The Christmas Story ________________________

For unto us a child is born, to us a son is given, Christmas Prayer

and the government shall be on his shoulders.
And he will be called Wonderful Counselor,
Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
Of the increase of his government and peace
there will be no end. He will reign on David's
throne and over his kingdom, establishing and
upholding it with justice and righteousness from
that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord
Almighty will accomplish this. - Isaiah 9:6
by Robert Louis Stevenson
"Loving Father, Help us remember the birth of
Jesus, that we may share in the song of angels,
the gladness of the shepherds, and the worship of
the wise men. Close the door of hate and open the
door of love all over the world. Let kindness come
with every gift and good desires with every
greeting.

"In those days Caesar Augustus issued a decree Deliver us from evil by the blessing which Christ
that a census should be taken of the entire brings, and teach us to be merry with clean hearts.
Roman world. (This was the first census that took May the Christmas morning make us happy to be
place while Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And Thy children, and the Christmas evening bring us
everyone went to his own town to register. So to our beds with grateful thoughts, forgiving and
Joseph also went up from the town of Nazareth in forgiven, for Jesus' sake, Amen!"
Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem the town of David, _________________________
because he belonged to the house and line of
David. He went there to register with Mary, who
was pledged to be married to him and was
Worshiping the King of Kings
By Rose-Marie LeBel
expecting a child. While they were there, the time
came for the baby to be born, and she gave birth
Worshiping has become casual for many of us,
to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths
myself included. Christmas is coming and I want us
and placed him in a manger, because there was
all to realize that we belong to an awesome God! I
no room for them in the inn. And there were
want us to revel in Him! Rejoice in Him! Dance with
shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping
Him! Smother ourselves in Him! Cover ourselves
watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the
with Him! Be excited by Him! Delight in Him! I want
Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord
us to exalt and celebrate the King of Kings!
shone around them, and they were terrified. But
the angel said to them, 'Do not be afraid, I bring
Our reason for being, is to worship God. We were
you good news of great joy that will be for all the
created for this very purpose!! Do we really
people. Today in the town of David a Savior has
understand Who we are worshiping? We are
been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will
worshiping Elohim, the the God of all creation,El
be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in
Elyon, the Most High. He is the designer and
cloths and lying in a manger.' Suddenly a great
creator of the entire Universe! He spoke and it
company of the heavenly host appeared with the
came to be! How awesome is that? He knows every
angel, praising God and saying, 'Glory to God in
star by name! He designed and created us , we are
the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom
wondrously and fearfully made! He knows how
his favor rests.' When the angels had left them
many hairs we have on our heads, every tear we
and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one
shed, every laugh we share. He is in our midst! He
another, 'Let's go to Bethlehem and see this thing
rejoices over us with gladness, He exults over us
that has happened which the Lord has told us
with loud singing! He delights in us! He is Holy,
1about.' So they hurried off and found Mary and
Righteous, Mighty, Majestic! Worthy of all praise!
Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the
Come! Let us ADORE Him! Let us BOW down
manger. When they had seen him, they spread
before Him! Celebrate Him! Come all ye people!
the word concerning what had been told them
Exalt the Lamb of God! WORSHIP THE KING OF
about the child, and all who heard it were amazed
KINGS!!
at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary
treasured up all these things and pondered them
in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying
and praising God for all the things they had heard
and seen, which were just as they had been told."
Luke 2:1-17
From the Pastor‘s desk Family Page

In the last newsletter I promised to follow up with

some practical examples of how parents can be the
best they can for the glory of God. (The previous
article is available on the website) With Christmas
being on the minds of many children, we as parents
have a great opportunity to witness to the true
meaning of Christmas. Many children are now
preoccupied with what presents they will get and
Santa‘s arrival. How do we as Christian parents
shift focus away from this distraction?
Here are a few examples of what we can do:
1) Make Christmas day about the presence of
Jesus not presents. Spend time reading the
stories of Jesus‘ birth to the children and talk
about what it means. Have a birthday cake
for Jesus after your meal. Give presents to
Jesus in the form of service to others. Open
presents on a day other than Christmas day.
2) Spend less—give more. Limit how much you
spend on each other and instead give more
to causes that have eternal significance.
Sponsor a child and make Christmas a time
when letters are written and the child and
country is learned and prayed about. Go to
drop-in centers and help with providing a
meal. Go to senior‘s homes with another
family and sing some carols.
3) Invite the stranger—invite someone who
would otherwise be alone for your Christmas
celebration.
4) Pray together—gather all the Christmas
cards you received and take turns praying for
the people who sent them.
I trust one of these examples will help you turn this
holiday season into a holy day season where a truer
meaning of Christmas is instilled in the minds of our
gifts from God—our children.

Our Glory Kids
Thanks to a lot or hard work and practice our
Sunday school 'play' this year was wonderful!
Our children sure are growing up! What a
pleasure they are, what blessings! and of course
how amusing!! Thank God for children! Life would
be so barren without them...ha ha....
So just a brief note to say a heartfelt Thank you to
Tara for taking over the Sunday school and for
doing such a good job! Well done!
feelings for each other. We both experienced God‘s
sense of humour during that time (still true). In 1994
they got married and formed a new family with
Douglas‘ son, Stephen, who was 17 years old at the
time. After coming to Vaudreuil to visit some
Christian friends we marvelled at the sun set and
eventually decided to buy a house in the area. We
moved in our home in 1998 with two of the children,
Stephen at that time was living on his own. Our
family has been growing with the addition of one
son-in-law, and two daughters-in-law. Since the year
2000 grandchildren add to the number, our first being
James Alexander who turns 10 years old in
September and the latest being Léane who just
turned one in November. Throughout these years we
have experienced, God‘s faithfulness, compassion
and most of all His love. We thank Him for the
special support of our Christian family and their
prayers. We would not have seen the light through
trials if the Lord has not been in charge of our lives.
When I look back now I can see God was there
looking after us and carrying us. That‘s why I know
and feel secure that my future is in His hand.

Claire Daze

Our church family

Claire‘s mother was from Valleyfield; her father
was the last blacksmith in Valleyfield. While my
mother studied in Montreal to be a nurse she met
my father. They got married and had 3 children.
Claire is the eldest child. Her brother followed 13
months later. A little sister came along six years
later. Claire was brought up in Montreal near the
Jean-Talon market. Claire accepted the Lord as
her Saviour in 1978 on Easter day. The day we
celebrate Jesus resurrection, I also resurrected
into a new life. The Lord blesses me with two
beautiful children, Annie in 1980 and Jean-
François in 1983. When Claire came back to
Montreal in 1985 she joined a Brethren church.
As single parents going to the same church Claire
and Douglas had much to discuss. They were
seeing each other as brother and sister in Christ.
But God had other plans for our lives. In 1993
after seven years of sharing and without
expecting anything more, something wonderful
happened to both of them they started having
 The Holy Night
By Selma Lagerlof
There was a man who went out in the dark night
to borrow live coals to kindle a fire. He went from
hut to hut and knocked. "Dear friends, help me!"
said he. "My wife has just given birth to a child,
and I must make a fire to warm her and the little
one."
But it was way in the night, and all the people
were asleep. No one replied.
The man walked and walked. At last he saw the
gleam of a fire a long way off. Then he went in
that direction and saw that the fire was burning in
the open. A lot of sheep were were sleeping
around the fire, and an old shepherd sat and
watched over the flock.
When the man who wanted to borrow fire came
up to the sheep, he saw that three big dogs lay
asleep at the shepherd's feet. All three awoke
when the man approached and opened their
great jaws, as though they wanted to bark; but not
a sound was heard. The man noticed that the hair
on their backs stood up and that their sharp, white
teeth glistened in the firelight. They dashed
toward him.
He felt that one of them bit at his leg and one at
this hand and that one clung to this throat. But
their jaws and teeth wouldn't obey them, and the
man didn't suffer the least harm.
Now the man wished to go farther, to get what he
needed. But the sheep lay back to back and so
close to one another that he couldn't pass them.
Then the man stepped upon their backs and
walked over them and up to the fire. And not one
of the animals awoke or moved.
When the man had almost reached the fire, the
shepherd looked up. He was a surly old man, who
was unfriendly and harsh toward human beings.
And when he saw the strange man coming, he
seized the long, spiked staff, which he always
held in his hand when he tended his flock, and
threw it at him. The staff came right toward the
man, but, before it reached him, it turned off to
one side and whizzed past him, far out in the
meadow.
Now the man came up to the shepherd and said
to him: "Good man, help me, and lend me a little
fire! My wife has just given birth to a child, and I
must make a fire to warm her and the little one."
The shepherd would rather have said no, but
when he pondered that the dogs couldn't hurt the
man, and the sheep had not run from him, and that
the staff had not wished to strike him, he was a little
afraid, and dared not deny the man that which he
asked.
"Take as much as you need!" he said to the man.
But then the fire was nearly burnt out. There were no
logs or branches left, only a big heap of live coals,
and the stranger had neither spade nor shovel
wherein he could carry the red-hot coals.
When the shepherd saw this, he said again: "Take as
much as you need!" And he was glad that the man
wouldn't be able to take away any coals.
But the man stopped and picked coals from the
ashes with his bare hands, and laid them in his
mantle. And he didn't burn his hands when he
touched them, nor did the coals scorch his mantle;
but he carried them away as if they had been nuts or
apples.
And when the shepherd, who was such a cruel and
hardhearted man, saw all this, he began to wonder
to himself. What kind of a night is this, when the
dogs do not bite, the sheep are not scared, the staff
does not kill, or the fire scorch? He called the
stranger back and said to him: "What kind of a night
is this? And how does it happen that all things show
you compassion?"
Then said the man: "I cannot tell you if you yourself
do not see it." And he wished to go his way, that he
might soon make a fire and warm his wife and child.
But the shepherd did not wish to lose sight of the
man before he had found out what all this might
portend. He got up and followed the man till they
came to the place where he lived.
Then the shepherd saw the man didn't have so much
as a hut to dwell in, but that his wife and babe were
lying in a mountain grotto, where there was nothing
except the cold and naked stone walls.
But the shepherd thought that perhaps the poor
innocent child might freeze to death there in the
grotto; and, although he was a hard man, he was
touched, and thought he would like to help it. And he
loosened the knapsack from his shoulder, took from
it a soft white sheepskin, gave it to the strange man,
and said that he should let the child sleep on it.
But just as soon as he showed that he, too, could be
merciful, his eyes were opened, and he saw what he
had not been able to see before, and heard what he
could not have heard before.
He saw that all around him stood a ring of little silver-
winged angels, and each held a stringed instrument,
and all sang in loud tones that tonight the Saviour
was born who should redeem the world from its
sins.
Then he understood how all things were so happy
this night that they didn't want to do anything
wrong.
And it was not only around the shepherd that
there were angels, but he saw them everywhere.
They sat inside the grotto, they sat outside on the
mountain, and they flew under the heavens. They
came marching in great companies, and, as they
passed, they paused and cast a glance at the
child.
There was such jubilation and such gladness and
songs and play! And all this he saw in the dark
night whereas before he could not have made out
anything. He was so happy because his eyes had
been opened that he fell upon his knees and
thanked God.
What that shepherd saw, we might also see, for
the angels fly down from heaven every Christmas
Eve, if we could only see them.
You must remember this, for it is as true, as true
as that I see you and you see me. It is not
revealed by the light of lamps or candles, and it
does not depend upon sun and moon; but that
which is needful is that we have such eyes as can
see God's glory.
The Shepherds Had An Angel
By Christina G. Rossetti
The shepherds had an angel,
The wise men had a star;
But what have I, a little child,
To guide me home from far,
Where glad stars sing together,
And singing angels are?
Lord Jesus is my Guardian
so I can nothing lack;
The lambs lie in His bosom
Along life's dangerous track:
The wilful lambs that go astray
He, bleeding, brings them back.
Those shepherds thro' the lonely night
Sat watching by their sheep,
Until they saw the heav'nly host
Who neither tire nor sleep,
All singing glory, glory,
In festival they keep.
Christ watches me, His little lamb,
Cares for me day and night,
That I may be His own in heav'n,
So angels clad in white
Shall sing their Glory, glory,
For my sake in the height.
Lord, bring me nearer day by day,
Till I my voice unite,
And sing my Glory, glory,
With angels clad in white,
All Glory, glory, giv'n to Thee,
Thro' all the heav'nly height.
 My trip to Israel he remembers when the Dead sea was only sick.
by Pat Horan I will never forget Jerusalem and Bethlehem, such
contrasting cities, in terms of life style. Israel is a
He captured my heart and my mind and soul back land of contrast and difficulties; politically, religiously
in 1989.After reading the holy Word of God and and economically.
being part of the Tuesday Bible Study Group, the Other areas that captured my interest were the
opportunity came for me to finally tour the land of wilderness, with such raw beauty; the place of the
His birth. I embarked on ―the journey of a skull or Gethsemane, and the Garden Tomb, where
lifetime‖, with a wonderful group of brothers and we were served Holy Communion; visiting the place
sisters from across Canada. The tour was headed where Jesus had His last meal in the ‗upper room‘
by Norma Jean and Pastor David Maines, notably with his disciples; standing before the ―Wailing Wall‘
from 100 Huntley Street, and Christian Television and offering my prayers for the peace of Jerusalem
Network, CROSSROADS. and after wards, walking through the tunnel under
Our 14 day journey began (and ended) from the west wall, revealing the foundation stones of the
Toronto‘s Pearson airport, flying directly to Gen Temple Mount and the early road built in the Tyrolean
Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on November 8, 2010. It Valley.
was interesting in preparing to land; a young There is so much to see and to note it from a journey
Jewish man sitting next to me was preparing his such as this. It is all about our magnificent and HOLY
prayer time with his Torah and Tefillin tied to his God. He had a purpose for this nation. He still has a
wrist and forehead. This action was visible purpose for Israel. He has a purpose for you as well.
throughout the airplane with many Israelis Your journey starts with a hunger for Him and a
returning home or simply on a pilgrimage to the desire to know how you fit into the larger scheme of
land God promised Abraham and his seed. things. May God bless you with that hunger, may He
Our bus was waiting to take us on an incredible cause you to soar as on eagles wings.
tour, which included many sites where history was
made in the Old as well as the New Testament.
Bena, our tour guide was a 28 year old, secular
Jew, who is married and has a 3 year old
daughter. He holds a Masters Degree in
archeology and has a brilliant command of much
of the history of his homeland. He filled the day
with so much information, that much of it is
already history for me. He took us through the
time of the patriarchs, and the wilderness
experience, visiting a full size model of a
tabernacle at Timna, near Solomon‘s copper
mines. We toured the Mediterranean coast,
visiting Joppa (remember Simon the Tanner and
the story of Peter‘s vision of what is holy and not
holy to eat), up to Caesarea and the ruins from
the time of Herod the Great. We went to Mt
Carmel and learned of what happened with Elijah
and Ahab‘s priests. From there, we continued
north to a fortified castle area built by the
Crusaders in Acco, who were eventually beaten
by Saladin.
Our tour took us to Tel Meggido, (Har-Meggido –
Armageddon), the Sea of Galilee, Nazareth,
Caesarea Philippi, Capernaum and Tabgah,
where our Lord performed many miracles. It is
amazing how many hungry people can feast on
the few fish and loaves from that area. We spent
some time at En Gedi where David took refuge
from King Saul, who was trying to kill him. We
floated in the Dead Sea. Pastor David tells us that
 Kids corner

Jokes...sort of...

Q. Where does a salad dressing get a good

night's sleep??
A. On a bed of lettuce!

Q. How does a pizza brush it's teeth?

A. With tomato paste!

Q. What is another name for a suit of armor?

A. A knight gown!

Word Find

Hidden words:
Jesus, Lord, Christ, Risen, Alive, Sheppard, King
Counselor, Mighty, Beginning, End, Alpha,
Omega
Prince Peace, Saviour, Wonderful
 Recipe of the quarter Children in Church
Hellman's Hawaiian Carrot Cake
A little boy was in a relative's wedding.
Grease 9 inch tube pan or 13 x 9 inch baking As he was coming down the aisle, he would take two
pan. steps, stop, and turn to the crowd.
Where he would put his hands up like claws and
Stir together;
roar.
2 cups unsifted flour So it went, step, step, ROAR,
2 tsp. baking soda step, step, ROAR,
2 tsp. cinnamon all the way down the aisle.
½ tsp. nutmeg As you can imagine, the crowd was near tears from
½ tsp salt laughing so hard by the time he reached the pulpit.
When asked what he was doing, the child sniffed and
In a large bowl beat together until well blended; said,
3 eggs
1 ½ cups sugar ―I was being the Ring Bear‖
¾ cup Hellman's Real Mayonnaise
1 can (250ml) crushed pineapple (not drained)

Gradually beat in flour mixture. Then stir in;

2 ½ cups shredded carrots One Sunday in Church,
¾ cup walnuts a young child was 'acting up' during the morning
worship hour.
Put into the baking dish. Bake in 350 degree oven. The parents did their best to maintain some sense of
60 minutes-tube pan order in the pew but were losing the battle.
50 minutes- baking pan Finally, the father picked up the little fellow and
walked sternly up the aisle on his way out.
Cool-remove from pan, frost with cream cheese Just before reaching the safety of the foyer, the little
icing one called loudly to the congregation,

I bought the ready made icing from the grocery

store but if you want to make your own here is the ―Pray for me! Pray for me!‖
recipe.

Cream Cheese Icing

Blend together; The minister was wired for sound with a lapel mike,
1- 40z package of cream cheese and as he preached he moved briskly about the
¼ cup butter platform, jerking the mike cord as he went.
1 tbsp. corn syrup Then he moved to one side, getting wound up in the
1 tbsp. pineapple juice cord and nearly tripping before jerking it again.
Mix and add; After several circles and jerks, a little girl in the third
2 cups icing sugar pew, leaned toward her mother and whispered,
½ tsp. vanilla
―If he gets loose, will he hurt us?‖

From Janet Evans

Reverend fun