A Glimpse of Me

Advent Series: 2 – Advent Candles and Its Colors

December 5, 2008

When my friends and I were in Ikea last Wednesday, I did a bit of shopping too. My friend was talking about buying candles for Advent. So I asked her how to use the advent candles. And she told me they burn one candle per Sunday which starts on the 4th Sunday before Christmas. Okay… my knowledge of Advent is growing by the minute. I am truly excited. I may not do the special Sunday dinner and observe advent this year… but I’m planning to do it next year.

The colors of the candles vary with different traditions, but there are usually three purple or blue candles, corresponding to the sanctuary colors of Advent, and one pink or rose candle. One of the purple candles is lighted the first Sunday of Advent, a Scripture is read, a short devotional or reading is given, and a prayer offered. On subsequent Sundays, previous candles are relighted with an additional one lighted. The pink candle is usually lighted on the third Sunday of Advent. However, different churches or traditions light the pink candle on different Sundays depending on the symbolism used (see above on Colors of Advent). In Churches that use a Service of the Nativity, it is often lighted on the fourth Sunday of Advent, the final Sunday before Christmas.

In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live “between the times” and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as God’s people. So, as the church celebrates God’s inbreaking into history in the Incarnation, and anticipates a future consummation to that history for which “all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption,” it also confesses its own responsibility as a people commissioned to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Source.

Read also: Advent Series: 1 – Advent Season

Filed under: Christmas, celebration