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Together Transforming…Lives. Church. World. |
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Welcome to Neta Pringle, Interim Pastor at Govans. Prayer Concerns
Mary Louise Ellenberger, now recovering at home from a broken leg.
Marge Booth, Director of the West Virginia Ministry of Advocacy and Work Camps, and a member of First of Bel Air, has been diagnosed with cancer.
Tom Morgan, on the recent death of his grandmother in Germany.
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People |
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Committee Night - Tues, Dec 7, Presbytery Office
Council Meeting - Mon, Dec 13, 7 pm Hughes Memorial
“Transforming Violence into Wholeness” Nonviolence Training Retreat, sponsored by the Peace & Justice Committee, Jan 14-16, 2005. [read more]
Check out Local Church Announcements and the
Presbytery’s Yearly Calendar
Check out Local Church Announcements and the
Presbytery’s Yearly Calendar |
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Current Events |
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December 6, 2004 |
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Tradition, Transition, Transformation |
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Tidings will be sent weekly on Monday afternoons. Our primary audience is church professionals in the Presbytery of Baltimore.
Thanks for all the wonderful suggestions of alternate names for Tidings. A decision will be made shortly. |
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New Churches For A New Day has been promised a 2-for-1 donation match up to $100,000 by December 15. To date we have received $58,500. There are 9 days left to the match deadline! Christmas International House is a program providing hospitality to any international student or scholar (non-immigrant, over 18 years old) who is currently enrolled in a U.S. college or university who is not able to return home for the holidays. For information on becoming a host, contact Dr. Fahed Abu Akel, National Coordinator at 404-846-4396, amis@peachtreepres.org, or www.christmasih.org. The Central Maryland Ecumenical Council and St. Jude Shrine invite everyone to The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity Ecumenical Prayer Service, Tuesday, January 18 at 7:00 pm, at St. Jude Shrine. A bulletin insert can be downloaded from this link. [read more]. Union Theological Seminary, PSCE, will present four lectures on the Theological Views of The Civil War during their annual Sprunt Lectures, January 24-26, in Richmond, VA. Mark Noll, Professor of Christian Thought at Wheaton College, will be the speaker. For a complete schedule of events and registration information [read more]. Are you shopping for a unique gift that will inspire, inform and educate friends and family-yet is kind to your budget? A gift subscription to Presbyterians Today is a thoughtful gift! For a limited time you can give two people 10 issues of the denominations magazine for only $19.95. Order at www.pcusa.org/today/gift.htm. Church Custodian looking for part-time work. Twenty years experience. Contact Kurt Berger at 410-668-6630 after 4:00 pm. For references contact Loch Raven Baptist Church at 410-823-2940. The Christmas Resource list is now available on the Presbytery website. Check out the Job Opportunities posted on the Presbytery website.
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TakeNote/ActNow |
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Questions or comments? Email Dot at: dsanchez@baltimorepresbytery.org or call 410-433-2012 To subscribe or unsubscribe please Email Alice at: amcgee@baltimorepresbytery.org or call 410-433-2012 |
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Did you ever wonder why an Advent wreath has three purple and one rose candle? Few seasons rival the vast traditions related to Advent, Christmas, and Epiphany. From Anne Rupp’s Christmas Everywhere1 to Debbie O’Neal’s Before and After Christmas2, educators, pastors, and leaders are flooded with resources.
Now a new resource provides comprehensive information and background from our Reformed tradition: The Companion to the Book of Common Worship3. It is a treasury concerning Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, and the whole Church Year in a very readable format.
In the explanation of the Advent wreath we find the significance of the colored candles. Rather than representing any one single event, person, or doctrine, the candles “signify and communicate the increasing crescendo of light throughout the season.” The tradition of the rose-colored candle on the Third Sunday of Advent comes from the Middle Ages, when the readings for that day included Philippians 4:4-6: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near." The penitential mood of Advent “was momentarily suspended by the joyous character of the Philippians text” (Bower: 2003, 98-100). The Third Sunday of Advent helps us transition into Christmas.
Another text for the Third Sunday of Advent resounds with transformation. Isaiah 35:1-10: “The desert will rejoice, and the rose will bloom in the wastelands. The desert will sing and shout for joy.” The land is transformed; the glorious consequences of God’s coming bring wholeness to the blind, the lame, the deaf and those who are speechless. Creation is restored, healed. “The poem is a healing alternative to the church’s grim despair and to our modern sense that no real newness is possible…Advent is getting ready for that impossibility which will permit us to dance and sing and march and thank and drink – and live!” (Brueggemann: 1995, 214).
This is a great season to research, to study, to reflect, to teach, and to preach. Come by the Resource Center to peruse, to borrow, to consult. Terry Martin-Minnich
1 Rupp, Anne. Christmas Everywhere (1994:Educational Ministries) Resource Center 833.034. 2 O’Neil, Debbie. Before and After Christmas. (1991: Augsburg) Resource Center 833.031. 3 Bower, Peter C., Editor. Companion to the Book of Common Worship. (2003: PCUSA). R. C. 893.042. 4 Brueggemann, Walter. et.al. Texts for Preaching (1995: JKW). Resource Center 892.022.
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