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This cover was originally used in the December 1954 issue. Vol. LXXV December, 2016 No. 12 Table of Contents Editorial Looking Back with Luther Page 3 our Goodly HEritaGE Interview with Agatha Lubbers (1) Page 4 CHristian livinG Amazing Grace: Lessons I Learned from My Grandma Page 9 dEvotional The Daily Press—December 8–January 7 Page 11 75 yEars Mirth and Madness Page 18 Memories Page 19 The Quest of the Magi Page 20 The Origin of Christmas Customs Page 22 a Cloud of WitnEssEs The Life of John Huss Page 23 CHurCH nEWs Page 26 littlE liGHts The Helmet of Salvation Part 2: Protection for the Senses Page 27 EDITOR EDITORIAL POLICY EXECUTIVE FEDERATION BOARD Mark Hoeksema The articles of Beacon Lights do not necessarily Taylor Dykstra (President) Email: [email protected] indicate the viewpoint of the Editorial Staff. Every Brandon Kaptein (Vice-President) author is solely responsible for the contents of his Sharon Kleyn (Secretary) CONTENTS COMMITTEE own article. 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Published monthly by the Federation oF Protestant reFormed young PeoPle’s societies Editorial Ryan Kregel Looking Back with Luther “ e are beggars, this is true.” In this context then Luther saw himself as a beg- The story passed down through his- gar. We ought to view ourselves the same way—and Wtory is that these words were scribbled not just when facing death. The end of another year down by Martin Luther on a piece of paper and gives us the opportunity not only to celebrate the birth stuffed into his pocket while he was lying on his of our Savior, but also to reflect on the year gone by. deathbed. We take stock of all that has happened. We reflect on You can imagine what he was thinking. He was thoughts we had. We remember words we spoke. We a weary pilgrim at the end of his allotted time on think of actions we carried out. When we reflect on earth, about to enter eternity and join the church all of this, we realize that even our very best works triumphant. Facing the blessedness of eternity before were polluted with sin. Our best works are but filthy, the throne of God, he had opportunity to look back tattered rags when compared with the white, pristine on his life, a life that we would describe as “saintly.” robes of the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. After all, he played a crucial role in starting the What is our best work? I think many of us would Reformation in Europe. But how would Luther have answer that worship is our best work. But how good described his lifetime of laboring on behalf of the is that work in reality? Do we take the time to prepare church? ourselves before worship so that we are in the proper Beggarly. state of mind when we enter God’s house? When Standing before the pearly gates, what did he we hear the law read every Sunday morning, do we have that he could offer in exchange for his sal- drift off because we’ve heard it Sunday after Sunday? vation? His devotion to his work on behalf of the When we recite the Apostle’s Creed every Sunday church? What about his prayer life? Would that evening, is our heart truly speaking or just our lips? suffice? He understood that in the face of eternity all Do we worship God through congregational prayer of his work in this life—even his best works—were or do we doze off because it’s “long prayer?” Do still completely lacking. He was a poor, weak, weary we consider the giving our gifts during collection as pilgrim completely dependent on the mercy of God. a part of worship, or is it our “break time” to fin- In his biography on Luther, Carl Trueman described ish reading the bulletin? Then there is the sermon. Luther’s last moments as follows: “Against the vast God is speaking to us through the preaching of the canvas of eternity, in the face of God, and in the gospel, yet we find ourselves so easily distracted. context of God’s gracious revelation of himself in Is there anyone who can truly say he does not Christ, Luther was but a small child, barely touching struggle with anything listed above? the surface of the ocean of God’s mercy. Which is, But there it is. Even what we would call our best one might say, exactly what he would have hoped effort, our best work, our worship, is polluted with to be.”1 Luther humbly accepted the fact that he was our own thoughts and desires. completely dependent on his Savior for saving mercy, We truly have nothing of ourselves that we can and in that reliance he confidently faced death. Re- offer to God. member as well that this was at the very heart of the The only thing we can offer is what we have Reformation. Luther saw the error of Rome’s doctrine been given. of works righteousness when he struggled to “do Salvation in Jesus Christ. enough” to be justified before the righteous God. So as we reflect on our life at the close of an- He realized that it wasn’t up to him to do anything. other year we confess with Luther—in thankfulness God justified him through the sacrifice of Christ. for God’s abundant “ocean of mercy”—“We are beggars, this is true.” 1 Carl R. Trueman, Luther on the Christian Life: Cross Ryan is the managing editor of Beacon Lights. and Freedom (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2015), 194. Beacon Lights 3 Our Goodly Heritage Mark H. Hoeksema Interview with Agatha Lubbers (1) It is June 27, 2009, and I am interviewing Miss Ag- my father thought of sending me to Grand Rapids atha Lubbers in Grand Rapids, MI. so that I could either go to Grand Rapids Christian Mark H. Hoeksema: Miss Lubbers, where and when or to Holland Christian. But I think better sense pre- were you born? vailed and I went to a very conservative public high school in Randolph, Wisconsin. They taught Latin in Agatha Lubbers: I was born on a Thursday, Decem- those days in that school, and we had a Carnegie ber 24, 1931 on 12th Avenue in Jenison, Michigan. Public Library in the town. The Andrew Carnegie of The house in which I was born is still standing—a great fame had given money so there could be a little brick building. Carnegie Library there. MHH: Who were your parents? Then we moved to Grand Rapids, and in 1950 AL: My parents were Rev. George C. Lubbers, a I became a member, with our family, of the Creston minister in the Protestant Reformed Churches and Protestant Reformed Church. The building is still Rena Lubbers, a lady who came off the farm in standing. It is now used by the Seventh Reformed Hudsonville, a member of the Hudsonville Protes- Church as a fellowship building. It is across from tant Reformed Church. They married in 1930 when St. Alphonsus Catholic Church on Leonard Street. my father was a student in the Protestant Reformed My father was minister there until about 1954, give Seminary. or take. He lived through the 1953 collision and MHH: Can you tell me a little bit about your child- when the church became small, it didn’t fall into hood, your youth, your family life? nonexistence. But he felt he was called to be a home AL: I said to somebody recently that I probably had missionary to those who had left the Protestant Re- gone to more Protestant Reformed churches or been formed Churches, and he felt that maybe he could a member of more Protestant Reformed churches be influential in getting them back. than many other people in the Protestant Reformed Then in 1950 I went to Calvin College. I was Churches. My first membership, where I was bap- there one year and a summer when I was asked if tized by Rev.