Please remember that as we come to the close of another calendar year, all contributions toward your annual giving and/or campaign pledge must be placed in the Sunday Collection by December 28 or delivered to the Parish Office by December 31 to count as a contribution for 2003. 

     St. John's cannot accept checks dated     December 31 if they are delivered to the    parish after the first of the year. In addition, if you are doing a stock transaction as part of your annual giving, the shares must be delivered to our broker or to the Parish Office by December 31 to count as part of this year's annual  contribution.

      If you have any questions regarding this matter, please call Bob Mike at the Parish Office, 651-633-8333,  ext. 1215. Thank You!

Connections:  December 21, 2003    Fourth Sunday of Advent

• You, Bethlehem-Ephrathah, too small to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is to be ruler in Israel.
  

• When Elizabeth heard Mary's greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice, "Blessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb."
  

                   -Luke 3:39-45

TWO LITTLE BOYS FROM NOWHERE

Two little boys from a village somewhere in Egypt; their family is of limited means and no influence.
They come from nowhere, really, and in the great scheme of things, they matter for little.
But to a group of dedicated doctors, they matter a great deal.
The two-year-old twins, Mohammed and Ahmed, smile readily; they are far too young to understand what is going on around them and the life that awaits them.
The two boys were born conjoined at the skull. They cannot sit up, they cannot stand, they cannot even crawl.
But a charitable foundation of doctors and medical personnel arranged for little Mohammed and Ahmed to travel to Children's Medical Center in Dallas. For more than a year, doctors studied the boys' anatomy to map out the dangerous surgery; they weighed the risks and the ethical considerations of the surgery with the boys' parents. This fall, the decision was made to proceed and, on October 11 and 12, a medical team of 60 doctors, nurses, and technicians, worked around the clock to separate the two boys. Thirty hours later, the complex and delicate surgery was completed and the boys survived.
The surgery alone cost more than $2 million. In addition, the boys face a minimum of two years of additional surgery and care. The foundation is busily raising the money.
A long road is ahead for Mohammed and Ahmed, but their plight has inspired and galvanized the Children's Medical Center staff.
These two little boys from nowhere do matter. They matter a great deal to all of us.

CONNECTION:  These twin boys have had an incredible effect on the world. They have brought forth the best of these skilled doctors; they have called attention to the plight of children like them; they have united a world in prayer, compassion, and generosity. Despite the ordinariness and simplicity of their lives in a world that has little time for people like them, they matter. They matter because of another Child, born to equally invisible parents in a nowhere place a long time ago; a Child in whom God reveals his love for all of creation, a love that embraces every child of every age and every place, a love that proclaims that every child matters.