St Mary Anne's Church

Rooted in the past, reaching for the future

2020 Parishioner Advent Refection Day 5

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Lord, behold our family here assembled. We thank thee for this place in which we dwell: for the love that unites us; for the peace accorded us this day, for the hope with which we expect the morrow, for the health, the work, the food and the bright skies that make our lives delightful …Robert Louis Stevenson
CHRISTMAS IS FAMILY:
It’s the family huddled in the stable in Bethlehem, sharing their lodging with animals and sleeping on coarse hay yet basking in the glory of angelic music and heavenly light;
it’s the family formed through friendships when there is such a connection of similar thoughts and needs that people of varied background are drawn together into a unit of mutual caring and sharing;
it’s the family of father, mother, children, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins with their shared heritage and lasting traditions;
it’s the single parent family striving to stretch money and time in order to provide a nurturing home life as well as basic food, clothing and shelter for children and parent alike;
it’s the family of the parishioners of St. Mary Anne’s who “gather to worship God, welcome all in fellowship, strengthen our faith” and “go out to share and live God’s love be faithful stewards of God’s creation, help those in need”;
it’s God’s family joining together to celebrate the birth of His Son. As we strive to work in His path and be more like Jesus, shouldn’t we all focus on THIS family as the center of our lives during this blessed season and throughout the year?
                                                           Kathy Heidel
Reprinted from our 2000 Advent Reflections booklet. Kathy was a much loved parishioner who died in 2015.

2020 Parishioner Advent Reflection Day 4

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I love Advent, the nighttime darkness and the quiet. I love how, in the heart of winter, the natural world proclaims the waiting, the promise and the hope of the presence of God. I love the blessings of Advent faith.
In Italy, where we lived for seven years, I especially valued the Advent season. The streets of Florence were largely empty of crowds — no Christmas shopping frenzy there! Often white lights were strung across the streets, giving light in the darkness for the holiday. Church bells echoed. Shepherds from the hills came into the city and played phrases of Italian carols on their bagpipes, celebrating the promise of Christmas in the quiet of the evenings.
Now, here back in North East, amid our frenetic and hyped pre-Christmas hysteria, I long for the quiet and darkness of Advent in Italy. Nevertheless, I still try to observe Advent quiet by stopping, looking, listening. I still find hope and joy in the waiting and expectation of Advent in the midst of the winter darkness, pre-Christmas busyness and the chaos of our world.
Advent lets me hear Mary’s song: My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord; my spirit rejoices in God my Savior.  The voices of ancient prophets still echo in my heart: Comfort, O comfort my people says our God.… the glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
I try not to get distracted by fear but to work for healing and peace instead. I remember that we live to do good, not feel good. This is why I love Advent. This dark and luminous time tells us of coming and not yet, of waiting and hoping. Advent calls us to live and act in faith and celebrate God’s coming to us and presence with us, known to us by hope, by love.
Fr. Sam Hartman

2020 Parishioner Advent Reflection Day 3

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As a child, I had the advantage of growing up in a church community with long-standing Christmas traditions. Long before the Halloween decorations came down and the last piece of Thanksgiving pies were joyfully eaten, plans were underway for decorating the Sanctuary, gathering Christmas Carolers to visit homes, making costumes for the Christmas pageant and deciding who would have the best roles (a sheep or an angel)!  All this excitement made up the Advent Season and successfully competed with any of the Santa Claus helper sightings at the local mall.
One special year it was decided the Children’s Choir could sit and sing with the Adult Choir at the Christmas Eve Service. I was chosen to sing the first verse of “Oh Holy Night.”
The church was decorated with fresh greens and roping. Candles glowed in the windows making beautiful shadows on the baby Jesus tucked in the crib. Narcissus, with their petite white flowers and delicate scent, and bright poinsettias surrounded the altar.  I could hear the shuffle of parishioners getting comfortable in their seats.   My parents’ and grandparents’ faces were anxious and proud hoping I would not forget the words. I had been practicing every day for weeks but, as often happens, that morning I woke with a scratchy throat. Finally just as the lights dimmed, leaving only a gentle light shining on the baby Jesus, the organist began playing the introduction to “Oh Holy Night”. It was magical! As members of the Children’s Choir in Angel costumes surrounded the baby Jesus, my voice began the beautiful lyrics as only a child’s voice can … “Oh Holy night! The Stars are brightly shining, it is the night of our dear Savior’s birth”.
I hope this Advent season you are filled with child-like anticipation of God’s renewed promise of that Most Holy Night.
Mary G. Park Neureither

2020 Parishioner Advent Reflection Day 2

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Each October and November, I get in the mood to do “fall cleaning”. As a kid, I helped my mom wash walls and windows, and ready our home for harsh Connecticut winters. We packed away summer bedspreads and curtains and replaced them with heavier bedding and window coverings. After a few days of housework, we stood back to admire our spruced-up home with the familiar warm comforts of the previous winter.
Many years later, I continue some of the same habits and find contentment in “being prepared” for the next season. I suspect our Altar Guild members find a similar comfort when they prepare and switch our seasonal church hangings to decorate the altar. The weather outside our church windows does not influence the hangings—rather the church liturgical cycle divides the year into a series of seasons. Each one has its own mood, theological emphases, prayers and scripture readings, and seasonal colors.
We are now in Advent—a four-week church season in which to prepare for the “coming” of Christ with devotion and joyful expectation. The Altar Guild switched the hangings from green to blue. The Flower Committee decorated the Advent Wreath; and for the next four weeks, we light its candles to special prayers. All these church traditions remind us of the One who taught hope, peace, faith and love.
Each year, I prepare for the “coming” of Christ with comforting cultural traditions at home. I deck the halls with boughs of holly, bake, shop and wrap, and find some temporary joy in the process. I admit, though, any lasting joyful expectation of hope and peace derives from a different type of preparation—a year-round effort to understand the scriptural reassurances that Christ will come again in Glory.
Then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. Luke 21:27
Karen Schaeffer

2020 Parishioner Advent Reflection Day 1

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COME LORD JESUS by Bob Doyle
(A SHORT HISTORY OF ADVENT)

It is ironic that the early Church struggled with establishing the season of Advent. Once the Church settled on a calendar, Lent was kind of a no-brainer. The Crucifixion and Resurrection tell a story that makes perfect sense for a period of penance and redemptive acts in, what Christians believe to be, the given path to salvation. Forty days shows up everywhere in the Old Testament so Lent was inevitable in preparation for Easter. But what about Christmas?

The Incarnation had its own message that needed time to be understood and accepted. The early Church Fathers understood this but first they had to clarify what exactly that message was. Again fixing on one calendar played a role. In the 4th and 5th centuries 40 days were set aside in the Church calendar to prepare for the Epiphany. This had become the time for new initiates to prepare for baptism. It wasn’t until the 6th century that the Roman Church established Advent not as a preparation for Christ’s birth but rather as a time to prepare for his second coming or the End of Days. It wasn’t until the Middle Ages that the Church began using the Advent Season to celebrate Christ’s birth. But this newer sense of the Lord’s Advent did not supplant preparation for the Second Coming.

So what is the true purpose of Advent? First it is about learning how to wait not only for Christmas Day but for Christ’s second coming. Then it is the mystery of the Incarnation and what this means for humankind’s ultimate salvation. It is about the Redemption that God has gifted us with the arrival of His Son. And finally it is preparation for the Gift of the Incarnation itself.

And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen His glory, the glory of a father’s only son full of Grace and truth. John 1:14

 

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