December 31, 2021

Dear Road Church Friends,

May this letter find you safe and well. The surging Covid 19 infection rate in our area remains an obstacle to our return to the normalcy that we all want. In Connecticut as of Wednesday there were 1,113 patients hospitalized because of Covid. There were 7,520 new cases confirmed on Wednesday, and 7,704 more on Thursday. The infection positivity rate of people tested has jumped to 20.33%. A positivity rate of 5% or above is considered high. This confirms how much more contagious the Omicron variety is. The fully vaccinated are also more susceptible to infection from Omicron than from the earlier varieties. I keep track of this information so I can make well informed decisions that will keep our church meetings as safe as possible. This is why mask mandates have retuned and our Sunday service is still only 30 minutes. I appreciate your cooperation and prayerful support as together we navigate through these worrisome times.

This coming Sunday, the first in the new year, we will offer communion. With your safety in mind, the crackers are individually wrapped, and the juice is served in individual disposable cups. You may partake or not as you wish. Our usual social time in the parlor after services will not be held.

SERMON TITLE:  Mary’s Christmas Pondering

SCRIPTURE:  Luke 2:19  Mary treasured all these memories and pondered them in her heart.

NOR HOUSE NOR HEART

Room for all else but love, In houses and hearts in Bethlehem.

Does he despair of change, Who comes to us today as once to them,

But finds us occupied, And unaware and ready to condemn?

Which one will dare to fling, Uncaculatingly his portal wide,

To thrust the trivial out, And bid the late guest take his ease inside?

Except the Lord Christ come, Nor house nor heart shall know the Christmastide!

by Elinor Lennen 

A CHRISTMAS PRAYER

We open here out treasures and our gifts,

And some of it gold,

And some is frankincense,

And some is myrrh,

For some has come from plenty,

Some from joy,

And some from deepest sorrow of the soul.

But Thou, O God, dost know the gift is love,

Our pledge of peace, our promise of goodwill.

Accept the gift and all the life we bring.

by Herbert H. Hines

May the grace of Christ, the love of God and the communion of the Holy Spirit be yours.

Happy New Year!

Pastor Norm

This is a hard copy of Pastor Norm’s message:

MARY’S CHRISTMAS PONDERING

January 2, 2022

Mary treasured her memories of all these things and pondered them in her heart.

Rev. Norm Erlendson

When I was 10 this is the verse I was assigned to recite in the Christmas Pageant at our neighborhood Lutheran Church. The idea of Mary’s pondering intrigued me.

“Ponder” is a lovely word. It means to hold on to certain memories, experiences or ideas; to turn them over and over in your mind; to hold them up for reflection until they have made an indelible impression on your heart. Mary had a lot to ponder after Christmas. She pondered the visiting angel’s announcement: “you will bear a son.” She pondered Elizabeth’s greeting, “blessed are you among women,” And perhaps most of all she pondered the words of the prophet Simeon, “this child will bring you great joy, but a sword will pierce your heart.” Mary sensed her Christmas experiences would be life-changing,—maybe even world-changing, and she was right. Following the festivities of Christmas, we too should ponder the life-changing promise of Christmas, and hold on to it, believing that what heaven began on Christmas will continue to transform the world if we allow our Christmas ponderings to change us. So, let’s ponder over what happened to Mary and Joseph in Bethlehem, and ponder what we can learn from that.

When Jesus was born, Bethlehem’s only claim to fame was that David was born there 1,000 years before. Bethlehem was an out-of-the-way village which few travelers would choose as a destination. I understand what that is like. I grew up in Seattle, but I was born in North Dakota. Every year we visited relatives there. But many of our relatives also lived in the greater Seattle area. It seemed like there were more of us from there than lived there. We fondly referred to North Dakota, as a great place to be from. Jesus was born in a great place to be from. But, as far as we know the Holy Family never returned. Perhaps Mary’s visit there wasn’t as pleasant as we imagine it to be. Where did her visit to Bethlehem fit in Mary’s Christmas ponderings.

Mary surely remembered the innkeeper who turned her and Joseph away saying, “Sorry, there’s no room for you!” Perhaps that was true, but maybe he turned them away because he saw them as dirty, smelly godless Galileans from up north. If so, his, “SORRY, NO ROOM,” was only a cover for his regional and religious prejudice. If so, Joseph and Mary knew it, and his words hurt like a stab in the heart. We are familiar with such excuses: No room in hotels, restaurants, workplaces, or neighborhoods for people of color or gays. No room for women in positions of leadership or authority in society or in many churches. “NO ROOM FOR YOU!” Mary must have pondered these words, and so must we. These forms of discrimination are still with us and the Christmas story tells us they are still wrong. When the child born in Bethlehem grew up he always made room for anyone in need of food, healthcare or justice.

Let us resolve this year to ponder, promise and pray: “Our Father in heaven, as we ponder these things, we promise that we will always make room for anyone who comes to us seeking a place in your house or around your table, especially those whose religion, politics or gender differs from ours. Amen.

The story continues, “When Mary gave birth to her firstborn son she wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger.” Have you ever wondered why the innkeeper found room in his stable for Joseph and Mary, or where those swaddling clothes came from? Perhaps Mary brought them with her. Perhaps not. Perhaps the innkeeper’s wife hearing him say, “No room,” but she insisted that they must do something! So he reluctantly led these dirty, smelly strangers to his dirty, smelly stable where they belonged. But his wife, as a gesture of hospitality, gave Mary a bundle of clean linens for her baby. Mary must have pondered this godly woman’s kindness to strangers, and thanked God that she refused to acquiesce to the blind and heartless prejudice of her husband and her society.

Let us resolve this year to ponder, promise and pray:  Our Heavenly Father, we remember Jesus’ words, I was a stranger and you welcomed me. As you have welcomed, and shown kindness to the least of these you have done it to me.” Open our eyes to the callous cruelty and injustice that prejudice in all of its manifestations generates and so easily besets us. Help our resolve in this new year to welcome and befriend strangers and, as much as possible, be at peace with everyone, especially those who see us as their enemies. Amen.

Let’s treasure our memories of the Christmas stories and ponder them all year long.