We're Celebrating Advent!The Episcopal Church is one of the historic Christian churches that celebrates Advent. We’re not trying to be contrary but Christmas is a season that begins on December 24. Advent is a nearly four week period that anticipates the coming of the Child of Peace. In our churches we have no Christmas decorations up until Christmas Eve. We sing hymns and hear scripture lessons that tell us about waiting and expecting. We light one of four candles on an Advent wreath each Sunday before Christmas as our days get shorter and darkness comes as we ponder and pray for yet one more sign that God is with us.
In Advent we take a break from the shopping and party planning to find some quiet time to reflect. What place in our hearts is waiting for the Christ Child? How will we live differently in a world so filled with violence and hunger and poverty? In many ways things aren’t much different than the world was 2000 years ago. But we are a people of hope and faith and love. We are preparing with joyful anticipation to hear again of the coming of peace and goodwill in the person of Jesus.
Our online Advent Calendar
Reflecting themes of Advent, our online Advent calendar contains daily meditations on presence, rather than presents and waiting, rather than being weighed down by the stresses and concerns of our secular pre-Christmas season. Click on the day to open a window and find a brief thought for the day in the space below the calendar. The full meditation can be read, and you can listen to a shorter audio version of the same message. These audio meditations are also available daily by listening to WBAL-AM's streaming audio broadcast at www.wbal.com.
We invite you to take a moment each day to pause and reflect, turning away for a time from the busyness and business around us.
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