Welcome
Hope, Peace, Joy and Love
December is a key month in the Christian calendar, not only because at the end of the month we celebrate the birth of Jesus, but because this month is devoted to the season of Advent. Advent, taken from the two Latin words ad (to) and venio (I come), meaning the arrival of a notable person. This first part of the Church year can easily be overlooked as our focus is so much on the coming celebration and our preparations. However, Advent is a key time to prepare ourselves for the arrival of Jesus, whose birth, life and death life were to change the relationship between God and ourselves forever.
The four Sundays leading to Christmas remind us, through the lighting of each Advent Candle, of four key messages of hope, peace, joy and love. To have hope is a crucial element of our faith: the hope we have in Jesus’ promise of a future in His presence. We all long for peace living in such a troubled world; we are, for our part, encouraged to live peaceably with everyone (Romans 12 v 18).
At our Christingle service (Christmas Eve 4pm) we will sing ‘Joy to the world’. Written by Isaac Watts, the notable hymnist, it was not originally written as a carol but is now well-known expressing our joy at Jesus’ birth. Lastly, there is love; the joyful news of Jesus’ birth does not allow us to forget the reason for his birth – to die for our redemption. As is written on John’s Gospel ‘Greater love has no one than this: to lay down one’s life for one’s friends (John 15 v 13). Please remember that JESUS is the REASON for the SEASON
Steve Beynon
