LIGHT OF THE WORLD: The Season of Advent
WHAT IS ADVENT?
The word Advent means "coming." In Advent we wait in the darkness before the dawn of the light of the world (so we use dark blue to represent this). It's like sitting vigil on behalf of the world, patiently holding and gently lifting up our hearts, and the world's pain and longing, to God, trusting God to come in. It is the church holding space on behalf of the whole world, in a state of "contagious patience."
As people who believe there is more going on than we can see, we wait and pay attention, we watch in trust and honesty, for the fullness of God's hope, peace, joy and love to be revealed in real, actual life. No matter how things look at any given moment, God is still at work, bringing salvation. In Advent we seek to live with contagious patience in that openness for God to meet us here.
This year, our Advent theme is THE LIGHT SHINES.
We begin the story with Elizabeth and Zechariah and explore
1- HOPE, The Meaning of Memory.
We move through the story with Elizabeth and Mary to
2- PEACE, The Promise of Potential.
That leads us to the Shepherds, and Simeon and Anna as we explore
3- JOY, The Journey to Joy,
and we finish with Joseph, Jesus' Jewish heritage and the wider meaning of Christmas with
4- LOVE, The Gift of the Gentiles.
The word Advent means "coming." In Advent we wait in the darkness before the dawn of the light of the world (so we use dark blue to represent this). It's like sitting vigil on behalf of the world, patiently holding and gently lifting up our hearts, and the world's pain and longing, to God, trusting God to come in. It is the church holding space on behalf of the whole world, in a state of "contagious patience."
As people who believe there is more going on than we can see, we wait and pay attention, we watch in trust and honesty, for the fullness of God's hope, peace, joy and love to be revealed in real, actual life. No matter how things look at any given moment, God is still at work, bringing salvation. In Advent we seek to live with contagious patience in that openness for God to meet us here.
This year, our Advent theme is THE LIGHT SHINES.
We begin the story with Elizabeth and Zechariah and explore
1- HOPE, The Meaning of Memory.
We move through the story with Elizabeth and Mary to
2- PEACE, The Promise of Potential.
That leads us to the Shepherds, and Simeon and Anna as we explore
3- JOY, The Journey to Joy,
and we finish with Joseph, Jesus' Jewish heritage and the wider meaning of Christmas with
4- LOVE, The Gift of the Gentiles.
If you would like to read along with us, we will be guided by Rabbi Amy-Jill Levine, and her book The Light of the World.
ADVENT WORSHIP SCHEDULE
RSVP for the zoom link
ADVENT WORSHIP SCHEDULE
- ADVENT 1: Saturday, November 27, at 5 pm, SANCTUARY & AT-HOME ASYNCHRONOUS
- ADVENT 2: December 5, at 10 am ONLINE & BY PHONE
- ADVENT 3: Saturday, December 11, at 5 pm, SANCTUARY & AT-HOME ASYNCHRONOUS
- ADVENT 4: December 19, at 10 am ONLINE & BY PHONE
- CHRISTMAS EVE: Friday, December 24, at 4:30 pm SANCTUARY & CHURCH PATIO AND VIA ZOOM
RSVP for the zoom link
