started making the final touches on my blog for today using a Chanukah story. I have used many such stories over the years. The events out of Australia yesterday filled my heart with great sorrow. I wondered if I should still use this. I asked Dean. He said, “yes, we need peace this Christmas.”  We need to set aside hate. There are too many people who look at those around themselves as “US”es (rhymes with buses) or as “THEM”s. Christ was a Jew. The shepherds were Jews, Mary and Joseph were Jews. They were ALL God’s children- as are we. We are all “US”es.

“Weeks before Chanukah in 1992, the Schnitzer family of Billings, Montana, was in the holiday spirit.  The Schnitzers, with two small children, decorated their home and windows for the upcoming celebration with Stars of David, a Menorah, and a sign reading “Happy Chanukah”.  At around 7 pm on December 2nd, an unidentified person threw a cinderblock through the window of the Schnitzer’s home at their 5-year-old child.  This incident, which followed other antisemitic acts around the city of roughly 81,000, outraged local residents.

Jews have celebrated Hanukkah for thousands of years.  According to the Talmud, the Hanukkah menorah should be lit outside one’s front door, publicizing the great miracles of the holiday for the world to see.  When the Jews were exiled, displaying one’s Jewishness publicly was recognized as a potentially dangerous act. The practice of lighting the menorah was adjusted.  Instead of lighting outdoors, Jews kindled the menorah inside to be seen only by those in the home.  Hiding the menorah reflected the Jews deteriorating sense of security in their new lands.

In recent generations, Jewish communities around the world have once again adjusted their practice.  Jews have felt protected in many western countries, and the lighting of the menorah reflects this sense of safety.  Instead of lighting in a way that avoids detection, many Jewish celebrants adorn their homes with Chanukah apparel and light their candles in a public-facing window.  In some ways, the kindling of the Chanukah candles is a marker for how Jews are treated in any given society.

A 42-year-old woman named Margaret MacDonald, who worked for the Montana Association of Churches, had an idea.  What if other Billings residents placed menorahs in their own windows in solidarity with the Schnitzers and other Jewish families?  She rallied other members of her church who purchased menorahs to place in their own windows.  Most remarkably, the Billings Gazette, the largest newspaper in town, published a full-page cutout of a menorah for readers to tape on their windows.  It was estimated that somewhere between 5,000-10,000 non-Jewish homes proudly displayed the menorah that year in Billings, Montana.” (Choose Light: A Chanukah Miracle in Billings, Montana - Israel365 )

On October 7, 2023, I got on my computer and printed out a picture of a menorah, a powerful symbol of light, and posted it in my front window to show my support for the people of Israel. It is still there today, only it is now being joined by a printout of the Star of David. Captain and Tenille recorded a song in 1977 called “Circles.” The lyrics talk about a man who shut himself away from love out of fear. He drew a circle around himself to shut others out, but “love” drew a circle to take him in.

“And oh love and I, knew just where to begin
Yes, love and I started a circle to spin
Oh love and I
We drew a circle, beautiful circle
A wonderful circle that took him in.

Loving each other at Christmas time and always, brings peace, hope and joy into our lives.  It doesn’t matter what the attacks of violence are: political assassinations or shootings, campus assaults, assaults at churches of any denomination, domestic violence … Genocidal annihilation.  We have experienced all of them this year.  It needs to stop.  Our God is a God of love. ~~  Marilee