Advent 2017

Dear Friends

Advent is here. The season of advent is the four Sundays before Christmas – this year beginning on December 3 and ending on December 24. Advent marks the beginning of a new Christian year.

During Advent we prepare for the birth of Jesus. It’s the season of “almost – but not quite yet.” We think about God’s choice to come among us a human baby, born to a poor, refugee family. Advent is also a season when we think about the time when God will come among us once again, to make things right to establish God’s rule forever – a time that will bring justice and mercy and peace to all of us who long for those things.

We live in an impatient world, a world of immediate gratification, a world uncomfortable with ambiguity, with tension, with waiting. Fortunately, in the Church, we follow a different way. We have come to understand that there is value in waiting and preparing. We know that Christmas is, above all, a spiritual event and that spiritual preparation is important. This year, worship focuses on how we prepare for Christmas: in our hearts, in our lives and in our world. I look forward to preparing for this holy season with you this year.

In Christ,

Stacey