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A new season in the church year calendar began yesterday: Advent. With the Hanging of the Green, a festive and favorite service for so many at St. Paul’s, we welcomed Advent. During this new season, we will focus on three different "advents" — or "comings" — of our Savior:
- His incarnation, born to Mary and Joseph after having been conceived by the Holy Spirit;
- His present-day coming to His faithful through Word and Sacrament;
- His final coming when He will raise all believers and usher in a new, never-ending season for His redeemed.
Listen for these themes in this new season as we hear our God speak to us through His Word.
But is Advent only a time when we think about ourselves and how Christ comes to us? Should it not also be a time when we think about how Christ comes through us to others? Through our lips and our lives, we pray that Christ will come to all whom we encounter!
There is also, perhaps, the coming of a new season in our history at St. Paul’s.
On Sunday, December 17, we will gather at noon in the sanctuary to vote on several matters. Among them is whether we will begin a construction phase of the Tell the Wonders He Has Done ministry expansion campaign. To God alone be the glory for the more than $14.4 million already pledged to support this potential ministry expansion!
What will this new season include for us at St. Paul’s? Only if God blesses, a continued expansion in the number of students enrolled in our school, in the number of children baptized, and in the number of adults confirmed. We know these results are consistent with God’s will, “who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Timothy 2:4).
This potential new season at St. Paul’s is in God’s hands. Will it occur? We continue to pray for His guidance, wisdom, and direction, and He will reveal it to us on December 17!
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