Stay alert to God’s Call on your life …
Advent reminds us to be watchful and to pray at all times
ADVENT: 3-24 DECEMBER 2017
Advent begins on the Sunday closest to 30 November (Feast of S Andrew the Apostle) and lasts for four Sundays, leading up to Christmas on 25 December.
Advent symbolizes the present situation of the Church in these “last days” as God’s people wait in remembrance and anticipation for the return of Christ in glory to consummate His eternal kingdom.
To balance the two elements of remembrance and anticipation, the first two Sundays in Advent (up to December 16th) look forward to Christ’s Second Coming, and the last two Sundays (December 17th – 24th) look backward to remember Christ’s First Coming at Bethlehem.
It is between the fulfilled promise of Christ’s First Coming and the yet-to-be-fulfilled promise of His Second Coming that we find these words: “Unfulfilled and fulfilled promise are related to each other, as are dawn and sunrise. Both are promise and in fact the same promise. If anywhere at all, then it is precisely in the light of the coming of Christ that faith has become Advent faith, the expectation of future revelation. But faith knows for whom and for what it is waiting. It is fulfilled faith because it lays hold on the fulfilled promise.” The promise for Israel and the promise for the Church is Jesus Christ; He has come, and He will come again. This is the essence of Advent.
Think about this – and join us as we celebrate Advent this year, beginning today, the First Sunday of Advent.
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