Get ready, get set...WAIT! Are you ready?* For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. Romans 13:11-12 Are you ready? Never mind the shopping mall Santa's and fake snow or even the Christmas music that has been playing since the day after Halloween. Are you ready! Is everything set? I'm not talking about those last minute gifts that are on your list, or whether you have your tree up or the lights hung on the eaves of the house. Are you ready for Advent? Advent is a season for reflecting on this mortal life, past and present, as well as hoping expectantly for the future. Not just any future, but that day when Jesus will return in glorious majesty...THAT future. And because of that long awaited and hoped for coming of our Savior, Advent is also a season of urgency. The night is past and the day is at hand and salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 1 Peter 2:9 Advent is a time of preparation and growing expectation. It is also a time when we ask for God's grace as we are intentional in casting off of the works of darkness and begging God to put upon us His magnificent armor of light. Are you ready? Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (BCP pg.159) Blessings, Matthew+ *Reprinted from 11.27.2019 | 
