ADVENT 2010
Dear Friends,
I must first thank you for the generous and expansive participation in our ‘Consecration Sunday’ at the ingathering of our pledge cards. To date, we have received pledges of over $120,000; we are well on our way toward our annual goal of this year’s giving campaign. I am profoundly encouraged by your commitment to the ministries of Grace.
Advent is observed during the four weeks that precede Christmas. It is seen as a time of prayerful preparation for the coming of our Savior, Jesus Christ, at his birth in the manger in Bethlehem. And for some reason, I am always shocked when Advent rolls around. It seems as if our program year has only begun; but in reality, we are almost 1/3 of the way through it! Yet in many ways, this is merely the beginning of a new year in the life cycle of the Church.
We end things and we begin things; yet we continue to do what we do. That is the cyclical nature of the Church. We keep on keeping on, as they say.
You know as well as I do, that the secular observance of Christmas will be starting about an hour after the Thanksgiving dishes are cleaned and put away. Perhaps you will even have visions of sugarplums dancing in your head as you snooze away your turkey dinner with a postprandial nap! But just imagine how abrupt the life of our faith would be if we went directly from Thanksgiving to Christmas. In many ways, we have every right to say, “Thank God for
Advent.” We need this time to get ready for what is arguably the greatest feast of the Christian year.
On Ash Wednesday, the priest always invites you into the observance of a Holy Lent. In a similar vein, I would like to invite you and your family into a Holy Advent. See this as a time to prayerfully weigh the return of our Lord in the manger. I urge you to use these four weeks prior to Christmas as a slowing down of your schedule. Let the ever-shortening daylight be an excuse to slow things down. Try ‘turn down’ the noise of the world as you are able and
set aside a quiet time of prayer for yourself and for those you love. Turn down the lights of the business of life and turn on the Light of God.
It is no coincidence that the days leading up to Christmas in the last week of Advent are the darkest days of the year; but then like turning on a switch, the days begin to lengthen and the light returns. The vision of the Light of
the World is the same vision that we celebrate each week with our offerings of Praise and Thanksgivings, in our Communion and with our prayers; this same light will return to us. For we know and we profess that “the light
shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it”.
I wish you a blessed Advent, a Holy Christmas and a joyous New Year.
Your rector and friend in Christ,
(The Rev.) Josh Walters