As 2017 comes to a close I want to remind you to make reasonable resolutions for the New Year.  There's no point making impossible ones and being disappointed by January 3rd or February 3rd or even March 3rd.  Although, reaching into the first week of March before lapsing back into normality might be quite an accomplishment for some.  I can reasonably assume few of you, if any, know Richard Trentlage.  Or Jim Delligatti, for that matter.  Both of them died back in 2016.  Trentlage was 87.  Delligatti was 98.  Not knowing them didn't mean you weren't familiar with their contributions to American culture.  Trentlage wrote the Oscar Mayer theme "Oh, I'd love to be an Oscar Mayer wiener..."  A contest in 1963 was to select a new commercial theme for the company.  His two kids were home from school the day he composed that ditty and they sang the lyrics.  It was a hit, and as they say, the rest is history.  Delligatti was a McDonald's franchisee.  He eventually owned over thirty restaurants.  You know him as the inventor of the Big Mac.  That was 1965 and fast food cuisine was changed forever.  He didn't make a dime on the sandwich from the company; only on the profits selling them to customers.  I mention these two men to remind us our lives are touched by anonymous people every day.  There are familiar things in our lives we take for granted.   We might be that kind of person some day.  Perhaps, already.  You never know.  Anonymity doesn't imply insignificance.  It's reason for us to be kind to others.  And not just at the end of the year when we're making resolution to be better people in the coming year.  

Well, the moment wasn't quite "as a sheep before her shearers is dumb."  If you know what I mean.  The Ponytail Cutting went off without a drop of blood being spilled.  And for that, I am quite thankful.  However, I am far more thankful for the $770 raised to date for Tom Stiver's mission trip to Costa Rica.  Not quite one third of the necessary funds are in hand.  We have a couple more ideas in mind to add significantly to that amount.  We are sending Tom; but we're all going.  We have an emissary who will haul bricks and hammer nails and raise a roof or two; but our presence by prayer and conviction will be joining him in his every act of building.  Our Calvary congregation will be making a difference in this generation for many generations to come.  I'm proud to be your pastor for events like this.  In 2018 we will be making new decisions about how we will be faithful in and to our neighborhoods.  It will be an exciting time for renewal and revival. 

At last!  The Ponytail experience is coming to an end.  I don't remember when I last had my hair cut.  I was on vacation.  When Monday came and I was back in the office I had seven or eight weeks of "growth" and I decided I was letting my hair grow.  I decided to have a ponytail.  At my age, what could it hurt?  Good thing my dad isn't alive.  He'd vote against it.  Well, let's be honest.  He'd hire a barber with some brawn and before you know it, the long curly locks of gray would be on the floor.  Alas, he's not here and the gray locks will fall to the floor of the church parlor this Sunday.  This shearing of the pastor's ponytail has become a fundraiser for Tom Stiver's 2018 mission trip to Costa Rica.  He needs to raise $2,300, or thereabouts.  So far, he's just over $500.  We have a ways to go.  I say we and I mean the Calvary congregation.  While Tom is the one who goes, he does not go alone.  He goes as our ambassador.  He goes with our prayers and good wishes and in our name.  He and many, many others will be building dormitories for girls.  These girls will be receiving an education that might otherwise be beyond their grasp; save that they have a place to live while away from home.  The Church does many things which fulfill the Gospel.  Tom's trip is one of them.  Our part is to support him and the others who go so the girls will grow in wisdom and stature and knowledge.  We believe this mission trip will create ripples across time and the gift of it will be incalculable.  If you haven't donated to this mission trip, consider it.  All who make a donation (even this Sunday) will be permitted to take a snip at the ponytail.  Just be careful.  Very, very careful.  I'd like to lose the locks AND keep my head.

Advent is upon us and we wait.  God has made promises to Israel and she keeps watch for them to come to pass.  She left Babylon around 520 BC after being in captivity for more than seventy years.  As she left, she carried with her the hope of a Messiah who could come to restore her former glory.  Kings David and Solomon reigned when Israel was strong.  Enemies were either defeated or kept safely at bay.  After the temple and the division of the nation after Solomon's death, Israel's decline was steady and profound.  Being driven off to Babylon was traumatic.  Her hope was no longer found in the promised land or the priesthood or even in the temple.  It came to be found in her hope God would return and restore all her glory.  The season of Advent provides a time for the Church to take notice of Israel's waiting and watching.  We become expectant partners with her.  We look for the Messiah and the Gospel he preaches.  And we keep this in mind.  The Gospel is not only a story about angels and shepherds and gifts brought by Magi.   It's yet one more promise from God to assure Israel and the Church and all of creation that God's divine fidelity is steadfast and everlasting.  In this world and in this generation I can think of no grander promise.  May God bless us all as we wait and watch.