Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 100, Ed. 1 Sunday, December 16, 2001 Page: 17 of 38
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ROBERT RANKIN CHAPTER OF DAR WELCOMES
[ NEW MEMBER- During their regular meeting recently held
at Park Inn, the Robert Rankin Chapter of Daughters of the
American Revolution welcomed Barbara McKinzie, left, as a
new member. She was greeted by Registrar Zee Anglin.
POLK COUNTY ENTERPRISE, SI NDAY, DECEMBER 16. 2001 • PAGE 5B
Prepare our hearts for the message of life
He was the messenger singing
the song of joy as Second Isaiah
once sang to the Jews in Babylon.
Isaiah told them that God was send-
ing them home!
Hearing good news, however, is
difficult. To welcome freedom, one
must admit to captivity. To wel-
come sight, one must admit blind-
ness. To welcome deliverance, one
must admit to oppression. To wel-
come redemption, one must admit
to exile. To welcome being found,
one must admit to being lost. To
welcome a highway home, one
must admit to living on alien soil.
To welcome forgiveness, one must
admit to sin. To welcome joy, one
must admit to sorrow.
Such admissions come hard to
us. We are so proud and so inse-
cure We would rather pour our
souls and treasure into building up
earthly treasurers, then open our
hearts to a God who wants only
love and justice. We would rather
pour our intellect and creativity into
trying to be perfect than sit quietly
before a God who loves us and gave
himself for us.
We would rather stone the
prophet than feel our aching We
would rather kill Jesus-by cross
and nail, by distorting his Word, by
forcing Him into a lifeless box, by
shouting to avoid hearing, by
throwing him from the cliff of our
vanity-than return his joy and step
into freedom.
At what point did Jesus realize
his ministry was destined for Cal-
vary? At this point, I think, when
he realized that His friends would
kill Him before they would accept
their need for God.
During this Advent season, may
we prepare our hearts for His birth.
May we also prepare our hearts for
accepting our need for him Amen
LIVINGSTON- The Greater Li-
oness Club held their regular meet-
ings on Nov. 19 and Dec. 6.
The guest speaker at the Novem-
ber meeting was Barbara Tilton.
Tilton, along with Friends of the
Trinity River Refuge, informed the
group about the giant ’Salvinia that
is present in parts of the Trinity
River. This plant is rapidly grow-
ing and overtaking part of the river.
The members also discussed their
Toys for Tots program and food
programs for Christmas. Applica-
tions are available at the Onalaska
City Hall and distribution will take
place on Dec. 18 and 19 at the On-
alaska Volunteer Fire Department.
During the December meeting a
drawing was held for the raffled
afghan. Margaret Davis of Onalaska
had her name drawn as the winner
by Ruth Baker, Lioness member.
The club appreciated all the sup-
port during the year for the fund-
raisers and especially for the tickets
that were purchased for the afghan.
LEGGETT PRE-K1NDERGARTNERS TOUR PUMPKIN
PATCH- Nineteen Leggett pre-k students recently toured the
Pumpkin Patch at First United Methodist Church to learn
about pumpkins. They enjoyed story time, face painting and
chose a pumpkin to take back to class which they carved and
then later ate pumpkin pie The pre-k teacher is Kim Hastings.
A story of the tree
ils place a fir tree grew. Saint Boni-
face then told the people that it was
the free of Life and represented the
life of Chnst
The more realistic legend indi-
cated that Saint Bontiface spent a
great deal of time in Thuringia, an
area later to become the leader of
the Christmas decoration industry.
He used the fir tree in his ministry
as an analogy of the Holy Trinity
with each comer of the dees trian-
gular shape representing either the
Father, the Son or the Holy Sprit.
Because of the Pagan reverence for
the oak tree, the analogy was an
easy transition to make for the
newly converted. They began to
refer to the fir tree as God’s tree. By
the 12th century, an inverted fir tree
was hung from ceilings at Christ-
mas as a symbol of Christianity.
Another Christian given credit for
the Christmas tree was Martin Lu-
ther, the tounder of the Protestant
movement, at Riga in Latvia in
1510. The story tells of his wander-
ing through a forest one evening
and noting how the stars sparkled
through the limbs of an evergreen
making it appear as thijjugh the tree
were bejeweled with light. So in-
spired by the sight, he cut down a
small fii tree, took it home and
decked it with tiny candles so that
he could share it with his children.
The first Christmas tree as we
know' it appeared in Alsace in 1521.
In current geographical mapping,
Alsace is in France, but. in 1521, it
was in German territory. The tree
was introduced to the local courte-
sans by Princess Helene de Meck-
Icmbourg who brought one with
her to Paris after her marriage to the
Duke of Orleans. Ten years later,
the first printed mentioning of
Christmas trees was published.
(This is part one of a two-pan se-
ries entitled "The Union of the
Christmas Tree " The second /xM
will he presented in next week's
column.)
FRIENDS OF THE TRINITY RIVER REFUGE VISIT
LIONESS CLUB- Barbara Tilton and Friends of the Trinity
River Refuge recently held at program for the Greater
Onalaska Lioness Club. Tilton discussed concerns for the
giant Salvinia that is rapidly overtaking the river.
Prisoners kids are remembered
HOUSTON-More than two mil-
lion children of prisoners will spend
Christmas without one or more
parents this year, but local volun-
teers are helping to brighten the
holiday for some Houston-area chil-,
dren.
On Saturday, Dec. 15, some 60
children arc expected to aitend a
Christinas party hosted by Priso
Fellowship’s Angel Tree at th
Carroll S. Vance Unit. This first
one- of-a- kind event is unlike other
holiday partics-wherc kids scramble
to open their Christmas gifts and
gobble up cookies. This party will
have all of those elements and the
one most important-their incarcer-
ated fathers
Through Prison Fellowship An-
gel Tree® the only national effort
to reach out to children of prison-
ers, more than 500,(KX) children
with a mom or dad in prison will
receive gifts delivered in the name
of the prisoner-parent by church
volunteers. These gifts bring hope
and reconciliation to families split
by incarceration.
More than 19,000 Houston-area
children will receive gifts from their
incarcerated parent(s) this Christinas
but there are still 8,500 children in
the Houston metro area without
sponsors.
By every measure these forgotten
victims of crime arc the most se-
verely at-risk children and youth in
America today. These children arc at
risk for child abuse and neglect,
illiteracy, drug and alcohol abuse,
crime, violence, incarceration and
premature death. Although there is
no single answer, Prison Fellow-
ship’s Angel Tree seeks to impact
the life of one child at a time and to
help initiate reconciliation between
parent and child.
For more information or to spon-
sor a child, call the Prison Fellow-
ship Texas office at 713-772-7875.
The custom of having a tree as a
central focal piece in winter holiday
celebrations can be traced back
hundreds of centuries. The ancient
Egyptians had a custom of bringing
branches from palm trees into their
homes on the shortest day of the
year each December. The Chinese
and Hebrews from ancient history
had similar traditions, too. The
Scandinavians are attributed with
beginning such customs as the Ad-
vent Wreath and the Yule Log and
were known to decorate their houses
and barns with evergreens during
winter celebrations. The Vikings of
Northern Europe believed the ever-
green to represent the promise of
the return to spring once winter had
passed. In Italy, Romans decorated
trees with candles and trinkets dur-
ing Saturalia. The Druids, in France
and England, dressed oak trees with
fruit in honor of the gods of har-
vest. Boughs front trees were used
in several other Pagan winter festi-
vals as well
There is a bit of contention as to
whether the Clnistniiis tree origi-
nated from Pagan celebrations or
from Christian influence and is
muddled with legends such as the
ones involving Saint Boniface.
Saint Bontiface was an I nglish
monk front Credtlon, Devonshire,
sent t(V Germany on the seventh
century to spread the Word of God.
There are two well-known stories
born from his visit. One is rather
farfetched and the other is more
closely related to true facts.
In the former legend, Saint Boni-
face is said to have come upon a
Pagan festival centered around an
oak tree in which a child was about
to be sacrificed In order to stop the
revelers from killing the child, he
smashed (he oak tree with his fist
and felled it with a single blow In
Great Doctors Listen
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Call today for vour appointment
Dr. Ray Perez, Family Practice
1106 West Church
327-2441
Open Tuesdays until 7 p m
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303 N. East Street
327-5656
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1106 West Church
327-2441 M-W
303 N. East Street
327-5656 Thur-Fri.
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JUNIOR HIGH
SCOOPS.....
Junior high students
don’t forget to turn
your news in to our
new columnist
Sabrina Hollenberg
at M36-%7-2665.
Now is the time to
let Polk County
know your junior
high school plans
and activities!!!!
By Sabrina
4 Hollenberg
IV.W.I *Mi7-2M»5
junior 1lie/ It
/
c K'oon !
Sunda
ui
ermon
REV. CAROLYN L. DAVIS
- Vicar, Sf. Luke Episcopal
'^Church
.ir
“Jesus rolled up the scroll, gave
,it back to the attendant and sat
'.down. The eyes of all in the syna-
gogue were fixed on him. Then he
began to say to them. 'Today this
scripture has been fulfilled on your
hearing ’(Luke 4:20-21).
Small moments of irritation.
While making pancakes for my
grandsons, I use a small bowl for
the eggs and milk because it will
fit in the dishwasher and not require
hand-washing. I use a wire whisk
because it amuses me But the
whisk is too large for the bowl.
When I put the bowl down, the
whisk falls out, dripping liquid on
the counter.
It seems fundamental to the hu-
man condition that we try to rid
ourselves of negative feelings and
whatever information they convey.
Rather than admit error, we blame.
Rather than admit fear, we accuse.
Rather than accept responsibility,
we look for an enemy. Rather than
fix a problem, we curse it. Rather
than change self-destructive behav-
ior, we defend ourselves. Rather
than seek forgiveness, we bluster.
Rather than seek a bandage, we
throw a stone.
The less secure we are, the more
we accuse and bluster. For we can-
not bear to admit our frailty. There
is no bellow louder than the ego-
defending rage of a small and inse-
cure person.
We will never know how Jesus
felt when he took the teacher’s
chair at his hometown synagogue.
My sense is that he was excited. He
had been preaching Jo enthusiastic
crowds elsewhere. Now he hud
good news to share with family and
friends.
When he announced that Isaiah's
prophecy was being fulfilled, it
wasn’t a triumphant. “So, there!’’
But a delighted, warm-hearted shar-
ing of happy news. Their warfare
was over. Their exile was ended
Their redemption was at hand. Re-
lease from captivity, recovery of
sight, freedom from oppression-it
all was to he theirs.
Lionesses hold raffle
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White, Barbara. Polk County Enterprise (Livingston, Tex.), Vol. 119, No. 100, Ed. 1 Sunday, December 16, 2001, newspaper, December 16, 2001; Livingston, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth789062/m1/17/: accessed July 16, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Livingston Municipal Library.