As the Feast of St. Andrew marks the movement from one liturgical year to the next, I bid you a holy Advent. As I ponder what this new year and its season of preparing will mean for us, I find myself setting this reflection in the context of our shared ministry in this time and place.

I am reminded of Walter Brueggaman's assertion that the psalmist always begins with orientation, and then moves to disorientation on the way to reorientation. I wonder if Advent, as a brief season of preparation, might be a time of reflection and discernment in which we truly are about to see ourselves and the world around us -- our church and our mission field -- in a word, a season of orientation. It can be a time of orientation, much like a traveler orients using a map and compass before setting out upon her way.

Disorientation is the given. It is relentlessly upon us as a part of human existence. And it is very much a part of ministering in this time and place. It is certainly a given in our world of polarized political parties, fiscal cliffs, high unemployment, declining church membership and resources.

Once oriented and connected to the disorientation of your lives and those whom we serve, we are able to seek the reorientation that is at the heart of the gospel. This reorientation is always forward moving. We do not return to the known territory but to new places. We move toward a distant and new place. This is the path of reorientation. Of course, some may say that Advent is the season of expectant waiting -- to be sure. But the life of following Jesus is one of movement, so while we sit and wait for Jesus's coming, let us prepare also to get up on the night of his nativity and seek him in a land that will surely reorient us for the coming age.

Blessings and peace be with you.

Faithfully,

The Rt. Rev. James R. Mathes
Bishop of San Diego