The Vestry has approved the minutes of its November meeting; they're available below.

​Remember that members of the congregation are welcome to observe Vestry meetings: please contact Senor Warden John Eads for the Zoom link to upcoming meetings.

Today is Gaudete (gow-day-tay) Sunday.  Gaudete is a Latin word meaning “rejoice.”  In Advent, we prepare for the coming of Jesus.  But on Gaudete Sunday, we break out of our posture of waiting and anticipating and let loose with rejoicing.  Even the Advent candle we light on this day recognizes this change in attitude.  It’s a different color – pink rather than blue.  Just looking at the Advent wreath, we can see that we are more than halfway through this season of expectation.  Even as the days outside grow shorter and the nights longer, in our hearts the light grows, the darkness dissipates.

​From the Church’s perspective, the Advent wreath is a recent custom.  It gained popularity in Europe in the 1800s and was brought to the United States in the 1900s by German immigrants.  Surely we must classify as a new thing anything that’s been around as a church tradition only 100 years!  A parishioner from my childhood church claims she’s been around longer than that.  The point of this is to let you know that the symbolism of Advent wreaths is newly created and evolving.  One recent idea is that the pink candle, the Gaudete Sunday candle, symbolizes the Virgin Mary.  Whether this has any basis in history I don’t know, but it does work well and fit nicely with our liturgy.