Advent is a time of waiting, but do we know what it is that we are waiting for? The temptation is to reach for the easy answer and say that we are waiting for Christmas. But there is more to it than this. In Advent, we are encouraged, not least by the daily lectionary readings, to focus on what are sometimes called ‘ the four last things ’ : Death , Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Advent invites us to step back from the mundane, the daily routine and to consider the big and ultimate things in life.

The experience of the Church during the Covid pandemic has given rise to considerable reflection concerning our corporate life (our ‘communion’), the ways in which we worship and our sacramental life. The essence of the Church is that we are a community: a group of people called out and called together, and we understand that community to consist of both the current members of the Church (‘the church militant’) and those who have gone before us in the faith (the ‘communion of saints’, or ‘the church triumphant’).