Advent is coming . . .

What is Advent?  It is the season before Christmas, or what we most often call the "Christmas Season."  The word Advent actually means "coming" or "arrival." The focus of the season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus in his First Advent AS WELL AS the anticipation of the his Second Advent. This is a season for celebrating the truth about God's revelation through Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled. That is a process in which we now participate, the consummation of which we continually anticipate.

Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey, as we affirm that Christ has come, is present in the world today, will come again.  This is core to our world view and the "why" of our choices in living: we are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people. Advent calls us to remember our place in history, in the "In-Betweens" and to confesses our responsibility as a people commissioned to "love the Lord your God with all your heart" and to "love your neighbor as yourself."

Advent is marked by a spirit of expectation, anticipation, preparation, and longing. There is a yearning for deliverance from the world, first expressed by Israelite slaves in Egypt as they cried out from their bitter oppression. It is the cry of all those who experience injustice, and yet who live freely in the hope of deliverance by a God who hears creations cries and brings deliverance! It is that hope, at times quite faint, in God, seemingly sometimes distant, which brings the anticipation of a day when truth and justice and righteousness rules over all people and all creation. It is that hope once anticipated and anticipated anew for a Messiah who will bring peace and justice and righteousness to the world.

Throughout the Advent season you will find prayers, devotional readings, videos, and many other things here, on the church website, it's twitter account, and facebook page calling us to be part of Advent daily. Preparing the way, preparing ourselves. Advent’s prayers are prayers of humble devotion and commitment, prayers of submission, prayers for deliverance, prayers from those walking in darkness who are awaiting and anticipating a great light! We begin Advent this Sunday with a spirit that follows what the great Advent carol says:

Come, O Come, Emmanuel,

And ransom captive Israel!