Faith winter 2016

Faith

December 2015

2 - Ravalli Republic, Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Christmas eve services and other church programs

By MICHELLE MCCONNAHA RAVALLI REPUBLIC

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior. Most churches observe holy days and host programs and special services. There are numerous opportunities to enjoy holiday church services across the valley.

Grace Lutheran Church is having an Advent evening worship at 7 p.m. on Dec. 16; a children’s program at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 20 during the worship service; a live outdoor nativity from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Dec. 22 at ‘The Outpost’ on the corner of Marcus and Kurtz Lanes; a Christmas Eve candlelight service at 7 p.m.; and a Christmas day worship service with communion at 10:30 a.m. Grace Lutheran Church is located at 275 Hattie Lane in Hamilton.

Hamilton Christian Academy, with students in grades K-10, will present its annual Christmas program at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 17 at the Hamilton Assembly of God Church at 601 W. Main Street in Hamilton.

Crossroads Bible Church will have its third-annual a “Night in Bethlehem” outdoor live nativity and indoor marketplace with artisan craft demonstrations: metal work, jewelry making, basket weaving, fresh bread, soup, hot cider, Turkish coffee, and live music from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. on Dec. 18 at 1297 Meridian Road in Victor.

Pastor Kevin Horton said Crossroads Bible Church is a nondenominational church located 1.9 miles north of Woodside.

Please join us for our Christmas celebration!

December 24th, Christmas Eve 6pm - St. Philip (Darby) / 10pm - St. Francis

December 25th, Christmas Day 10am - St. Francis

January 1st, New Year’s Day 10am - St. Francis

St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church 411 S. 5th Street, Hamilton St. Philip Benizi Catholic Mission 312 Miles Street, Darby

“Step back in time and enjoy a fun, friendly evening at the ‘Night in Bethlehem,’” Horton said.

Darby Adventist Church is hosting a Christmas program with music and scripture readings at 10:45 a.m. on Dec. 19 at 684 E. Miles Avenue in Darby.

Hamilton Adventist Church is hosting a Christmas program with music and scripture readings at 10:45 a.m. on Dec. 19 at 117 Westbridge Road in Hamilton.

Stevensville Adventist Church is hosting a Christmas program with music and scripture readings at 10:45 a.m. on Dec. 19 at Pine Hollow Road in Stevensville.

Stevensville United Methodist Church is hosting a live production by youth in their congregation called Bethlehemian Rhapsody - with the updated words to the song projected for all to enjoy. The performance will be at 10:30 a.m. on Dec. 20 at 216 College Street in Stevensville. Church secretary Carol Goffe said the production should be fun.

Cornerstone Bible Church will host a Christmas Eve service at 7 p.m. at 280 Fairgrounds Road in Hamilton. Pastor David Billet said the Christmas Eve service will be a special time of sharing.

“We’ll get together and sing songs, share stories about what Christmas means or tell a meaningful event that happened to us this year and anything about Christmas and prayer,” Billet said. “We’ll also have some special music by soloists and the congregation will sing Christmas carols.”

Canyon View Church will offer two Christmas Eve services at 5:30 p.m. and 7 p.m. at 195 Skalkaho Hwy, Hamilton.

Hamilton Assembly of God will have a candlelight service at 6 p.m. on Christmas Eve at 601 W. Main Street in Hamilton.

First Presbyterian Church will have a Christmas Eve service at 6:30 p.m. on Dec. 24 at 1220 West Main Street in Hamilton.

Christ’s Bible Church will have a Candlelight service 7 p.m. Dec. 24 at 319 S. Fifth Street, Hamilton. Pastor Ed Pomelear said it will be a traditional candlelight service.

“I do something a bit different every year,” Pomelear said. “I also open it up to anyone in the congregation, and they participate by reading a poem or singing a song.”

Corvallis United Methodist Church will have candlelight services at 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. Dec. 24 at Cemetery Road in Corvallis.

Florence-Carlton Community Church will have Christmas Eve services with Pastor David Blackwell at 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. Dec. 24, at 20075 Old U.S. Highway 93 in Florence.

First Baptist Church will have a candlelight service at 7 p.m. on Dec. 24 at 354 Cooper Lane in Hamilton.

United Methodist – American Baptist Federated Church will have a Candlelight service with Communion at 7 p.m. on Dec. 24 at 211 N. Sixth Street in Hamilton.

Ravalli Republic, Wednesday, December 16, 2015 - 3

The eyeglass ministry

By MICHELLE MCCONNAHA RAVALLI REPUBLIC

Corvallis resident Steve Wilson is leading a short-term mission trip to give prescription eyeglasses to people in Managua, Nicaragua in February.

Wilson has made five previous trips, during which he has given away 4,000 pair of prescription glasses. He said he loves to give the gift of sight.

“I do it for the smiles,” Wilson said. “When you put a pair of glasses on a person that is 70, they light up like a light bulb goes off inside of them. They beam and are so happy. That’s what draws me – if you’ve never had glasses and you finally get a pair, it is amazing.”

Wilson has collected 2,000-4,000 prescription eyeglasses that have been donated and reads the prescriptions with a “lensometer.” Along the way, he has created a database of all prescription types.

On site, interpreters assist team members who use a portable eye refractor to read the eyes of all who come. That information goes into the computer, which gives the closest match of glasses to the patient. Then the team tries the glasses on the patient, checking for correct prescription and comfort.

“We bend the glasses and make them fit,” Wilson said. “We go to talk to them about God. He supplied all this and we let them know and give God the glory. We pray with them after we get the glasses on them.”

Wilson said the reaction of patients is usually dramatic.

PHOTO PROVIDED “One lady in her 70s put a pair on and through the translator told us why Corvallis Community Church member Wilbur Nisly uses the portable auto-refractor to determine she was so happy – she could pick head lice again,” Wilson said. “That was the prescription needed for a man in Oaxaca, Mexico in 2013. her contribution to the family and she hadn’t been able to do it, but now she could again. She was ecstatic.

“Another lady in Oaxaca, also about 70 years old, was sitting in a chair right beside her daughter. She put on the glasses and looked at her daughter and said ‘Honey I can see your face now’ as tears streamed from her eyes.”

The 14-member team from Corvallis Community Church is preparing by obtaining passports, getting shots and raising money. Each member needs about $2,000 to get to Nicaragua.

Pastor Matt Leopold is one of the team members.

Please join us on Christmas Eve December 24, 2015 “I’m looking forward to going to Nicaragua, not only to help people see for Caroling and Candle Lighting physically but also that they might receive the greater gift of eternal life,” Leopold said. “Though the focus is on supplying eyeglasses to those that Ser vices held at 5:00pm and 7:00pm can’t see very well, we also trust that in spending time with them that they will gain spiritual sight and see the greatness of the Lord Jesus Christ. It’s a blessing to share that message whether at home or abroad.”

The Corvallis group will go with an organization called Forward Edge 20075 Old Hwy 93 S. International. Based in Vancouver, Washington, the facilitating organization Florence, MT 59833 has been in operation since 1984. Forward Edge provides food, housing, 406 273-6811 transportation and translators to the team for a fee. The team will stay at a florencecarltonchurch.com home Forward Edge has in Nicaragua that is used to educate and give lifeskills to girls rescued from abuse.

“We stay at that compound and Forward Edge organizes where we go,” Wilson said. “They tell the villages we’ll have it, and everyone shows up.

This Christmas

Celebrate The Gift

Florence Carlton Community Church

Rev. David Blackwell, Pastor

4 - Ravalli Republic, Wednesday, December 16, 2015

They handle the details; we show up and do our walks through the door. Once we had people thing.” come in their wheelchairs in the back of pickup Montana Lion’s Club has donated more than trucks.”

20,000 pair of eyeglasses, and Wilson ships them to Wilson said he tries to work through local various locations around the world. churches to give them a blessing, help them “It is hard to get them into countries,” Wilson reach people and have follow-up ministry said. “It takes three to four months of working with available. governments to get them in. “ Wilbur Nisly was on Wilson’s team that went Wilson said he has shipped 4,000 pairs to the to Oaxaca, Mexico in 2013.

Philippines, and he is hoping to take a team there to “I would encourage people to do this,” distribute the glasses. He said everyone is welcome Nisly said. “We went to distribute glasses but to travel on an eyeglass mission trip. also to share the Lord. It was an awesome “We took a gentleman on a trip with us and experience. A couple of the people are really he was blind. His job was to pray with people, and dramatic, and they jump up and down and say he was the best prayer I’d ever seen,” Wilson said. they can see something they haven’t seen in “Anyone can do this. I train them. No medical expeyears.” rience is needed. We do it with the computers and Wilson said members of the Cornerstone eye refractors. No one has an excuse. If a blind guy Church in Hamilton are planning a eyeglass and I can do it, anyone can. People just have to have ministry trip in January of 2017. the heart to help people who are in need.”

“God tells us to go help the poor and peoWilson said he chooses the locations for eyeglass ple in need,” Wilson said. “This helps them for PHOTO PROVIDED distribution based on the level of need. the rest of their life, as long as the glasses last.

A man is wearing his new eyeglasses provided by a short-term “Legally, we can’t do it in America. We aren’t Helping people see is an amazing thing.” trained ophthalmologists or optometrists, and there mission team and Montana Lion’s Club are too many regulations,” Wilson said. “If there was a way to do it here, For more information contact Steve Wilson at 406-360-1999 or Corvallis I’d love it. But I select areas where people can’t afford glasses or can’t get Community Church at 406-961-3443. to town. We try to help the neediest of the needy. We help everyone who

Hamilton assembly of God 601 West main | 363-2510

December 20th & 27th @ 10:15am these sunDay services start at 10:15am, with time DeDicateD to worship, fellowship, anD the preaching of the worD. no sunDay school

December 24th from 6-7pm christmas eve canDle light service with christmas songs, reaDing of the christmas story, anD special music from families.

The Prince of Peace is born!

Our Savior, who is Christ the Lord!

You are warmly invited to join us for the celebration of Christmas.

Tuesday, December 22 – Live Nativity 4:00-7:00 p.m. at Outpost.

merry

christmas

Thursday, December 24 – Christmas Eve Candlelight Service 7:00 p.m.

Friday, December 25 – Christmas Day Worship 10:30 a.m.

Grace Lutheran Church 275 Hattie Lane Hamilton

363-1924

Ravalli Republic, Wednesday, December 16, 2015 - 5

Duces’

W

ild

Christmas is for reading Stacie Duce

Growing up, my favorite Christmas tradition was actually the night before spent at my grandparent’s home. After a feast, we’d then feast on words from the Bible that told the story of the Christ child.

My siblings and I would enthusiastically unearth Grandma’s fur coats and bathrobes from the guest-room closet and become characters from the story. We’d make an entrance like runway models through swinging doors to the kitchen down the long living room to the fireplace where we gathered around a swaddled doll.

My husband’s family had their own tradition of reading from a vintage Santa storybook that featured mischevious elves smoking cigars. As is required in all marriages, we’ve merged our traditions the best we can and Christmas Eve remains a quiet time snuggled around the tree reading and laughing together.

Second to loving his wife, I believe the best thing a man can do for his children is to read to them at night, not just on Christmas Eve. Although far from being perfect parents, my husband and I share that common goal, and it’s reaped sweet rewards.

For 20 years, he has made time to snuggle down in a mound of kids while I pick up toys and hang clean laundry; or he makes hot cocoa while I tackle a chapter in the scriptures or a library book. He embellishes every picture-book paragraph with additional adjectives or dialogue from characters who have the same names as our children. I, however, read each written word deliberately with the cadence and voice that I imagine the author intended.

Sometimes we never get to the last page because the “wild rumpus” sends kids flying off the bed or laughter turns to tears which turns to tickles over a silly imaginative tangent.

Voted Best Family Friendly Restaurant and Breakfast in the Bitterroot

and a whole lot more!

Whole Pies for Purchase

Open 7 Days A Week

363-3822 Hours: 6am - 10pm • 500 S. 1st, Hwy 93 • Hamilton

December is an adventurous book-reading season, and my mom traditionally provides an annual addition to our basket of bedtime books glittered in holiday-themed colors and tales.

Our family favorites are evident by the crumpled corners and ripped edges from toddlers trying to get a better look. Some popup pictures now flop and some are missing moving parts.

I leave you with a list of some of our favorite holiday stories: • “Gingerbread Baby,” by Jan Brett • “Jolly Old Santa Claus,” by Alice Leedy Mason and illustrated by George Hinke • “Why Christmas Trees Aren’t Perfect,” by Richard H. Schneider and illustrated by Elizabeth J. Miles • “The Christmas Humbugs,” by Colleen Monroe and illustrated by her husband, Michael Glenn Monroe • “The Legend of the Candy Cane,” by Lori Walburg and illustrated by James Bernardin Please suggest your favorite Christmas books in the comment section of this column.

And one final word of advice to the husbands and fathers of the world: Please drop everything for 15 minutes a night to read stories to your children (of all ages), especially on Christmas Eve. It’s a gift your kids will devour with delight and will make your wife fall in love with you all over again, every time.

FAITH

A living, daring confidence in God’s grace...

Martin Luther

Faith Lutheran Church 171 Lewis Lane (East from Murdochs) Hamilton, MT

Christmas Eve Candlelight Thurs Dec. 24 at 4pm & 7pm Christmas Day Fri Dec. 25 at 10am Sunday-Worship Dec. 27 at 9:30am 406.363.2964 faithlutheranhamilton.org

6 - Ravalli Republic, Wednesday, December 16, 2015

The festival of lights

By Laurie Franklin FOR THE RAVALLI REPUBLIC

Joinusforour Christmas Eve CandlelightService December

2 4 at 7 : 0 0 p m

Hear the christmas Story through scripture and hymns receive Holy communion

United Methodist-American Baptist Church

2 1 1 N o rt H 6 t H S t r e e t 3 6 3 - 2 4 6 5

www.umabchurch.com email: office@umabchurch.com 9:00am Adult Sunday School 10:00am Worship Service on Sunday

Every year as Hanukkah approaches, I become a wonder-filled child, the one who watched candle flames dance in a darkened room in my family’s home. It was magical.

We played dreydl games; we ate chocolates and potato latkes (yummy potato pancakes); we sang songs. Yes, there were some presents, but that wasn’t the focus of the holiday for us. Instead, it was about the light.

So, let’s talk about light. Light is essential; without it, we can’t see.

“Seeing” is more than literal sight; it’s also perception. So light has always been associated with knowledge and belief. We equate light with clarity, understanding, wisdom, and faith.

When we gaze into the candlelight of the hanukkiah, the manybranched Hanukkah candelabra, we can see our shared spiritual roots. Let me explain with four little Hanukkah stories.

Many of us know the Hanukkah legend: The Maccabees fought a long war against the Syrian-Greek invaders and ultimately triumphed.

The Temple was restored, and the ceremonial lamp rekindled using a small pot of sanctified oil. The pot was only sufficient for one day but miraculously burned for eight. So, we celebrate Hanukkah by lighting candles for eight consecutive days, increasing the number of candles each night by one. On the basis of this story from the Babylonian Talmud, the lights of Hanukkah glow with the miracle of freedom.

The Book of II Maccabees says that the first Hanukkah was a delayed observance of the fall harvest holiday of Sukkot, also eight days long, that could not be observed until the Temple was liberated.

The Maccabees poured oil into the hollow handles of eight spears, shoving the spear points into the ground and turning them into Temple lamps. In this story, Hanukkah lights are beacons of thanks for the earth’s bounty, a divine gift to humankind.

Yet another story about Hanukkah comes from the Talmud: The first human, Adam Rishon, was fearful that the daylight period seemed to be getting shorter and shorter. He thought it was punishment for eating from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil, so he fasted and prayed for eight days. Then, he saw that the daylight began to increase again, and he concluded that this was the way of the world. So, he celebrated for eight days!

In this telling, Hanukkah light reflects the first human understanding of the winter solstice and gratitude for the return of the light.

Last, one of my favorite stories about Hanukkah light: The 19th century mystic, the Sfat Emet, tells us that Hanukkah light is a reflection of the primeval light of the creation described in the third and fourth verses of Genesis. This light is pure and powerful, created even before day and night. When we look into the Hanukkah candles, we can see this original light, emanating from the Divine, coming into our world once again.

Ravalli Republic, Wednesday, December 16, 2015 - 7

The Christian tradition of breaking the law By jean larson FOR THE RAVALLI REPUBLIC

Breaking the law is an old and honored tradition in the Christian community. In the earliest years of the church, Peter and John were arrested for telling the Jesus story in public. The high priest ordered them to stop because they were creating a ruckus. Then he had them beaten up and released. But Peter and John kept at it, despite multiple arrests, saying “we must obey God rather than any human authority,” (Acts 5:29). And so they did, while providing later generations the rallying cry for civil disobedience.

Since then, Christians have broken the law in obedience to God in all sorts of ways – translating the Bible into the language of the people, refusing to fight in war, sitting down for lunch at whites-only diners, and giving sandwiches to homeless people in a public park (not kidding).

These days Kim Davis, the clerk of court in Kentucky, has claimed Christian conscience in denying gay and lesbian couples marriage licenses, in direct disobedience to the law of the land. She argued on the basis of “religious liberty,” which the courts rejected. (People of faith are not free to choose which laws to keep and which to break based on religious principle.) But it may be a matter of civil disobedience. Even though I profoundly disagree with her action, I have to ask: is it in line with this long-established tradition?

Let’s be honest: such acts have always been controversial in the church. In his Letter from Birmingham Jail, the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. took white pastors to task for advising him to be more patient with segregation in Alabama, saying that Christians have a moral responsibility to break unjust laws. Yes, that is our tradition. And it is serious business.

“Human Law and the Conscience of Believers” is an old (1984) but still helpful teaching statement of my church, which in typical Lutheran fashion seeks a middle way. Google the document for specifics. Here are the basics.

First, obeying the law is the norm for U.S. Christians, given our democratic provisions for changing unjust laws. Nonetheless, when one’s conscience is convinced that a law must be broken, these principles guide the action: Break the law only after trying legal means to change it; • only by non-violent means; • always for the sake of the larger community; • always with respect for the consciences of those who disagree; • and always with willingness to accept the legal consequences for breaking the law.

Then comes the humbling part: “Christians will recognize always that conscience also is tainted by sin, and can be wrong. They will therefore give the utmost consideration to the counsel of fellow believers,” (page 9).

So where does our current controversy come out in the wash? Well, it fails the humility test, all the way around.

Supporters and opponents alike gloried in righteous attack mode.

The serious call of Christian conscience was turned into a circus.

Respect went AWOL. Now Davis is back at work and gay and lesbian couples are being issued marriage licenses, through a legal tweak that seems to be working. Only Davis can discern how it’s working with her conscience.

Maybe the best take-home for church folk is recognizing that the spirit of Christ got pushed over the cliff on this one. But take heart: our honored tradition of civil disobedience will have plenty of opportunities to be tested again.

Christmas Eve Service 7:00 pm Sunday Service - 10:45 aM 354 Cooper Lane, Hamilton, Montana 59840

406.363.3735 fbchammt@gmail.com

Searching for abundance

By Casey Dunning FOR THE RAVALLI REPUBLIC

During this season between Thanksgiving and Christmas, we are surrounded by images of abundance. A tree piled with abundant gifts, dinner tables covered in abundant delicacies and treats, lush gatherings of abundant family and friends enjoying life and connection.

All too often, these images can (and are meant to) make us feel deficient in our lack of certain kinds of abundance. And, in those years when we struggle financially to buy gifts and food, when we feel loneliness because we have lost loved ones and relationships or our family ties are strained and complicated, we may seek abundance in desperation, often seeking to fill our emptiness with consumerism.

In the Christian tradition, Christmas is the recognition of God coming to be present among us. Advent is the season in which we prepare ourselves to recognize this presence. To recognize that God is already here and we as a global and local society already have everything.

From this perspective, our measure of abundance … of enough, can change drastically. Yet, as Mahatma Gandhi said, “There is enough in the world for everyone’s need, but not

enough for everyone’s greed.”

Somehow, in western Montana with abundant landscape, abundant beauty, abundant laughter, abundant wealth, we also have families losing their housing with literally nowhere to go. If a family becomes homeless, they will not have a safe place to go that night. One more time … if a family becomes homeless, they will not have a safe place to go that night. They will wait three to six weeks before they can access shelter.

Fortunately, in western Montana, alongside our abundant beauty, many have an abundant mindset. Faith communities and social agencies that work directly with family homelessness are coming together to say, “We will create a community where families that lose housing will have a safe place to be that night and the necessary community support to get back on their feet.”

Soon, these efforts will need all of us. Our abundant time, talent, treasure and conviction. During this season, where we more intentionally turn our attention to the presence of Christ among us; may we search for the abundance with in our selves, distributing to others … so that all may have enough.

We invite you to stay after the service to enjoy hot drinks and desserts in our café.

For more information, call 363-3431 or visit www.bitterrootvalleycalvarychapel.com