We are a small Episcopal Church on the banks of the Rappahannock in Port Royal, Virginia. We acknowledge that we gather on the traditional land of the first people of Port Royal, the Nandtaughtacund, and we respect and honor with gratitude the land itself, the legacy of the ancestors, and the life of the Rappahannock Tribe. Our mission statement is to do God’s Will in all that we do.

2024 Sun Dec 1

Waiting in Advent

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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Arts and Faith- Advent 1, relating art and scripture

Wassily Kandinsky’s The Last Judgment invites us into the Advent season with an emotional tour de force expressed in color, line, and form. An example of abstract art, The Last Judgment is not narrative or descriptive, but rather expressive. It shows emotion and force and invites the viewer to experience them visually.

The Last Judgement is a composition of bright primary colors, opaque black shapes, and heavy black lines. The lines overlap the colors rather than contain them. Throughout the image, the black lines and the flow of primary colors produce a composition of contrasts.

Although abstract art is generally non-representational, Kandinsky does offer a bridge into his work to help the viewer frame the experience with a narrative clue. On the right center of the image, we see a blue angelic form holding a yellow trumpet. This is an iconic image of the Last Judgment, or the end of days that we hear about in Luke’s Gospel. The angel is a unique element of the painting in which color, form and line converge in a traditional way. The black lines form the boundaries around the colors to give us the silhouette of the angel and the trumpet. An interesting detail about the angel is his wings. One is made of blue color, while the other is entirely made of black lines. Everywhere else in the image, line and color separate, overlap, or even clash. With dual wings, the angel unites within himself the two separate elements of the composition. Recalling Luke chapter 21, we are in a scene that is frightening but redemptive, tumultuous but glorious. We are invited to feel the tension that animates us toward hope.

The Last Judgment is meant to evoke feeling and emotion. The colors of the image, particularly near the center, resemble watercolor and have an ethereal, transcendent, and uplifting quality. The upward flow of the two forms left of center, red and blue as they reach into the bright white center of the image, represent this theme. By contrast, the two solid black shapes near the center have a harshness and heaviness that weighs down and overwhelms the viewer. The overlap of light transcendence and dark heaviness throughout the rest of the image is a visual expression of Luke’s passage and also demonstrates the complexity of the spiritual life.

As Luke reminds us, we are called to prayer and vigilance. We are called to resist that which weighs us down, and make way instead for that which elevates us to stand before the Son of Man.

Advent Wreath

Faith, Hope, Love, and Joy

“But now abide faith, hope, love, these three; but the greatest of these is love.”(1 Cor. 13:13)

“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law.” (Gal. 5:22-23)

The circle of the wreath and the evergreens that make it up both signify God’s endless mercy and undying love as well as God’s Eternity. Three purple candles and one rose-colored (pink) candle are evenly spaced around the wreath. There is one larger white candle in the center of the wreath. The wreath can be as simple as four candle holders with greenery laid around them to form a circle. However, some traditions attach meanings to using different greens, each signifying another aspect of the season. These include:

Ivy—to remind us of the human spirit clinging to God’s strength.

Cedar—to remind us of eternal life available to all through Christ.

Holly—to remind us of Jesus’ crown of thorns.

Bay—to remind us of victory over sin and death.

There are 4 candles, one for each week in Advent, are used with one larger white candle in the middle as the Christ candle.

During each Sunday of the Advent season, we focus on one of the four virtues Jesus brings us: Hope, Love, Joy and Peace

Faith is trust in God and reliance on His Word. “And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.” (Heb. 11:6)

Hope is confident expectation of good. “For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope.” (Rom. 15:4)

Love is the genuine inner readiness and longing to secure the good of others. “We love, because He first loved us.” I Jn 4:19

Joy is a sense of well-being and delight in good well-secured. “If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love; just as I have kept My Father’s commandments, and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.” (John 15:10-11)

Three of the candles are purple This is the color of penitence and fasting as well as the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King.

The Third candle is pink, a color of joy, the joy that Jesus is almost here and fasting is almost order. Gaudete Sunday (from the Latin meaning “rejoice”) which is taken from Philippians 4:4-5, the Entrance Antiphon of the day.

While the Advent wreath with its four candles did bring light to churches, it was not to illuminate the interior as much as to symbolize the coming of Christ. The Advent wreath began in the time of the Protestant reformer Martin Luther.

The Christ candle is lit on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day reminding Christians that Jesus is the light of the world. The wreath continually reminds us of whom we are called to be as followers of Jesus.

Each week, an additional candle is lit. As the light grows brighter, we are reminded that the Light of the World will soon arrive in glory.

The central white candle is to be larger (often thicker) than the four in the wreath. This relatively recent addition to the Advent wreath signifies the Light of Christ and is first lit on Christmas Eve and relit burned on Christmas Day

 

Advent 1 – Hope

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 Shape of Advent in Scriptures

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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Getting Ready for Advent

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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