December 2004
“Advent – the Coming Season”
What a month we have had. We completed our stewardship drive with a very successful Consecration Sunday. Our charge conference was a very positive experience and also marked our first opportunity as a congregation to spend some time with our new district superintendent, Dr. Jerry DeVine. A great deal of work went into both of these events and I would like to personally thank everyone who helped to make these important events a success.
Now we are moving into the season of Advent. The word “advent” derives from the Latin word adventus which means “coming”. Accordingly, the season of Advent proclaims the “coming” of the Christ, whose birth we prepare to celebrate this Christmas.
In relation to Advent, Eugene Peterson once said, “I’m ever and always a stranger to grace. I need this annual angel visitation . . . to know the virgin conceives and God is with us.” How true it is. With all the hustle and bustle of life and the constant distractions of the world, it is so easy to lose sight of what it is and who it is that truly matters. How easy it is to forget how great is God’s love for us. We all need this “annual angel visitation”. We all need to be reminded that the virgin did conceive and through that conception God’s love for us entered into time as His Son; Emmanuel – God is with us.
The prophets of old foretold of Christ’s coming. They brought God’s message to a people in exile; a people struggling and oppressed in a foreign land. They brought a message of hope to a people without hope – the promise of a Messiah-Deliverer; to ransom captive Israel. God’s people had to wait for seven centuries for the fulfillment of God’s promise. But they were fulfilled with the long-awaited angelic proclamation, “Unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord!” What wonderful words; for the people then and also for us today!
As we live our lives – day to day – in a time of uncertainty brought on by moral decay, by terrorism and by a growing intolerance toward Christian beliefs and practice, (just to name a few), praise God that we can find comfort in the fact that the Creator of the Universe loves us more than we can ever know. That Jesus was born, that he is the Son of God, and that he did give his life for us “that we may have life and have it abundantly”.
It has been said that Advent is the “coming of quiet joy – the arrival of radiant light in our darkness”. Over the next few weeks lets all spend some quality time in personal reflection as we try to understand what God’s “Radiant Light” means for us; both individually and corporately as Union City United Methodist Church and as the church universal.
May our God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit – help us to come to a better understanding of Jesus the Christ and who we are in Him. May we discover the true meaning of this Advent and Christmas season and may we come to realize that the best way to prepare for the coming of Christ is to never forget the presence of Christ. Have a very merry and blessed Christmas and Happy New Year.
Grace and Peace, The Rev. Rob Hughes
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