Stephen Becker Letter

A Glorious Hope - Our Advent Theme

Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas (the Feast of our Lord's Nativity), and ushers in the beginning of our Church Year. Since Advent means "coming" in Latin, we begin our church year by anticipating and preparing for the coming of Christ.
During Advent we prepare our hearts for the formation (or birth) of the Christ-child in us. The collect for the first Sunday of Advent is an earnest and solemn petition: “Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light” (BCP p. 211). The phrase “works of darkness” sounds overly dramatic. What can the works of darkness have to do with my humdrum ordinary life? The answer is - a great deal! The Apostle John in his First Epistle wrote: “If we claim to be without sin we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us” (I John 1:8). Herbert O’Driscoll once wrote: “The truth is our darknesses are many - anger, hatred, betrayal, greed, lust, envy, depression, anxiety, fear and many more. Many things that we “work” (or do) emerge from our shadows and darkness”. And this darkness blinds us from perceiving the glory and majesty of God. Sometimes the rush and push of Christmas preparations can cause us to miss a rich depth that this Advent season should impart to us. The church, much like Mary, is pregnant with life and hope. But we need to be willing to wait upon God during this pregnancy with an expectancy and hope that Christ will be formed in us and change us into his image from glory to glory. To aid us with this hopeful expectation, our Wednesday night Soup Suppers (scheduled for December 2^nd, 9^th, and 16^th) will be complemented with devotions that feature the topic of spiritual transformation, namely: How people change and how we can help people change.
As we wait for the completion of the work begun in us by Christ, I am reminded of these other words from John’s First Epistle: “Beloved, now are we the children of God; what we will be has not yet been revealed. What we do know is this: when he is revealed, we will be like him, for we will see him as he is. And all who have this hope in him purify themselves, just as he is pure.” Our Christian hope is centered in the fact that our Lord will come to make all things new. May God give us the grace to spread this hope to our family, to our community and to all the world.

Yours in Christ’s Service,

Stephen