I am ashamed to say that it took me many years to fully acknowledge and appreciate the season of Advent. But now, with a less hectic life style and more time to actually ‘live in the moment’, I have come to realize over the last few years that Advent is my favorite season in the liturgical year. I have realized that it is not just the four weeks we have to get ready for Christmas, but a time to relax and reflect on the year that has almost passed and to begin to anticipate what the new year ahead might bring. With Autumn waning and Winter approaching it is the perfect time for this.

In light of Advent promoting in us, anticipation for Christmas, for the last few years I have even used the weeks in Advent to determine the decorating of my house for Christmas. For example, four candles go into the bow window on the first Sunday, filling all the other windows with candles by the second Sunday, and so on until the tree goes up on the final Sunday.

So all this, as well as four Sundays filled with beautiful liturgy, Bible readings and special Advent music, which are, of course, the most important things that make Advent so special. It is, after all a time of hope, anticipation, joy and love! How can it not be my favorite!

                                                                                                                                                  Lee Mackie

Advent is described is the arrival of a notable person, thing or event. Most of us would argue that this year of our Lord 2020, the advent of a notable event happened in March, not as we typically know it as the start of a new church year anticipating the celebration of the birth of Christ.

However, we should take this Advent season as an opportunity to reset, recenter ourselves and refocus our spiritual lives. Although hard, we need to remember there is more than COVID-19 in our lives and the lives of our family and friends. We need to find ways to help all those in need or trouble and not be afraid. God will take care of us if we let him. It is about being able to receive as well as give, in this season of giving.

God so loved the world that he sent his son to teach us to love one another and open our hearts to his love.

Dru Torregrossa

When I read the request for an Advent/Christmas Reflection I thought it would be an easy task so I started to write; and I wrote; and I wrote; and I wrote. One version; two versions; three versions and none seemed to capture a true sense of reflection for me. Then it hit me. I was focusing on the season as Carol, the member at St. Mary Anne’s. Most of my reflective memories come from much earlier.

I grew up in a family of 7 girls. As daughter number 5, I remember Advent and Christmas as an exciting but painful time of Waiting. When Thanksgiving was over and all the extra stuffing and gravy were gone, the house took on a new sense of expectation. The music played on the piano by my mother changed. Those marvelous hymns like Hark the Thrilling Voice is Sounding and Sleeper’s Wake echoed most days until my Dad brought the tree home.

Being number 5, most of my tree duty was to stay out of the way. Mom would play all the standard Christmas Carols while the tree was getting dressed for the season. Peg and Anne would put on the lights; Mary was in charge of tinsel (one strand at a time) and Betty decorated the mirror with colored glass wax and a sponge. Once the tree was finished, Mom wrapped a white percale sheet around the bottom as a tree skirt.

Laying under that tree and looking up while the Christmas records were playing on the HiFi was magical. The memory of the smells, the laughter, and the singing, all those years ago have helped to shape a desire for that same memory and sense of expectation for the Birth to be in my own family.

Carol Weisel

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.

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