"Advent in August: Learning to Wait for the Movement of God’s Spirit"

I’m sure you’ve heard of “Christmas in July.” But Advent in August is probably something new. I doubt that it will become a catchy phrase, though I do like the alliteration. 

The Session, Deacons, and I are having a planning retreat on Saturday, August 15. The major theme will be Waiting on God’s Spirit--hence, the connection between Advent and August, since Advent is a time of waiting. 

We’ve been reading a book by co-authors Andrew Root and Blair Bertrand that encourages churches not to worry about a perceived lack of resources—fewer people, fewer dollars. They also encourage churches not to obsess about finding the latest program or innovation that will turn things around.

Instead, they encourage churches to pray and wait together. They point out that many people assume that the real action in the Book of Acts begins in chapter 2 with the dramatic works of the Holy Spirit, such as the mighty wind and the tongues of fire. But they argue that the true beginning is chapter 1, when the disciples are told simply to wait in Jerusalem for the movement of God’s Spirit.

In the words of the authors:

For the disciples, waiting becomes a kind of being, filled with eating and storytelling, praying, and remembering, all in anticipation and as preparation for God’s action. It’s no different today. The church often feels like it’s in a painful standstill . . .           

Too often we believe there is something else we should be doing than being together, eating, storytelling, praying, and remembering, rehearsing again and again the story of Jesus Christ’s life and it’s meaning. Yet, it’s only out of this being together, this waiting, that we encounter the living God. In encountering the living God we are called out into the world to follow this God who loves the world (John 3:16).

Please pray for the Session and Deacons as we meet in a combined retreat on August 15. And pray for Covenant Presbyterian Church as we prepare to celebrate our 75^th Anniversary in October and look forward to the future God has for us. 

In the meantime, please join us for worship on Sundays—which happens to be a prime opportunity for us to get together for worship and do all the “eating and storytelling and praying and remembering” together. And in our remembering and storytelling, we will recall how Covenant has been and continues to be a place where--by the grace of God--lives are changed and deep friendships are formed. It is also where we learn to love and serve all the neighbors—here and around the world—that God puts in our path. 

Grace and Peace,

Pastor Jack