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Preparation and Celebration |
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Location: Blogs Brad's BlogMid-Week Missive |
 | | Posted by: Brad Miller | 11/29/2007 11:06 AM | Greetings on this bright November day!
Sometimes I forget just what this season we call Advent is all about. I know we use it to prepare for the celebration of the birth of Jesus, and at the same time prepare for the promised return of Jesus. It is a time of celebrating what we have been given, and a time of preparing our hearts and lives for the future. It is a time for remembering and celebrating the past and then using those memories to rededicate our lives to fulfilling God’s will in the future. To put it in a nutshell, it’s about preparation and celebration. Preparing and celebrating…two things that we can not do enough of.
This past week, Carol and I were able to spend some time in Charleston, South Carolina. My cousin Jeananne and her husband John live there and my sister Kay Lynn and her husband Bruce came down for Thanksgiving, too. It was a nice relaxing week with way too much food and lots of good conversation, fun and reminiscing. At one point my sister and I were talking about folks from our old neighborhood, who was doing what, who was living where. She told me that an old friend of mine from kindergarten on had become a grandfather, that our family optometrist had died after years of a debilitating illness, and then she said, “Oh, I’m going to have the ‘Crafties’ over to my house next week for lunch.”
All I had to do was to hear the word ‘Crafties’ and a smile came to my face and I was immediately sent back in time, remembering these wonderful women that have been so important in my life. Let me explain.
‘Crafties’ is short for “The Crafty Women’, a group of about 12 women who enjoyed getting together to make crafts. They were mostly all members of the church I grew up in, St. James; they all had children that were very close in age that largely went to Crary Elementary School in Detroit; they all lived in the old neighborhood. And they are one of those constants in my life from as long as I can remember until today. About once a month they would get together to make crafts. If you were lucky enough to eavesdrop on their conversations as they worked you were in for a treat. The gatherings were punctuated by shared stories of family and friends (But never gossip! That would be wrong!) and accented by loud, prolonged outbursts of laughter, good natured needling and general mayhem. My brother and I came home from school one winter day to find them howling uproariously in the dining room as they worked on some project. We stood in the doorway and watched for a while as they laughed uncontrollably until they cried, almost doubled over, unable to get words out. My brother looked at me and quietly said, “They’re stoned!” And indeed they were! The adhesive for the day was airplane glue, liberally applied to their projects in a small room, with no open windows, no ventilation, in the dead of winter. A mistake they never made again…at least, they never made it so anyone found out!
These wonderful ladies have been a part of my life in so many times and places. Special church events, school and scouting activities, camping trips. When they began to retire and move out of the old neighborhood, they still made a point to get together once a month. Their husbands would accompany them on these later outings, playing cards together while the crafties did their thing. When Carol and I were married they threw us a wonderful shower at which time they gave us, among other things, one of our prized possessions: a collection of ornaments made over the years and set aside for when each of the children were married. They are our main decorations these 20 years later, and will be for years to come.
By the time my mother passed away 9 years ago, there were about 8 of the crafties left. One of them told me at my mothers funeral that they had been getting together for more than 40 years, and to this day, try to continue the legacy. At my ordination, they were all there, and sometime during the day each of them found a way to pull me aside and say, “I know it’s not the same, but I am here for your mother today, and I am so proud of you, and so is she.” Today they are moving a little slower, some are widows, one is in assisted living, one is 94 and still going strong, and all are incredibly dear to me.
If Advent is about celebration and preparation, then nobody has taught me more about those things than the Crafty Women. They celebrate life and faith every day of their lives and made each day for us kids a celebration, too. And nobody, except my parents, has done more to prepare me for the future, to practice my faith, to realize that all of life is a gift and to thank God for it every day. Because of the ‘crafties’ I know that I am loved. And that is what Advent leads to: the realization that in the coming of the Christ child, the love of God is revealed and offered to me in a very real way. And for that, and for the witness of these wonderful women, I give thanks. Do you have someone like that in your life? Let them know. It will mean everything to them, and even more to you.
For a look at the updated prayer list and upcoming schedule, please go to www.brookhavenchristian.org
Announcements:
Thanks to all those how have volunteered to help out with the Tree lot. Please go to the sign up at www.brookhavenchristian.org to see where you can help out in the coming days. We need everyone!
And speaking of the tree lot, the Christian Education ministry is sponsoring a “Members and Friends Night on the Christmas Tree Lot” from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. this Saturday, December 1st. Bring a pot of soup or chili to share, cookies or hot chocolate, salads or desert, or whatever moves you, and have a time of fellowship where we get to meet our Brookhaven neighbors, and maybe even sell some trees!
There will be an Inquirers Class beginning this Sunday, December 2nd, at 9:45 a.m. in my office. If you are interested in getting to know some folks better, in learning more about BCC and the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), in finding out about how you can become more involved or join the church, please come this week, and on December 9th and December 16th. If you have any questions, please let me know at brad@brookhavenchristian.org
There will be an Ecumenical Advent Service put on by the Brookhaven Christian Ministries group (of which we are part) on Sunday evening December 9th at 7:00 p.m at St. Martin-in-the-Fields Episcopal Church on Ashford Dunwoody Rd. Come for a moving service of music and scripture with our neighbors. A reception will follow.
Take note: there will be no fellowship pot luck luncheon this month. Instead, we will have an All Sunday School Pot Luck Fellowship Breakfast during the Sunday School hour on December 23rd. Please contact Debbie Kinney with any questions.
I hope you will be able to be with us this Sunday, December 2nd, as we begin our Advent celebration with “Praise on Peachtree” in the fellowship hall at 11:00. This is the first Sunday in Advent – Hope Sunday. Have a great rest of the week.
Be peaceful,
Brad
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