Due to heavy snows in the Spokane area — and due to poor accessibility on west central neighborhood streets — tonight’s 7pm service has been canceled.

Please do plan to join us on Wednesday, December 24th for our Christmas Eve festivities! (see post below)

Come one and all to Holy Trinity on Wednesday, December 24th for our 4pm Christmas Eve festival eucharist to celebrate the birth of Jesus!

For four weeks, now, we’ve been retelling the great Advent stories of God’s promise to send us a ‘messiah,’ an anointed king, who is to deliver us from the world ‘as it is,’ into a new world — something more like the kingdom of God where, as the promise continues, the blind will see, the lame will walk, the mute will speak, and the deaf will have their ears opened — all that is wrong with the world will be made right — and it will be achieved by our sharing in the mission of ‘Immanuel,’ God-among-us in Jesus.

The angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God. And you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you will name him Jesus.” …Then Mary said, “Here am I, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word.” Luke, ch.1

How would you respond?

God’s angels arrive to tell you that all your hopes and longings are soon to be fulfilled — God’s promise to set the world right is about to come true — and God will make it happen…through you.

The spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because the Lord has anointed me; he has sent me to bring good news to the oppressed, to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and release to the prisoners; to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor, and the day of vengeance of our God;to comfort all who mourn… Isaiah, ch.35

The great hope of Advent — upon which we wait with joyful expectation — is the hope of experiencing more fully the presence and activity of God in our lives, both as individuals and as communities. And we perceive signs of that presence — just as we perceive signs of life in the budding fig tree — whenever we see signs of the fulfillment of God’s promises for us — God’s love for us. And what does that love look like?