December 1st, 2024 - First Sunday of Advent

Advent has dawned and we begin a new liturgical year with this short, sweet season of grace.  The coming of Christ, first in his humble birth in a stable and again in his return on a cloud of power and glory is at the heart of this new season of worship. The Scripture readings today are a curious mix of rejoicing and foreboding, of optimism and terror, of invitation and warning.   God calls us to live Advent days aware of a certain ambiguity in the Christian life.  God holds in a dynamic and creative tension the seeming opposites of mercy and justice, compassion and judgment, unconditional love and rigorous accountability. Advent takes us to the baby in Bethlehem but also requires us to gaze toward the great and agonizing day on Calvary and the anxious prospect of that last day when time will cease. Together, Jeremiah, St. Paul, and the Lord Jesus tell us that our time on earth is going to end.  Ours is the work of living every day in joyful expectation that God’s Kingdom is surely coming with power and great glory.  As God’s People, we are called to see every day as an opportunity to make a difference in God’s Kingdom.