Blogging toward Sunday

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The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The season provides a time of celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and a time of anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Therefore, Advent is more than a historical marker of something that took place 2000 years ago. It’s a time frame with a double focus—both past and future. Advent also has a present focus—symbolizing the spiritual journey of persons and congregations, who yearn to live holy lives during these “in between times.”

On our journey through Advent this year, we will consider how we live out “time” as we wait. In preparation for Sunday, read Genesis 1:1-5, Exodus 3:14-15, and Matthew 11:2-11. Then join us for worship as we ponder a theology of time and the importance of living spiritually, in the present tense. 

May the following prayer written by John Bell bless you on your Advent journey.

You keep us waiting.

You, the God of all time,

want  us to wait

for the right time in which to discover

who we are, where we are to go,

who will be with us, and what we must do.

So thank you…for the waiting time.

You keep us looking.

You, the God of all space,

want us to look in the right and wrong places

for signs of hope,

for people who are hopeless,

for visions of a better world which will appear

among the disappointments of the world we know.

So thank you…for the looking time.

You keep us loving.

You, the God whose name is love,

want us to be like you—

to love the loveless and the unlovely and the unloveable;

and, most difficult of all,

to love ourselves.

So thank you…for the loving time.

And in all this,

you keep us.

Through hard questions with no easy answers;

through failing where we hoped to succeed

and making an impact where we felt we were useless;

through the patience and the dreams and the love of others;

and through Jesus Christ and his Spirit,

you keep us.

So thank you…for the keeping time,

and for now,

and for ever,

Amen.

I look forward to our time of worship this Sunday.

Shalom,

Glenda