Transcript:
Greetings beloved in Christ. I hope that you are well on this day. As someone who loves the season of Advent, I am finding this year’s transition from Thanksgiving to first Advent, in three short days, a little jarring, and perhaps you are too. But I’m trying to live into the invitation of Advent, the invitation that is always before us, that something is coming and that we may not be able to see it, we may not be able to recognize it, but we do know that God is in it. The invitation of Advent is to step away from how the world would portray the Christmas season and to spend some time deepening our own spirit. There are lots of resources out there for enriching your Advent experience. Forward Movement Publication publishes The Advent Word, and you can have a word every day sent to your phone or your computer for you to contemplate.
This year, your bishop is going old school with an actual book, this one. It’s called Night Visions by Jan Richardson, and the subtitle is Searching the Shadows of Advent. Sometimes, shadows can be intimidating, but I think darkness is an invitation for us to look for the light, to search diligently forward for it. I like that this book is filled with artwork and meditation and poems, and it is a tactile reminder that Advent’s invitation is to step away from the world’s vision and to open our eyes to God’s vision. I invite you to join a community of faith in walking the season of Advent Light the candles both in your own home and watch them being lit in the congregation. Center yourself in this time of waiting, because we know that God is coming and that we are going to be invited to receive the Christ child in a new way. Happy Advent.