December 10 - Repent

December 10 - #AdventWord #Repent
When I hear this word, it makes me think of some man, raving about the fact that we’ve not, as individuals or societies, received the message! The problem is that men like this have been raving for now millenniums…and we still have not heard the message. So I’m wondering if will we ever get it? Will we ever turn away from the values which propel our world into oblivion? What will it take to unify us? You’d think a pandemic might do it, right? That we would, out of necessity, join our vulnerable brothers and sisters universally to save us all from loss, but no—we seem to be divided, in fact, more divided than ever. What will it take?

​A helpless baby was born into our world and showed us the way, but we have never fully embraced Jesus’ message enough to transform our lives. Are we ready at last, not only to turn away from the temptations of this world, but to turn toward our own salvation-not only in some far off heaven, but here, God’s kingdom on earth?

—The Reverend Pamela Fahrner, associate priest at All Saints Episcopal Church, Hilton Head Island, and a member of Diocesan Council