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<DIV><FONT size=4>...a Christmas drama. The play is entitled, WAITING FOR THE
CHRISTMAS GUEST, by Edwin Markham.<SPAN style="mso-spacerun: yes">
</SPAN>In this Christmas play, there is an old shoe cobbler by the name of
Conrad and his wife, Martha. In his dream, Conrad the cobbler, had a vision that
he was going to be visited by Jesus himself before Christmas day. Conrad the
cobbler believed his vision/dream and Conrad was waiting for his special
Christmas guest to arrive. This special Christmas guest was to be none other
than the Lord Jesus Christ himself coming on Christmas Eve. And Martha, his
wife, had prepared a gorgeous Tom Turkey banquet for his expected guest, Jesus
himself. But Jesus didn’t show up that night.<?XML:NAMESPACE PREFIX = O /><O:P>
</O:P></FONT>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>Instead of
Jesus, the first person so show up on the doorsteps of the cottage was a bum, a
homeless person, a castaway who wandered into Conrad and Martha’s home that
Christmas Eve. Shortly, this homeless person found himself eating a portion of
the feast that Martha had prepared for the anticipated special guest. The
homeless man also received a set of shoes from Conrad the cobbler. The homeless
man left the cottage with a full stomach and a pair of new shoes on his
wrapped-in-rags feet but Conrad was still waiting for his special Christmas
guest to arrive at his front door steps.<O:P> </O:P></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>Next, a little
old lady rapped on the door of Conrad and Martha’s cottage. She had been evicted
from her home and was lost as she was trying to find the way to her son’s home.
After wandering around the streets of the village, the little old lady found the
front door steps to the cottage of Conrad and Martha. Soon, the recently evicted
widow was eating a portion of the banquet which had been prepared for Jesus
himself and she was sipping on a cup of warm tea that Martha had specially
prepared. Before you knew it, Conrad was taking this little old evicted lady by
the hand and leading her to find her son’s house.<O:P> </O:P></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>Next, Conrad
the cobbler found a little boy who was lost as he was trying to find a baker
that Christmas Eve. All the bakeries were closed that Christmas Eve. Conrad took
the little lost boy home to his cottage and fed him some of the feast that
Martha had prepared for the phantom Christ who was not appearing as Conrad had
thought he would. They gave cookies and milk to the little boy. They discovered
that the little boy’s father had recently died and the little boy belonged to
the Widow Schultz. Martha herself took the lost little boy home that night with
a loaf of Martha’s freshly baked bread, and Conrad was left all alone in his
cottage.<O:P> </O:P></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>All alone,
Conrad the cobbler was wondering out loud why Jesus the Christ hadn’t come to
his house that night. Conrad was <I>so sure</I> that Jesus would show up that
Christmas Eve for the banquet that Martha had prepared for him. Conrad was
mumbling to himself that night when he finally said, “Jesus, why didn’t
<I>you</I> come to our cottage tonight? Why didn’t <I>you</I> come, Lord?
Humm.”<O:P> </O:P></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>Or maybe he
did. Maybe Christ had come three times.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_be_alert_and_ready_for_action.htm">http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_be_alert_and_ready_for_action.htm</A></FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>Edward F.
Markquart<BR>- - - - -</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=4>Jesus does not say sell "all" your possessions or demand poverty
on all his followers. He does, however, point them to the true source of real
wealth so that they can be free for the wealth that God can give. They will need
to be free from "stuff" in order to know the inner gift of peace which is
<EM>spiritually</EM> based. The follower of Jesus must be free from his or her
worldly possessions. Possessions are gifts <EM>from</EM> God to be used for the
purposes <EM>of</EM> God -- including sharing what we have with those who have
not.</FONT></P>
<P style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4><A
href="http://www.lectionarysermons.com/a998.html">http://www.lectionarysermons.com/a998.html</A></FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>John Jewell,
1998</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>- - - -
-</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT
size=4></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>I had the
opportunity to spend over a year in Japan as the Assistant Pastor at Tokyo Union
Church, and since I'm a Japanese-American person with a face that looks very
Japanese, I could be a spy there. I could blend in. I could sneak up next to
people conversing in Japanese. Even more I could sneak up next to Americans
speaking in English, and I could eavesdrop on their conversation. It was a great
year, full of adventure. And one Saturday afternoon, as the naive Californian
that I am, I took off on a bike ride. I was wearing short pants, and I didn't
have my passport. Riding around in a maze that is Tokyo, I got lost. Lost on my
bicycle--lost with no identification. But I could speak enough Japanese to get
around and so at the _____ police box at the _____ station, I stopped in to talk
with the officer. He was friendly enough for a while. I told him where I was
trying to go, and he tried to give me instructions and I said, "I tried that and
I got stuck. I keep ending up here." So he said, "Come on in and look at this
map." I looked at the map on his wall and came in his box and soon I hit the end
of my Japanese ability. I was stuck. At that point, he cocked his head to the
side and looked at me and asked me (in Japanese), "Are you Japanese?"</FONT>
<P><FONT size=4>Now so far, this entire conversation happened in Japanese. And I
was doing okay. But now the question-"Are you Japanese?"-and I'm thinking,
"Alright, home boy, here we go! I'm kinda Japanese." And I say ( in Japanese),
"I'm a Japanese-American, third generation." And with a steely gaze, he thrust
his hand in my face and said, "Passporta." I didn't have my passport. And he
began to threaten me and berate me, threatening me with deportation, taking me
straight to the airport. Don't ever do this again, and I bowed and I shamed
myself, and I apologized and I backed out of that police box and I made my way
home.</FONT></P></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=4>Telling this story to a friend after I'd returned to the
United States, he remarked, laughing at me, "Yamiguchi, you don't belong
anywhere. You don't belong in Japan. People hassle you here." And then we both
paused and said together in unison, "Except in the Kingdom of God. That's where
we belong."</FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4></FONT></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4><FONT
size=4><A
href="http://day1.org/610-home_where_i_belong">http://day1.org/610-home_where_i_belong</A></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent> </DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>Steve
Yamaguchi, 2001 </FONT></DIV>
<DIV style="MARGIN-LEFT: 0in" class=MsoBodyTextIndent><FONT size=4>- - - -
-</FONT></DIV>
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