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Dear Families,
**St. Nicholas Celebration and Feast - Don't miss this magical night! You must sign up today so we can tell the caterer how many folks will be here. St. Nicholas Dinner Sign Up
Christmas Pageant - if you have a 4th or 5th grader, I need to know if you will be here for the Dec. 22 Pageant. Please email me asap.
A Meditation by Rev. Cameron Trimble
The world feels heavy with division and uncertainty. In times like these, hope can sound like a luxury, even a denial of the real struggles we face. But true hope—the kind Advent calls us to—is not shallow optimism or spiritual bypassing. It’s a theological declaration, rooted in the reality of this broken world and God’s promise to love us into wholeness.
Hope is the assurance that, even in the darkest night, the light will come. It doesn’t ignore the challenges we face but meets them head-on, sustained by the belief that God is at work, even when we can’t see it yet. It is what keeps us moving, keeps us acting, keeps us striving for a world that reflects God’s justice, generosity, and love.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who wrote and preached during the dark days of Nazi Germany, described this kind of hope: “The celebration of Advent is possible only to those who are troubled in soul, who know themselves to be poor and imperfect, and who look forward to something greater to come.” Hope is not a denial of the pain we carry or the brokenness we see. It’s a refusal to let that brokenness have the last word.
Advent hope calls us to hold two truths at once: the world is not as it should be, and yet God is with us in the midst of it, drawing us toward what could be. This hope is not passive; it’s active. It calls us to participate in the work of transformation—to care for the hurting, to challenge injustice, to be vessels of love in a fractured world. Hope is not a retreat from reality; it’s an anchor in it, a commitment to work for a better future even when the present feels overwhelming.
As we light the first candle of Advent, let us hold onto this kind of hope. Let it inspire us to act, to create, to dream. Hope doesn’t require us to have all the answers or to feel optimistic every moment. It asks only that we trust in the promise of Emmanuel—God with us—and take the next faithful step toward the world we long to see.
A Prayer for Hope
God of Advent,
You see the brokenness of this world,
And You meet us in the midst of it with love and promise.
Teach us to hold onto hope,
Not as a retreat from reality, but as a response to it.
Strengthen us to work for justice,
To act with compassion, and to trust in Your faithfulness.
May the light of this Advent season guide us
And remind us that, even in the darkness, You are near.
Amen.
Peace,
Kathy
Thanks to all the volunteers for Advent Adventure- You make it happen!: Fiona Sullivan, Jack Frilingos, Maria del Mar Ceballos, Kate and Jason Mabry, Todd Fuller, Christina Stavridis, Erin Cassel, Kate Paisley
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