The Collect for the First Sunday of Advent Almighty God, give us grace to cast away the works of darkness, and put on the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which your Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the living and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. Readings for Advent One, Year C Old Testament: Jeremiah 33:14-16 The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will fulfill the promise I made to the house of Israel and the house of Judah. In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In those days Judah will be saved and Jerusalem will live in safety. And this is the name by which it will be called: יְהוָה צִדְקֵנוּ Yehvah (Adonai) tṣiḏ·qê·nū "The Lord i

 

  Episcopalians can be a bit surprising, although there is little or nothing we can say or espouse that would get us excommunicated.  A priest might DO something that would get her/him called up on charges - - such as the priest in Virginia who is currently on trial and could be removed from the priesthood for refusing - - by his proclaimed fast as his way of protesting the church's and his diocese's sin guilt in institutional racism - - refusing to celebrate the Holy Eucharist for his parish even though the Sacrament is defined (BCP p.13) as "the primary act of Christian worship on the Lord's Day" and a priest's primary function includes offering Holy Communion for/to/with the people with whom he is the church's designated minister. It's a disciplinary issue of he is refusing to do what he is responsible for doing. However, unlike with some prominent Roman Catholic theologians who have been suspended or excommunicated, there is little we might say or