New Hope E-News

Announcements
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! We’ll pick back up on the 9th. Safe travels to all who will be heading out of town.

The PW are putting on a luncheon in appreciation of the choir and their gifts after church this Sunday!

The Christmas Eve candlelight service is at 7 PM!

Pray for…
I am never sure what to do about the cascade of violence that seems to rain down upon Africa. So I pray.

Links
Curious about why we celebrate Christmas on December 25?
I don’t remember if I included this link yet or not. La Paz De Dios is a local agency working to connect the Hispanic community to the Chattanooga community.
The cleansing of Stalin’s legacy.
Everyday Heroes.
Who else would you have picked to lead the charge?
Fighting sex trafficking.

Church History Quiz (Answer Below)
Q: What was the crime Joan of Arc was found guilty of?

Text for Sunday, December 21
Luke 1:26-38
In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent by God to a town in Galilee called Nazareth, to a virgin engaged to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David. The virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Greetings, favored one! The Lord is with you.” But she was much perplexed by his words and pondered what sort of greeting this might be. The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And now, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the Most High, and the Lord God will give to him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no end.” Mary said to the angel, “How can this be, since I am a virgin?” The angel said to her, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you; therefore the child to be born will be holy; he will be called Son of God. And now, your relative Elizabeth in her old age has also conceived a son; and this is the sixth month for her who was said to be barren. For nothing will be impossible with God.” Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Then the angel departed from her.

A Reading from the Confessions
THE SECOND HELVETIC CONFESSION 5.226

THE FESTIVALS OF CHRIST AND THE SAINTS.
Moreover, if in Christian liberty the churches religiously celebrate the memory of the Lord’s nativity, circumcision, passion, resurrection, and of his ascension into heaven, and the sending of the Holy Spirit upon his disciples, we approve of it highly.

Did you know Christmas is not mentioned once in the Book of Confessions? I learned that today.

The Monastic Moment (from The Monastic Way.)
December 23
We are made in the very image of God, so we are mystery. We are question, infinite question. We can avoid living in the question only by avoiding our true self, devoting ourselves to building up a false self made up of what I do, what I have, what others think of me. We want to have ‘the answer’—the answer that will answer all, so that we can have everything under control, so that we can sense the power.
God is the answer. And God is mystery, God is the question. (Basil Pennington OSB)


Church History Answer

She was accused of heresy for claiming to receive orders from heaven, for insisting that these orders were given to her in French, and for dressing as a man. She had visions of Saints Catherine and Margaret and the archangel Michael ordering her to lead troops to break the siege of Orleans. She convinced Charles VII to allow her to bring in supplies and lead sorties to take enemy camps. Once the siege was broken all of France rallied around her and she stood by Charles’ side when he was crowned in Reims. The king would not allow her to return to her village, and so she continued fighting until she was captured by the English and sold to the bishop of Beauvais, who wanted to try her as a heretic and a witch. She initially agreed to recant her statements, but the Saints spoke to her again and rebuked her for this. As a consequence she was taken to the Old Market Square in Rouen and burned alive.
(Answer taken from Justo Gonzalez’s The Story of Christianity, Volume I, pg. 326-7)

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