Advent is a season of preparation and waiting that equips us for the entire church year - we prepare and wait to celebrate Christ's first coming at Christmas as a way to better prepare and wait throughout the church year (and our lives) for Christ's second coming.

Our Advent gallery show, featuring work by our friend, Sandra Bowden, helps us to more clearly see what it means to wait, prepare, and long for Christ's coming with hopeful anticipation. The show, combining works from two of her shows, Word as Image and Cradle to Cross, features Sandra's beautiful use of imagery, colors, materials, textures, and Hebrew scripture as a way to imagine God's Word as not only being the foundational origin and ultimate end of all creation but also the Word that became flesh at Christ's incarnation, dwelt among us in perfect obedience, was crucified for us, resurrected, and that will ultimately return in a "cloud with power and great glory" (Luke 21) when all is finally made new and right.

Sandra's show will then evolve as we add vibrant, gold-leaf pieces over the seasons of Christmas and Epiphany, helping us to both celebrate the light of Christ coming into the world and reflect on His earthly mission and ministry.

May this show help us wait well. May it also resonate deeply with our worship, help us more fully comprehend God's great love for us through Christ's incarnation, and bless our community life over the coming months as we wait, love, and serve, with hope, together.

- David Lutes, Director of Music + Arts Ministry and Gallery Director