Most people can tell you that when the wise men came from the East to see the Baby Jesus, they brought him three gifts: gold, frankincense, and myrrh. At the time, all three of these items were luxury items. Interestingly, the Bible never specified the number of wise men that came to see Jesus. It only states that the wise men brought three gifts. The chosen luxury items were highly symbolic gifts.

– Myrrh was used to make anointing oil. Anointing oil was used by prophets.

– Frankincense was burned by priests in ceremonial offerings.

– Gold was a gift that was given to kings.

By presenting these three gifts, the Magi were acknowledging that this newborn child was the Messiah, the promised Prophet, Priest, and King.

I was fortunate to get a big dose of Christmas cheer by seeing the work of some of the volunteers of the Montgomery Christmas Committee this past weekend. The group was hard at work organizing donations that will benefit more than 180 families living in the Montgomery Area School District. I was overwhelmed when I saw gargantuan piles of presents and scores of boxes that would be filled with all the trimmings for a full Christmas dinner. Volunteers were in the process of wrapping presents and filling large boxes with Christmas dinners, candy, and cookies that will bring squeals of delight to nearly 300 children on Christmas morning.

According to Nancy Gruver, who is the chair of the Montgomery Christmas Committee, the organization receives truckloads of toys from Toys for Tots which are wrapped by volunteers in the committee (all toys donated to Toys for Tots in Montgomery are given to children in Montgomery). The committee also spends thousands of dollars on Christmas dinners, and they receive donations of potatoes and celery from Tom Styer. She also commented that manager John Shrimp of Montgomery Weis Market is wonderful to work with. Donations of clothing and winter accessories are given through the organization as well.

Gruver said that the names of the families receiving help are kept highly confidential. The committee gets referrals from people calling the borough office, churches, and teachers at the Montgomery Area School District.

The Montgomery Christmas Committee was started several years ago by Irma Emery, who was at one time a school nurse at Montgomery. Gruver herself has been involved for nearly 40 years. She summed up the entire spirit of the operation well when she said, “Montgomery takes care of their own.”

THOT “For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counselor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace.” Isaiah 9:6?A very happy birthday is wished to Carter Rider, who turns 7 on December 22nd.

Birthday wishes are sent to Phil Heasley, who celebrates his birthday on December 23rd. Happy birthday, Dad!

Happy birthday to Christina Slattery, who has her special day on December 23rd.

You can support the Montgomery First United Methodist Church at no cost to you by placing your Amazon orders through the Amazon Smile link at smile.amazon.com/ch/23-6431239. Amazon will donate a portion of your order to the church.

Montgomery events

Fri. Dec. 23 Santa Claus will be in his house down by the Post Office from 6-8 p.m.

Sat. Dec. 24 Santa Claus will be in his house from 2-4 p.m.

Mon. Dec. 26 The annual sauer kraut sale will be held by the Montgomery Lions Club begins.

Tues. Dec. 27 The Clinton Township Supervisors will meet in the Municipal Building at 6:30 p.m.

Mon. Jan. 2 St. John’s Lutheran (Brick Church) will be holding a fundraiser at Muncy Wendy’s from 5 to 8 p.m. Wendy’s will donate 10% of sales made during that time to the church.