Advent and the Bb

Grace Notes was in Wesley Methodist Church Seremban this morning, being invited to sing and attend service together with the church.

Rev Ronald Yap preached on Mark 13:24-37 with a sermon entitled "Stay Awake".

It was a sermon for the first Sunday of Advent and I've learnt something very important.

Advent is a season of the Christian church year that leads up to Christmas. The word is an anglicized version of the Latin word adventus that means "coming".

I've always thought of Advent as a meditative period as we prepare for Christmas, a time to recommit our lives to Christ and be thankful for his coming to us as a Savior.

I just found that the Latin word adventus is the translation of the Greek word parousia, which I do know refers to the second coming of Christ. As such, the season of Advent anticipates the coming of Christ from two different perspectives. It "offers the opportunity to share in the ancient longing for the coming of the Messiah, and to be alert for his Second Coming."

It is therefore a blessing to be back in a Methodist service today to learn that (since the Baptist church, at least the one I'm in now is not so much a liturgical church, where seasons important to me like Lent and Advent are not observed.)

This season of Advent for me will be a time to "stay awake" and be alert as I meditate and be ready for the Second Coming of Christ.

Anyway, Grace Notes did well this morning. As for me, I never used to be able to sing anything above the high A. My nicest sounding highest note was the high Ab.

This time we sang four songs and three of them had a high Bb! I found that I'm now able to hit that now after attending voice lessons last year. And I was given feedback that I nailed them perfectly. I'm very glad.

pearlie
Source: Advent