Praising God in Devon

Dearest friends, The third Sunday in Advent is called Gaudete Sunday. Gaudete simply means ‘rejoice’. It’s taken from the latin introit for the day’s Mass: ‘Gaudete in Domino semper’ Or in English: ‘Rejoice in the Lord always’ And so today we look at what  we have to rejoice about. Over the last two weeks we have been encouraged to ‘wake up’, then to ‘stay awake’, this week we take joy in our faith and one another.  We have woken in…

Dearest friends, In the second week of Advent we light our second candle… the Bethlehem Candle. In lighting it we pray that we may join Mary and Joseph on their journey to Bethlehem.  Our journey this week is about preparation.  Mary and Joseph were preparing for the birth of their son. I imagine they were like any parents… planning and dreaming about their future as a family. Worrying if they’ve got everything ready.  I can picture them sat with family…

Dearest friends, This Sunday we will light the first candle of five on our Advent Wreath, but why do we do this? Whilst lighting candles to represent the light of God in the world is a very old Christian tradition, the idea of an Advent Candle Wreath is a relatively modern one.  In fact it only goes back to the early 1800s and – no big surprise here – comes from Germany (as indeed most of our modern Christmas traditions).…