Agape Loveletter: Special Christmas Edition 2001

Agape Class is sponsoring a very special Christmas Party at the Chickadee Cottage on Friday, December 14. Plan to arrive between 6:30 pm and 7:00 pm when the dinner will be served. The Chickadee Cottage, hidden in an unassuming Mall, is a beautifully decorated English Tea House. Tasteful live music will be provided during dessert and the afterglow by a mystery musician. (You can ask Mary, but she won't tell.)

Mark down the date and save your pennies, this will be a very special evening. Chickadee Cottage is located at Valley Crossing Center, 9900 Valley Creek Road, Woodbury.

Car pooling can be arranged for those who don't like to drive across water after dark or who are frightened by St. Paul vicinity geography.

The menu is either Chicken Cordon Bleu with wild rice or London Broil with mushrooms and garlic mashed potatoes. (And we won't even segregate the garlic eaters.) The dessert will be a Walnut Apple Cake with caramel glaze.

And now, for The Sermon on the Amount! The cost is going to be about the equivalent of two movies with popcorn and Pepsi. The meals are $18.00 for the Chicken Cordon Bleu and $17.00 for the London Broil. The music will come to $3.00 per person.

For those who would need to stay away for financial reasons there is a slush fund to help out and make up the difference between the cost and what is affordable to you.

We want this to be a major bonding occasion for all young adults at First Free (anybody under 65 will qualify) and also any mature role models who can stand our company. We also want it to be an old home week for all those alumni who represent a blast from the past.

Act Soon As Space Is Limited To The First 65 Who Sign Up

See Below For Map And Directions

How To Reserve Your Places

Sign up sheets will be circulating at church. You can also call Mary Anderson at 612-824-5573 or mail this tab to her at 4258 Elliot Avenue South, Minneapolis MN 55407 or you may e-mail Ross Olson at rossolson {at} qwest.net. Sorry, our website does not yet accept Visa.

A deposit of $10.00 per person is requested. If some can pay in full ahead of time that will ease the last minute change counting and help Mary pay for the deposit.

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Name ___________________________________________

Number Coming _______________

Phone ________________________

$ Enclosed ______________________________________

Main Course(s) Desired :

Chicken_______

London Broil ________

Need Ride______________

Directions:

From Church: take Crosstown 62 to Hwy 55, 55 across the Mendota Bridge to Hwy 110, Hwy 110 to I 494, I 494 to Valley Creek Road Exit, Valley View Road east (right) about 3 miles to Valley Crossing Center.

From Further South: take I 494 to Valley Creek Road Exit, Valley View Road east (right) about 3 miles to Valley Crossing Center.

From Further North: take I 94 to Woodbury Drive, Woodbury Drive south (right)

From Further East: take I 94 to Woodbury Drive, Woodbury Drive south (left)

From Further West: you get the idea

From Anywhere Else: why would you want to be any place else?

Christmas 2001

This year, more than any other in recent memory, our need to remember the real meaning of Christmas is desperately important. Even though the danger for most of us is still somewhat distant and abstract, our illusions of perpetual prosperity and security have been shattered. Of course, they were illusions to begin with but they were OUR illusions and reality seemed to cooperate on a fairly regular basis.

It is human nature to take blessings for granted, just as it is human nature to avoid suffering whenever possible. Yet the teachings of the Scripture are clear that it is suffering which builds character and stimulates spiritual growth. Although God is not the author of evil, he uses evil to accomplish a greater good.

This year more than ever the hollowness of a cultural Christmas will be apparent to many of our family and friends who may have never noticed it before. Let us be sensitive to opportunities and share the real message of hope that comes from this incredible fact: God became a little baby ! And He did it in order to suffer and die that He might conquer suffering and death! Some day -- soon we hope, -- He will return to claim those who have put their trust in Him. Only when the Prince of Peace reigns will there be Peace on Earth!

We can celebrate only because of what He did, is doing now and will do.

This document last modified on Sunday, July 29, 2007

A Thought From God's Word:

Then I looked and heard the voice of many angels, numbering thousands upon thousands, and ten thousand times ten thousand. They encircled the throne and the living creatures and the elders. In a loud voice they sang: "Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!" Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing: "To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!" [Revelation 5:11-13]