Founded in 1699 – Still active
One of my many memories of Christmases past is from 1968. It was hearing the astronaut and commander of Apollo 8, Colonel Frank Borman, reading the opening words of the book of Genesis as his spacecraft and its three-man crew orbited the Moon and he looked down on this “good earth”. This was the precursor
I. Who was There: It is Advent, the time of preparation for the festival of Christmas. At its heart is the story of the birth of Jesus, as told in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, and it is a story retold in that great seasonal tradition, the Nativity play. Advent is the time for
It must be admitted that we don’t really know much about the birth of Jesus. There isn’t much about it in the Bible and what there is, in the two gospels that mention it, is mostly contradictory and much embellished, to put it mildly, with mythological signs and wonders. The sincere concern of the evangelists

Traditionally, Advent was a fast; a solemn time of reflection and spiritual preparation for the great festival of Christmas. It was a time to remember the suffering of Christ, and the suffering of the world lest, in celebrating Christmas, we forget who and what it is about. In Advent we light candles to defy, not