SOME NEWS 'N' NOTES SUPPORT THE GUIDES! The 67th Girl Guide troop, which meets at our church every Thursday night at 6:30pm, now has those yummy "Chocolatey Mint Cookies" - boxes and boxes of them in fact. They make great Christmas snacks and gifts, so if you'd like to order a box or two (or more!), and support the work of the Guides, please call Olivia at 478-3802. And special note: the Guides have indicated an interest in becoming more involved with some of our church activities. Stay tuned for further details! THIS CHURCH IS A MESS! Well, okay, maybe not the whole church, but the carpets and also the floor of the downstairs Fellowship Hall have been getting pretty grungy lately, what with all the people and community groups now using the building. Volunteers cleaning once a month have just not been able to keep up. But now help is at hand, in the person of Jennie Norgaard's grandson Clinton Dupuis. Clinton is a professional maintenance man and cleaner and his services have been engaged by the Board to clean the church once a week. Clinton also has another special connection to the church, beside his grandma. His son Marcus was baptized here by Rev. John two years ago! ASK MR. SWEDENBORG In keeping with our current practice, the question we are putting to our beloved Mr. Swedenborg has to do with what the children are studying in their Sunday School lessons, i.e. the Nativity story. In this way we hope to give all of us grown-ups some added perspective on what the children are learning. What is the significance of Wise Men coming from the East and bearing gifts for the baby Jesus? First of all, you must understand that in respect to gifts, it is the will or intent that is seen by the Lord. Hence it is that by presents to the Lord, that is, by things offered to him, our attention is being directed to things which have to do with the will or the "heart". A person's inner desire or intent is also called their "heart" in the Word. From this it is evident how we should understand the idea of being judged in the other life according to our actions or works. That judgment arises from the nature of the intent or desire underlying our outward actions, i.e. by the kind of "heart" we have inside us. Thus we can see that presents brought to the Lord were outward signs of such things as are to be offered by the heart, the things of faith and charity. Gold, frankincense and myrrh signify all those things which have to do with the goodness of love and faith in the Lord. Gold corresponds to the goodness of love; frankincense to the goodness of faith; and myrrh to the things of each which are manifested in our outward actions. Now the reason why the Wise Men from the East offered those things was due to the fact that, from earliest times, the science and spiritual wisdom of the ancients remained in the East. It consisted in understanding and seeing celestial and Divine things in the ordinary things of this earth. The basic truth that all things of this physical realm actually correspond to, and signify, things of the spiritual realm was known to the ancients. This is evident from studying their surviving books and buildings. It was on this basis that some in the East still knew that gold, frankincense and myrrh actually signified the kind of spiritual goods that are to be offered to God. The star that guided them also has a special significance. It is a sign of the knowledge of inner good and truth from the Lord. This knowledge shows us the way to Him like a "guiding star". [adapted from Secrets of Heaven, #9293]