Advent Season – Confident.Faith

Today we commemorate Nicholas of Myra, Pastor. One of the best known saints on the calendar, Nicholas of Myra — better known as Saint Nicholas — has long been associated with charitable giving. Many European nations still maintain December 6th as a day for giving and receiving gifts. Beyond the fact that there was a Church of Saint Nicholas in Constantinople as early as the sixth century and that there was a Bishop Nicholas of Myra in the fourth century, little is known historically about St. Nicholas.

Today we commemorate John of Damascus, Theologian and Hymnwriter. John of Damascus, was a Greek theologian and priest. Giving up an influential position in the Islamic court, John devoted himself to Christianity and entered a monastery outside Jerusalem. Commemorated for his lasting contributions to the orthodox Christian faith, John enriched both Eastern and Western Christianity; his greatest work was the Fount of Wisdom, a collection of writings from earlier Christian theologians.

Today we celebrate the feast of St. Andrew, Apostle. Brother of Simon Peter, St. Andrew was born in the village of Bethsaida. Originally a follower of St. John the Baptist, Andrew was called and became the first disciple of Christ. Church tradition holds that Andrew was martyred on an X-shaped cross. It is St. Andrew’s Day that determines the beginning of the Western Church Year, as the First Sunday in Advent is always the Sunday nearest to St. Andrew’s Day.

Today we commemorate Noah. Noah, son of Lamech, was instructed by God to build an ark. Faithful and obedient to God, Noah constructed the Ark that would carry him and his wife and his sons and their wives — the only eight people to survive the Flood. After the floodwaters subsided, Noah built an altar and gave thanks to God for His mercy in preserving the human race through Noah and his family. In promising never again to destroy all life from the Earth, God made the rainbow a sign of His covenant with man and all life. Whenever we see a rainbow, we should think of God’s great mercy and His steadfast love. We commemorate Noah for his faith and for his obedience to the word of God — for believing that God will do what He says He will do.