Advent-Christmas 2011

Dear Friends,

Advent Blessings!  As we move about with sweaters and light jackets and the temperatures hover around sixty degrees we pause when we see lights and decorations here and there; we are reminded again that we are deep in the season of Advent and less than three weeks from Christmas.  We have been hearing from John the Baptist this year- a fiery prophet in the manner of Elijah who wants for us holy transformations.  He reminds us that our lives are always in Advent; waiting for the coming of the Lord as Messiah and at the same time waiting for the second coming of the Lord as Judge and Savior of the world.  Each week we light another candle on the Advent candle stand to show that a little more light has come into the dark places of the world.  The light is by far lighter than the dark is dark.

The Christian Church has the distinct honor of keeping alive for all time the greatest story ever told.  The birth of the Christ child is prominent in two of the Gospels.  St. Anne’s tells this story best in the Christmas Pageant.  As in the past many children will participate.  They will learn about Mary and Joseph, the shepherds and the Magi in a faraway land.

As this story is retold each year older members come to know many other spiritual truths.  We come to an understanding of the God in our midst; of learning to see with the eyes of faith the living God in a newborn; of having the capacity to feel peace and love in the most unlikely places; of being able to hope in the midst of life’s most difficult trials- that in the end all will be well no matter what life brings.  This knowledge is the result of years of faith-building.  It is a gift.  And the wonder is that this story has the power to speak to us in new and different ways each year in the hearing of the familiar words.

We gather once again with both the privilege and the responsibility to pass this Good News on!

Christmas Blessings to you and yours!

Peggy