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    St Luke Lutheran Church, Cordova TN
    stluke@stlukememphis.org
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    Pastor Cliff's Notes

    messages from Pastor Cliff

    THIS ADVENT LET Christ cOme and met YOU where YOU ARE

    11/27/2015

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    ​Our Advent theme this year comes from James Moore’s book, Finding Bethlehem in the Midst of Bedlam. Several Sunday School classes are using this book for discussion and daily devotions during Advent. The author asks us to consider ways Christ is found in the “bedlam” of our lives. 

    This takes me back to a memory long ago. Lisa and I were recently married and serving with A Christian Ministry in the National Parks. During this time in our lives, we worked in National Parks and led Sunday worship services in the campgrounds or indoor meeting places. At this time we were living in Stove Pipe Wells, Death Valley, CA. We were living in an employee dorm in the park, and our housing was one room and a bath, which we shared with our cat. A very dark and dusty room as I remember! We had a hot plate, and our refrigerator was an ice chest. The nearest grocery store was more than an hour away.  
     
    As Christmas approached, a dear friend of Lisa's sent us a wonderful gift; a box with a tiny artificial tree, ornaments, and strings of lights far too long for the tree! We stung lights and placed the 12 inch Christmas tree in the window. I don’t remember any shopping or presents that year, any special favorite treats or comfort foods. It felt to us that we were without a home, nomads wandering in the desert.
     
    Like most of the park employees, we were scheduled to work on all of the holidays, Christmas included. So Lisa and I organized a Christmas Eve Service after the work day for all the park employees and guests. To our great surprise the entire park staff came out for the Christmas Eve Service. From the hotel manager to the District Park Ranger, those who worked as maids in the hotel to the bus boy in the restaurant.  The room was full as we began, without musical accompaniment, to sing Christmas carols that night. Though it was a Christmas Eve Service stripped clean of glitter, candles, banners or stars, Christ’s Spirit was very much evident. A simple service, for simple people of faith, longing for God's presence.  Christ came and met us where we were. 
     
    I learned that Christmas does not need to be a fancy production. But then we knew that, didn't we, from the first Christmas, when a poor couple took refuge in a stable because there was no room for them in the inn. They nestled their newborn son in a manger. Christ found his home on earth among us. 

    And so, as we prepare this Advent, I am reminded to simply open my heart to the true gift of Christmas. God coming as a child, innocent and defenseless into the bedlam of our world. Whether we celebrate Christmas grandly or simply is not the point. Our focus is directed to Christ, who comes to us where we are, as suburban or city dwellers, as nomads or kings. That Christmas in the desert was special, not for the gifts or celebration, but because Christ was present. 



     
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    Just Mercy - A Review

    11/9/2015

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    Stories are medicine… They have such power; they do not require that we do, be, act anything--we need only listen… - Clarissa Pinkola Estés
     
    We all have favorite books that cause us to think deeply about the world. Books that helped to shape us into the people we are today. A book invites us into a story, and we learn and grow as we engage with the story. A story then passes from the page into us, to take root in our imaginations, minds and hearts.

    Harper Lee’s classic novel, To Kill a Mockingbird, is one of the stories that deeply influenced me. The story is told from the perspective of Scout, a young girl. In the story Scout is forced by events in her life to see that the world is a tangle of good and evil, joy and sadness. As the story unfolds, Scout’s father, attorney Atticus Finch, makes a stand for justice for an innocent man who has been unjustly accused, and we feel the power of story at work in us as we hope the right things will happen and justice will prevail.

    I recently read a book of similar magnitude. Just Mercy is a nonfiction book with a story that is similar to To Kill a Mockingbird. The author, Bryan Stevenson, is a modern day attorney working in the South. Just Mercy takes us through an arrest, murder trial, and all the way inside death row at an Alabama prison. Just Mercy is a shocking account of injustice and redemption. A story that invites us to question the extraordinary high rate of criminal incarceration in our country.

    Just Mercy is a book I needed to read. It is a book that further opened my eyes to injustice in our world. It tells the story of individuals who are locked up and even sentenced to die without ever receiving a fair trial by their peers. I encourage you to read the book, and think about the true stories that Bryan Stevenson shares in this book. Choose to listen to the voices that cry out for redemption and freedom, voices that ask for the basic rights promised to every citizen of this country.
     
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    Here at St Luke ...

    We seek God. We are a church that seeks to express our love for God in all that we do - with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30).
    We serve others. The St. Luke church family has a heart to serve the community, loving each other just as God has loved us (John 13:35). 
    We share our lives together. No one here is perfect - we are all ordinary people who gather together to worship God, grow spiritually, and put our faith into action (James 2:15).

    2000 North Germantown Parkway
    Cordova, TN 38016 
    Phone: 901-756-8850           
    Email: stluke@stlukememphis.org

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