What the Church considers ADVENT is called the Holiday Season by our culture. Whatever you choose to call it, there is a high likelihood that you are singing songs of the season and shopping for gifts. Our Advent theme is “The Wondrous Gift,” an idea that comes from a song lyric, that combines the themes of the season and gift-giving.

Phillips Brooks wrote this lyric in 1868: “How silently, how silently the wondrous gift is given.” Perhaps you read those lyrics to the tune of the song, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” Of course, the wondrous gift refers to JESUS and His birthplace of Bethlehem.

Brooks is right! Jesus is a wondrous gift offered to ALL PEOPLE! The prophets foretold His birth in Bethlehem, His riding on a donkey, His suffering for His people and the purpose of His coming. The New Testament writers tell us of the promise of His return. As we often say, “Jesus was, is, and is to come.”