#First Sunday of Advent

[royalchildreneurope]

Princess Madeleine of Sweden and Princess Adrienne of Sweden visit the Swedish Church for the first Sunday of Advent in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States -December 3rd 2023.

#princess madeleine #princess adrienne #swedish royal family #sweden #2023 #december 2023 #swedish church #first sunday of advent #first sunday of advent 2023 #royal children #my edit

[frangipani-wanderlust]

Advent Wreath up, as today is the first Sunday of Advent. And happy new year to anyone who knows the liturgical calendar.

The purple candle symbolizes penitence and longing, in preparation for the coming of Christ.

#advent #first sunday of advent #merry christmas #happy new year

[prolifeproliberty]

Wishing everyone a blessed first Sunday of Advent!

This first Sunday is “Hope” Sunday. We begin the Advent season with the Hope we have in Christ as we prepare to celebrate His birth.

Traditionally Advent is a solemn time of preparation and repentance, contrasted with the joy of Christmas. Historically Christians have treated this season much like Lent, with a special focus on prayer and fasting*.

The music of this season is quieter, more somber, and the decorations are more subdued.

This season lasts from now until Christmas Eve. On Christmas Day we get the full blast celebration, one that lasts 12 days until Epiphany (that is, the 12th Day of Christmas is January 5th, and the 6th is Epiphany when the visiting of the Wise Men is celebrated).

In our modern culture where Christmas is heavily commercialized and secularized, and Christmas music begins on Black Friday (or for some, November 1st), many are tired of “Christmas” by the time Christmas itself comes around. Christmas trees can be found on the curb on December 26th, and it’s assumed that anyone with decorations still up on New Years’ Day is either lazy or out of town.

However, for those following the traditional Christian celebration, reserving the festivities for those 12 days allows us to truly appreciate and celebrate the real reason for the season: Emmanuel, or God with us.

On this blog, you won’t see me posting over-the-top Christmas things during Advent (apart from maybe the occasional meme), but for those 12 days of Christmas it’s going to be full blast Christmas here.

*Fasting here is neither a good work nor a weight loss program. Fasting is also not a public show of faith or piety. A Biblical understanding of fasting is that it is done to discipline our sinful flesh and to spend more time in prayer and the Word. A Christian who chooses to fast should do so quietly and privately as much as possible, and for the purpose of focusing more on Christ and less on self. An example might look like skipping lunch in order to spend your lunch break in prayer as well as reading devotions and/or a designated Scripture reading for the day.

#Advent #first Sunday of Advent #christians #christianity #church #Christmas #fasting #repentance

[cheerfullycatholic]

Angelus, 12/3/2023

Today, first Sunday of Advent, in the brief Gospel the liturgy offers us (cf. Mk 13: 33-37), Jesus addresses a simple and direct exhortation to us, three times: “Watch” (vv. 33, 35, 37).

Thus, the theme is vigilance. How should we understand it? Sometimes we think of this virtue as an attitude motivated by fear of impending doom, as if a meteorite were about to plunge from the sky and threaten, if we do not avoid it in time, to overwhelm us. But this is certainly not what Christian vigilance is all about!

Jesus illustrates it with a parable, speaking about a master who will return, and about his servants who await him (cf. v. 34). The servant in the Bible is the “trusted person” of the master, which whom there is often a relationship of collaboration and affection. Think, for example, that Moses is defined as the servant of God (cf. Nm 12: 7), and that even Mary says of herself, “Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord” (Lk 1: 38). So, the servants’ vigilance is not one of fear, but of longing, of waiting to go forth to meet their Lord who is coming. They remain in readiness for his return because they care for him, because they have in mind that when he returns, they will make him find a welcoming and orderly home; they are happy to see him, to the point that they look forward to his return as a feast for the whole great family of which they are a part.

It is with this expectation filled with affection that we also want to prepare ourselves to welcome Jesus: at Christmas, which we will celebrate in a few weeks; at the end of time, when He will return in glory; every day, as He comes to meet us in the Eucharist, in His Word, in our brothers and sisters, especially those most in need.

So, in a special way during these weeks, let us prepare the house of the heart with care, so that it is orderly and hospitable. In fact, keeping watch means keeping the heart ready. It is the attitude of the sentinel, who in the night is not tempted by weariness, does not fall asleep, but remains awake awaiting the coming light. The Lord is our light and it is good to dispose the heart to welcome him with prayer and to host him with charity, the two preparations that, so to speak, make him comfortable. In this regard, the story goes that Saint Martin of Tours, a man of prayer, after giving half of his cloak to a poor man, dreamed of Jesus clad in that very part of the cloak he had given. Here is a good program for Advent: to encounter Jesus coming in every brother and sister who needs us and to share with them what we can: listening, time, concrete assistance.

Dear friends, it will be good for us today to ask ourselves how we can prepare a welcoming heart for the Lord. We can do so by approaching His forgiveness, His Word, His Table, finding space for prayer, welcoming those in need. Let us cultivate His expectation without letting ourselves be distracted by so many pointless things, and without complaining all the time, but keeping our hearts alert, that is, eager for Him, awake and ready, impatient to meet Him.

May the Virgin Mary, woman of expectation, help us to receive her coming Son.

#catholicism #catholic #pope francis #pope francis quote #angelus #advent #first sunday of advent #vatican #christmas

[thecatholiccontributor]

Renew your spirit with Advent HOPE

first

#catholic #catholicism #thecatholiccontributor #advent #hope #Youtube #first sunday of advent

[writinginsunlitcorners]

Happy Catholic New Year!!

....

#catholic new year #first sunday of advent #advent season #happy first sunday of advent! #catholic #christmas season #Christ is the Lord #for God so loved the world He sent His only Begotten Son.... #Emmanuel meaning #God with us

[inspiredbyjesuslove]

#christianity #catholicism #catholic #faith #advent #first sunday of advent

[butterflyinthewell]

First Sunday of Advent

🕯️

(All my videos are from before 2020, I sing masked now.)

#Catholic #first Sunday of Advent #religious #ghira don’t look

[meteorologistaustenlonek]

"How could she comprehend such a thing, that God would come to her like that? How can we comprehend it, when Jesus comes to us, to live within us as our Savior and Redeemer? It takes some getting used to. And we, too, have time to get used to Jesus' loving presence with us—from the day we first trust Him who died and rose for us, until the day we see Him face to face."

#First Sunday Of Advent #Advent Season #The Love Of God #Christmas Is Coming #First Week Of Advent #Lutheran Hour Ministries #Lutheran Hour Daily Devotions #The Lord Is With You #Season Of Hope #Prepare The Royal Highway #The King Shall Come

[firstumcschenectady]

“Yearning for Hope” based on Job 24:1-11, 22-25

Today we re-start the Christian Year, the liturgical cycle of waiting, celebrating, growing, waiting, celebrating, growing. We are now back in waiting. I think I fall deeper in love with Advent every year. The more commercialist Christmas pushes red and white, the more I find myself retreating the Advent colors of purple and pink. The more commercialism pushes secular carols, the more I find myself retreating into the quiet of the sanctuary and the integrity of Advent Hymns. The more commercialism pushes sales and deals the more attention I give to Alternative Christmas.

While secular Christmas has its bright, cheery, feel-good energy all around us, Christian Advent calls us to slow down, reflect, savor. Today we lit the candle of hope, one small light in an ever expanding darkness, one small light that will prove to be enough.

Now, I'm not against secular Christmas, I rather like it, but it feels disconnected from the one Christian one. This fall we did a Bible Study on the Christmas Stories in the Gospels, and we compared and contrasted them with our Christmas memories, our Christmas delights, and even the meaning we make from Christmas. (There is a poster in the back inviting you to do the same.) For most of us, Luke's story of Christmas fit our faith the best, and made the most sense of it all. We also discovered that reading Luke 1 and 2 together made Luke 2 a whole lot more delightful. Luke centers on women, and on the disenfranchised, and the good news to all people. It fits who we seek to be as a church.

But for now, we're still waiting, right? We're waiting, and the description of the world being terribly wrong from the Bible's most depressive abused character (Job) is doing its job of settling us into waiting. The description Job offers is of the world as it is and we YEARN with all our beings for the KINDOM of God where those descriptions no longer apply.

This Christian Year, the Worship Committee has taken seriously a request from the Intersectional Justice Committee to focus together on the book “We Cry Justice” put out by the Poor People's Campaign. It is a book in 52 parts, meant to be read devotionally, and no matter how many times our Book Club tried, it didn't become a readable book. It is a devotional book, so they asked if we could incorporate it into worship, and Worship Committee and I thought that was a wonderful idea. We have completed our year with “A Women's Lectionary for the Whole Church,” which was a gift from God via Dr. Wil Gafney, and there is space for a different focus.

The Poor People's Campaign is a group of amazing activists who decided it was time to pick up the mantle from Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr who was himself leading a Poor People's Campaign at the time of his death. We have been lightly involved with the modern campaign for years, and we have KNOWN that it is one of the ways God is at work in the world, and yet we haven't quite given it our attention, until now. The book “We Cry Justice” is intentional Biblical interpretation with an eye towards the injustices of the world towards people in poverty. When I wrote them asking for permission to use prayers and quotations in worship they got back to us immediately granting it!

So this year as we settle to wait, our waiting is really defined by our waiting for JUSTICE for the vulnerable and those living in poverty. This fits the life this church particularly well, when I think about what we focus on in mission, while it hasn't even been a decision exactly, the goals seem to be to lighten the burdens of those living in poverty. We see in our neighbors, our fellow members and worshippers, those dear to us, and quite ourselves the struggles of trying to live in a world that values the creation of capital over the well-being of the vulnerable.

I don't know about you, but it breaks my heart.

Over and over again.

Actually, I kind of do know about you. I know that this is a community of faith whose belief in God and God's dreams for the world include knowing that what is just and right in the world is for people to have access to food that is nutritious, delicious and plentiful; to housing that is safe, mold-free, and affordable; and to healthcare that is caring, effective, and doesn't require declaring bankruptcy. That we are people who believe that God's desires in the world are for people to live full abundant lives, and we know what is impairing that.

I expect that what I just said was so ridiculously obvious that you don't know why I'm bothering wasting my breath on it. Thank you for that, because, dear ones, what is clear and obvious here isn't in the world at large. Our society as a whole is at peace with people being hungry or we would expand SNAP benefits to cover the WHOLE month, expand access to SNAP benefits to everyone who really needs it, and … oh, let's talk about reality, we wouldn't have had our federal government cut $22 million from funding for regional food banks that are the last-gap measure between those who are struggling and hunger. (THIS is why we have to go to the store for meat, because the Food Bank can't afford to get it anymore.) Our society as a whole is at peace with homelessness, or we'd prioritize safe, accessible housing in our budgets and our legislation. Our society as a whole is at peace with people not have access to healthcare, or not being able to afford to access healthcare, or going bankrupt from accessing healthcare or – wait for it – we'd have a different way of providing and funding healthcare.

And when I'm out in the world, listening, a shocking number of people think that those living in poverty should just try harder, or suffer a little because they deserve it, or …. well, basically the assumption is that poverty is the fault of the individual and poverty is the punishment someone deserves for not “succeeding” in capitalism.

Thank God, we see people as beloved children of God worthy of good things and abundant life, and not worthy of being punished because the game is rigged and they can't win.

Thank God we know a God who is defined by universal love, grace, and mercy. It turns out that matters a lot in what we think justice looks like.

So, here we are on this first Sunday of Advent with one candle-flicker of light in our sanctuary reminding us to hold on to hope. And we have that while we heard words from Job that tell us how the world really is. In “We Cry Justice” Aaron Scott reflects on this Job reading saying:

I see countless tents, tarps, and shacks lining freeway underpasses – up one day, then disappearing the next, removed by cities desperate to keep up appearances instead of keeping up with justice and mercy. I see signs turning parking lots and stoplights across the country into hostile territory: “No Loitering,” “No Illegal Shopping Carts, “No Panhandling.”

And last week while our social worker Sylvester worked to find housing for God's beloveds who had shown up last week, he confirmed counties in the capital region are buying people bus passes to other counties to avoid the cost of housing them.

The world as it is.

But, dear ones, we aren't waiting for more of the same. We are waiting for God's Kindom on earth. And this year, I have noticed something terribly obvious. We aren't just waiting with our ancestors in faith who also yearned for justice and God's dreams. I believe we are waiting with God's own self, God who yearns to see us make different choices and offer better care for God's vulnerable beloveds.

A challenge of faith today is to look at all the brokenness, all the injustice, all the heartaches, and hold hope. And yet, dear ones, there is plenty. There is hope because God seeks justice. There is hope because this is a community of faith that sees the injustice around us and calls it “immoral.” There is hope because there is a whole Poor People's Campaign out there working on it! There is hope because God and we, and others along with us, will never concede that this is good enough. There is hope because at the deepest core of reality, there is goodness (God's goodness) and it is going to break through eventually.

There is hope in this darkness. And the yearning for hope, the yearning for better, the yearning for the kindom is some of the hope itself. Thanks be to God. Amen

December 3, 2023

Rev. Sara E. Baron 

First United Methodist Church of Schenectady 

603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305 

Pronouns: she/her/hers 

http://fumcschenectady.org/ 

https://www.facebook.com/FUMCSchenectady

#thinking church #progressive christianity #fumc schenectady #first umc schenectady #schenectady #umc #sorry about the umc #rev sara e baron #advent #hope #poor peoples campaign #Injustice #Justice #First Sunday of Advent

[tonyburgessblog]

The First Sunday Of Advent 2023

Today begins the season of Advent which is celebrated by many in the Christian world as the prelude to the season of Christmas. This is an Advent wreath with four Advent candles that are lit on the four Sundays before Christmas and the Christ candle which is lit on Christmas Eve. I pray for a good Advent season to all who celebrate and may this be a time of mindful waiting and reflection.

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#advent #blog #bloggers #christians #first sunday of advent #holidays #tumblr #wordpress

[royalchildreneurope]

Princess Madeleine of Sweden, Princess Leonore of Sweden and Princess Adrienne of Sweden visit the Swedish Church for the first Sunday of Advent in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States -December 3rd 2023.

#princess madeleine #princess leonore #princess adrienne #swedish royal family #sweden #2023 #december 2023 #swedish church #first sunday of advent #first sunday of advent 2023 #royal children #my edit

[fairykukla]

It's the First Sunday of Advent!

It's time to start preparing for Christmas.

As a child, my parents taught me about the anticipation through rituals:

Advent Wreath: four candles placed around a wreath. We would light a new candle every week until all were burning brightly. On Christmas, we would burn a special candle in the center.

Putting up Christmas decorations

Making new decorations

Advent Calendar: a month-long game of discovering a new surprise as we count down the days. My mother made us a wall hanging with 25 pockets below a triangular tree. Each day we would take out a new ornament and hang it on the tree with buttons sewn into it.

Setting up Nativity scenes, but *without* the Christ Child; baby Jesus isn't born until the 25th.

There was a game of "being caught doing good" where if we were discovered doing nice things during Advent, we were allowed to put a piece of straw into the empty manger to make a soft bed for Baby Jesus.

Singing songs of anticipation in church, but not Christmas carols, not yet.

Santa Claus makes a special appearance on the Feast of St. Nicolas. On the evening of December 5th, we would leave a shoe or boot by the door, with our "Christmas list" tucked snuggly into it. In the morning we would look inside the shoe and there would be a small gift, a handful of treats, and something to continue the anticipation of Advent.

Today, I'm going to go to the storage unit to retrieve decorations and my live tree stand. Last year the built in stand for my artificial tree was damaged, so we will see if this solution will suffice.

If not, I'm going to try to find a live tree with roots, decorate it for the season, then place it in the basement until spring, when I'll plant it in the yard.

#2023 #advent #first sunday of advent #advent traditions #Christmas Season

[funcoolchickie]

On this first Sunday of Advent may you be filled with refreshing Hope and may it make your load lighter! -Rebeca 🕯️✨

#Hope #First Sunday of Advent

[dwuerch-blog]

 An Insatiable Desire for Advent

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. The first candle lit on the Advent wreath symbolizes HOPE. I HOPE that my attention to this time will cause an insatiable desire for leaning into the real reason for the season. Even in the midst of busyness, we can have an insatiable desire to take time to quiet our hearts and contemplate our Lord’s leaving heaven’s portals to come to this earth, become one…

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#advent #cravings #emmanuel #eternal life #first candle #first Sunday of Advent #god with us #God&039;s Word #hope #insatiable #See&039;s chocolates #waiting and preparing our hearts #wreath

[popcornbutterfly]

#advent #christmas #first sunday of advent #advent 2023 #hope #pacf #sta. cruz laguna #lagunaph #catholic