WCC News: Advent celebration inspires following God’s vision for the world

Guided by the theme “See the Signs,” staff of the World Council of Churches and its partner organizations from the Ecumenical Centre gathered for an Advent celebration in St Hippolyte Roman Catholic Church in Geneva on 2 December. Staff of the World Council of Churches and its partner organizations from the Ecumenical Centre gathered for an Advent celebration in St Hippolyte Roman Catholic Church in Geneva. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC 03 December 2024 Rev. Canon Dr Daphne Green, chaplain of the Holy Trinity Church in Geneva, encouraged the congregation to hold two aspects of Advent together – both the joyful anticipation and the penitential aspect, seen through the prism of Christ’s coming in humility at Christmas and in judgment at the end of time. “If we don’t, we are only seeing half of the picture, missing the full significance of Advent and losing out ourselves as we fail to take its message into our hearts and lives,” said Green. Luckily Advent season provides signs which can guide us in our Advent journey - and they are rich and plentiful. Green shared four categories of Advent signs which are particularly helpful – first of all, God invites us in Advent to reflect on His vision for the world, a vision rooted on justice, righteousness, and peace. Rev. Canon Dr Daphne Green, chaplain of the Holy Trinity Anglican church in Geneva. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC A second category of Advent signs are related to our human failure - the reality that we have not lived up to the God’s vision, falling lamentably short.  There are certainly parallels with our own times, said Green. “Politically, we live in what feels like a knife edge with the war between Ukraine and Russia and the real risk of escalation. We’ve witnessed the terrible destruction of Gaza, the West Bank, and Beirut, the tragedy in the Sudan and uncertainty as we await the new US presidency.”  “Environmentally, the recent COP29 conference has shed another light onto the environmental disasters we face. And as societies, we are becoming a more fearful and a less open world, increasingly keen to draw up the barriers against the outsider and the refugee.” Staff of the World Council of Churches and its partner organizations from the Ecumenical Centre gathered for an Advent celebration in St Hippolyte Roman Catholic Church in Geneva. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC But the third category of Advent signs show God’s love breaking into our world. “We can only understand this within the context of God’s love for us - this is the love which enables us to hold together the radically different aspects of Advent and helps us to see how we are called to responding the renewal of our lives,” noted Green. Finally, God’s call to us in Advent is to help bring in his kingdom of justice, righteousness, and peace. God calls us, in love to respond and join in - in love not in fear, because "There is no fear in love but perfect love casts out fear" (1 John 4:18). “This Advent, may we have the courage and integrity to hold together the challenge and joy of this season, to cast off the works of darkness and put on the armour of light, and to be willing to respond to God’s great invitation to help bring his kingdom of love, justice, and mercy on earth,” concluded Green. Photo gallery of the Advent celebration 2024  Advent season provides signs guiding us in our Advent journey, said Rev. Canon Dr Daphne Green, chaplain of the Holy Trinity Church in Geneva. Photo: Ivars Kupcis/WCC See more

The World Council of Churches promotes Christian unity in faith, witness and service for a just and peaceful world. An ecumenical fellowship of churches founded in 1948, today the WCC brings together 352 Protestant, Orthodox, Anglican and other churches representing more than 580 million Christians in over 120 countries, and works cooperatively with the Roman Catholic Church. The WCC general secretary is Rev. Prof. Dr Jerry Pillay from the Uniting Presbyterian Church in Southern Africa.  Media contact: +41 79 507 6363; www.oikoumene.org/press Our visiting address is: World Council of Churches Chemin du Pommier 42 Kyoto Building Le Grand-Saconnex CH-1218 Switzerland