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This Sunday begins a new church year in the liturgical calendar as we enter the season of Advent. Advent and Lent are the two seasons of preparation in the church calendar, marked by purple paraments (the cloths that hang on the pulpit, lectern, and communion table). These are historically times of fasting and prayer as we prepare for the coming of Christ during Advent and the crucifixion of Christ in Lent.
This advent season we will spend our Sundays looking at the two nativity stories in the gospels--one from Matthew and the other from Luke. Both evangelists have some unique elements to their respective stories, giving us an opportunity to reflect on what each writer was trying to communicate to his audience and to us. We begin that journey this Sunday (29 November) with Matthew's account of Jesus' genealogy.
If you read scripture like I often do, you may skip right over the lengthy accounts of who begat whom. But take a few minutes this Thanksgiving week and read through Matthew 1, and you may notice a few strange things. If you do, reflect on why Matthew may have constructed his prologue that way, and join us on Sunday as we look at it together.
If you'd like to study ahead of time, click here to read Matthew 1:1-17.
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