The Scroll A Periodic newsletter for SAM's Lambs http://www.samslambs.org	*The Rev: A View from Upstairs*
*Why God Will Never Get Tenure at Any University* Only published one book. It was in Hebrew. It had no references. He did not publish it in referenced journals. Some doubt He even wrote it Himself. He is not known for his cooperative work. Sure. He created the world, but what has He done lately? He did not get permission from any review board to work on human subjects. When one of His experiments went awry, He tried to cover it up by drowning all the subjects. When sample subjects do not behave as predicted, He deletes the whole sample. He rarely comes to class. He just tells His students to read the Book. It is rumored that He sometimes lets His Son teach the class. Although He only has 10 requirements, His students often fail His tests. He expelled His first two students for learning. His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountain top. (From faculty members at Kansas State University and instructors at Allen County Community College) Internet References: Singles in the Church: Is There Seating For One In The Church?	*From The Rev:* *The Christmas Celebration* by Reverend Lance Robbins Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd Why does this season have such an extraordinary and unrelenting power? Hospitals empty, shops are thronged, airports are jammed, radio stations usually begin to sound alike. Television stations inevitably will have Christmas specials. There is no end to the way that life is affected in these fleeting hours we call Christmas. Why? There are, of course, many reasons. Most of them we express from time to time according to mood. If we are felling cynical, we say it’s all the creation of a greedy commercial system. Or if we are felling intellectual, we like to chat about the ancient Roman holidays and the celebration of the winter solstice. Sometimes we throw Charles Dickens into the conversation. But the fact is that none of these elements on their own could achieve what happens in this season. Christmas is about the child. It is about a particular child born to a particular woman in a particular place at a particular time. It is about a child whom she named and to whom we must also give another name. Each of us comes to Christmas in our own way, and in our own time we decide whether or not we wish to add the title Christ. The heart of Christmas is certainly the child in the manger. But one must never forget to ask the question which lifts one’s understanding of Christmas to the level of Christian faith. The necessary question is deceptively simple. We ask, "What child is this?" and faith answers, "this child is God incarnate. God in human flesh." God is present in human history. Why is this important? Because if we are to live creatively with human history, in spite of its terrors, we need the reassurance that comes with the knowledge that God shares intimately in the lives of each and every on of us. The author of the human play has stepped into the play and is an actor in it with us. His lines, played as servant and peacemaker and finally as prisoner, makes His coming among us all the more wondrous and hopeful. Christmas is more than Christmas greetings, exchange of happy gifts, reunion of near and dear under one roof, more than anthems, more than sermons, more than white vestments of joy. For those who are open, who have tried other ways, Christmas means the birth of Jesus in our souls, the birth of the Christ of love, the Christ of purity, the Christ of truth, the Christ of gentleness, the Christ of forgiveness, the Christ of beauty. The Christmas lesson is God’s supreme gift, the gift of God Himself. The world does not so much need the giving of our money or our sympathy as it needs and asks for the giving of ourselves, our life. Back to the essential message of Christmas which is Emmanuel, God with us. What keeps the wild hope of Christmas alive year after year in a world notorious for dashing all hopes is the haunting dream that the child who was born that day may yet be born again even in us and in our blind longing for Him. Faithfully, (The Rev) Lance Robbins, Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd, Webster NY Tel: 585-872-2281 Good Shepherd church has begun a new Singles Ministry which is open to all single people in the Webster NY area, of any denomination and any single marital status. You can view their progress on their site. Bishop Jack McKelvey of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester NY recently visited Good Shepherd where he delivered an address on "Marks of an Effective Congregation" It looks like Good Shepherd’s congregation and clergy would definitely fall in the Effective Congregation category.

The Scroll
A Periodic newsletter
for SAM's Lambs
http://www.samslambs.org

The Rev: A View from Upstairs

Why God Will Never Get Tenure at Any University

Only published one book.
It was in Hebrew.
It had no references.
He did not publish it in referenced journals.
Some doubt He even wrote it Himself.
He is not known for his cooperative work.
Sure. He created the world, but what has He done lately?
He did not get permission from any review board to work on human subjects.
When one of His experiments went awry, He tried to cover it up by drowning all the subjects.
When sample subjects do not behave as predicted, He deletes the whole sample.
He rarely comes to class. He just tells His students to read the Book.
It is rumored that He sometimes lets His Son teach the class.
Although He only has 10 requirements, His students often fail His tests.
He expelled His first two students for learning.
His office hours were infrequent and usually held on a mountain top.

(From faculty members at Kansas State University and instructors at Allen County Community College)

Internet References:

Singles in the Church: Is There Seating For One In The Church?

From The Rev: The Christmas Celebration

by Reverend Lance Robbins
Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd

Why does this season have such an extraordinary and unrelenting power? Hospitals empty, shops are thronged, airports are jammed, radio stations usually begin to sound alike. Television stations inevitably will have Christmas specials. There is no end to the way that life is affected in these fleeting hours we call Christmas.

Why? There are, of course, many reasons. Most of them we express from time to time according to mood. If we are felling cynical, we say it’s all the creation of a greedy commercial system. Or if we are felling intellectual, we like to chat about the ancient Roman holidays and the celebration of the winter solstice. Sometimes we throw Charles Dickens into the conversation. But the fact is that none of these elements on their own could achieve what happens in this season.

Christmas is about the child. It is about a particular child born to a particular woman in a particular place at a particular time. It is about a child whom she named and to whom we must also give another name. Each of us comes to Christmas in our own way, and in our own time we decide whether or not we wish to add the title Christ.

The heart of Christmas is certainly the child in the manger. But one must never forget to ask the question which lifts one’s understanding of Christmas to the level of Christian faith. The necessary question is deceptively simple. We ask, "What child is this?" and faith answers, "this child is God incarnate. God in human flesh."

God is present in human history. Why is this important? Because if we are to live creatively with human history, in spite of its terrors, we need the reassurance that comes with the knowledge that God shares intimately in the lives of each and every on of us. The author of the human play has stepped into the play and is an actor in it with us. His lines, played as servant and peacemaker and finally as prisoner, makes His coming among us all the more wondrous and hopeful.

Christmas is more than Christmas greetings, exchange of happy gifts, reunion of near and dear under one roof, more than anthems, more than sermons, more than white vestments of joy. For those who are open, who have tried other ways, Christmas means the birth of Jesus in our souls, the birth of the Christ of love, the Christ of purity, the Christ of truth, the Christ of gentleness, the Christ of forgiveness, the Christ of beauty.

The Christmas lesson is God’s supreme gift, the gift of God Himself. The world does not so much need the giving of our money or our sympathy as it needs and asks for the giving of ourselves, our life.

Back to the essential message of Christmas which is Emmanuel, God with us. What keeps the wild hope of Christmas alive year after year in a world notorious for dashing all hopes is the haunting dream that the child who was born that day may yet be born again even in us and in our blind longing for Him.

Faithfully,

(The Rev) Lance Robbins,
Rector, The Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd,
Webster NY Tel: 585-872-2281

Good Shepherd church has begun a new Singles Ministry which is open to all single people in the Webster NY area, of any denomination and any single marital status. You can view their progress on their site.

Bishop Jack McKelvey of the Episcopal Diocese of Rochester NY recently visited Good Shepherd where he delivered an address on "Marks of an Effective Congregation" It looks like Good Shepherd’s congregation and clergy would definitely fall in the Effective Congregation category.