This coming Sunday is the first Sunday in Advent. It is also the first day of the new liturgical year. While many use this time to look forward to the coming Christmas season, I would recommend a slightly different approach to this first Sunday in Advent: a new year's celebration.
What do we do when a new year comes? Most of us start thinking about "New Year's resolutions." These resolutions are oftentimes something we have tried to do before but we are now using the New Year as an occasion to rededicate ourselves to our mission. This is exactly what I think the Church should the first Sunday in Advent.
Imagine this Sunday's worship full of pageantry as the altar, the pulpit, the font, and the whole worship space are re-consecrated and rededicated to the service of the Almighty. Our attention is both retrospective – on our baptismal call and our history – and to the forward movement of our parish in the work of God. The worship service would simply be a setting to do all this in; correspondence with Sunday school and bible studies would help to bring the focus in even more.
This Sunday as you worship in your respective parishes, think for a brief moment on how to rededicate yourself to the work of God.
