First Sunday of Advent

I will be visiting various churches in the area while on sabbatical. What a blessing and privilege to be a wanderer in unfamiliar yet friendly places.

Today it was Bethesda on the Bay ELCA -- Wonderful, traditional worship. The community was moved from the "end of times" readings to the faithful promise that we are in between Advents.... that Christ has arrived...and although gone from this world for a while, He will arrive again...and we are to be in waiting for not only the celebration of His birth which arrives every 25th of December, but also for the final arrival.

There is a responsibility laid upon us to attend to the matters of the community of faith, the church, even though we will never do it perfectly. Pr. Stylski spoke of how churches who are "successful" run the risk of missing the mark of humility. Prideful focus upon numbers or "program effectiveness" can blind us to God's coming in much the same way we are distracted by drunkenness or excessive worry about the matters of the world.

Advent waiting and advent preparation move us to a balance between the knowledge that Christ is Born... and that He rules the universe...and the equally powerful knowledge that we are "in between time". As such, we are a community of faith that knows God is near, even as we are in a world that is in grievous peril.

Tomorrow, December 1, is the "formal" beginning of the sabbatical. I will spend the entire day on "retreat" at Ursuline...... Blessings to you!