The Rt Rev Anne Dyer, Bishop of Aberdeen & Orkney, sent a message to all in the Diocese of Aberdeen & Orkney at the start of Advent.
Today we begin a new church year. We enter a season of preparation and penitence as we ready ourselves for the coming festival of Christmas. I returned to public ministry as the last year was drawing to a close. Through these first weeks I am pacing myself through a phased return, greatly assisted by Bishop Ian Paton acting as my Commissary. This phased return sits well with Advent, when the season encourages us to be more still and watchful than usual. It is a season where we light candles, wait in prayer, and prepare ourselves to receive Christ more deeply into our lives.
Advent is a season of hospitality in our churches. We may have more visitors because of carol services, school visits, or nativities, all ahead of the Christmas season itself. In the diocese as a whole our hospitality has been growing. More and more of our churches open up on weekdays to offer warm spaces, soup lunches, or coffee mornings. Some of you are so good at this that your endeavors have won awards, although I know that you have not been seeking recognition or attention, but rather wanting to concentrate on providing opportunities for friendship. Maybe in this Advent season you could consider opening your church as a warm space into which others might come to sit quietly or to pray.
Through this Advent I encourage you to think more deeply about what it means to be hospitable. The hospitality of God is at the heart of reconciliation and healthy relationships. This hospitality can encourage us to be welcoming to strangers or to those with different outlooks to our own. In the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, the author writes: ‘Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.’ (Heb 13:2) We can be surprised by the blessing of being generous. So too in Matthew 25, Jesus speaks of those times when the stranger in need is cared for and included, saying that what we do for such a person we do for him. The Christian measure of hospitality is not just what we do for our friends, but for those beyond our network of friends, for those who cannot pay us back.
My prayer for you, and for myself, is that in this Advent season we give time to opening our hearts and minds to God and others as we wait to celebrate the birth of Christ.
In this time of waiting, may we hold the world in our hearts.
In this time of waiting, may we hold each other's hands.
In this time of waiting, may we be thoughtful and introspective.
In this time of waiting, may we delight in the darkness and all it teaches us.
In this time of waiting, may we rekindle the fires of hope, love, joy, and peace within ourselves and our communities.
In this time of waiting, may we become ready for the coming day.
Cricket Hall
Finally – a service to note and advertise.
30th Anniversary of first ordinations of women as priests in the Scottish Episcopal Church.
Celebration Eucharist- 11am, Tuesday 17 December, St James, Holburn Junction, Aberdeen.
The first ordinations of women as priests took place in Scotland and England in 1994. The anniversary of the Scottish ordinations is on Tuesday 17 December, and we will be marking this with a Eucharist at St James, Aberdeen. It is the 30th anniversary for Revd Canon Dr Ruth Edwards, Revd Kate Gibson, and Revd Anne James. They will be assisting me in the service. Please make this service known in your churches, and come along if you are able. It is a busy time of year, but it will be good to give thanks for the ministries that Ruth, Kate, and Anne have exercised among us.
Sincerely in Christ
+Anne