2023 Sun Dec 3

Happy New Year! – Advent is a season of waiting, of rest but also a time to find new beginnings. Since the 900s Advent has been considered the beginning of the Church year.  Today we move from a concentration from the Gospel of Matthew to the Gospel of Mark

The name “Advent” actually comes from the Latin word adventus which means “coming.” It is a reminder of how the Jewish nation waited for the Messiah and how Christians are now waiting for the return of Christ.

Advent is like a breath of fresh air -a new church year, a new set of Gospel readings, and the anticipation of the birth of Christ.

The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and also to the anniversary of the Lord’s birth on Christmas. It blends together a penitential spirit, very similar to Lent, a liturgical theme of preparation for the Second and Final Coming of the Lord, called the Parousia, and a joyful theme of getting ready for the Bethlehem event.

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The first Sunday of Advent is one of change. A change to the altar in color; a change in the year – Advent is the first Sunday in the church year where this year we shift in the lectionary from Year A (Matthew) to Year B (Mark). A change in focus since Advent means to come:

The Coming of God to the world as a human baby
The Coming of God to the world in His glory at the end of time where God’s purposes will be fulfilled
The Coming of God into the world today. Jesus comes to us now in word and sacrament, in prayer and praise, in his Body, the Church. By the work of the Holy Spirit, the Jesus who was born in the past in Bethlehem and who will come in the future is present to us and in us now.

The altar colors changed to blue, the altar flowers were green

In a timing of coming, the Gospel emphasizes the need to prepared for future events. Isaiah envisions a time of full justice when all nations honor God and live in peace. In Romans, Paul reminds us that the nearness of our salvation enables us to love selflessly and live honorably. Paul asserts that the greatest motivation for the Christian’s moral life lies in the future–the Christ’s second coming. The end of time is near at hand. The great day of salvation is coming–sleep/night/darkness will give way to waking/day/light.

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Article 1

From Very Reverend Rebecca Kello, Christ Episcopal Church, Bowling Green, Ky:

“One aspect about Advent that has always been striking to me is the concept of waiting.

“In Advent we wait in the darkness, we wait in anticipation and sometimes even in fear. We wait patiently and sometimes we wait in frustration. We wait so much that it can seem like all that we are asked to do during this season is to wait for the Christ child to be born and then we will be able to celebrate.

“In this daily reader however, Henri Nouwen’s essay, “Waiting for God” offers a challenging take on what it might mean to wait, not in a passive way, but to wait actively: A waiting person is a patient person. The word patience means the willingness to stay where we are and live the situation out to the full in the belief that something hidden there will manifest itself to us. Impatient people are always expecting the real thing to happen somewhere else and therefore want to go elsewhere. The moment is empty. But patient people dare to stay where they are.

“Patient living means to live actively in the present and wait there. Waiting, then, is not passive. It involves nurturing the moment, as a mother nurtures the child that is growing in her. Zechariah, Elizabeth, and Mary were very present to the moment. That is why they could hear the angel. They were alert, attentive to the voice that spoke to them and said, ‘Don’t be afraid. Something is happening to you.

“‘Pay attention.’ I don’t know about you, but I am always amused by how often angels come, particularly during Advent, and bring a message that something is happening and always precede it with, ‘Don’t be afraid!” What Nouwen invites us to here as we enter this season of Advent is a time of active waiting; he invites us to a time of waiting that finds its depth and grounding in the fact that powerful things happen when it seems that nothing is actually happening at all.

“This is the season of waiting, where we wait actively for the Christ child. It’s the season of darkness and light dancing together, and yet even in times when the darkness feels like it is consuming, we wait; we wait in hope. It’s the season where we listen for the angel’s plea, as Nouwen bids us, “Don’t be afraid. Something is happening to you. Pay attention.”

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Hope is the first of four candles associated with Advent. From Christianity.com – “At the first Christmas, when Jesus was born, Israel was waiting for a king, a Messiah, the Savior, the Redeemer who would change their circumstances, make them a great nation and throw off the tyranny of Rome. They were waiting for a person but what they really hoped for was a change of circumstances. So most of them missed him, disbelieved him, and then killed him—because their hope was in the wrong place.

Also known as the “prophecy candle,” this candle assures us we can have hope that God will fulfill the prophecies declared in the Old Testament about Jesus. Hope doesn’t disappoint us (Romans 5:5).

“Hope, in the Bible, exists as a secure assurance, a trust placed in a trustworthy God. God has not failed us in the past, and therefore, if he claims he will do something in the future, we can have a hope that he will fulfill that claim.”

The Lectionary, made up of the appointed readings for each Sunday, covers a three- year cycle, beginning each year on the first Sunday of Advent.  Year A uses readings from the Gospel according to Matthew, Year B from the Gospel according to Mark, and Year C from the Gospel according to Luke.  Readings from the Gospel according to John are woven throughout all three years. 

The yearly lectionary readings begin the new cycle of readings on the first Sunday of Advent.   This year we move from Year A to b and from a concentration on the Gospel of Matthew to Mark.   It all happens on Advent 1, Nov. 29

Mark is one of the Synoptic Gospels which means that Matthew, Mark and Luke present similar narratives of the life and death of Jesus Christ. It is the shortest of the four Gospels and likely the first, or earliest to be written. It was written Circa 55-65 A.D. This was probably the first Gospel to be written since all but 31 verses of Mark are found in the other three Gospels.

The Gospel of Mark was written to prove that Jesus Christ is the Messiah. Mark records more miracles of Christ than any of the other Gospels. Jesus proves his divinity in Mark by the demonstration of miracles. The Gospel of Mark was written to encourage the Christians in Rome as well as the wider church.

The Gospel of Mark also reveals Jesus the Servant. The overriding theme of the Gospel of Mark is to show that Jesus came to serve. Mark 10:44-45 …”and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. 45 For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many.”

He gave his life in service to mankind. He lived out his message through service, therefore, we can follow his actions and learn by his example. The ultimate purpose of the book is to reveal Jesus’ call to personal fellowship with him through daily discipleship.

Each week in Advent has a specific theme:

Week 1- The End of Time / Remaining Awake
Week 2 – God promises for Peace and Justice / John the Baptism
Week 3 – Rejoice (Gaudete Sunday) / John the Baptist
Week 4 – The Messiah

Advent comes from a Latin word – “advenire” – which means to come to/ During Advent. There are three comings:

• The Coming of God to the world as a human baby
• The Coming of God to the world in His glory at the end of time where God’s purposes will be fulfilled. The second coming
• The Coming of God into the world today. Jesus comes to us now in word and sacrament, in prayer and praise, in his Body, the Church

Advent causes us to remember that we are a people who live “between.” We live between the incarnation and the parousia, the day of the Lord.

Advent is a journey, a pilgrimage of watching and waiting. We are not ready for the Christ Child as we have work to do.

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Many of these courses were part of Christian education in earlier years before COVID classes were before church.-

https://www.news.churchsp.org/courses/

No login or password is needed. You can start and stop the courses as desired. 

1. Dickens A Christmas Carol and the Bible A deep read into the Christmas classic for references to the Bible and Dickens’ religious beliefs.
2. Handel’s Messiah, Prophecy and Birth of the Messiah. The story of the Christmas part of the Messiah together with the music.
3. Luke Canticles – Based on a book which examines 4 canticles in the Gospel of Luke, including the infancy story. A favorite!
4. Matthew’s Infancy stories – Comparable to Luke but with a decidedly Jewish character and an emphasis on Joseph.
5. The Twelve Days of Christmas Carols – 15+ carols for the days leading to Christmas. The background and musical selections are included.
6. Renaissance Art and the Christmas Story. The Renaissance was the first period where art came into its own depicting the stories we know and love. The study is divided by subject and includes about 15 art examples.

An online Advent potpourri in 6 categories of things to do in Advent – Read, Watch, Learn, Listen, Pray and Reflect and Make. There is something for everyone!

An Advent Collection

Read includes key points of Advent, the beginning of Advent, and waiting

Under Watch there are  videos –Nativity: The Art and Spirit of the Creche and The Story of Silent Night .

The Learn tab has the classes we have had at St. Peter’s including Luke’s Canticles, Matthew’s Infancy Stories, Christmas Carols and Dickens.

Listen includes Lessons and Carols from National Cathedral as well as an exploration of Antiphons .

Pray and Reflect features Advent meditations  a workshop involving prayer, scripture, candlelight and an adaptation of the Way of Love for Advent.

Finally Make has all sorts of crafts from Advent calendars, cooking and wreath creation.