The Anglican Church of All Saints

This Sunday is Advent Sunday, the first Sunday in the Church’s year. We will be live at 12 noon on YouTube https://youtu.be/A3Vrc9PWEmc Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/564485441080665 as well as on all of our websites http://tenerifevirtual.church/ and http://tenerifesouthchurches.com/

As always, the service sheet can be found at http://tenerifevirtual.church/servicesheet.pdf and please be ready with something similar to bread and wine if you’d like to join in with the agape meal part of the service.

25th November

Dear Friends,

Advent begins this coming Sunday. The word Advent comes from the Latin and means “Coming;” its purpose is to look forward to the coming of Christ to the Earth; it is a season that is focused on waiting. We have all been through so much this year that in many ways this longing for Christ’s return is stronger, “The Lord will come, and not be slow, His footsteps cannot err; Before Him righteousness shall go, His royal harbinger”, (John Milton, 1648).

So, “Advent means something new is coming. The dawn of a new and better era. This is really what the Christmas season is all about, isn’t it? It’s the celebration of the Advent of a new era. God broke into time and space and entered our world” This is where we prepare for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, no longer as a child but as Lord, King and Judge. Imagine, if you will, that glorious moment when Christ appears, in what is known as the Rapture of Christ. In this, the rapture—which is the transformation and catching up of all Christians, dead or alive, to meet Christ in the air—will be secret, for it will be unknown to the world of unbelievers at the time of its happening, (read 1 Thessalonians).This coming will put an end to the misery of sickness and wrong and of course Covid, and many other horrors that are inflicted upon us all. But in this season of waiting and wanting we are reminded that we still have a purpose you and I, and that purpose is to live as Christ lived and love as Christ loved. This Christmas which Advent takes us to is looking to be a very challenging time, where Covid regulations worldwide are causing families to be split up, where the lonely become more vulnerable and where money and insecurity is be the watchword. What can we do? Through prayer, we can enter into God’s presence and ask Him to prepare our hearts the way he prepared all of history to receive the gift of his Son. Ask the Father to use this time during Advent to cut away the distractions and make your life a place of warmth and openness.

A Prayer: O Flower of Jesse’s stem, you have been raised up as a sign for all peoples; rulers stand silent in your presence; the nations bow down in worship before you. Come, let nothing keep you from coming to our aid.

Blessings,
Fr Ron Corne
Chaplain