Advent time is not our time and it is not yet Christmas time. Advent is a time that does not match our January-December calendar (as our church calendar starts in December), and the season encourages us to slow down for four weeks even as we hustle towards the joys of Christmas. But, true to the nature of faith itself, the season of Advent this year begins with stories about the end times and then moves backward throughout the month of December to help us “unwrap” the amazing gift that God gave the World in God’s Son, Jesus Christ.

“For Such a Time as This,” our theme for this Advent season, speaks to our present realities as well as our future hopes and prayers.  The story of Jesus Christ’s life, death and resurrection happened in a certain place and a certain time.  God intervened in human history in the finite life of Jesus that, then, unleashed the infinite power of God’s grace and mercy across all time and space! And that story, the story of Jesus, began back in the Old Testament, where the prophets continually pulled back the veil on God’s saving actions in and across time.