The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light.
Isaiah 9:2
Isaiah 9:2
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. |
Fourth Sunday of Advent, Sunday, December 19
8:00 am Holy Eucharist
10:00 am Christmas Lessons and Carols |
ADVENT is the first season of the church year, beginning with the fourth Sunday before Christmas and continuing through the day before Christmas.
Christmas has increasingly become a holiday cut off from its purpose of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is, therefore, important for Christians to recapture the season of Advent as a time for preparing for Christmas,
Our word “Advent” derives from the Latin Adventus, which means “coming,” and originally referred just to the coming of the feast of Christmas. The season of Advent has been set aside as a time of preparation for Christmas since at least the last half of the 6th century, but over time, the season of Advent took on a double meaning. Today it refers both to the “first coming” of Jesus Christ in his birth at Christmas and to his “second coming” at the end of time.
It is important to remember that Advent is not just a season in which we recall an event of the past — Jesus’ birth — but also a time in which we look to the present and the future. When will Jesus come again? When will we see the kingdom of God on earth, as it is in heaven? Of course no one knows. And so the
more important questions are: What can we do as the Church, Christ’s body here on earth, to welcome God’s reign of justice and peace today? What can we do as individuals to reorder our lives in the light of God’s love? What would it mean to live as a people who believe in Jesus as the Savior of all the earth and
who expect him to come again at the fulfillment of time? Each Advent, we turn to these questions anew.
Join us during the Season of Advent, to reflect, to prepare, to pray, to sing,
SOURCE: Daily Prayer for All Seasons - The Episcopal Church’s abbreviated BCP (free download) https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/document/daily-prayer-all-seasons
Christmas has increasingly become a holiday cut off from its purpose of celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. It is, therefore, important for Christians to recapture the season of Advent as a time for preparing for Christmas,
Our word “Advent” derives from the Latin Adventus, which means “coming,” and originally referred just to the coming of the feast of Christmas. The season of Advent has been set aside as a time of preparation for Christmas since at least the last half of the 6th century, but over time, the season of Advent took on a double meaning. Today it refers both to the “first coming” of Jesus Christ in his birth at Christmas and to his “second coming” at the end of time.
It is important to remember that Advent is not just a season in which we recall an event of the past — Jesus’ birth — but also a time in which we look to the present and the future. When will Jesus come again? When will we see the kingdom of God on earth, as it is in heaven? Of course no one knows. And so the
more important questions are: What can we do as the Church, Christ’s body here on earth, to welcome God’s reign of justice and peace today? What can we do as individuals to reorder our lives in the light of God’s love? What would it mean to live as a people who believe in Jesus as the Savior of all the earth and
who expect him to come again at the fulfillment of time? Each Advent, we turn to these questions anew.
Join us during the Season of Advent, to reflect, to prepare, to pray, to sing,
SOURCE: Daily Prayer for All Seasons - The Episcopal Church’s abbreviated BCP (free download) https://www.episcopalchurch.org/library/document/daily-prayer-all-seasons