Page 16 THE HERALD OUTLOOK Saturday December IS IBM Advent gives us the courage to live with reality Sunday In Advent thew Mark and Luke focus on the touch with himself and with with reality Third Sunday In Advent John 1928 Dec A QUESTION WHO ARE YOU Who are you is a central question in the Gospel of John It is asked of John the Baptist m to day reading and it is asked of Jesus later on in the Gospel John the writer of the Gospel isn t coy with us He tells us who the Baptist is and who Jesus is In fact John spends the whole Gospel telling us who Jesus is The seven I am statements in the Gospel are one of the ways that he answers the question 1 am the Good Shephrd I am the Way the Truth and the Light At the end of his Gospel John wntes These things are written so that you might believe that Jesus is the Christ the Son of God and that believing you might have life in his name A CITATION FROM AN AUTHORITY According to Rudolph Bultmann the Gospel of John on the person of Christ in a way that none of the other Gospels do The Gospel of Mat thew Mark and Luke focus on the Kingdom of God or on the effected by Christ John focusses on Christ Christ beneath the skin if you like AN INTERESTING SIDELIGHT There were some people in the first century A called who didn believe that Christ was a real man They thought of him as an appearance something like a T V soap opera star John wanted to counter this We have seen him with our eyes and touched him with our hands BACK TO BULTMANN Bultmann says that in Johns Gospel the question addressed to the Baptist and to Christ is also addressed to each of us We are asked Who are you John believes that Christ is so central to our understanding of reality that our view of him will alter our view of ourselves and our view of reality BACK TO THE QUESTION WHO ARE YOU A good question even if posed in a threatening way Anger is a great motivator Religion and Reality By JIM RYAN There s a school of therapy developed by Fritz Perls called Gestalt Therapy which takes the attck approach of the and Levities in today s Gospel They re the ones who want to know who the Baptist is I m sure that the Baptist was as ag his questioning as the agents of the Pharisees Fritz Perls believes that living in the present is the way to be in touch with reality and with oneself An aggressive question directed to a patient can free the patient from roles played the past and enable him to get A season of preparation By THE REV MARGARET MURRAY St John Anglican Church Stewarttown and St Stephen Anglican Church Hornby It is the season of Advent a season of preparation We hustle and bustle about guided in our every move by our lists There s the Christmas card list the gift list the list of get togethers the list of house cleaning and decorating tasks the grocery lists guest lists and who we re expecting and the list goes on In every encounter someone asks if we are ready Of course we re not ready so we tell them which lists are finished and which ones are not We know about all the lists that help us to prepare But what if one of those en counters was with an alien from outer space we were asked to ex plain our strange behaviour What Is it that you are for Well it s kind of a party There is special food special decora and party favours for all But what s the party for Well it a time for family it s a festival of lights in the midst of darkness it a time of singing and laughter sharing and giving it s a time of peace and love That tells me what the party is like But what Is it for It s a birthday party Then who Is It for It for Jesus And what so special about this Jesus Well he was bom in a stable in Bethlehem many years ago and everything in his life he showed us the power of love and forgiveness And so he he guest of honour Well sort of What do you mean sort of You are going to invite him Belfountain candlelight service Belfountain Village Church holds it s annual community candlelight service on Sunday Dec at 30 p All are welcome at the tional event which tells the Christmas story in scripture and song The program includes singing by The Blythwood Carollers a quartet from Baptist Church Toronto and by the Bel fountain Quartet church pastor John Bell his wife Eleanor and church members Glcnda and Glen Soloist for the service music is Jane Adair of Erin The 101 yearold stone church has been decorated with a scene and a giant Christmas tree There will be refreshments and fellowship in the church hall following the candlelight service Located near the junction of Rd and the Forks of the Credit Rd in the Town of Belfountain Village Church is affiliated with the Bap tist Convention of Ontario and Quebec John Bell has been serving as full time pastor since Sept 1 hav ing previously been pastor of two Baptist churches in Chesley and Paisley near Owen Sound He is the first full time pastor in living memory at Services at Belfountain are each Sunday a 9 30 am and there will be a special commu nion service at this time on Sun Dec 23 The congregation numbers more than GO adults and ch Idren and runs a Sunday School with babysitting provid ed in conjunction with regular Sunday Services Regular church office hours are Tuesday and Wednesday from 9 a m to noon when Pastor Bell will endeavor to be in atten dance The church telephone number is 3165 YELLOW CAB HALTON HILLS HOUR SERVICE SERVING HALTON HILLS Airport Parcel 8732527 8732931 JAKES AUTO CLEAN 8773802 Don Forget Our Address Chanqe 265 Guelph St JSS Steam Cleaning Interior Shampoo Under Car Oiling Scotch Guard Fire Engine Shampoo Sheen Paint Touch Up Georgetown Extended CHRISTMAS STORE HOURS 0Q7 00 Wed Dec 26 DO 7 Dec 00 10 00 Dec 28 8 00 Sal Dec 29 9 Sun Dec 30 11004 5 DO Mot Dec 31 11 Wed Jan 2 Back To Reg Hours GEORGETOWN at Gtwlph touch with himself and with These roles which become habitual responses to the world are like appearances illusions or what Perls calls maya It s like being a V soap opera star when you re with your girl or boyfriend and never being yourself Advent is a time to be yourself It might take the aggressive im polite sarcastic even vulgar question of a John the Baptist to wake us out of our roleplaying and give us the courage to live with reality A JEWISH CELEBRATION Jews are celebrating this week They started Tuesday evening and continue until next Wednesday The Festival of Lights refers to the War of 166164 B when Jews overcame Synan attempts to make them less Jewish Jews light the ninebranched candelabrum the one on the first evening two on the se cond and so on to commemorate the miraculous burning of the Temple lamps for eight days Food bank helping hand The students of Public School decided to lend a helping hand when they heard of the vandalism at the Georgetown food bank The results of their efforts came in the form of food and toys for the less fortunate in Halton Hills Left to right students Stephanie Sheffield Grade and Kim Stevenson Grade 8 presented the Minister of the Baptist Church David Caldwell with the food and toys at the school Wednesday The food bank is located at the church Stephanie and Kim between the two of them donated Items of food J k If it if NON DENOMINATIONAL PENTECOSTAL ALL PEOPLES CHURCH DELIVERANCE CENTRE blvd W corner Bible Study Worship Deliverance Sunday 10 30 a m 7 00 m Wednesday 8 Wo Provide Children Church Nursery Service English to Italian Pastor George A LeRoy 792 CHURCH OF ST ALBAN THE MARTYR AngUcHi Canada n Unit Mound ft Main 537 CHURCH BOARDS Advertise Your Worship Times With Us Call KIM at 8772201