{"id":18,"date":"2008-12-22T14:28:00","date_gmt":"2008-12-22T19:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/2008\/12\/22\/december-24-31-2008-my-eyes-have-seen-it\/"},"modified":"2008-12-22T14:28:00","modified_gmt":"2008-12-22T19:28:00","slug":"december-24-31-2008-my-eyes-have-seen-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/december-24-31-2008-my-eyes-have-seen-it\/","title":{"rendered":"December 24-31, 2008 &#8211; My eyes have seen it"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<div><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"color:#996633\"><span>Warm-Up Question:<\/span> <\/span>What is the most significant historical thing you&#8217;ve witnessed in your lifetime?<\/span><\/div>\n<\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><br \/><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">It is amazing to think of all the ways that life has changed in the past 20 years, or 50 years, or 100 years. You&#8217;ve probably talked with grandparents or other older people about what life was like when they were your age. No computers, no cell phones, no cars, no TV, and maybe no telephones at all.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">There are people who have witnessed major changes in society. From a time when women and African-Americans couldn&#8217;t vote to a year when this country elected an African-American man as President and very nearly elected a woman instead.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Recently, <\/span><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Edna Parker<\/span><span style=\"font-family:arial\"> died at the age of 115 in Shelbyville, Indiana. She was documented at the time as the <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/news.yahoo.com\/s\/ap\/20081128\/ap_on_re_us\/obit_oldest_person\">world&#8217;s oldest living person<\/a><span style=\"font-family:arial\">. Imagine what she saw. Imagine the events she witnessed. Imagine the changes in her way of life. The article points out that she and her husband were the first in their area to own an automobile!<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:130%\"><span>Discussion Questions<\/span><\/span><b><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-family:arial\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:100%\">What is the change or the event you wish you could have seen during Edna&#8217;s life (since 1893)?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:100%\">If you could have spoken with Edna, what would you have wanted to ask her?<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-family:courier new\"><strong><span style=\"font-size:130%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Scripture Texts (NRSV) for Sunday, December 28, 2008.<\/span><br \/><\/span><\/strong><span style=\"font-family:arial\">(Text links are to <\/span><\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\">oremus Bible Browser<\/a><span style=\"font-family:arial\">. Oremus Bible Browser is not affiliated with or supported by the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. You can find the calendar of readings for Year B at <\/span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.elca.org\/Growing-In-Faith\/Worship\/Lectionary\/Year-B.aspx\" target=\"_blank\">Lectionary Readings<\/a>.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=96976338\">Isaiah 61:10-62:3<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=96976437\">Psalm 148 (13)<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.blogger.com\/Galatians%204:4-7\">Galatians 4:4-7<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/bible.oremus.org\/?ql=96976528\">Luke 2:22-40<\/a> <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>For lectionary humor and insight, check the weekly comic <\/strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.agnusday.org\/\" target=\"_blank\"><strong>Agnus Day<\/strong><\/a><strong>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:130%\"><b>Gospel Reflection<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Today&#8217;s Gospel lesson tells us about two very elderly people who got to see Jesus when he was very young. Simeon and Anna were people of great faith who had been waiting a long time for God&#8217;s promises to be fulfilled. On the day when Jesus was brought to the temple for purification after his birth (according to the law of the time), Simeon and Anna were there. They saw the baby. They knew that all they had been waiting for was there in that little boy Jesus.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Luke records Simeon&#8217;s words which many of us sing at the end of each Sunday morning worship service: \u201cMaster, now you are dismissing your servant in peace, according to your word; for my eyes have seen your salvation, which you have prepared in the presence of all peoples, a light for revelation to the Gentiles and for glory to your people Israel.\u201d Simeon knew he could die at peace and at rest now because he had seen everything God had promised\u2026 all in this one little baby.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span style=\"font-size:130%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Discussion Questions<\/span><\/span><b><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<ul style=\"font-family:arial\">\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:100%\">What do you think Mary and Joseph were thinking as Simeon and Anna went &#8220;ga-ga&#8221; over their new baby in this way?<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\">What are the promises that you are waiting for God to fulfill?<\/span><span style=\"font-size:100%\"> <\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><b><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:130%\"><span>Activity Suggestions<\/span><\/span><\/b><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:courier new\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\">Plan a conversation time with some of the oldest members of your congregation. Ask them what life was like when they were teenagers. Ask them to tell your stories of their lives. Help them to write the stories down as memory books for their own family members.<\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:courier new\"><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:130%;color:#996633\">Closing Prayer<\/span><b><\/b><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:courier new\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><span>Faithful God, we thank you for the fulfillment of all your promises. We thank you especially for Jesus, born of Mary, who came to be light for the world. In Jesus&#8217; name, we pray. Amen.<br \/><\/span><br \/><\/span><span style=\"font-size:100%\"><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:courier new\"><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:100%\"><\/span> <\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:courier new\"><span style=\"font-family:arial;font-size:100%\">Contributed by <span>Pastor Seth Moland-Kovash<\/span><br \/>All Saints Lutheran Church<br \/>Palatine, IL<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"font-family:courier new\"><span style=\"font-family:arial\"><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Warm-Up Question: What is the most significant historical thing you&#8217;ve witnessed in your lifetime? It is amazing to think of all the ways that life has changed in the past 20 years, or 50 years, or 100 years. You&#8217;ve probably talked with grandparents or other older people about what life was like when they were [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":320,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[480,194,477,479,481,478,410,469,331,241],"class_list":["post-18","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-age","tag-christmas","tag-fulfillment","tag-history","tag-luke-222-40","tag-older-adult","tag-promise","tag-trust","tag-witness","tag-youth"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>December 24-31, 2008 - My eyes have seen it - Faith Lens<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.elca.org\/faithlens\/december-24-31-2008-my-eyes-have-seen-it\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"December 24-31, 2008 - My eyes have seen it - Faith Lens\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Warm-Up Question: What is the most significant historical thing you&#8217;ve witnessed in your lifetime? 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