TLC E-Transmissions - Sunday, December 23 thru Saturday, December 29, 2019
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Gather in Grace • Grow in Faith • Go Forth to Serve
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Sunday, the Fourth Sunday in Advent
There are only two (2) services this Sunday.
8:30 & 10:00am
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Altar flowers on Sunday are given by Patti Johansen
in memory of her mom.
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Monday, Christmas Eve
Click on each service below for the bulletin
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All services can be watched live on your media device (desktop, laptop, tablet, phone) via our live-stream coverage at
www.tlcmn.com/live
. Do you know someone that is homebound or unable to attend? Please consider assisting them in watching one or more of our services via the live-stream or later via our on-demand playlist (also on our "live" webpage).
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TLC Office Holiday Closings
CLOSED
Monday, December 24 thru Wednesday, December 26.
OPEN until noon
Monday, December 31
A
nd accepting any contributions to be included
in 2018 giving statement to fulfill your pledge.
CLOSED
Tuesday, January 1
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LOVE
The fourth candle in Advent is considered the candle of “Love.”
I remember sitting at a volleyball game one time watching my daughter play and couldn’t help but notice a young mother caring for her child. It was a boy born with cerebral palsy who was helpless. I was struck by how much work he seemed to require as he sat there in his wheel chair wrecked by disease unable to do anything for himself.
His mother sat right next to him. I kept glancing at them wondering what it must be like to face such a challenge. She was a proud mother and it was evident by the way she stroked his hair and wiped his mouth, smiling all the while. It was clear that she adored him.
That little family had a deep impact on me. It gave me a glimpse of the love God has for us. Despite all our failures and ongoing rebellion, God loves us like that. This is the love we celebrate, the love that is born at Christmas, a love worthy of our highest devotion.
"This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice for our sins."
-- John 4:10
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TLC Staff and Their Childhood Memories of Christmas Past
Previously published in the November/December issue of Transcripts
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BEN CHERLAND —
Our family traditions for the Christmases of my childhood
revolved around food, church and our Christmas tree. Throughout the month of December, our family rooms filled up with nativities, candles, pretty table cloths and garlands, advent calendars, ribbons and colorful cookie tins. Dad and I usually went out and got the Christmas tree from a lot down by the lake. But once the tree was home and secured in the tree stand, the decorations came in waves. Lights came first, then the shiny balls, then family heirlooms – ornaments of all kinds. All this fed the sense of anticipation building in my sister and me.
On Christmas Eve, Mom would prepare a special Christmas dinner. We would eat early and go to church to play for both services (My sister played violin, I played cello and Dad accompanied us on the piano). It was excruciating to have to sit through TWO services before opening presents, but by the time we got home we were feverish with excitement. Dad turned on classical choral Christmas music, Mom brought out the three-tiered cookie tray and we opened all the presents that had been collecting under the tree – presents from friends, family and each other, all beautifully wrapped. We saved the ribbons and the nice cards for next year, but the wrapping paper we left strewn about the living room. Christmas morning was sheer joy as my sister and I would discover that Santa had stopped by and left two neat stacks of white packages, red trimmed for me and green trimmed for my sister. We would open a few of them then break to eat breakfast. We spent the afternoon sifting through our presents and anticipating a great Christmas Day dinner, usually with extended family or close family friends.
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MARILYN ERICKSON
— Christmas memories for me are few.
I do remember Christmas programs at the one-room school and our church. We would get a bag with hard candy and an apple or a popcorn ball. No electricity, so at home we had a Christmas tree with real candles on it that would be lit on Christmas Eve. We were poor so gifts were small. One of my most memorable gifts was 3 books I received when I was about 12. I’m sure they cost about 59 cents each. I have always loved to read so this was a gift beyond belief. I also remember shopping for my whole family with 50 cents or a dollar—a Hershey candy bar for my dad which cost 5 cents! Gifts for mom and 2 brothers and 2 sisters I don’t remember what they were.
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RENEE JEFFERSON
— We went to my great-grandmother’s house
every Dec 26. That included my grandparents, all their children and spouses and up to 65 of us great-grandchildren. We would form a circle that went through each room of her house while she sat by the Christmas tree. We all sang carols and always included Happy Birthday to Jesus. We did this until my Great Grandmother Anna Berg died in 1968.
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PASTOR ARTHUR
— I grew up in a family with strong British roots.
My father never gave up his UK passport though he lived in Canada for most of his adult life. Christmas was not Christmas without real English Christmas cake (heavy fruit cake with marzipan frosting) and plum pudding (which does not contain plums) with brandy butter. There would always be coins hidden in the plum pudding for the kids to discover. It would be soaked in brandy or rum and lit, then brought flaming to the table with the lights down while we sang
We Wish You a Merry Christmas
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MICHELLE REBER
— My Mom was a model
for market and print advertising. She always looked so glamorous. Even at a young age, I wanted to look like her and most especially wear high heels like she did. The Christmas I was close to turning 4, my sister Noreen and I received boxes filled with dress up items and to my delight, a pair of plastic high heels. I immediately put all the items on and slipped into the high heels. This photo was taken just before I took my first step in heels, which resulted in a broken elastic strap and tears. Fortunately, my sister could care less for the dress up items, took everything off, including her heels, handed them to me and told me to stop crying. There might have been a “big baby” comment in there, but I didn’t care, I was back wearing heels!
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ROB REID
— I can’t recall how young I was
, but my favorite Christmas memory was lying on the wood floor in the living room of our house in Crystal, MN, close to the hot air register and cuddled up alongside our loving dog Duncan, and gazing up at the beautiful, multi-colored lights on the Christmas Tree. To this day I love to go on drives to see the lights, and one of my favorite carols is “O Tannenbaum” (O Christmas Tree), which we learned in fourth grade German class.
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PASTOR ED
— My fondest memory
of Christmas is also my worst memory of Christmas. I had wanted a Rock’em Sock’em Robots boxing game so badly I could hardly stand it. I had made it clear to my parents for weeks and months I had to have it. When I came down on Christmas morning it wasn’t there and I was crushed. I tried to be happy with what I got, but I was not happy. I was in a dark place. My mom finally realized she had forgotten to put it out the night before, er… I mean Santa had misplaced it. She found where Santa had put it and gave it to me. I then arose from my pit of despair and soared to heights of joy unknown to me before. It didn’t last long however, because the game was a severe disappointment. It wasn’t anything like they made it look on TV. I still have the box the game came in from 1966.
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BARB WIGSTADT
— Christmas, as a child
, was the time when my mom's extended family always got together. My grandparents only had 3 kids, my mom was the youngest. But there were 16 grandchildren. Every year, no matter where we lived we came back to Minneapolis for Christmas. There was a BIG meal and then the kids ran around the house while the aunts, my mom and my grandma cleaned up the dishes. Then we would gather together by the pipe organ (at my uncle Mark's house) or the piano (at my uncle Dave's house) or the organ at our house, and sing Christmas carols. Finally, we'd open our presents. They had been stacked under and next to the Christmas tree. Often we measured how tall the stack of presents went. We opened presents from our parents, our grandparents and from the cousins closest to our ages. At 11:00 we either all went to Mount Olivet Lutheran Church (the midnight service) as a large group (it was uncle Mark's church), or we went to our own churches for the midnight service. Unfortunately this tradition ended in 1978 when my grandma died. My extended family carries on the tradition of singing Christmas carols accompanied by a family orchestra that is mainly brass instruments and piano when we get together to celebrate Christmas and our family.
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May the spirit of Christmas fill your home with peace, joy and love.
The TLC staff wishes you all a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
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