Rev. Karen's Advent Message

I hope you've had a good couple of weeks and thanks to John Bullas for his leadership while I've been away. We had a brief, but good trip to Bellingham to see my family. We came back 2 weeks ago to quarantine - today is the last day!! (yes, I'm counting) I'm looking forward to being able to go to the grocery store and the beach!

 This Sunday we will begin the season of Advent and begin preparing our hearts and minds for Jesus' birth. "Waiting in the Darkness" seems like an appropriate theme for this year. While the darkness is all around is in a variety of ways, the light of Advent accompanies us and increases as we move toward Christmas. We will explore these themes as we make ourselves ready for the gift of Jesus' birth. 

 The worship committee had hoped to invite the congregation to be in the sanctuary for mid-week Eucharist during Advent, but with COVID restrictions, it's just not safe or possible. So as we enter another season of the church year, we still do not have the sights, smells, and sounds of the church at Advent to orient ourselves to the season. While this is disappointing to all of us, there are things we can do, intentional things, to connect with this season.

One thing we can do is to make our own Advent wreath at home. As with most things in the church, the wreath doesn't have to look a particular way to be effective at bringing us deeper into our own practice of faith. Finding ways of engaging the season is more important than doing them perfectly. Here are some examples of home Advent wreaths. I'll be looking around my house and yard for things to complete my wreath (sets are also available for purchase online).

 We haven't done much in the way of evening programming because many don't like to drive at night, but with zoom we can try something new, like an evening

Theology Pub. Thursdays at 7-8:30pm during Advent (Dec 3, 10, 17) bring your beverage of choice and log into zoom for about an hour conversation on a topic related to Advent. 1 or 2 days before you'll have an email in your inbox with about a page of notes on the topic to get us thinking before we get on the call. We will have 3 Thursdays with the following topics: Jesus' birth & the second coming; Preparing the way during COVID; what is impossible and what is possible with God?