As the days grow shorter, the church calendar invites us into the quiet beauty of the Advent season.  

Advent is a season most of us associate with wreaths, candles, and countdown calendars.  But the origins of Advent tell a much deeper story, one that can help us make this season truly meaningful today.

The word Advent comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “arrival.”  Early Christians used this season not simply to prepare for Christmas, but to reflect on Christ’s promised return and to prepare for the world he would usher in.  Advent was a time of honest reflection, hope, and readiness for God’s transforming work.

Only later did the church also connect Advent to the story of Jesus’ birth; thereby giving the season its two horizons: remembering Christ’s coming in Bethlehem and longing for God’s future of justice and peace.

In a world full of noise, pressure, and distraction, Advent offers an important alternative.  Advent invites us to slow down.  It doesn’t ask us to avoid life’s realities, but to notice them: our longings, our neighbors’ needs, and God’s presence in unexpected places.

Advent calls us to active hope.  The early church understood hope as something lived out through compassion, justice, welcome, and community.  That hope finds active expression when we acknowledge the places in our world where light is still needed, and when we trust that God is not quite finished with us yet.

And obviously, Advent restores our sense of wonder.  It gives us permission to linger in the quiet, the candlelight, and the promise that something new is breaking in–and we certainly need that awareness these days.

So how can you reclaim the power of Advent?  Well, by choosing intention over hurry: lighting candles, making time for stillness, giving where generosity is needed most, and committing yourself to help heal the world around you. 

Advent then becomes not just a countdown to Christmas, but a season that shapes how we live every day.

I hope you join us for worship during this important, ancient, faith-enriching time of year.  May this Advent season be a reminder that hope is not passive.  Hope is something we practice and something God is still unfolding in us, through us, and around us.

See you in church,

–Rev. Dominic