Good and godly St. Joseph.  Now, if you wish to find a biblical character of whom very little is known, and upon whom much fame bestowed, Joseph would be your man.

Joseph is honored, revered and considered "saintly" in the Anglican, Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Lutheran and Methodist faiths.  We all agree that this man who married the young, virgin Mary in spite of the fact that she "was with child," protected his wife and newborn son by traveling to Egypt to escape King Herod's wrath, was truly a noble and upstanding man.  But, what do we know about him?  Well.  That's not so easily answered.

We know he existed, yet again, so very little is written about this man. There is no mention of him in St. Mark's gospel, which is widely considered the first written and thus, the oldest of the four biblical gospel books.  Also, the Epistles of Paul, arguably the oldest "extant Christian writings" available to us make no mention of Jesus' father, aside from God; again, no mention of Joseph.  Finally, Joseph appears in the gospels of Matthew and Luke both of which were written well after Mark's gospel.  And yet, in the genealogies provided in both Matthew and Luke's gospels, the two writers differ on who the father of Joseph was.  Thus, the ancestral line of Joseph differs in these two gospels and this makes quite a difference.  St. Luke claims the name of Joseph's father as Heli, creating a different ancestral line.  The Gospel of St. Matthew draws a comparison of Joseph as "the New Moses."  St. Matthew states that Joseph's father was named Jacob, just as the Old Testament Joseph's father was also named Jacob.  Without proper identification of who Joseph's father is, drawing such a comparison would be impossible.   Remember; these genealogies stretch from the earliest of Hebrew history.  It's complicated to say the least and sadly, our good and godly St. Joseph suffers the consequences.

During Jesus' adult life, there is no mention of Joseph whatsoever.  He is not at the Wedding at Cana.  There is no Joseph at the crucifixion of Christ.  If Joseph were present and according to Hebraic law, it would have been Joseph who was responsible for the removal of Jesus' body from the cross.  Instead, it was Joseph of Arimathea who takes control of the situation.  It is assumed that Joseph had died and Mary was left a widow with children under her care.

Yet, what it comes down to is that in this biblical character we call Joseph, saintly and good, we have a man of strong will, enduring love and the courage to listen to God and do what was asked of him.  What is written of Joseph and what we have been taught is that he was the earthly father of Jesus, (foster father), he lived a long and holy life and is revered to this very day as a model father, a loving husband and an inspiration to us all.

For me, St. Joseph has always been a model of what a good father should be:  he did all he could to protect his wife and infant child, Jesus.  He worked hard at his craft and provided the best home he was able.  Much of what I believe of St. Joseph is based on faith, not fact.  Then again, much of what we believe comes about because we believe in particular things that can not and have not been truly proven.  Remember what Jesus said to the apostle Thomas:  "Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." (John 20: 29)  Does this not also apply to our belief in people like Joseph, of whom we have so very little written?  Have faith.  Believe.  We have so much to gain.

Let us pray:

"O God, who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and the spouse of his virgin mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to your commands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever."                                               

Hearty blessings and congratulations are in order to our Penny and Hank Mandziara and Deacon Tom Smith who have completed the rigorous yet fulfilling Lay Chaplaincy Program sponsored by the Episcopal Diocese of Chicago and Bishop Anderson House.

Penny, Hank and Tom will officially be commissioned and recognized at a ceremony to be held at Christus Victor Lutheran Church here in the Village on Saturday, December 5th at 11am.  All are welcome to come and celebrate this wonderful occasion.

On behalf of the entire St. Nicholas community: congratulations and many blessings be upon you and in advance, thank you for your service to the Church and to St. Nicholas.

Christmas is such a joyous time.  We at St. Nicholas have a blessed tradition of decorating the worship space with beautiful, seasonal plants and flowers.  This year will be no exception.

Also, this year, we are hoping to purchase a new, LED pre-lit Christmas tree to replace the enormously heavy and difficult-to-erect tree we have used the past several years.

We are asking for donations to be made toward the purchase of these plants, flowers and new St. Nicholas Christmas Tree.  Donation envelopes are available in the Gathering Space on the Welcoming Table.  Please mark the envelope with your name.

In advance, thank you one and all for your continued generosity and kindness.  Let's do our best to make this Christmas as bright and beautiful as possible. 

We warmly welcome all to celebrate Christmas Eve with us! 

At 4PM, we'll offer a short service designed for kids, complete with a special gospel and sermon for kids! 

At 9PM we'll offer the beautiful service of Lessons & Carols. 

There is no service on Christmas Day. 

The time goes so quickly.  It's time to elect 3 new members to the Bishop's Committee (the governing board of our church). 

We ask each parish member to consider serving our church as a member of the Bishop's Committee.  We meet every 2nd Sunday of the month at 8:15am.  The service is important and necessary and the rewards are divine.

Please think long and hard about having your name submitted.  We will elect our new members at the Annual Parish Meeting scheduled for Sunday, February 7th, 2016 immediately following the 10am Liturgy.  A "Pot Luck" Lunch is part of the equation, too. 

It's that time of year; we're making our lists and we're checking them twice.  Here's a little help that is quite nice...

Shop Amazon and a contribution is made to St. Nicholas.  Talk about a "win-win" deal.  However, in order that St. Nicholas is credited with a portion of the sale, you must first go to our webpage, click on the Amazon icon.  Then, shop away.  Access our webpage through:  www.onebreadonebody.org  or  www.stnicholasepiscopal.org. 

Or, click here to go directly to Amazon with our code already pre-filled.

Every time someone shops Amazon through St. Nicholas' webpage, an angel gets their wings!

For all our St. Nicholas community members who are under the weather and in need of healing and prayers:  may they find peace and be blessed with sound and better health: Joan DeBock, Ruth Yunker, Courtney Adams, Art Lorenze, Karen, Sharon, Elaine and Barry Malas, Lenny Spirek, Jill, Connie Nicholson, Ron Glos, Marcia Kizior, Joanne Mangiaracina, Fran Baylor, Kesha, Mary Gans, Eunice Dohra, Bertha, Payton, Caleb Roth, Rocco, Ron, Tony Begonja, Deacon Tom Smith, Jean FitzPatrick, K.C., Dick Day, Dale Rickey, Phil Cooper, Tim Laughlin, Jackie, Chris, Cathy Walters, Carrie, Tim, Pat, Lenny, Perry, Kathy J. and any one else in need of our continued prayers and well wishes.

As a reminder, the full master calendar is always available online at this link.  Here is the schedule for the next week: