The Sundays of Advent this year are December 3 (Hope), December 17 (Peace), December 17 (Joy) and December 24 (Love).
Find this week’s bulletin on our resources page.
Fellowship Time immediately following this service.
The word "Advent" comes from the Latin, Advenio, “to come to," or Adventus, "coming." These are Latin translations of the Greek word parousia, which is the word used for the Second Coming of Christ. Advent, then, is a dual reminder of the original waiting of the Hebrew people for the birth of their Messiah, as well as the waiting Christians are doing for the Second Coming of Christ.
T. S. Eliot wrote: "For the beginning shall remind us of the end, and the first coming of the second coming." That's Advent. Advent is a time of spiritual and physical preparation for the gift of the Christ child coming to us, not unlike Lent, the time of preparation for the gift of the Resurrection. (Advent once had seven Sundays, as Lent does now). We sing, "Let every heart prepare him room."
Advent is a time of mystery, hope, and expectation of the type Mary embodies as she waits for her child to be born. God is getting ready to birth something new into our world: something we can hardly imagine! And so, like Mary, we wait and we wonder, we trust and we journey. Somewhere, we are already following the stars that will guide us home.
Online Worship Service will continue Sunday mornings on Zoom, YouTube, or MRVTV, but the focus will shift to those in the sanctuary.