Advent & Christmas 2024

This coming weekend is Reign of Christ Sunday, the last day of the Christian year before we start over again with Advent. I’m grateful to Rev. Kim Hornung-Marcy who will be here to lead worship in my absence, reflecting on the type of ruler Jesus came to be.

Though I have no desire to rush through this important observance nor the Thanksgiving holiday, it is not too soon to mark our calendars for the events of the Advent and Christmas season. This year, we’ll be using Rob Fuquay’s book, On the Way to Bethlehem, to guide our worship through a journey of cities: Rome, Jerusalem, Nazareth, and Bethlehem, each of which played an important role in Jesus’s life. You can read more about this in my Christmas letter.

Also in the letter, you’ll find the dates and times of some of our beloved Advent and Christmas traditions: gift-making, pageant, live nativity, and candlelit Christmas Eve, to name a few. You may also want to note the Longest Night prayer service at Richmond Congregational (Dec. 18 at 7:00 pm), where at least one of our confirmands will be participating.

Whether this time of year is one of stress, joy, sadness, or a little bit of everything, I hope we’ll find the time to come together and celebrate the miraculous meaning of the season: God loved us so much, God wanted to see what it was like to walk in our footsteps, live in our cities, relate in our families, and enjoy a good meal. May that Love that took on flesh make all the difference as we traverse the traditions and commitments of the new year.

Pastor Jen