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Dear Friends,
Advent has arrived among us, just as the Angels arrived among the Shepherds. The message is the same: Do not be afraid for there is Good News! God has come to dwell among us.
This season is dear to our hearts - where scripture and music help us proclaim our hope in our Savior and Lord, Jesus Christ. It is a season with beloved traditions of Advent Wreaths, Jesse Trees, and that beautiful hymn "O Come, O Come Emmanuel."
Perhaps the most important thing about Advent this year is what is important every year: it roots us back into the longer narrative of who we are as God’s children. The prophets called for justice, mourned their people’s suffering, and spoke of God’s faithfulness. God's faithfulness comes to us not as a program to perform but as a person to know and adore - Jesus Christ.
Each of the four Sundays in Advent has a theme, and the theme for the first Sunday is particularly needed worldwide – the theme of hope. As it says in Isaiah 9:2,
“The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined.”
We proclaim hope when we are involved. In ministries that feed the hungry or advocate for those in need. We proclaim hope when we remember and visit with the isolated. We claim hope against despair by focusing on this big gospel story that God came to us and is still coming into our lives and times. The flashing scroll of doom on our phones is no match for the experience of the grace of God.
But hope is strongest when it is communal. Our willingness to show up, for each other and for ourselves, for Sunday worship, Advent Scripture studies and gatherings of song and service proclaim hope to each other.
We are not so much on a "countdown to Christmas" as we are "counting up" through Advent. From the story of the ancient family tree of Jesse (Isaiah 11:1) to the graces we receive day by day. The gifts of God and of God's love pile up abundantly until we cannot help but join the Angels in proclaiming the Good News of Christ our Lord.
May God bless us as we enter the Holy Season of Advent.
With the joy-filled anticipation of His Birth,
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