|
We invite you to visit us and see whether this parish might become your spiritual home. We are a community that looks to the life and ministry of Jesus to better understand and enter into the heart of God. Jesus spoke out against injustice and poverty, he healed friend and foe, he broke bread with the rich and poor. Jesus points to the wideness of God’s compassion.
We celebrate the wonderful diversity of humankind and we seek to do that in faithfulness to our baptismal vow to respect the dignity of every human being. St. John's strives to include a place for everyone around God’s table and believes there should be no outcasts in the Episcopal Church. Our campus is completely accessible and barrier free. |
NEWS
2018 Christmas Service Schedule at St. John’s
Overview:
– 12 p.m. Christmas Dinner with Holy Eucharist
For more information |
The Season of Advent
Advent is the beginning of the liturgical year and begins the 2019 year on December 2, 2018. We will enter Year C on that day, which is the third of the three-year lectionary cycle of Scripture readings.
Advent is a season of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas. The term is an anglicized version of the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming.”
The early Church fathers taught that there were three “advents” of Christ: the first coming, in his birth at Bethlehem, the Second Coming which we still await at some point in the future, and the third coming, which is the daily coming of Christ into each of our lives.
The scripture readings for the last few Sundays of the Season After Pentecost and the first Sunday of Advent are focused mostly on the Second Coming, featuring apocalyptic passages foretelling the end of time On the Second Sunday of Advent, our focus shifts to remembering the promises of God that were fulfilled in the first coming of Christ, as we begin to anticipate the yearly celebration of his birth at Christmas.
The keeping of an Advent wreath is a common practice in homes or churches, which helps to mark time as we grow closer to Christmas. There are four candles, one for each Sunday in Advent, and they are lit successively as the weeks progress. Where an Advent wreath includes a fifth candle (in the center of the wreath), it is known as the Christ candle and is lit during the Christmas Eve service.
The liturgical color for Advent at St. John’s is blue. Traditionally, blue or purple has been used for Advent in the church. Both originally were black, since both seasons were considered seasons of penitence (plant-based dyes, in attempting to achieve black, often wound up a deep purple or deep blue color.) But over time, the purple and blue liturgical colors have come to take on different meanings. Purple remains associated with repentance and is used during Lent. When blue is used instead of purple at Advent, it is done to distinguish Advent from Lent, as a season with a slightly different “flavor” There is still a theme of repentance, as in Lent, but there is also a theme of hope and expectant joy. Some also see the blue as a reminder of the significance of the Virgin Mary to the season of Advent, since blue is the color traditionally associated with Mary.
Advent is a season of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas. The term is an anglicized version of the Latin word adventus, meaning "coming.”
The early Church fathers taught that there were three “advents” of Christ: the first coming, in his birth at Bethlehem, the Second Coming which we still await at some point in the future, and the third coming, which is the daily coming of Christ into each of our lives.
The scripture readings for the last few Sundays of the Season After Pentecost and the first Sunday of Advent are focused mostly on the Second Coming, featuring apocalyptic passages foretelling the end of time On the Second Sunday of Advent, our focus shifts to remembering the promises of God that were fulfilled in the first coming of Christ, as we begin to anticipate the yearly celebration of his birth at Christmas.
The keeping of an Advent wreath is a common practice in homes or churches, which helps to mark time as we grow closer to Christmas. There are four candles, one for each Sunday in Advent, and they are lit successively as the weeks progress. Where an Advent wreath includes a fifth candle (in the center of the wreath), it is known as the Christ candle and is lit during the Christmas Eve service.
The liturgical color for Advent at St. John’s is blue. Traditionally, blue or purple has been used for Advent in the church. Both originally were black, since both seasons were considered seasons of penitence (plant-based dyes, in attempting to achieve black, often wound up a deep purple or deep blue color.) But over time, the purple and blue liturgical colors have come to take on different meanings. Purple remains associated with repentance and is used during Lent. When blue is used instead of purple at Advent, it is done to distinguish Advent from Lent, as a season with a slightly different “flavor” There is still a theme of repentance, as in Lent, but there is also a theme of hope and expectant joy. Some also see the blue as a reminder of the significance of the Virgin Mary to the season of Advent, since blue is the color traditionally associated with Mary.