Advent marks the beginning of the new liturgical year. It is rooted in tradition: with practices geared toward watching, anticipating, waiting, and hoping.

These themes and practices are predictable, returning each year to orient and remind us. They provoke and inspire us while mimicking the season we feel around us: the great anticipation of Christmas. This mirrors the anticipation we engage in through Advent.

The irony, of course, is that this is practice for change. To remember the transformation of the world through the Incarnate Word and the transformation that will come to us in his return.

In short: this is a season of change.

And we begin the season with a rooted conviction that change is our work. To embody the transforming grace of God in our community by making community with others, full of singing, gift-giving, and joy.