The Rev. Karen Burnard; search category "Rector's Ramblings" for other columns
From the November 2009 Triad:
This year November is framed by two significant church celebrations, All Saints on November 1st, and I Advent on Sunday, November 29. Our Diocesan bishop, The Rt. Rev. Thomas Breidenthal, and his wife, Margaret, will be with us to celebrate All Saints on November 1st. One of our newest members, twelve-year-old James Stokes, will be baptized that day at 10:30. Names of all the saints you have given us will be lifted up in prayer as we remember all those who have gone before, those present, and those who will follow after us. Please join us for the Adult Forum that day with Bishop Breidenthal (9:15 a.m.) and for the reception following the 10:30 service.
Just three days after our secular celebration of Thanksgiving, the season of Advent begins on Sunday, November 29. After months of our liturgical green, the altar will be adorned with blue. Out comes the Advent wreath in the chancel and the seasonal wreaths on our red doors, beckoning all to come inside. Hopefully our worship, and our lives, will slow down as we wait and watch, prepare for and anticipate the birth of the Holy Child. “O come, O come Emmanuel” we sing. “O come, thou Wisdom from on high … O come, Desire of nations, bind in one the hearts of all mankind ….” So many of our hopes and dreams are expressed in this Advent text, sung by all the saints for centuries. How glorious it is to know that we are related to the Holy Child, and to all the saints, past, present and future, known and unknown.
I eagerly await our celebration on November 1st with all of you, and our shared entry into a renewed season of hope, peace, joy, and love.
Thanks be to God,
Karen Burnard
htrector(AT)woh.rr.com
