Organizations

Present:  Eve Webster, Jessica Peterson, Barbara Wilson, Janet Petri, Marcia Walters, Ann Ness, Karen Gervais, Allene Moesler, Clare Muffly.

President Eve Webster called the meeting to order at 6:30 PM.   Janet Petri took minutes, as Helene Haapala was not able to attend.

Karen Gervais presented ideas regarding a health care forum she is organizing.  The board discussed ways for LWV to participate, co-sponsors, etc.  The topic is  “Our Health Care Future.” The date will be April 18.  The speakers are Anne Neale and Michael  Culliton (sp?) Karen said that the forum would benefit from assistance with publicity and from a connection to LWVMN.

Eve  suggested that Jan Malcolm, director of Courage Center, is also a good speaker on the topic of health care.  The board discussed possibly having Ms. Malcolm at a League salon or in some other venue.  Karen has the presentation on DVD.

Action: Board members will look at and review the presentation on line, in order to discuss this program in more detail at January board meeting.  The website is:
ourhealthcarefuture.org

Barbara Wilson presented the treasurer’s report:
1. We are anticipating return on funds from voter educaton.  LWVMN wants to see every receipt for every expense.  We get reimbursement for these itemized and documented expenses only.  Ann Ness is working to get this together.  We will not lose anything.
2. We have two more PMP checks to go.  This will amount to $1060.
Allene Moesler moved to accept the treasurer’s report for filing, and Jessica Peterson seconded.  The motion was approved.

Eve Webster reviewed member recommendations from 08-09 from the program planning meeting. We have accomplished a lot of it, and more is in process.  She will include this review in the E-Catalyst communication with members.

Fundraiser: Jessica Peterson and Marcia Walters proposed sending out a fundraising letter this month to members and friends of League.  This was enthusiastically received.
Action:  Marcia and Jessica will send out a fund raising letter to members and lapsed members before the end of the month.  They will come up with a plan for further fundraising and present it at the January meeting.

2009 Calendar: The board went through the calendar laid out most of the schedule for the rest of the year. Board meetings will be on first Tuesdays.
January: no Salon; Jan. 24: program planning.  February 13: appreciation party for elected officials, in lieu of salon.  Feb. 21 or 28: Roberts Rules of Order Education Event. March 10: League Salon, health care, Janet Malcolm DVD? Education event (Diane Cirksena) – no date determined.  April 18: health care forum.  There was considerable discussion of a possible date for the annual meeting.  The annual meeting would not work on April 18.  Is April 4 too early?  Could Janet Malcolm be a speaker?  LWV bylaws constrain the timing of the annual meeting.

Janet Petri presented the membership report. The official tally is 117.  Board members are continuing to work on getting people to renew.

Clare Muffly presented a report on her student internship.  She will be overseas next term.  She suggested more targeted recruiting of students next time.
Clare will contact Nate Jacobi regarding recruiting the next intern, and also will contact Dan Hoffrenning and Dr. Fure-Slocum (Poli sci and American Studies Departments) to get information out for recruiting the next intern.

Allene Moesler reported on Cannon Falls events.  The Walkabout got good coverage from the newspaper in CF.  The big crisis is membership.  She will brainstorm with other CF members.  Three or four people have expressed interest.  They would like to tie in a membership appeal with some of our events - Jan Malcolm, or Robert’s Rules of Order, for instance.  They need to get some events going in CF.  They could replicate the Salon, for instance.  Allene thanked those from Northfield who came to the Walkabout.

COMMUNICATIONS: The committee met. (Marcia, Pat, Eve, Catherine). Got good comments about e-Catalyst.
Board members are asked to keep an eye out for good articles from reputable sources on the topics that are coming up (health, education) to put on the website.
Think of other groups we can partner with.

UNFINISHED BUSINESS:
Bonnie Jean Flom has agreed to be on the board as an at-large person.  Ann Ness moved that she be nominated to replace Summa. Marcia seconded.  It was approved.

Thank you and good-bye to Clare Muffly.

The meeting was adjourned at 8:50.

Respectfully submitted,
Janet Petri, acting as secretary

Gospel, Mark 1:7-11  All three persons of the Trinity are present here. The Father speaks directly to Jesus (in Matthew’s gospel the voice speaks to the other people present saying “THIS is my beloved Son”). The Spirit does not depart (although perhaps no longer visible), for the next verse tell us that “at once the Spirit drove him out into the desert”. The descent of the Spirit, then, was not merely symbolic but empowering. But wasn’t the Spirit already with Jesus? Consider for a moment the text of Philippians 2:6-7. When the Son of God became man, he set aside all the divine gifts and attributes while retaining the divine identity. As a child he had to learn to walk and to speak. He had to study and learn to read and write as did other children. He “grew in wisdom” (Luke 2:52). He had to pray, even during the years of his public ministry, to discern the Father’s will. It seems that, having taken on human nature, the Son of God as Jesus only received from the Father what he needed at each moment to complete his mission…no more, no less. Some theologians believe that Jesus only became aware of his identity at the moment of his baptism (not that he received divinity at the time…merely became aware of it). Regardless of when Jesus became aware of his divine identity, the baptismal moment gave him both clarity and power for what lay ahead.

Reading II, Acts 10:24-28  Cornelius is described in Acts 10:2 as “God-fearing”. This term referred to Gentiles who associated with Jewish people, accepting many of their beliefs and joining in synagogue prayer but had not actually become Jewish by circumcision. Cornelius’ entire family were God-fearing, and joined the Jewish people in prayer and was generous in giving alms to the Jewish community. He was a Roman centurion at Caesarea, a beautiful city constructed by King Herod on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea with the largest man-made harbor in the world at the time. During the ministry of Jesus, the main Roman garrison in the region was stationed there. Paul sailed there at the end of his second and third missionary journeys and later spent two years imprisoned there awaiting trial. Cornelius was told in a vision to send for Peter who was at Joppa about 35 miles south along the Mediterranean coast. Although Cornelius was God-fearing, he was still considered a Gentile, and Jews were not permitted to enter a Gentile home. Just prior to the arrival of the delegation from Cornelius, Peter had received a vision telling him not to consider anything unclean that God has made clean. He realized that the vision was meant for him to enter Cornelius’ house. While he was speaking, they received the Holy Spirit, reason for Peter to baptize them…an act which he would have to defend before the more conservative disciples of Christ who considered the new way to be a branch of the Jewish faith and bound to the full Mosaic law. Peter’s baptism of God-fearers opened the door for Paul to do the same on his missionary journeys.

Well, we have some unfinished business that is about to be finished, we have new business to consider and we want to start the New Year off right, so … let’s enjoy good company and good conversation at the first Politics and a Pint of 2009!

Unfinished business … all is well that ends well. In 2000, candidate George Bush was elected by the narrowest of margins. Although his victory was confirmed in the 2004 election, many of the opposition spent the entire eight years of his tenure complaining bitterly about how the election was stolen by the Supreme Court and other methods.  At the time, I argued that the losers wanted to change the rules while the winners wanted to follow the rules.  I argued that following the rules and confirming that we were a nation of laws was more important than the actual outcome, though I confess at the time I supported the outcome. For the last eight years we have been treated to a never-ending series of subtle and not-so-subtle passive aggressive actions, epitomized by the bumper sticker that claims “He’s not MY president“.

Now we are reaching the end of a similar situation in Minnesota, as we find ourselves about to declare Franken the winner of the 2008 election even though a good analysis of the votes would conclude that Coleman probably won. Why probably? A statistical argument would note that Coleman’s 200+ vote lead in the original mathine count, with its lower error rate, was a better predictor of the true wishes of the people. A political argument would be that the state is almost perfectly divided between Democrats and Republicans and that the best representation would be to have one Senator from each party (ha, as if politicians care about fairness). But the answer we must live with, just as in 2000, is that the process, which calls for a mandatory recount, a mandatory recount with its higher error rate which is therefore more likely to pick the wrong winner, that mandatory recount must rule the day by rule of law. Fetch me my “He’s not MY senator” bumper sticker!

The fact that we have a flawed method for identifying and settling elections (the law states that in the event of a tie, choice will be made by choosing lots (i.e., randomly)) does not permit us to throw away the laws just because we do not agree with the outcome. We should instead work to change the laws. But what are the chances we could agree on a statistically correct answer? Given the sad (but improving) state of public education I think we are doomed to a future that lives in the past, and we will just have to hope we do not see this again.  In a political environment that is more about “beauty contests” than ideas we will continue to see the parties attempting to divide the middle without alienating their extremes. A perfect recipe for close elections. Fasten your seat belts, we are in for a rock ride.

Local new business. Sibley School needs to be expanded. Government’s all over the country have seen the writing on the wall … and it says the trough of public funding is about to be filled with easy money (federal script) to fund infrastructure projects.  Local governments are scrambling to get their favorite projects “shovel-ready” so when the opening bell rings they are in line to get theirs. Northfield is going to joint the rush by having planning in the works for an expansion to Sibley school.  Is such a plan justifiable when we believe

• big-box schools are contributing more to the problem than they are delivering by economies of scale?
• the downturn in the economy may lead to laying off some teachers, which will mean empty classrooms in the building we already have.

Or do we just want to “get ours” at the expense of needier locations?

Feisty but polite, we’ll talk about these and other topics at the next Politics and a Pint!

Details:

What: Politics and a Pint
Where: Contented Cow in Northfield
Date: 4 Jan 2009
Time: 6-7:30PM

Jane McWilliams, LWV Observer
The council met in an all day session to build mutual expectations and processes for their work together during the coming year. Northfield resident Hans Muessig, a consultant specializing in organizational effectiveness and change management, facilitated the discussion. Participating were Mayor-elect Mary Rossing; incumbent councilors Rhonda Pownell, Jon Denison, Jim Pokorney and Kris Vohs; Councilors-elect Erica Zweifel and Betsey Buckheit. Interim City Administrator Joel Walinski also participated. Participants introduced themselves, told about their hopes for the session and then broke into 2 groups to talk about and rank the issues they wanted to discuss today.

From the small group discussions, several themes emerged: the need to clarify the council’s decision-making process and the need to agree on the respective roles of the council, staff, boards and commissions and the public.

Muessig led the group in the formation of steps for making decisions. This was driven in part by the elements generated in the small groups and to a large degree from the experiences and views of seated city council members, Jim Pokorney and Kris Vohs. Information from professionals (staff) and from advisory groups, consideration of principles and policies (Comprehensive Plan, for instance), a timeline for decisions and an evaluation process were cited as necessary components of decision-making. Buckheit noted that while the council should work for agreement, split decisions may not always reflect failure of the process, but could be a reflection of community values. Buckheit, Pownell, Denison and Walinski using the results of this process will present a recommendation for the council’s decision-making process to the council for consideration at the council’s first meeting in February.

There was an extensive discussion about the best use of public input. Pokorney said he hears only from people who live 3 blocks from the problem at hand, and not the entire community. Zweifel announced she would hold quarterly meetings in various parts of the ward. Rossing reported that the staff is looking at redesigning the former mayor’s office into a space to meet with constituents. Zeifel, Pokorney and Vohs will present proposals for public engagement opportunities, such as ward meetings, and town meetings and will report to the council by the end of the month.

The appropriate use of advisory groups was of concern to the council. Rossing said she had sent a letter to all boards and commissions asking for their goals for the year so that the council can give them direction. Vohs stated he doesn’t think the boards and commissions are representative of the community. Denison added that this is a new era, that some people had formerly been afraid to apply and that the council must communicate that every application will be given equal weight – that new ideas are desired. Pownell and Buckheit will study the roles, make-up, staffing and schedules of these bodies and report to the council in early February. Changes under consideration are whether some groups might be eliminated, or meet less frequently. Rossing wondered whether the council would have the political will to make hard decisions on who is approved and which boards and commissions to keep. Muessig suggested that given the character of Northfield where there is high interest in civic affairs, the council think carefully how to take advantage of the communities’ desires. He said that if “you get this stuff right, all will go well: if the priorities are clear, most of the decisions will be pretty straight forward. The challenge is public engagement. Citizens are in some ways your customers. Don’t feel frustrated or overwhelmed.”

The council’s six-hour session was amicable and frank, and while Muessig facilitated the early brainstorming portion of the day, much of the later discussion was rather unstructured, touching on concern about the Capital Improvement Plan, how the Comprehensive Land Use Plan should drive decisions, and how to efficiently manage their meetings. Muessig applauded the group for their work and said he will summarize the evaluation forms he distributed, transcribe the sheets of notes they created, and offer some thoughts about the day and how to “operationalize” the results of the discussion. These will be distributed at Monday’s council meeting. It should be noted that there was a brand new copy of Robert’s Rules of Order at each council members’ place at the table. No reference was made to this handy tool.

Kiffi Summa, LWV Observer

The meeting was called to order just moments before 5 PM, by Mayor Lansing. All members present, except for C. Arnie Nelson.

There was only 1 item on the agenda:  “Consider amending the 2008 General Fund Budget  for the Governor’s un-allotment of $355,263  in the December 2008  Local Government Aid payment.   Resolution 2008 - 157″

There were no public comments.

Finance Director Kathleen McBride explained that the sudden loss of $355,263 in state aid was the result of Governor Pawlenty’s decision to use his un-allotment authority  to help balance the State’s current year budget which ends on June 30th of next year. With the aid cut coming just before the close of the City’s fiscal year, considering any type of expenditure reduction would be out of the question. She felt the only choice was to appropriate a designated fund balance to offset the loss of aid.
The City Council approved a new fund designation in 2007 at the recommendation of the City’s auditors. There are several designations provided for in this new policy, one of which is Revenue Stabilization. The amount in the fund designated for that purpose was $722,750;  the actual amount appropriated from this fund balance was $308,801, since the December 15th budget amendment showed a small surplus of $46,462.

VOTE: All Aye

Meeting Adjourned at  5:04:30  PM.

Please click on the January 2009 Chronicle for church news and interesting events happening at First UCC this month!

The Northfield Downtown Development Corporation (NDDC) will seek stakeholder feedback on their 2009 Work Plan at their January Downtown Forum.

The event is scheduled for Tuesday, January 6th at 8 a.m. in the Riverview Conference Room, located in the lower level of The Archer House, 212 Division Street, in downtown Northfield. Everyone interested in the economic and cultural vitality of downtown is encouraged to attend.

The NDDC was created in 1999 by a handful of concerned citizens to bring people together to work for a vibrant and vital downtown. The organization has grown considerably through the years, thanks to the generous community contributions of time, money, and ideas.

The “Founding Fathers” organized the NDDC based on the Main Street Four Point Program developed by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The group’s work plans, generated at their November Board Meeting and approved at their December Board Meeting, remain faithful to this approach.

Please join the NDDC Board Members next Tuesday to discuss the Work Plans for 2009.

The NDDC is a non-partisan, non-profit community organization dedicated to the vitality of downtown Northfield. The event is free and open to the public. As always, coffee and cookies will be served.

For more information, contact Executive Director Ross Currier at (507) 663-0319 or rcurrier@nddc.org.

At their December meeting, the NDDC Board outlined the organization’s Work Plans for 2009. Moving clockwise and starting from the left are: Mark Quinnell, Leanne Stremcha, Anastasia Balfany, Dave Shumway, Joe Grundhoefer, Mary Rossing, Keith Covey, Dan Bergeson, Rob Schanilec, Greg Kneser, Robert Bierman, and Jessica Paxton.

As is the NDDC’s on-going practice, the projects and programs are organized by the Four Points of the Main Street approach created in 1977 by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The Board envisions a vigorous start for 2009. The final draft of the Work Plans is presented below:

ORGANIZING:

(Board and Executive Committee)

• Re-establish a finance committee.

• Each board member should take on at least one project.

• Need administrative help for executive director in critical areas.

• Two meetings per year with Boards of Economic Development Partners

• Hold six forums and four Block Head meetings in ‘09.

• Conduct Twelve Board Visits to Businesses in ‘09.

(PR and Communication Committee)

• Increase regular communication with partners and stakeholders

• Finish update of integrated database of partners, stakeholders, and downtown businesses.

• Begin assembling and analyzing baseline market data

• Ship Beta-Stage Retail Index Reference Project in ‘09.

PROMOTING:

(Events and Marketing Committee)

• Continue our sponsored promotions, cooperate with other organizations’ promotions and support collaborative efforts of retailers.

• Make progress on a “Virtual Division Street” program.

• Determine use for the new-resident data we get from Welcome Services for You.

• Hold Annual Meeting in ‘09.

DESIGNING:

(Design and Planning Committee)

• Transition from current parking task force into standing committee.

• Advocate for continuing the Streetscape improvement program and a more active downtown maintenance program.

• Revive effort for Newspaper Corrals: Revive this effort. Note: We will need an ordinance requiring all distribution boxes to be located only in corrals.

• Continue advocating for public toilets downtown.

• Promote, support, collaborate in, and contribute to erecting a permanent, changeable copy sign at 5th and Hwy 3 in Ames Park.

(Arts and Culture Committee)

• Serve as Organizational Entity for Sixth Annual ArtSwirl

• Research and Plan, through Task Force, a new Art Fest, possibly for 2010

• Work Collaboratively to Achieve an Intentional and Publicized Calendar for Gallery Crawls

RESTRUCTURING:

(ER Team)

• Revisit outside dining ordinance; it sunsets in ‘09 and will have to be readopted.

• Continue working on property tax reductions.

• Continue working (collaboratively) on In-Fill and Redevelopment Initiative.

• Turbo-Charge efforts on Retention, Recruitment, Restructuring.

• Continue working toward NDDC participation in a high priority development project.

The Skateboard Coalition still has numerous skateboards for sale of which the proceeds are to be used to recover the costs for their Christmas Sharing donation. Many of theses artistic boards were sold to purchase 16 brand new skateboards to the United Christmas Sharing program, run by the Northfield Community Action Center. The Christmas Sharing program provides holiday gifts to local youth from families who are struggling financially. We have NUMEROUS boards waiting to be hung on your wall. The boards are as follows:

If you would like to make a purchase of one of the boards, please contact Zach Pruitt at Healthy Community Initiative at 507.664.3524. Prices are below.

The first thumbnail of the giant mouth (#1 if you can read sideways) is $50 or best offer. The second and third thumbnail of the top row (skateboard #2) can be purchased for $100 or best offer. This is a front and back. Thumbnail four on the top row (skateboard #3) can be purchased for $80 or best offer. Row two of thumbnails shows a front, a back, and a closeup (skateboard #4) of the “gasmask” skateboard. This can be purchased for $60 or best offer. The first two thumbnails in the bottom row (skateboard #5) show the “woman in grip tape” skateboard. This can be purchased for $50 or best offer. The last thumbnails in the bottom row are of the “representative journalism” skateboard which can be purchased for $35 or best offer. Once again, please call 507.664.3524 if you would like to make a puchase.

Bulletin for January 4, 2009

January is the perfect time of year for a new lease on life - Let us support your Health Resolutions!

Our Hours are expanded in January to include longer evening hours, lunch hours (Mon & Wed) and Sunday night hours.  We’re working to provide hours just when you have those precious few minutes to get your daily exercise in.   We have child care (free for members and only $3 for 2 hours for nonmembers) available too!

We’ve also added Beginning Zumba and several Turbo Kick classes - there’s something for everyone.  Try one of our classes and feel the changes quick!

Winter youth classes begin soon - members receive these classes free - though nonmembers can join for a very low rate as well!  Get your kids moving for healthy bodies as well!

For more information - check out our website at www.northfieldymca.org.

2008 will see a significant increase in activity in the following food and agriculture work areas at the Rural Enterprise Center:

- Poultry Operation: We will expand the growers network for our Southern Minnesota free range chicken brand “Pollo de Campo” (Free Range Chicken).
- The Northfield community garden will expand to 100 plots to include up to 75 families
- We will support the development of a community garden in Red Wing and the Morristown area west of Faribault.
- New market gardeners will be launched
- A regional new Latino farmers support system will be deployed to serve new areas where Latino/a leadership is found.

We look forward to engaging our existing partners and to finding new partners and networks of supporters to connect with.

Gospel, Matthew 2:1-12

King Herod ruled as King of Judah from 37 to his death in 4 B.C. Tyrannical and suspicious to the point of paranoia, he had all actual and presumed opposition eliminated including his wife and several other members of his own family. He built fortresses (including Herodium and Masada) around the country as places he could escape in case of a popular uprising. I have read that he had a list drawn up naming those most popular in every town and city of Judah with a standing order that they be killed in case of his own death…a unique sort of life insurance policy. His soldiers, however, refused to carry out the order when he did die. Such a person would be capable of commandeering soldiers to kill babies in Bethlehem on the possibility of one being a future king. No wonder both he and the people of Jerusalem, for different reasons, were troubled at the news brought by the Magi.

Placing Jesus’ birth a couple years prior to the death of Herod (the family was living in Egypt when they heard of Herod’s death) would put the birth of Jesus around 6 B.C. which aligns well with the appearance of the star. When the monk Dionysius Exiguus was commissioned by the pope in 525 A. D. to figure out the year Jesus was born and renumber all years accordingly, he was off by those six years…not bad given the information he had to work with.

Reading 1, Isaiah 60:1-6

  The Midianites were a nomadic group that originally lived in the Sinai desert. Ephah was a branch of the Midianite tribe. When Moses fled from Egypt after killing an Egyptian overseer of Jewish slaves, he found shelter with the Midianite chieftain Jethro and eventually married his daughter Zipporah (Ex. 2:15-23; 4:18-23). Centuries later when the Israelites had settled in the Promised Land, Midianites would raid Israelite camps and villages on their camels and make off with grain and sheep. Being adept with camels and life on the move, many Midianites became merchants, transporting goods from far-away lands on their camels. Sheba, located in the SW of the Arabian Peninsula, became prosperous as a port for international trade. The use of frankincense was restricted to liturgical uses among the Jews. It is the resin of a variety of rather scraggly desert trees found in the southern area of the Arabian peninsula. The imagery is of a renewed Jerusalem, prosperous as a center of trade and renowned far and wide, with the brilliance of a sunny day following the cold cloudy season.

Reading II, Ephesians 3:2-3a, 5-6  The word “Gentiles” means “the peoples” and referred to all who were not of the Jewish race or religion. Such people were allowed to enter the Temple of Jerusalem (the first large area on entering the Temple was called the Court of the Gentiles) and could join the Jewish religion as full members through circumcision or as associates or “God-fearing” members who, short of circumcision, shared beliefs and could attend the synagogue services. This latter group was rather numerous in the areas Paul visited on his missionary journeys and comprised a high percentage of those who became baptized Christians. Paul carried their cause to the Council of Jerusalem (c. 46 A.D.) which determined that they could be full members of the Christian community without need to be circumcised and follow the details of the Mosaic law.

The NDDC Board spent a good portion of their time at the November and December meetings reviewing 2008 Accomplishments, discussing potential Work Plans, and prioritizing Action Steps for 2009. As always, the accomplishments and actions were organized by the Main Street Four Points.

The November meeting focused on a critical review of the Accomplishments and an unconstrained consideration of Work Plans. The December meeting was a progression to greater specificity and emphasize on the Top Priorities for the upcoming year.

The accomplishments discussed in November included:

ORGANIZING -

Operated with two new committees: Events and Marketing & Communications/PR

Continued to Produce Quarterly Block Head Gatherings and Monthly Forums

Conducted Stakeholder, Councilor, Police Chief Meetings on Quality of Life Issues

Set-up Downtown Business Networking Tool (with NEC and CBBC)

Produced First Ever Annual Partnership Celebration

PROMOTING -

Gave birth to Patty Cash, Downtown’s Bovine Mascot

Produced or Supported Girls Nite Out, June Bug, Taste of Northfield, ArtSwirl, Fall Fest

Established On-going Partnering with CVB and Northfield Historical Society

Continued Popular Welcome Students and Family Weekend Campaigns

Installed 2nd Historic Northfield Sign on Highway 35 (funded by the CVB)

DESIGNING -

Partnered with Northfield In Bloom

Advocated for Downtown Library Feasibility Study

Continued to Work with City on Banner Program and Spring Cleaning

Celebrated Way-finding Signs Installation, “Harvest” Sculpture Placement

Created North End Design Committee

RESTRUCTURING -

Continued to Pursue Legislation for Commercial Property Tax Reduction

Conducted Board Visits to New Businesses

Renewed Retention and Recruitment Efforts (with Main Street and LISC)

Created New Partnerships on Business Management Topics (NEC and South Central College)

Initiated In-Fill and Redevelopment Collaboration (with EDA and Chamber)

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We always have a service of Carols and Stories on the Sunday after Christmas.  The stories are mostly from children’s books, but of course children’s books are not just for children.  [The links below are to amazon.com because that is the easier place to get information about these beautiful books — which you can always order from your independent book seller if you prefer!)

We began with The Huron Carol, with beautiful illustrations (by Frances Tyrrell) of this hymn written about 1648 by Father Jean de Brebeuf for the Huron Indians who lived in what is now Ontario, Canada.

The main “sermon” was a retelling of  The Christmas Menorahs (written by Janice Cohn and illustrated by Bill Farnsworth).  This is the story of how the people of Billings, Montana responded to religious vandalism against Jewish families during the holiday season of 1993.  It’s a great story — made even better by the fact that several of the people in the story were members of First Congregational Church in Billings, one of our sister UCC congregations.

And we finished on a lighter note, with A Dozen Silk Diapers, by Melissa Kajpust, illustrated by Veselina Tomova.  Mother spider helps her many children make a suitable gift for the Christ child.