The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Wait for the LORD; be strong, and let your heart take courage;
wait for the LORD! (Psalm 27:14 ESV)

Unlike the world’s misunderstanding of “waiting” as being passive, unfruitful, and dissatisfying, we who have been baptized into the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus know that waiting is an act of faith-filled courage that, by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit, renounces the sinful desire to control and know all things in favor of humbly submitting to the One who does.

Daily reminded of our mortality and our new life as we make the sign of our death and our lives upon ourselves daily, we wait “in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,” knowing that He who began a good work in us will bring it to completion in the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6).

As we wait in these days when questions, fears, and anxiety can unsettle and distract us, we have been gifted with the chance to be strong while we wait as we “lift up our hearts…to the Lord” in the Holy Eucharist, knowing that the wholesome gifts of forgiveness, life and salvation offered to us there are solid, certain, and true.

Saved by God’s grace through faith on account of Jesus Christ, we light candles even under an ominous azure sky while we remember and repent and we watch and work, grateful that the Lord whose coming we remember two millennia ago is the Lord who meets us graciously in His Holy Word and Blessed Sacraments at every Divine Service.

Because of that, we may wait with renewed patience not only for the answers to our current questions but for the One who is the hope of glory who will come in the clouds of our uncertainty and angst and cause us to look upon the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living at His glorious return.

It is our privilege to wait because the Church remains a prophetic challenge to the ever-demanding world that actively chooses to make this in-between-time of waiting fruitful and fortuitous as we are “Making Disciples for Life” by “Engaging the World with the Gospel of Hope.”

The Truth is coming and that is well worth the wait. I wait with you. I pray for you. We wait together and we pray together as we work together.

A blessed Advent to you.

Peace and hope in Christ Jesus,

Bishop Taylor