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The season of Advent begins this Sunday which marks the start of a new church year. Once again, we begin this journey of
preparing our hearts and minds, and making room in our lives for the Christ Child. What exactlydoes that mean?

I’m sure everyone experiences the Advent season a little differently. I’m also quite sure our experiences from year to year will be quite different according to what is happening in our lives and in the lives of those we love. Regardless of your circumstances this year, I hope Sunnybrook can be a place of sanctuary of sorts, a spacious place for contemplation
and dreaming, either in person or online.

In the Advent spirit of making room and creating space for something new, perhaps the gratitude practices we have been thinking about in the month of November will help us savor the moments we share together. Not until we intentionally find some space in all our doing, will we be able to even imagine what new thing the Holy Spirit may be about among us.

This week our Advent word is “hope.” That word may inspire quite different thoughts for each of us, but in this part of the world we can all agree, there is a sense of hope in the hidden potential resting in the frozen trees waiting under the snow. Evidence of hope is there in the promise of new life just outside our front door. Are you ready and willing to see the possibilities of what is yet to be? Hope is . . . courage, faith, confidence, optimism, promise . . . “Hope is a star that shines in the night.” (Brian Wren, 1985)

Peace and Joy,

Nancy