2017 ADVENT THEME

Prince of Peace held its first worship service in the sanctuary on this land on Sunday, December 15, 1957, dedicating this building in service to the kingdom of God during the season of Advent. As Christians have for millennia, we take the weeks leading up to Christmas as a time for preparation for the coming of the Lord. This year we’ll step through this process of preparation through the lens of those who create places for worship, education, service and fellowship.

Before we can create anything, we have to first dream what could be. Joseph the carpenter has a dream through which God creates an alternate vision for the holy family. How does God work through our dreaming to illumine a pathway towards what’s possible?

Once the vision is set, it’s time to design a plan. The savior of the world is coming and as such, requires the world to be organized appropriately. What will it take to make the paths straight, the valleys raised up, the rough places smooth?

One reason for the incarnation is to make manifest the church on earth, the very body of Christ. One of the ways the God accomplishes this is to build the physical spaces we claim in community. Though church buildings can be beautiful, their true beauty lies in its capacity to be tools for worship and doing ministry.

The Lord has done (and continues to do) wonderful things in our midst. How do our actions reflect this wonder and respond in kind? How do we take what God has done and magnify it? Do we adorn what God has made through our faith?

Finally, what was first only a dream and then started to take shape was the conduit to become as close as possible to the divine. It’s never been about a building, it’s been about the incarnate God, come to dwell with us.

You and your family are invited to step with us along this path over the coming four weeks. And at its end, the glory of a new creation is waiting to be revealed. Gloria in excelsis Deo!