Neli ML

  First Sunday of Advent 2024 Luke 21:25-36 Rev. Neli Miranda   Today, we celebrate the first Sunday of the Advent season, a time that precedes the Christmas celebration and fills our hearts with joyful anticipation for the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. Advent marks the beginning of the Christian year and calls us to prepare ourselves for a new cycle of discipleship. The four weeks of Advent are a guiding path, preparing us to receive the visitation of God in Jesus. The term “Advent” is derived from the Latin word “Adventus,” meaning “coming or arrival,” translated from the Greek term “Parousia,” found in the New Testament to signify the Second Coming of Christ. In our Christian faith, we interpret the essence of Advent across three distinct dimensions: his coming in history in the first century, his continuous arrival into the hearts of his disciples, and his expected, glorious Second coming. The first coming of Jesus took place in Bethlehem, in a humble place, ...

All Saints Day 2024 Wisdom of Solomon 3:1-9 and Revelation 21:1-6 Rev. Neli Miranda Death is an event shared by all human beings, and science indicates that death marks the end of the biological cycle that begins at birth. However, the spirituality and meaning of life developed since the first human communities speak to us of beliefs and practices that transcend this conception. Remnants of bodies have been discovered carefully prepared and placed in graves, accompanied by personal items and utensils believed to be necessary in the afterlife. These rites expressed primordial understandings and beliefs about death, its significance, and what lies beyond mortal life.             Our Christian celebration of All Saint’s Day, began very early in Christian piety to honor the lives of martyrs, women and men who had remained faithful despite persecution, offering their lives in service to God. All Faithful Departed Day, celebr...