MOUNT CARMEL - The Mount Carmel Area Ministerium will conduct mid-week Advent Services for members of the community.
All community services will begin at 6 p.m. with the sharing of a common meal consisting of soup and a sandwich followed by the service as participants sit together in fellowship. The offerings of these services will be used to assist the poor and needy of our communities.
The word Advent means "coming" or "arrival." The season of Advent is a time of preparation for the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent.
The theme for the services will be "Yet In Thy Dark Streets Shinethâ¦", a series written by Arden W. Mead.
We will travel to the dark streets of ancient Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem, pointing out along the way items of interest and their importance in terms of the coming of the Lord.
Each visit takes place before a significant historical event occurs, as onlookers, we stand at the rift between two worlds - the world before Christ stepped into history, and the world of Jesus.
Even so, we stand at the juncture of two worlds - that which is ours, and the world that is yet to be. We will time travel through memory and prediction.
The season of Advent calls us to a journey. We stand at a juncture here where we may look back to the past and what the Lord has done for his people there to make this present possible. We will also look to the future, to the time of fulfillment, when the Lord will come again. Advent is a time of increasing light. We will watch it begin to glow, even in these dark streets.
We begin our journey in the Kidron valley, with the mountain of Olivette on one side winding our way up Zion's holy mountain to the City of the Lord - Jerusalem. We step into the world of Zechariah - a world where God is far off, where repentance is necessary, and where the blood of sacrifice serves as the only point of connection between the people and their God.
We travel to the southernmost foothills of the great Lebanon mountain range, nestled in the valley and hidden from view of the world, this tiny hill country village is the least known, the least noble, the least romantic and the least remembered of our stops on our Advent journey - Nazareth.
Nazareth lacks what Jerusalem has. In Nazareth, we step into the small home town of Mary and Joseph - a town which, through Gabriel's visit, God begins to make his home with us.
At last we arrive in Bethlehem, the goal of our quest for an Advent journey. Bethlehem, that "little town" fabled in story and song. We appear to have come at the wrong time. That seems always to have been the problem with Bethlehem - things were always happening at the wrong time there.
The city is overcrowded, teeming with tourists, even though this is not the usual time of year for such travel. They have come to register for Caesar's census. It is the wrong time to be in Bethlehem.
In Bethlehem, we travel with Mary and Joseph to the place where the imminence of God's presence, the hopefulness of God's coming, and the faithfulness of God's promises are so wonderfully clear.
Each visit was researched in light of archeological, Scriptural, geographical and historical evidence. Mount Moriah is truly considered, by many scholars, to be Mount Zion. The well at which Mary gathered water in Nazareth is indeed a pool, filled by a mile long spring-fed aqueduct. Rachel did die in childbirth at Bethlehem.
There are, however, other coincidences that occur each week in the dark streets which certainly are too "perfect" to be true. Yet each of these ironies of situations were included only if they were not beyond the realm of the possible and only if they brought to light certain insights significant to this theme.
So we have no way of knowing if Lazarus, Mary and Martha were present at the time of Zechariah's revelation (Anna and Simeon almost certainly were). Yet, the presence of young Lazarus reminds us of the coming of the One who has power over death - the One who is the final sacrifice.
Likewise, the presence of the widow of Nain and the father of the groom of Cana emphasize the power Christ exercised in the human family - in our families.
So, these inclusions were by no means meant to add to the Gospel of Christ. Quite the contrary, they are included because they help to preach the gospel in its fullness to, in a small way at least, bring light the very Light which even now, in this holy season of Advent, illuminates our dark streets.
Join us for the following Wednesdays as we begin to travel the dark streets of Jerusalem, Nazareth and Bethlehem.
The following is a list of the participating churches and the ministers who will participate:
Nov. 30 - Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church, Market Street, Mount Carmel. Rev. Frank Kawacki officiating and Rev. Beverly Petrovich traveling. (Service and meal will be held in the social hall.)
Dec. 7 - Kulpmont United Methodist Church. Rev. Beverly Petrovich officiating and Rev. Joan Brown traveling. (Service and meal will be held in the basement of the church).
Dec. 14 - First United Methodist Church, Hickory Street, Mount Carmel. Rev. Dan Siddle officiating and Rev. Raymond Orloski traveling. (Service and meal will be held in the basement of the church.)