ADVENT
Advent begins the church year. Starting four Sundays prior to Christmas Day, the Christian community anticipates the coming again of Jesus Christ. We are asked to prepare ourselves for this momentous event. Advent’s color is purple signifying it is a penitential season. Think how you would want to be when Jesus comes in glory. Think how your life would look to the Lord of All. Imagine how Jesus Christ would see our community, the Church universal. While we in our culture are preparing for the celebration of Christmas, buying gifts, baking treats, visiting and partying with friends, we are called as Christians to make our hearts right with God. How can we do both?
Two practices of Advent—the Advent wreath and the Advent calendar—are ways of measuring the days and weeks as we approach Christ’s coming. Both offer us a way to prepare using Scripture and tradition. Both offer times of worship and festivity. Both ask us to stop for a moment the frenzy of preparing and celebrating the holidays and know the one who is coming.
The Advent wreath with its four candles marks the four weeks of the season. One additional candle is ritually lit each Sunday as a part of a worship liturgy. Each week has a theme to guide our meditations. As we move closer to Christmas Day the wreath provides increasing light, symbolic of the light that is coming into the world. The darkness fades as we move through the season.
An Advent calendar is a daily reminder; each day carries a special message. A picture or treat greets us each morning as we count toward Christmas Day. Using the calendar is a way to remember whom it is we expect to come and to watch the progress toward the arrival of Jesus. The excitement of completing the picture, opening all the windows, or finding all the treasures, reflects the excitement we all sense as the day nears when we celebrate the coming of Emmanuel, God with us.
Advent begins the church year. Starting four Sundays prior to Christmas Day, the Christian community anticipates the coming again of Jesus Christ. We are asked to prepare ourselves for this momentous event. Advent’s color is purple signifying it is a penitential season. Think how you would want to be when Jesus comes in glory. Think how your life would look to the Lord of All. Imagine how Jesus Christ would see our community, the Church universal. While we in our culture are preparing for the celebration of Christmas, buying gifts, baking treats, visiting and partying with friends, we are called as Christians to make our hearts right with God. How can we do both?
Two practices of Advent—the Advent wreath and the Advent calendar—are ways of measuring the days and weeks as we approach Christ’s coming. Both offer us a way to prepare using Scripture and tradition. Both offer times of worship and festivity. Both ask us to stop for a moment the frenzy of preparing and celebrating the holidays and know the one who is coming.
The Advent wreath with its four candles marks the four weeks of the season. One additional candle is ritually lit each Sunday as a part of a worship liturgy. Each week has a theme to guide our meditations. As we move closer to Christmas Day the wreath provides increasing light, symbolic of the light that is coming into the world. The darkness fades as we move through the season.
An Advent calendar is a daily reminder; each day carries a special message. A picture or treat greets us each morning as we count toward Christmas Day. Using the calendar is a way to remember whom it is we expect to come and to watch the progress toward the arrival of Jesus. The excitement of completing the picture, opening all the windows, or finding all the treasures, reflects the excitement we all sense as the day nears when we celebrate the coming of Emmanuel, God with us.
Blessings, Caroline
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