Early Sunday morning in Riga, November 27

Sunday morning again! And not just any Sunday morning. It is the first Sunday in advent, when the count-down to Christmas starts.

We are lightening the first candle of advent and we put up our Swedish electric seven branched advent lights in all our windows. It is soon time for children all over the world to open the first window in the Advent Calendar

This year it will even be an Advent Calendar here in our website. From the first to the twentyfourth of December there will be a new window each day to open. And behind the window I will present a memorable event from the Salvation Army work in Latvia during 2012. There will be space for two events per month.

The word "Advent" means "arrival" and during advent we will also welcome the arrival of General Linda Bond coming to Lativa in the weekend of second Sunday of advent. That is of course a big event for the Salvation Army in Latvia.

Together with the General, Commissioners Robert and Janet Street will arrive in Riga. They will also come back to Riga for the Latvian Congress, June 15-17 2012.

In a few hours Ruth and myself plan to arrive in Bauska, south of Riga. We will celebrate the advent service at the corps in Bauska. The theme for the service will of course be the Arrival=Advent of Jesus, which is presented in different ways in the advent songs and in the advent Bible texts:
-Jesus is born as a little child in Jerusalem
-Jesus is riding into Jereusalem on a donkey, which really is more an easter event
-Jesu will come back back one day in the end of times
-Jesus is coming to us in our daily life through the Holy Spirit

I look forward to remember all this and to sing the old advent psalms.

Have a blessed advent Sunday and a blessed week after that. And do not forget to follow the Advent Calendar at rupeba.se. It starts on Thursday.

/Peter Baronowsky