Stewardship Thank You! Advent.
On this great holiday of Thanksgiving, I wanted to say a huge thank you to everyone who has pledged their support of the ministry of St. David’s. I am happy to announce that, despite a number of parishioners either moving out of town or passing away, we are looking to be in a good financial position for 2025. If you haven’t yet made your pledge, please do so by letting our bookkeeper know (bookkeeper@stdavidsglenview.org) as soon as possible, as we are in the beginning stages of preparing next year’s budget.
Thanksgiving, along with the Feast of Christ the King that we celebrated last Sunday, always mark the end of the liturgical calendar. This coming Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, the first Sunday of the new Church Year.
Advent is of course a preparatory season, for the great celebration of the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Traditionally, the way that one prepares to celebrate a feast is with a fast. This is still much more felt and understood with Lent preparing us for Easter, but historically, it was the same with this season of Advent.
This past Sunday I encouraged everyone to consider giving up consumption of social media or the news. These things in particular have the tendency to suck up our attention and to leave us worse off than before we took in the information from them. If you decide to fast from consuming the news or social media, not only will you likely be in a better headspace, but it will likely open up some space in your day to spend some time in prayer. And spending time in prayer, in my experience at least, always leaves me feeling better than before.
Lastly, I also mentioned on Sunday, that while I know you are likely to attend a Christmas party or two before it’s technically Christmas, I would like to encourage you to think of one Christmas “treat” that you particularly enjoy, and save it until it’s actually Christmas. Maybe it’s a favorite movie of yours, or a desert or beverage, whatever it is for you, simply, refrain from it through this season of Advent, and then really enjoy it, once we reach Christmas.
I hope that you’ll consider entering into this preparatory season of Advent, so that we may that much more joyously celebrate the birth of our Lord in four week’s time.
See you in Church!
Peace,
Fr Adler+
p.s. Just a reminder that this Sunday we resume our Church History Class by using Tom Holland’s “Dominion.” Join us in the Library at 9 am to discuss Chapter 8: Conversion.