Messy Church is held every month in the parish hall. It is a gathering oriented toward parents and children. There is fun, crafts, conversation, learning, prayer, a song or two, and dinner. The doors open at 5pm. Welcome.

Advent is quickly approaching. In our Christian calendar, Advent begins the fourth Sunday before Christmas and ends Christmas Eve. It is a time of preparation. Not the world’s preparation for the festive season with brightly coloured lights, glittering decorations and frantic shopping, but a stilling of the spirit within the craziness of life, of quiet reflection, the preparation of a manger in our hearts to receive the Christ child. The wonder of our faith is that, although the manger is now empty, just as the cross is empty, Christ is with us.

Journeying faithfully through Advent will help us to enter in the celebration of the birth of the one who rescues us with a deep peace and quiet joy that will continue to comfort and strengthen long after the let down that often follows the festive celebrations.

During Advent, the Bible readings assigned for this time, reflect our human story. They are an honest explorations of our humanity, not only the stories of humanity at its best, but also the dark and shameful stories. When it comes to humanity there really is nothing new under the sun. Greed, ambition, selfishness live alongside compassion, selfless giving, courage. There is one constant, not only in our human story, but in our personnel stories, God faithfully journeys with us. There is nothing that we can do, that will drive God away. We may choose to ignore God, we may turn our back on God so often that it becomes difficult for us to recognize God, but God remains ever faithful. Beginning in Genesis (the first book of the Bible) humanity’s relationship with God is considered in an unfolding history. Our Advent journey happens in the telling of these stories, until we reach the culmination our our journey at the manger in
Bethlehem where God comes to live among us.

At Messy Church each child will be given a set of ornaments to take home and colour for every day in Advent. Included will be a verse from the Bible that tells our human story of our relationship with God. If you are not able to come to Messy Church, I can e-mail you a copy (nrowe@stgeorgesgeorgetown.com). This is a great way to help your family prepare for the birth of the baby Jesus.

Happy Advent.