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Advent Message 2024

Greetings sisters and brothers in Christ;

The liturgical seasons of the church are as distinct as the four weather seasons. When the leaves begin to gently fall from the trees, we know it is autumn and that the snow will soon begin to fly. In church, when the altar guild takes down the green hangings and replaces them with blue ones, we know that the season of Advent is upon us.

Advent is a time of preparation, where we are expected to be intentional in prayer and in the reading of scripture, with our hearts and minds fixed on Christmas Eve and the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

Advent is also when we bring out the Advent wreath and place it front and centre in the sanctuary. Each Sunday, a candle is lit and an appropriate scripture passage is read.

There is the candle of Hope, the candle of Love, the candle of Joy, the candle of Peace, and the Christ candle.

Have you ever asked yourselves from whence this tradition originated? It is, after all, an important element in our worship.

In 1839 in Hamburg, Germany, a pastor named Johann Hinrich ran a mission school .  Every year as Christmas was drawing near, the children would pester him daily asking when Christmas was arriving. Tired of this, Johann took a large wooden ring from an old cartwheel and decorated it with 24 small red candles and four large white candles. Thus was born the tradition of marking time in Advent by lighting candles around a wreath. 

Each candle that is lit will bring us closer to the hill where God’s angels visited the shepherds tending their flocks and will lead us ultimately to lowly manger where our true light, the baby Jesus, sleeps soundly in Mary’s arms.

May this Advent season fill you with Hope , Love, Joy, Peace.

Que Diosito los colme de bendiciones

John+