{"id":6239,"date":"2025-11-22T10:22:27","date_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:22:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/?p=6239"},"modified":"2025-11-22T10:22:27","modified_gmt":"2025-11-22T16:22:27","slug":"ponderings-from-pastor-patti-december-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/2025\/11\/22\/ponderings-from-pastor-patti-december-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Ponderings from Pastor Patti – December 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Happy Holidays!!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a busy time of year preparing for gatherings with family and friends, shopping, baking and cleaning\u2026just to name a few.\u00a0 There will always be things to do, but I am encouraging us, together, to slow down and find ways this Advent season to enjoy a profound sense of serenity and peace.\u00a0 There is so much symbolism in this season to help us appreciate all we can experience as we wait in anticipation for the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ.<\/p>\n

The symbolism of blue in Christianity is deeply rooted in its association with themes of hope, divinity, the divine presence, and the transcendence and eternal nature of God.\u00a0 We decorate our worship space in blue to remind us of qualities like trust, loyalty, and wisdom, all which align with the core tenets of our faith.<\/p>\n

The Advent wreath presents more symbolism in its circular shape, evergreen branches, and candles representing eternal life, hope and the light of Christ entering the world.\u00a0 We remember in this season the virtues that we are called to embody, fostering a sense of spiritual introspection and renewal.<\/p>\n

The Christmas tree carries religious symbolism connected to Christ\u2019s birth and salvation.\u00a0 The evergreen nature of the tree signifies eternal life and hope.\u00a0 The lights on the tree symbolize Jesus as the light of the world.\u00a0 And the Chrismon ornaments each represent a significant aspect of our Christian faith.<\/p>\n

I wonder sometimes how we can celebrate the liturgical seasons year after year and still gain new insight into the story and into our own spiritual journey.\u00a0 Join with me in this journey as we walk through the story again.\u00a0 Read Matthew 1:18 \u2013 2:13.\u00a0 As you read, name the character in the story that you most relate to.\u00a0 Enter into it and become a character in the story back then.\u00a0 After you have spent some time in meditation in this story, join together in our journey through Advent with one another to serve others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Romans 15:13<\/strong>: \u201cMay the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Blessings in this journey,<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Pastor Patti<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Happy Holidays!! It\u2019s a busy time of year preparing for gatherings with family and friends, shopping, baking and cleaning\u2026just to name a few.\u00a0 There will always be things to do, but I am encouraging us, together, to slow down and find ways this Advent season to enjoy a profound sense of serenity and peace.\u00a0 There […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_cbd_carousel_blocks":"[]","_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6239","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8agoY-1CD","jetpack-related-posts":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6239"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6239\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6240,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6239\/revisions\/6240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.flcssc.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}