2nd Sunday in Advent, 2021

Below you can find our Christmas service schedule. The 8 am feast day services are wonderful opportunities for stillness, prayer, and contemplation.

Readings for this Sunday, December 5 (Second Sunday in Advent): You may access the prayer and readings by following this link. You may read the RSV and ESV translations of the readings here.

This Sunday, in keeping with the general theme of Advent (that we heed the call to prepare for the second coming of Christ even as we prepare to celebrate the Feast of the Nativity) we are reminded that there is only one foundation upon which we can base our hopes, and that is upon Jesus and his word. The Apostle Paul teaches, "Whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning; that we through patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope." We may well be distressed at the upheaval we observe in our own lives, circumstances, and the world in general. This distress must not result in despair, but rather a clearer focus upon that which remains sure and stable. Jesus says, "heaven and earth shall pass away; but my words shall not pass away." Of course, this resistance against despair and a turn towards a deeper hope in Jesus and his word are not necessarily easy. For those of us who are in need of further conversion and growth in holiness, there may well be well-travelled paths in our hearts, or default responses, towards discouragement or despair. Orienting our hopes towards Jesus and his word is an aspect of spiritual warfare, and so we pray, "give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life..."

If you have particular prayer requests or thanksgiving reports please share them with me. They will be offered to the Lord through the service and included in the service insert.

Special feasts and fasts* (if you follow or wish to follow the Church's traditional devotion in this way): December 6, St. Nicholas (commemoration); December 8, Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (commemoration).

If you intend to come to the Advent retreat (information below) please let me know. This retreat will go ahead if only for one person, but we'd like to provide coffee and refreshments. Please also gossip about this retreat to anyone you know who may be interested in it.

RECURRING AND ADVANCED NOTICES

Advent retreat on St. Athanasius' On the Incarnation.This will be held from Friday, December 17 at 7 pm to Sunday, December 19. It will be an accessible study on this key and timeless work ordered around prayer and reflection. You will find more information here. As always, feel free to email me with any questions. Please consider sharing this in your networks.

Christmas Services (all are Holy Communion). Saturday, December 25 (Christmas Day), 10 am; Sunday, December 26 (The feast of St. Stephen), 10 am; Monday, December 27 (the feast of St. John the Evangelist), 8 am; Tuesday, December 28 (The Innocents), 8 am; Saturday, January 1 (the Circumcision of Christ) 8 am; Sunday, January 2 (the 2nd Sunday after Christmas), 10 am; Thursday, January 6 (Feast of the Epiphany), 8 am.

Updated COVID19 protocols are in effect (in light of provincial guidelines and the expectations of the landlord). We will be gathered around the Lord's Table, seated by household, socially distanced. We ask that hands be sanitized and masks be worn inside for the duration of the service (exception is made for receiving the bread and the wine, and for leaders who are socially distanced).

Please reach out if you have any questions.

In Christ and Under the Mercy

Lars+