Clay Center Community Matters – January 2023

Clay Center Presbyterian Manor

JANUARY 2023

Epiphany around the world For Christians around the world, the official end to the Christmas holiday occurs on January 6.

Known as Epiphany, or the 12th Day of Christmas, it commemorates how a star led the Magi, or the three kings or wise men, to the baby Jesus.

Here’s a look at how this holiday is celebrated around the world.

Spain In Madrid and the rest of Spain, locals eat a ring-shaped, creamRoscón: A Spanish cake with a figurine filled Roscón cake that is baked inside. decorated with a paper crown while a king figurine or a dried bean is baked inside. Whoever finds the former gets to wear the crown while whoever finds the latter has to pay for the cake.

In Barcelona and Catalania, the Epiphany cake is called Tortell or Gâteau des Rois and is filled Gallette Des Rois: a French cake with a toy with marzipan. baked inside.

France In Paris and beyond, the French feast on ‘Galette des Rois’, a marzipan cake with a toy baked inside, while the cake itself is topped with a gold paper crown. Whoever winds up with the toy gets to wear the crown.

Epiphany – continued on page 2

Sternsinger travel door to door in Germany, singing a traditional blessing

Editor’s Note: In a nod to our Presbyterian heritage, we regularly feature a column from a PMMA® chaplain in our newsletter. This month’s column comes from Dave Parker, chaplain at Salina Presbyterian Manor®.

Chasing the Son God’s Perfect Timing In Mark 3:35 Jesus said that His true relations are those who know and do the Father’s will. In His own words, “For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.” He makes the point Dave Parker very clear that it’s important to earnestly seek God’s will for our life. Not just play some kind of cosmic guessing game like, what does God want me to do today?

Instead diligently seek His will for your life through constant prayer and a commitment to studying His Word.

When Jesus taught us how to pray He instructed us to place our faith in God that His kingdom come, His will be done on earth as it is in heaven. This requires obedience, submission to His will OVER your own personal desires. And that, many times, results in conflict, doesn’t it?

But He alone has the design and the plan. He knows what we don’t. He sees the end game and has established the path to follow it through. As He spoke through His prophet Isaiah, “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts (Is 55:9).”

His plan is an infinite web of redemption that draws each of us into a role to accomplish His purposes.

That’s where our faith lies. “For we are

Chaplain–continued on page 3

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Epiphany– continued from page 1 Germany Groups of young people called Sternsinger (also known as Star Singers) travel door to door dressed as the three Wiseman, plus the leader carrying a star. These singers will be offered treats at the homes they visit, but they also ask for donations for worthy causes. The young people then perform the traditional house blessing by marking the year over the doorway with chalk. This protects the inhabitants from evil in the upcoming year. They will write 20 + C + M + B + 16 (The year surrounds the traditional names of the Wise Men, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthazar). Others claim the CMB stands for “Christus Mansionem Benedicat” (Christ Bless This House)

European City borrows from French traditions, a country that has a great influence on the city. The King Cake of New Orleans is usually made with cinnamon and pecans and is distinguished by vibrant purple, yellow and green sugar and icing.

Whoever gets the piece with the baby will enjoy a prosperous and lucky year.

Italy On Epiphany Eve, the children of Rome, Milan and beyond hang up stockings in anticipation of presents from an old lady named La Befana.

This is in addition to the Christmas gifts they receive from Babbo Natale course. Most cities celebrate the national holiday with a parade, but Venice holds a regata during which men dressed as La Bafana race around the city’s signature canals.

New Orleans It’s fitting that America’s most

The King Cake of New Orleans made with colorful icing

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | January 2023

La Befana brings presents to children in Italy.

The Kalloikantzaroi goblins live underground but roam the earth in Greece and Cyprus during the 12 days of Christmas

Greece and Cyprus Epiphany is known a “fota” in Greece and Cyprus which is Greek for lights and represents the fact that on this day God enlightened the world.

The day is celebrated by blessing the waters on beaches across both countries. Greek Orthodox priests toss a cross into the sea and boys and men jump in to quickly retrieve it. A more bizarre tradition is the Kallikantrzaroi, goblins who live underground but come to the surface during the 12 days of Christmas. To prevent them from destroying the earth, tradition has superstitious families throwing food on the roofs of their houses on as an offering to eat and then return underground without entering people’s homes. u

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Amy Hoch Altwegg, executive director

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Chaplain

–continued from page 1

his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them (Eph 2:10).” Only God is perfect. And His plan for us is one of perfection. Not only in the sense of His infinite knowledge and perfect timing, but in the sense He is perfecting us in this life.

Preparing us for holiness with Him. Faith in God’s will requires complete reliance on His perfect timing.

As we grow in our faith through God’s process of refinement, we learn to trust His plan and His timing. Not just for our own life, but for the world around us. We come to accept that His plan doesn’t always align perfectly with our hopes and our expectations. Tolstoy from his epic novel, War and Peace, is quoted, “The two most powerful warriors are patience and time.”

Unfortunately, I think these two warriors are often in conflict with each other. God’s timeline is infinite. And even though our salvation is true and eternal, our timeline here is short. So, our hope is usually that God’s will would align with our desire. But our prayer should always be that He helps us to align our heart with His will. God’s perfect timing teaches us to put our trust in Him and wait with patience knowing He is at work unfolding His plan.

Let’s think for a moment about the 400-year period between the Old and New Testaments; a wilderness, a complete drought of God’s Word. Based on Scripture, God simply didn’t interact with His people. Why the void? Had He turned His back on them, just like they had done to Him? Was He teaching them a lesson? Was He ignoring them? Maybe they still just weren’t listening and all the seers and prophets of God were just gone.

I will restore you to Myself. I will send you my Son, your Messiah, to redeem you. God’s will. His timing is perfect. Have you ever felt in your own life like God was being silent? You reach out to Him in prayer, but no response; like He’s just not listening.

You start to think, why God? Why can’t I hear you? As difficult as it can be sometimes. When you think He’s not listening, you may be experiencing God’s critical pause. Remember God’s ways are infinitely higher than we can ever begin to comprehend. Our perspective is finite, but God’s is infinite. It’s not that He’s got too much on His plate or He’s not paying attention. His plan takes time to unfold. All we are left to do is trust that He has a divine purpose for His delay.

No matter how impossible a situation appears, how crummy you feel, or how there seems to be no hope, no help, no solution, God will see you through because He alone is the author and authority of life. We put periods in our lives where God puts commas. We think it’s over. Period. Your marriage, your family, your job, your health, your future. But God puts a comma there because nothing is over until He says so.

The world put a period after Jesus’s death on the Cross. In the world’s mind it was over. But God has the final say. It’s not over until I the Lord say it’s over. And three days later, God raised Jesus from the tomb and He is alive today! Hallelujah!

“Death is swallowed up in victory. O death where is your victory? O death where is your sting? … But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Cor 15:54-57).” u

Or maybe there’s another answer. Do you remember from high school or college, that critical point in a speech or play that you pause - and you’ve got the audience on edge - waiting for the next line to drop? That critical pause says you’re in control of the moment and underscores the importance of what’s coming next. Maybe that’s exactly what’s going on with God’s 400 years of silence. It was God’s critical pause.

A hyphen. A dash between the two epochs. He’s saying, I’m in control. I know exactly what’s coming next and when He is going to arrive. Now, be patient and trust Me. Your Messiah is coming. And what great joy you will experience when He arrives. Your salvation is at hand. As the prophet Isaiah said in 60:22, “Remember this, when the time is right, I the Lord will make it happen.”

In the prophet’s words here, we catch a glimpse of God’s sovereignty. God is assuring His people that even though the effects of your sin are all around you, I will bring an end to this.

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Did you know?

You may think making New Year’s Resolution is a modern tradition, but it actually goes back more than 4,000 years to the ancient Babylonians. According to history.com, the Babylonians are said to be the first people to make resolutions, mostly making promises to the gods to pay their debts and return any objects they had borrow.

For Christians, the beginning of the new year was an occasion to think about one’s mistakes and resolving to do better in the future.

Today, New Year’s resolutions are no longer a religious tradition. About 45% of Americans make resolutions every year but the odds aren’t in their favor. Here’s why: • 22% of resolutions fail after about a week • 40% of resolutions fail after a month • Only 8% of people will achieve their resolution (according to a study by the University of Scranton in 2021) The most common resolutions are about self-improvement: • 23% to live healthier lives • 21% to get happy • 20% to lose weight • 11% to improve their relationships. u

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COMMUNITY MATTERS | January 2023