Late Wednesday afternoon, our food outreach coordinator at the First Congregational Church of West Tisbury had two huge pots of pea soup simmering in the Parish Hall.

On Monday, my daughter and I drove down to Five Corners so that we could put our knees on the gritty pavement for eight long minutes.

When we embark on our Advent pilgrimage we are heading toward Christmas, a familiar destination. But the patterns and traditions of Christmases past may tug us too quickly to that day. The West Tisbury Congregational Church minister reflects.

The weeks leading up to Christmas are filled with longing and expectation. This is the season of Advent, which culminates in the birth of Jesus. As we sing in the hymn, O Little Town of Bethlehem, “the hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight.” We know quite a bit about these hopes and fears from reading the Hebrew prophets and the Gospels. And the age-old hopes and fears are not so different from ours today — the longing for peace, and the desire for economic security and vitality for all people.