The season of Advent arrived this past Sunday, marking the beginning of a new church year and calling us all to stop and wait. Advent is the season of the year where we wait for the arrival of Jesus...as an infant in a manger, and as the Savior of the world - a season where we find ourselves suspended between multiple realities. On the one hand, the world around us is in the midst of Christmas celebrations, decorations, carols, shopping, and Christmas parties. It's almost as if December 25th has already come and gone! And yet the Church invites us, urges us to wait; not to jump straight into this celebration but rather savor the expectation of the coming of the Christ-child. To wait, just like Mary, for the beginning of something new, something miraculous.

 

Similarly the Church invites us to prepare for Jesus to come in two different and very distinct ways. On the one hand, the Church invites us to turn our eyes to the future...to the return of Christ when the brokenness and madness of the world will be made right, when Christ shall return to reclaim and remake reality into a place of peace, love, and harmony. The church asks us through readings and prayers to turn our thoughts to a new reality which has yet to dawn in human history.

 

At the same time the church also invites us to wait by looking back into history...waiting with Mary, Joseph, and countless others for the birth of the Christ-child. We are encouraged to enter into history so that when Christmas Day dawns we too might be filled with wonder and joy at the incredible reality that God has chosen to enter into the world in a specific time, in a specific place, as a poor peasant child. We are invited to see Christmas morning with new, fresh, and amazed eyes.

 

Such waiting is not easy. Such waiting is not the norm. And yet for countless generations, for countless cycles of Advent, this is exactly what we have been invited to do. I hope and pray that you will be able to enter into the Advent season, to stop, wait, and experience the longing, the hope, and the wonder.

 

There are many ways that we enter into this season. On the one hand we have Advent worship and music on Sunday mornings which invites us into a new way of seeing this season. On the other we are invited into intentional study and discipleship through Advent quiet days and similar opportunities. Others find ways to wait and prepare through resources like Advent wreaths at home, the intentional preparation of Crèches, Advent calendars, and Advent meditations - such as those offered by Forward Day by Day.

 

I hope and pray that you all might find intentional ways of entering into this holy season of Advent with hearts ready to receive Christ.

Advent blessings,

Fr. Chip

It's that time of year when many of us are beginning to deal with Christmas shopping lists. I don't know about you, but I have found over the years that I do more and more of my Christmas shopping online. Last year, I discovered that I could keep doing the same online shopping and support our Shared Ministry at the same time, all by simply using  goodshop.com .  Goodshop offers hundreds of well-known online retailers who donate a percentage of your purchase to the charity of your choice. All you need to do is go to www.goodsearch.com and type in your congregation's name (Trinity Church and Christ Church both participate) in the cause you want to support box and then click on goodshop and start looking at the retailers available, click on their link and shop like you normally would. Some retailers donate as much as 15% of your purchase to your church! I encourage you to join us. Not only will you be able to share Christmas cheer, and get your shopping done, but you will be able to support our Shared Ministry at the same time.

 

- Fr. Chip