First Presbyterian Church Fort Dodge

I can’t believe it, but Advent is already here! By the time you receive this newsletter, the first Sunday of Advent will be the next Sunday.

It seems that every year the beginning of the church calendar surprises us. We’re barely ready for Thanksgiving, and the first snow falls. We blink and Advent has begun. How is it that something which happens every year manages to surprise us?

Yet God is often at work in the surprise. The stories we’ll observe this fall are stories filled with surprise. God is in the here and now. While it might not seem like it, God is here, right now.

We’ll meet Zechariah, a man doing his regular duties of worship leadership when the angel of the Lord surprises him with life-changing news of a son in his old age. We’ll meet Joseph, whom God met when his life was filled with sadness and confusion. We’ll meet Mary, who experienced the Holy Spirit in a way that changed the course of her life… and human history! And we’ll meet shepherds who met God one fateful evening while they were going about their ordinary work.

During this time, we remember the words of the Angels on that Christmas night, “We bring good news of great joy for all people.” The good news of Jesus often surprises us as it meets us here and now. How might God surprise you here and now, right where you are this Advent season?