Beloved of God,

Last Thursday St. Mary’s did something beautiful.

Our Community Thanksgiving Meal welcomed more than 60 people – far more neighbors from the wider community than last year – and the parish hall absolutely hummed with warmth and laughter and the holy chaos of people being fed in body and spirit. I’m deeply grateful to Janis Umschlag and her extraordinary team of volunteers who cooked, served, cleaned, welcomed, and created a space where strangers felt like friends and friends felt like family. You showed what love looks like when it rolls up its sleeves.

And now we’ve stepped straight into Advent. Yesterday’s sermon for Advent I invited us to see this season as more than a quiet, patient wait in the dark. Yes, Advent holds longing and anticipation – of course it does. But it also asks something of us. It calls us to wake up, to take our place in God’s unfolding work, to lift our heads and engage the world that needs the hope we carry. Advent doesn’t only look toward Bethlehem; it looks around us, right now, at the places where God’s kingdom is aching to break through.

What we did at that meal – feeding people, welcoming them, showing up for one another – that’s Advent. That’s participation. That’s saying “yes” to God in the most ordinary and sacred of ways.

May this season open our eyes to the places where hope is needed and give us the courage to step in. Let’s keep living Advent – not just waiting for Christ to come but noticing where Christ is already stirring right in front of us.

Faithfully,