“Worth the wait!”

Dear Brothers and Sisters of St Mary’s, and visiting friends, 

   Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.

We have come to the last month of the year 2025. This has been,
to some extent, a challenging year for us all, whether through
the tragedies we see on our screens or what we may be going through
in our personal lives. I feel it necessary to echo my opening greetings
to you again. Grace and peace of the Lord God and his son Jesus be with you.

I ask you this month to pause from the busyness of life and join Christians around the world as we enter the four-week season of Advent.
Advent comes from the Latin word Adventus, which means arrival or coming: a season of waiting and hopeful expectation. Waiting for what? For Christmas, yes and far more than that, it is also about the hopeful anticipation of the second coming of Jesus. Advent invites us to look with hope at Jesus’ return, Matthew 24:27, Hebrews 9:28 and yes, look also at the arrival of God in the birth of Jesus.

Our vision is for the near and future hope. This is Advent.

If you have read my letters during the year, I have written about Hope, Peace, Joy and Love, the themes of Advent. As we light the Advent candle each week, we acknowledge that the true source of our hope, peace, joy and love is found in the person of Jesus Christ. Jesus is our hope (1 Tim:1-11), Jesus, the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6), Jesus, our joy (John 15:11), and finally, in love. Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. John 15:13.

Permit me to point you to Jesus this season and journey with us,
not just to the baby in a manger and remain there as we behold
Emmanuel - God with us, but to a life lived in the blessed hope that Jesus will return and make all wrongs right. For you and me did God in his love
come to earth, for you and me in his love will He return.

May you choose to know the One we eagerly wait for and long for, or to know him more.
As we wait for Jesus this Advent, I say to you, Jesus also waits in love for you to come. 

As always, I extend my personal invitation to you, check out our website,
visit us here at St Mary’s or your local church to find out about
the coming Son of God, the Messiah, Jesus Christ. 

As you leave this page, know this truth. God absolutely loves you. Yes, you!

I wish you a Merry Christmas.

May the hope, peace, joy and love of Jesus be with you as you look to Him.

 Rev Funmilayo