I must say this is about my most favorite time of the year. Steven Curtis Chapman in his song Christmas is all in the heart states “And in my sleeps eyes the spark still glows, Well I guess there’s just some things a kid never outgrows,” Which is so me. I am one of those “strange people” that think about Christmas all year long. I will be in a store in the middle of summer, and find something I want to give to someone at Christmas. (I will say it makes for an interesting time when December comes and I can’t remember everything I have bought throughout the year – maybe I need to Twitter myself every time I get something?)
But this post is more about the celebration of Advent, to which I was introduced by my lovely bride. I had heard of it, but not really sure what it was all about. Well, after a few years of celebrating Advent, I’d like to help out those like me who are in the dark about the wreath and candles that sit in the middle of many tables this time of year.
Advent is a celebration by Christians of the events preceeding the birth of the Christ, Jesus the savior. It is typically celebrated every sunday between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Select Scriptures are read, mostly from the Old Testament, that are prophecies or events that look to the coming of the Messiah. The candles and wreath are symbols best described churchyear.net:
“The candles symbolize the light of Christ coming into the world. The evergreen (of the wreath) symbolizes renewal in Christ, the kind of renewal hoped for by those before Christ’s first coming, and the ultimate renewal we long for in Christ’s second coming. The circular shape symbolizes the completeness of God.”
(See their great website at http://www.churchyear.net/adventwreath.html)
The cool thing about Advent is that there are no set Scriptures to read each year. There are so many that can be used. We typically will use the story of the fall in the Garden of Eden for week 1 since that is where it all started. Some other favorites of ours are Isaiah 53 – the promise of salvation through “His stripes” and Micah 5:2 that Bethlehem was where He would be born. A simple Google search will provide a plethora of sites that have suggested Advent readings for you to use.
I encourage all who consider themselves part of the body of Christ who have not typically observed Advent, do find out more about the celebration, and make it a part of your CHRISTMAS tradition.
Merry Christmas to All!
hey…we started doing that at blackhawk last year…certainly is a cool thing… been calling it “the wait”.
here’s the readings we use… http://www.blackhawkministries.org/downloads/advent3.pdf
-J
Very Cool. Thanks for the link. I like the suggested readings for this week. That’s great that Blackhawk is doing this as a church. I’ve learned what an important time of the Christmas season it is!