- Farewell, Seminarian Bernard Yung! This Sunday, December 9th will be Bernard's last Sunday at Saint Patrick's.  During his 8-week training at our church, Bernard participated in worship, gave sermons, led Bible study and visited parishioners.  On Monday, December 10th, Bernard will go to the Philippines to be with his mother, who is seriously ill, and he hopes to come back to  finish his M.Div study at the Virginia Seminary.  We thank Bernard for his presence and ministry among us.

- A thank you note to Hannah Burris, violist, for the beautiful rendition Telemann's "Largo" (from Concerto in G) during worship on Sunday, December 2nd.

- Many thanks to Kerry Hual and the children of Saint Patrick's, and those who who assisted Kerry, for the beautiful Christmas Pageant offered on Sunday, December 2nd.  We thank also to those who brought the delicious food for the potluck.

- Christmas Flowers, Greens, and Stars. The Christmas tradition at Saint Patrick's is to use flowers, poinsettias, greens, and stars throughout the Church. The money you offer as a memorial or thank offering goes to this holiday worship. The Altar Guild has always had your support in carrying out this tradition. If you would like to offer flowers in "Memory of a loved one" or as an "Offering of Thanksgiving", please donate $10 to the Altar Guild. Checks should be made payable to the "Altar Guild of Saint Patrick's Church."

     You may fill out the form, which is included in the Sunday service bulletin, and put it in the alms basin during worship, or send an email with your message to stpats3241@gmail.com and mail your check to Saint Patrick's, 3241 Brush Drive, Falls Church, Virginia 22042.

  

-  Blue Christmas Service, Wednesday, December 19th, 7:30 PM.  If you or someone you know finds Christmas a difficult time, St. Patrick's invites you to attend this service. It is a time to join together to listen to prayers and scripture that acknowledge God's presence, even in times when we mourn and/or experience struggle.   

- Our Angel Tree for Westlawn Elementary School families has been set up in the narthex.  Names of the families are written on the stars.  Please choose as many names as you wish, and purchase only one gift per name. 
       If you don't have time to shop and wrap for our families, you may make a monetary donation and we will do the shopping for you.  Checks should be made payable to St. Patrick's with "Westlawn Angel Tree" in the memo line.  If you choose to donate cash, please place it in an envelope with "Westlawn Angel Tree" on the front.  These can either be placed in the collection plates or given to Kathy Oliver or Winnie Lebo.   The wrapped gifts need to be returned to church by Sunday, December 16.  When you bring in your presents, please affix the star with the recipient's name on the present.  Winnie used these to group all the presents belonging to one family.  She will remove them when the grouping is completed and before she takes them to school for delivery.

- Parish Pictorial Directory.   Bernard Yung and Lois Cascella are working on a pictorial directory for the church.  They will be asking you to let them take your picture during coffee hour on Sunday.

- Please note that the greening of the church will take place on Sunday, December 23.

Advent 1, Year C -- December 2, 2012.

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     What is the first Christmas tree that you remember?  Ours was made from a wooden pole that was painted silver.  The branches were made from thick, sturdy wires.  Strips of aluminum foil carefully wrapped around the wires served as leaves. Except in the highlands, we don't have pine trees in the Philippines, and those are usually too big to bring down to the city. Here in the US, you have fragrant Christmas trees that are grown to perfection.  "Growing Christmas trees is like growing any other crop; it just takes more time and patience.  Most trees take an average of ten years to grow to the 6-8 foot height most people use." One farmer remarked that, like children, trees need a lot of tender loving care through the years, but unlike children, trees are a lot easier to shape into perfection. To be perfect, humans need righteousness from the Lord.

      The day after Thanksgiving, the First Lady greeted the arrival of a 19-foot Fraser fir from the farm of the 2012 National Christmas Tree Association grand champion winner. The First Lady said that "the tree is perfect."[1] The first lady also said, "We will take the tree. We are good to go. We can have Christmas now."[2] This perfect tree is the centerpiece among the fifty-three other trees that festively decorated the White House. Many of us think that we would have a perfect Christmas too if we could have a mansion like the White House. Wouldn't it be wonderful if several creative artists and 85 other people could come and decorate your house for 5 days? How about a 300 pound gingerbread replica of your mansion? or a human-sized cute and cuddly dog? At the Christmas display debut, all these favorite Christmas things greeted military families with this year's White House theme of "Joy to All."[3] For us, the theme of the first week of Advent is "hope", because in our current situation there will be no joy if there's no hope for a perfect life. Military families around the world hope that there will be no more war - no more strife in Syria, Congo, Afghanistan, and Iraq, so that their loved ones can come home for good. We hope for no internal political or economic threats like in Egypt, in Mali, or even in the United States. There should be hope, a certainty and not just wishful thinking, so that indescribable joy can be for all indeed.

     During the time of the prophet Jeremiah, the people were not able to experience joy because of all the tragic events that had extinguished their hope. Righteousness exalts a nation, but sin is a disgrace to any people (Proverbs 14:34). Because of sin, joy had turned to pain and sorrow as they experienced what one commentator described as: "the terror of the approaching armies of Nebuchadnezzar, the starvation of their city under siege, the exiling of the people from their ancestral land, the destruction of Jerusalem and the burning of the temple, the slaughtering of the sons of David and the blinding of a king from David's line, and the weeping women teaching their daughters how to mourn."[4] The divided house of Israel and Judah was like a Christmas tree that has been cut down. It is just a matter of time before the glorious tree withers and ends up on the sidewalk curb. All that is left is the tree stump, which is eventually dug up, shredded with a stump grinder, or burnt.

      Unlike the Christmas tree stump, there was hope for what was left of the House of King David. God caused a righteous Branch to spring up for David. In a world filled with disappointment and pain, God called Jeremiah to offer God's people comfort and hope. Jeremiah, also called the weeping prophet, expressed the heart of God who feels our sorrow and pain. Jeremiah spoke the "words of ultimate hope," the promise of a Savior who will make all things perfectly right. Jeremiah spoke of Jesus, a promised fulfilled, and the new covenant that rests solely on Jesus, the righteousness of God.

      If only people in authority would just execute justice and righteousness, the crooked things in this world would be made right. I think that one of the key words in this Jeremiah passage is righteousness. God is righteous, because God is perfectly just and perfect in all moral dimensions. When applied to God's people, "righteousness" is a consequence of divine action. We are righteous - or God declares us to be in "right standing" with him - because the Lord is our righteousness. Let me explain using an illustration.

      A week before Thanksgiving, an Arizona tourist used her phone camera to capture a picture that went viral after the picture was posted on the Internet. The tourist captured the image of a heart-warming response to a barefoot homeless man who was asking for change. "An NYPD police officer approached the homeless man, squatted down on the ground and proceeded to help the homeless man put on the new pair of socks and new boots. The officer was not aware that the tourist was watching, because most New Yorkers are used to passing by homeless people."[5] We think of the police as people who help execute justice by enforcing the law and catching criminals, but we also assume that they are supposed to do the right thing by virtue. Here, we see an example of a man in uniform who humbly executes justice and righteousness. Righteousness from God is like the pair of socks and shoes given to the man so that he could stand upright and hold his head high.

      This illustration is a mere shadow of how Christ transferred his righteousness to us. After Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they sewed fig leaves to cover their shame (Genesis 3:7). Their attempt at trying to get back into right relationship with God was not enough, because God considers our attempts at self-righteousness as filthy rags (Isaiah 64.6). People throughout the ages have been trying to be righteous on their own, and they have failed miserably. Instead of fig leaves, God clothed Adam and Eve with garments of animal skin (Genesis 3:21). This sacrifice of animals to provide a covering for Adam and Eve, like all the animal sacrifices afterward, points to the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. On that first Christmas Eve, Jesus, God's Son, stooped down from heaven, to trade his righteousness for our sinfulness. Christ put on human flesh, to take our place on the cross, so that we can put on the righteousness of Christ. Jesus being born as one of us and his sacrifice on the cross served as the ultimate expression of God's righteousness. Let the righteousness of Christ displayed on the cross warm your heart as you eagerly await the complete fulfillment of our hope in the second coming of Christ. This is the hope that we have in our hearts, and this is the hope that we must share with all the homeless in this world, people who are outside the Kingdom of God.

      As you think about your pledge this Stewardship Sunday, the first Sunday of Advent, I hope that you will not only pledge your resources to maintain this congregation. But I hope that you will continue to pledge your hearts to bring hope to a weeping world. Righteousness is about doing the right things to make things right. In Jesus, God has provided us the righteousness that we can pass along to others by telling them about Jesus. As you go out of this sanctuary later, I am sure that you would pick a name and find joy in buying a needy child a good Christmas present. More important than the gift, I hope that you would pray for the child to experience God's righteousness. Tell the world of God's promise that everything will be made right when the Lord is their righteousness.

      This Advent season, when you see a Christmas tree, think of the dead piece of wood made alive by the love of Christ, the cross of Christ that reaches to the heavens with arms that embrace the world with expectant hope, a faithful promise of a perfect life in God, because the Lord is our righteousness.