Might NOT Be on Your Child's List ...

Fr. Tim Schenck, on A Few Good Writers feature here on the Farm recently wrote an essay entitled "Jesus Shoots .... And Scores!" I wanted sooooo much to post it, but for reasons beyond my control, the pictures will not pop up and the essay is incomplete without them. He does, however, 'share' where you can get these statuettes - for sports and activities - all of which involve Jesus and children. On this one, seeing is believing:

http://www.catholicshopper.com/products/inspirational_sport_statues2.html

n.b. It would appear that Jesus does not sanction girls to engage in football, martial arts or fire fighting. Nor does He sanction boys to have an interest in ballet, gymnastics or nursing. Gee whiz!

Charitable Giving for the Holidays and Year End

A woman posted a critical comment last week on an August post about Episcopal Relief and Development, an organization near and dear to us'ns on The Farm.

I asked Carol Stone to do some research on it and other charitable organizations - particularly at this time of year when we might send a card to someone on our list that states that a bicycle or a sewing machine from a reputable non-profit organization was donated in their honor to someone in need.

Carol did a thorough and clear article on the issue and I commend it to you. Many of us in this country don't need another tie or bath oil basket --- better to give something meaningful to someone who has little or nothing!

Click here for Carol's essay: http://waysoftheworld.blogspot.com.

Advent Reflection by Dietrich Bonhoeffer

..... from The Coming of Jesus into Our Midst:

God wants to always be with us, wherever we may be - in our sin, in our suffering and death. We are no longer alone; God is with us. We are no longer homeless; a bit of the eternal home itself has moved unto us. Therefore we adults can rejoice deeply within our hearts under the Christmas tree, perhaps much more than the children are able. We know that God's goodness will once again draw near. We think of all of God's goodness that came our way last year and sense something of this marvelous home. Jesus comes in judgment and grace: "Behold I stand at the door! Open wide the gates!" (Ps. 24:7)

One day, at the last judgment, he will separate the sheep and the goats and will say to those on his right: "Come, you blessed. I was hungry and you fed me" (Matt. 25:34). To the astonished question of when and where, he answered: "What you did to the least of these, you have done to me" (Matt. 25:40).

With that we are faced with the shocking reality: Jesus stands at the door and knocks, in complete reality. He asks you for help in the form of a beggar, in the form of a ruined human being in torn clothing. He confronts you in every person that you meet. Christ walks on the earth as your neighbor as long as there are people. He walks on the earth as the one through whom God calls you, speaks to you and makes his demands. That is the greatest seriousness and the greatest blessedness of the Advent message. Christ stands at the door. He lives in the form of the person in our midst. Will you keep the door locked or open it to him?

Christ is still knocking. It is not yet Christmas. But it is also not the great final Advent, the final coming of Christ. Through all the Advents of our life that we celebrate goes the longing for the final Advent, where it says: "Behold, I make all things new" (Rev. 21:5). Advent is a time of waiting.

Our whole life, however, is Advent - that is, a time of waiting for the ultimate, for the time when there will be a new heaven and a new earth, when all people are brothers and sisters and one rejoices in the words of the angels: "On earth peace to those on whom God's favor rests." Learn to wait, because he has promised to come. "I stand at the door?" We however call to him: "Yes, come soon, Lord Jesus!" Amen.