Dear members and dear friends of ZION,

Although the world around us has been filling with ”Holiday’’ sounds and merchandise for quite some time by now, I still find it hard to fully grasp that we have come so close to celebrating Christmas again. The year has been going by like a whirlwind, and for many it has brought more bad than good news.
But the church is inviting us to celebrate again, and the good thing is that she does so with a time of preparation, called Advent – something so often overlooked today. The four weeks and four Sundays give room for acknowledging our need for salvation and redemption. We hear the prophets and share what they have heard and seen of the coming of the Savior, we encounter John the Baptist and his message of repentance and preparation, and on Advent 4, we meet Mary, receiving good, yet unsettling news, and join her in singing her jubilant song, the Magnificat. And then, eventually, we are truly ready to join her and Joseph, the shepherds and angels, and come to the manger at Bethlehem to find and adore Jesus, the one “who will save his people from their sins”.
Advent is a joyful, if somewhat restrained season, a season of intensely cultivated waiting and longing. This intensity can find its expression in unexpected places. I am told that one of the fiercest cultural clashes in this congregation broke out years ago over – the color of the candles on the Advent wreath. The German custom is to have them red or white, and when (in the spirit of liturgical correctness) purple candles arrived on the wreath one year, the tumult was great. We went back to the “German” red candles on the wreath, but some people were hurt. For all its call for renewal, Advent is a season to come back to old customs and traditions – and lo and behold, we might find out that the old customs are still best equipped to give us renewed meaning and a “Gestalt” to our thoughts and emotions.
So I invite you to start your journey of Advent, making your way from wherever you are in your life, to go to Bethlehem once again and see what has come to pass. Some of that journey you may want to spend for yourself, praying, reading and meditating, giving yourself the most precious gift of some quiet time in this busy season. For some part of that journey, you will want to come together, lighting that candle on our church Advent wreath, singing the beloved hymns and songs from “Macht hoch die Tür” to “O come , o come Emmanuel”, listening to our choir performing most beautiful anthems, and listening to and receiving into your hearts the good news, that the Savior is to come soon, that he will not abandon his people, but come with might to bring justice and peace to all the earth.

Rejoice, then, ye sad-hearted,
  Who sit in deepest gloom,
  Who mourn o’er joys departed,
  And tremble at your doom:
  He Who alone can cheer you,
  Is standing at the door;
  He brings His pity near you,
  And bids you weep no more.

Words: Paul Gerhardt (1607-1676), Wie soll ich dich empfangen, verse 6
translation composite, SBH 11
Ihnen allen eine besinnliche Adventszeit und ein gesegnetes Weihnachtsfest!
 -  Have a blessed time of Advent and Christmas!

Your Pastor Dr Holger Roggelin