Faith Lutheran Isanti MN December Newsletter “The angel greeted Mary and said, ‘Hail, Mary, full of grace.’ That is the Latin rendering, which unhappily has been taken over literally into German. Tell me, is this good German? Would any German say you are full of grace? I have translated it, ‘Thou gracious one, ’ but if I were to really write Ger- man, I would say, ‘God bless you, dear Mary—liebe Maria,’ for any German knows that this word liebe comes right from the heart.” ~Martin Luther, Martin Luther’s Christmas Book, Annunciation When Mary learns that she’ll bear the Son of God, Luther says that she ought to be called liebe, which is a very tender German word that we translate as “love” in English. As Luther says, this is a word of deepest affection, coming right from the heart. In this way, it’s a word that carries an even richer meaning than our word “love.” It’s odd, though, that Mary would be described as “blessed” or “beloved” or “liebe” considering the terrible upheaval that occurs in her life as a result of this blessing. The blessing of bearing the Son of God in her womb leads to Mary’s neighbor’s gossiping behind her back and her fiancé nearly breaking off their engagement. It leads to she and Joseph trudging across the countryside while she is great with child in order to be counted in the census, only to arrive in Bethlehem and be relegated to sleeping in the cow stall where she gives birth to her Lord. It leads to she and her little family being driven as refu- gees out of their country and into Egypt to avoid slaugh- ter at the hands of King Herod. And it leads to “a sword piercing [her] own heart”—to the horror of witnessing her own son be- ing put to death. “God bless you, dear Mary—liebe Ma- ria.” Indeed. As we enter this season of lights and joy and smiling kids and presents and too much eating and all the rest, we carry our pains and our sorrows with us. In this way, the season of Christ- mas is a picture of what it means to be the people of God in Christ Jesus. We face financial hardships. We bury and mourn our dead. We wrestle with conflicts in our families. Trouble and pain find many and varied ways into our lives. And yet we do not face these without the light of hope. Mary is blessed—liebe Maria—not because her life is promised to be full of things we normal- ly call blessings (though, she surely experiences her share of these, too). Mary is blessed because beneath her heart grows the hope of all the earth. In Jesus Christ— begotten of the Father and born of Mary—and specifi- cally in his death, we find the greatest blessing of life: a promise that God is with us in the deepest sorrows of life, carrying us, saving us, and bringing us into his Kingdom. Lights, songs, gifts, family, and a good Christmas roast may not quite compare with the Kingdom of God, but our celebration allows us a real, if imperfect, foretaste of the feast to come. Born of Mary, Christ enters our world of sin and pain, and is crucified and raised, all so he can hand you the promise of the Kingdom. And living in that promise, we can face the hardships knowing that they will give way to peace—to a day when all that we hear and know and experience will cry out liebe. God bless you, dear Mary. God bless you, dear Chris- tian. Amen. From the Pastor Important Events and Information inside Fun at Faith The Tree of Giving Christmas program 12-9 Cantata 12-16 Xmas Eve Candle- light service 12-24 Stewardship Update Council Report
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Faith Lutheran Isanti MN
December Newsletter
“The angel greeted Mary
and said, ‘Hail, Mary, full
of grace.’ That is the Latin
rendering, which unhappily
has been taken over literally
into German. Tell me, is this
good German? Would any
German say you are full of
grace? I have translated it,
‘Thou gracious one,’ but if I
were to really write Ger-
man, I would say, ‘God
bless you, dear Mary—liebe
Maria,’ for any German
knows that this word liebe
comes right from the heart.”
~Martin Luther, Martin
Luther’s Christmas Book,
Annunciation
When Mary learns that
she’ll bear the Son of God,
Luther says that she ought
to be called liebe, which is a
very tender German word
that we translate as “love”
in English. As Luther says,
this is a word of deepest
affection, coming right from
the heart. In this way, it’s a
word that carries an even
richer meaning than our
word “love.”
It’s odd, though, that Mary
would be described as
“blessed” or “beloved” or
“liebe” considering the
terrible upheaval that occurs
in her life as a result of this
blessing. The blessing of
bearing the Son of God in
her womb leads to Mary’s
neighbor’s gossiping behind
her back and her fiancé
nearly breaking off their
engagement. It leads to she
and Joseph trudging across
the countryside while she is
great with child in order to
be counted in the census,
only to arrive in Bethlehem
and be relegated to sleeping
in the cow stall where she
gives birth to her Lord. It
leads to she and her little
family being driven as refu-
gees out of their country and
into Egypt to avoid slaugh-
ter at the hands of King
Herod. And it leads to “a
sword piercing [her] own
heart”—to the horror of
witnessing her own son be-
ing put to death. “God bless
you, dear Mary—liebe Ma-
ria.” Indeed.
As we enter this season of
lights and joy and smiling
kids and presents and too
much eating and all the rest,
we carry our pains and our
sorrows with us. In this
way, the season of Christ-
mas is a picture of what it
means to be the people of
God in Christ Jesus. We
face financial hardships. We
bury and mourn our dead.
We wrestle with conflicts in
our families. Trouble and
pain find many and varied
ways into our lives. And yet
we do not face these without
the light of hope.
Mary is blessed—liebe
Maria—not because her
life is promised to be
full of things we normal-
ly call blessings (though,
she surely experiences
her share of these, too).
Mary is blessed because
beneath her heart grows
the hope of all the earth.
In Jesus Christ—
begotten of the Father and
born of Mary—and specifi-
cally in his death, we find
the greatest blessing of life:
a promise that God is with
us in the deepest sorrows of
life, carrying us, saving us,
and bringing us into his
Kingdom.
Lights, songs, gifts, family,
and a good Christmas roast
may not quite compare with
the Kingdom of God, but
our celebration allows us a
real, if imperfect, foretaste
of the feast to come. Born of
Mary, Christ enters our
world of sin and pain, and is
crucified and raised, all so
he can hand you the promise
of the Kingdom. And living
in that promise, we can face
the hardships knowing that
they will give way to
peace—to a day when all
that we hear and know and
experience will cry out
liebe.
God bless you, dear Mary.
God bless you, dear Chris-
tian. Amen.
From the Pastor
Important Events and
Information inside
Fun at Faith
The Tree of Giving
Christmas program 12-9
Cantata 12-16
Xmas Eve Candle-
light service
12-24
Stewardship Update
Council Report
This fall has been full of activity and fun for the youth in our con-
gregation. On October 31 we had Trunk or Treat. Although the
turnout wasn't quite what we wished for in the way of cars par-
ticipating, we did have a large number of costumed kids show up
to gather their treats and have some fun! The Kingdom Kids
made posters we had about town. They encouraged anyone and
everyone to come and have some fun!
Tree of giving
Comfortable clothing for women and children of all ages -- in all sizes: