MESSAGE FROM THE PRESIDENT
Waiting is T
oday I sit in my office thinking that Christmas is just a few weeks away. The time of year when the birth of Jesus is celebrated all over the world. It also means that family can get together and become reacquainted after some time apart. My reflections go back to my childhood memories of growing up in coastal Newfoundland. As a child growing up there so many years ago, we always looked forward to Christmas as a time when my parents felt they could justify spending on a few toys to put under the Christmas tree. As kids, we
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Alberta Adventist News
would wait all year for this one special day. We did not have any department stores in our town. However, we did get two catalogues that arrived every September. They were the Sears Catalogue and the Eaton's Catalogue. We would practically wear out these catalogues looking at the gifts that were available for order. This only made the wait for Christmas Day all the longer. This waiting reminds me of Simeon, who waited an entire lifetime for the long-awaited Messiah, Luke 2:25-32 (NIV):
“25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem called Simeon, who was righteous and
DECEMBER 2021
devout. He was waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was on him. 26 It had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Messiah. 27 Moved by the Spirit, he went into the temple courts. When the parents brought in the child Jesus to do for him what the custom of the Law required, 28 Simeon took him in his arms and praised God, saying: 29 “Sovereign Lord, as you have promised, you may now dismiss your servant in peace. 30 For my eyes have seen your salvation, 31 which you have prepared
