What A Time To Be!

Christmas is a time of celebrations, a time for family and friends rejoicing together and celebrating the coming of the Light of the World – Jesus Christ.

Christmas has become a significant time for Rose and I since 26th December 1986. On that day, my life took a major turn. I invited Lord Jesus Christ into my heart and gave Him the control as my personal Lord and Master.

Being cynical of all this ‘stuff’ about God for 31 years before that, I made the decision with the attitude of ‘let me try and see whether this God-thing works’.

The life of the last 22 years has been really remarkable. Though there were trials and struggles, I can say that I have very few regrets. In fact, there have been countless blessings which I would definitely not have had experienced if not for being a follower of Christ. As we reflected on the precarious life we lived before the 1986 event, we cringed, thinking of how our lives would have turned out if we had not had Jesus Christ in our lives all these years.

Jesus Christ has blessed our marriage tremendously. Our children have grown up loving and serving God. We also know the specific purposes why we are here on earth and are pursuing them right now. We have the peace and joy of living a life of great hope, not only on earth, but into the eternity. For all these, we can only give our Jehovah God the glory and honor. He made all these possible.

This will be our second Christmas away from the church after 21 years. The last time was during my business days. We will surely miss the great bunch of people whom we have grown to love and as part of the great family besides our own natural families.

We will be celebrating Christmas with Professor Freudenburg and his family.

Christmas Greetings
Rose and I would like to take this time to wish you a very blessed Christmas season and New Year 2009.

Most important of all, if you still do not know Christ personally, make it the reason for the season by asking Jesus Christ into your life. If you are not 100% sure like I was before, may be just take the first step of inviting Jesus into your life as your Lord and Saviour and see what He will do for you in 2009. Like me, miracles of God await you.

The Boar’s Head Festival
‘What festival is that?’ That was just exactly the question I asked myself when someone mentioned this at a staff seminar when we first arrived here in July. It took us a while to comprehend what that really was and appreciate the powerful impacts the festival brings.

This festival, a pageant rooted in ancient times, is a vibrant and living tradition of our university and one of its hallmarks. It’s very much a part of our campus culture.

In 1977, three professors - Dr. Paul Foelber, John Sturmfels and Quentin Marino brought the Boar's Head Festival to the Concordia University Ann Arbor. This year’s festival is the university’s 31st.

Yes, we both participated in this year’s festival. We will talk more about this later.

First, the background on the festival.

Wild boar, sovereign of the forest and menace to humans, was hunted as a public enemy. At Roman feasts, boar was the first dish served.

As Christian beliefs overtook pagan customs in Europe, the presentation of a boar's head at Christmas came to symbolize God’s dominion over sin. The boar, being the most ferocious beast in the forest, was considered the ultimate symbol of evil. Its death came to symbolize Christ's victory over sin.

The Boar's Head Festival is probably the oldest continuing festival of the Christmas season with over 660 years of history. The Festival we know today originated at Queen's College, Oxford, England in 1340.

What began as a pagan festival was endowed by early Christians with symbolic religious meaning.

Mixed with Medieval pageantry, the costumes, the Yule log, and King Wenceslas, comes the Christ child, the angels, the shepherds, and the three kings.

The Boar's Head Carol is a

macaronic 15th century English Christmas carol that describes the ancient tradition of sacrificing a boar and presenting its head at a Yuletide feast.

The festival is an emotional experience – especially the final scene, as the proud King Wenceslas lays down his scepter at the feet of the Christ child.

Our Parts
Many persons in this year’s cast have been part of the festival for a number of years. One person stood out among us was Professor Dr. Neil Skov, who has acted as King Wenceslas 31 years in a row. His performance was just par excellent. No less outstanding were Professors Kevin and Kathy Brendon, the Duke and Duchess.

Though we had to juggle the schedule for rehearsals and 3 performances, we are so thankful and count it a privilege to be a part of the festival. We played the parts of lord and lady. Rose and I had a lot of fun learning to dance and wearing the costumes. Of course, teasing was plenty. I was teased over the tights I wore.