Welcome to Advent!

My personal faith tradition is rich in liturgical seasons, colors, meanings and symbols. Many of my friends and family though don't follow the church year in the same way and can feel a bit lost when hearing about it. So this first blog in December is an attempt on my part to explain the season of Advent... what it means to those of us in faith traditions that observe the season, and how it helps us to connect with Christ.

Advent... many may be familiar with Advent Calendars, typically little pasteboard/cardstock type creations which contain candies and are designed to help children negotiate the days leading up to Christmas. The idea is that it helps them to manage the anticipation of the big day. And while, certainly, anticipation is part of the season of Advent... it goes further or should.

Like Lent, the season of Advent is typically observed as a time of fasting and prayer. The color of the season is purple. This has symbolic meaning. Purple is the color of royalty and during Advent we remember the world awaiting it's King and Savior. Purple is also the color used during Lent to mark the suffering Christ underwent for us, and so the use of the color here acts as a foreshadowing of Lent and Easter to come. We cannot, however much we might like to, separate Christ's birth from His sacrifice for us. The two are inextricably intertwined.

During Advent, a liturgical church will incorporate times of confession and a recognition of our unworthiness of Christ's sacrifice for us which is why it is also a time of penitence and prayer. We both celebrate Christ's first Advent and we focus on the fact that He is here with us now, and will come again with power. We anticipate the season of that second coming during Advent as well as the lead up to Christmas.

We use an Advent wreath to mark the four Sundays which lead up to Christmas. Each Sunday is marked by a candle. The first three in my tradition are purple. The fourth is pink to mark that the season of Joy is approaching. There is a candle in the center of white, which will be lit on Christmas Day.

We look toward Advent as a time to turn our hearts toward God. To stop focusing on our circumstances which as we define them are either good or bad, and our hope if it is in them will always be dashed. Instead, we look toward God. Knowing that He can and does through Christ offer us newness, redemption, recovery and transformation through and out of our circumstances. In short, Advent is about hope and Him who brings it.

Have a blessed Advent!