Message from Pastor David

Waiting for the Christ child is what Advent is about. For many of us, patience is not a strong, well-practiced characteristic.  Recognizing that shortcoming, I would like to suggest something.  I suggest that we wait actively. No, not by pretending that Christmas is already here, but instead by using some of the time spent waiting to intentionally prepare for Christ's coming.  I make two suggestions.  First, I suggest we spend time together in worship. Let us worship with passion on Sunday mornings, anticipate the greatest of gifts in Christ, and whet the appetite for the worthy celebration of God's entrance into the world as flesh and blood.  Second, speaking of God in the world, we are called to be the signs of God's love in the world.  Through this Advent season, you are invited and encouraged to return to St. Philip on Sunday evenings to continue our tradition of evening Advent worship and also to remember that we are God's creations in the world.  The spark of Christ's light becomes a flicker, then the flicker becomes the flame of a single candle, then the single candle lights a sanctuary full of flames until the promise of God coming to the world burns brilliantly and brightly giving us hope.  Christ comes into our midst, so come and wait, actively.