Heppner Gazette-Times, Heppner, Oregon Wednesday, December 19, 2018 -- FOUR
WISHING EVERYONE
God’s gift to everyone
This time of year, if
you look through the cards
and listen to the carols long
and hard enough, you might
tumble to the fact that, as
much as we love to give
gifts, we’re actually on the
receiving end of the best
gift ever: God Made Flesh,
born to die and rise for us.
God offers this gift to
everyone. Some let it drop
to the ground, unopened.
Some grab hold of it with
both hands, but then mis-
place it among the presents
under the tree, or simply
lose track of it amid the
distractions and demands of
an ordinary day. But there
are some who let that Best
Gift Ever work in them and
on them and transform them
into more compassionate
people, more patient, more
loving, more at peace, more
like Jesus.
Look for them. Learn
from them. Be one of them.
They too are imperfect,
and yet perfectly loved and
forgiven by the Giver of all
good gifts, the One we often
sing about with our First
Friday Friends of Jesus:
“Alpha, Omega, Beginning
and End . . . Savior, Messi-
ah, Redeemer and Friend.”
May Jesus, the best of
all gifts, be your Prince of
Peace not just for a season,
but for a lifetime.
Rev. Katy Anderson
Hopeful Saints
Ministry
All Saints Episcopal
and Hope Lutheran
GOOD
SAMARITAN
148 W Willow St,
Heppner, OR 97836
10am-5pm Mon-Thurs
Ch r is t ma s Me s s a g e s
Best gift ever
When I was a child,
the best gift I ever got for
Christmas was Ft. Apache
– a plastic cavalry fort
with plastic walls, a plastic
blockhouse on one corner,
plastic horses and plastic
troopers that I could either
put on the walls or jam on
the horses. It beat the heck
out of the sleeping bag I got
the next year and the wrong
sized cotton shirts I got
every year from Grandma.
Best gift ever….
Until I became a par-
ent. For a lot of years, the
best gift of Christmas was
having the kids around the
tree, just being family. As
a kid I hated the annual
Christmas family photo
shoot, but when my kids
were growing up I loved it.
Oh, the neckties and the 142
piece socket wrench sets
were nice, but it was just
being together that made
the season special.
Now, with the kids rais-
ing their own families and
scattered here and there,
the power of the Christmas
(541) 410-5890 season is, for me, found in
being part of a community
of care and love and grace
– a community that seems
THE 2017 MORROW
COUNTY FAIR
AUGUST 12-18, 2019
to come together each year
about this time. It is the
singing of carols together.
It is the giving trees and
the community outreach
that tug at our hearts every
Christmas. It is holding
candles – real or electric
– on Christmas Eve and
singing “Silent Night”.
It is love. Familial,
community, spiritual, faith-
based love that always
seems to find its voice at
Christmas – more so than
at any other time during
the year.
Each year, the faces
that gather around the tree
change a bit. Some are now
long gone; some are still
such recent losses that our
hearts ache as we look at the
seats they used to fill. All
are at least one year older
as the seasons change for
each of us as well. Family
changes, over time.
But the love, the Spirit
of Christmas, holds fast
to our hearts. And that is
the best Christmas gift of
all….better, even, than Ft.
Apache.
Rev. Jim Monroe
Heppner United
Methodist Church
Who Is This Baby
Boy?
If we look to the Bible
to find out who this boy
messiah is, there is only
one answer. Isaiah 9:6 talks
about this boy messiah
hundreds of years before
his birth by saying, “For
unto us a child is born, unto
us a son is given: and the
government shall be upon
his shoulder: and his name
shall be called Wonderful,
Counsellor, The mighty
God, The everlasting Fa-
ther, The Prince of Peace.”
Notice some of the
names given to this boy
messiah:
“Counsellor,” the same
name given to the Holy
Spirit, Comforter/Counsel-
or (see John 16:7).
“The mighty God,”
because this boy was God
Himself in the flesh (see
John 1:1 and John 1:14).
“The everlasting Fa-
ther,” because when you
have seen Him, you have
seen the Father (see John
14:8, 9 and John 10:30).
The Bible says in Co-
lossians 2:9, “For in Him
dwells all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily.” The
Bible appears to be saying
in this text that in this baby
boy resides all three persons
of the Godhead: The Father,
the Son and the Holy Spirit.
God is one (see Deu-
teronomy 6:4 and Mark
12:29). So who is this baby
boy? This baby boy is none
other than the fullness of
the Godhead wrapped up in
Jesus Christ, the Saviour of
the world and the Messiah
to come. Amazing!
Pastor Dean Lifshay
Heppner Seventh-Day
Adventist Church
Merry ChrisTMas
w ishing
you a safe
and happy
holiday
season !
T hank
M orrow
C ounTy
s heriff ' s
o ffiCe
you for
your
supporT !
OTPR AUGUST
17 & 18, 2019
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MOCO RODEO
AUGUST 19, 2019
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M erry C hristMas
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