Pastor

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Pastor’s Ponderings

Advent! What a strange time of year in the church. Sometimes we regard Advent as just the
four weeks before Christmas. But Advent is so much more than ‘pre-Christmas’. Advent is a penitential time, a time of examination, a time of preparation, a time to consider the coming of Christ into the world - to seek and to save.

In ways, Advent is rather a somber time. But it is also a time of hope. In earlier times, the color of
Advent was purple, the royal color of the coming King. But in our time, the color has changed to BLUE,
the color of hope, the overriding theme of Advent.

The readings for the first two Sundays in Advent center on the parousia, the second coming of Jesus.
The third Sunday in Advent centers on John the Baptist as the herald of Christ, and the fourth Sunday regards the Virgin Mary as the obedient servant chosen to bear God’s anointed one.

In addition to the readings, the Advent wreath symbolizes the approach of the Lord. The four blue
candles each have a message for us during our waiting. The first candle is the candle of HOPE.
We who are pregnant with anticipation feel hope rise up within us. And so we light this first candle and name it Hope. On the second Sunday of Advent, we light the second candle and seek the way of
Christ For us, God has replaced our mourning with the oil of gladness, so we light this third candle and name it Joy. We light the fourth candle in eager anticipation of God’s greatest promise fulfilled,
what else can we do but name this candle Love!

Some people want those blue candles to burn evenly. But the uneven burning is a mark of our waiting
for the Lord. The Christ Candle will be put away until Easter Time (unless there is a baptism during
Advent) so that we don’t confuse Easter time and Christmas time. The Advent wreath helps us count
the weeks to the Christ Mass (Christmas). To help us wait and to help us count the weeks to
Christmas, families have been chosen to lead the litany of the lighting of the Advent Candles.
Thank you to these families for helping us prepare appropriately for Christ’s coming this year.

As Christmas approaches, we will begin our celebration on Christmas Eve with two very different
worship experiences. At the 7:00 pm worship, the Stewart Avenue Bell Choir will provide special
music as will Kayleigh Brickett. The festive worship will be more contemporary and is intended to be ‘family friendly’. So bring all the kids and anyone else you can invite.

The 11:00 pm Christ Mass (which is what Christmas really means) is intended to end on the stroke of midnight. It is the worship service that welcomes Jesus into the world, Emmanuel – God with us. The organ and choir will be magnificent. Special music will be provided by Larry Yagello and April Farrier will each offer special music with the violin and trumpet respectively as well as Casey Bricker.

There is something for everyone this Christmas season. Don forget to prepare yourselves spiritually
as you physically get ready for this Holy Season. May your journey to Bethlehem be joyful and humble.

Amen, Come Lord Jesus

Pastor Pat