I have attended church most of my life. I have heard of Advent since I was a little girl, though never understanding its history and purpose. I’m correcting this oversight and at the same time sharing what I’ve learned.
The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” Advent is a season of waiting, expecting, and hoping. I understand this. It seems I’m always “waiting” or “expecting” something and at Christmas especially. Beginning four Sundays prior to Christmas and ending on Christmas Eve, Advent helps us prepare for the coming, or “advent” of the Christ child at Christmas. The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. So, Advent is much more than memorializing a 2,000 year old event. It is a celebration about the truth of God, the revelation whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God.
For hundreds of years, Christians have used the Advent wreath to inspire anticipation for the coming of Christ. Lighting candles and reading Bible verses remind us of the meaning of Christ’s birth and build excitement toward His coming in the past, in the future, and in our lives today. There is significance for the lighting of each of the Advent candles, with each candle focused on different aspects of our waiting.
Lighting of the First Candle: Waiting for the Shepherd
Lightinf of the Second Candle: Waiting for Forgiveness
Lighting of the Third Candle: Waiting for Joy
Lighting of the Fourth Candle: Waiting for the Son
The circle of the wreath reminds us of God Himself, His eternity and endless mercy, which has no beginning or end. The green of the wreath speaks of the hope that we have in God, the hope of newness, of renewal, of eternal life. Candles symbolize the light of God coming into the world through the birth of His son. The four outer candles represent the period of waiting during the four Sundays of Advent.
The colors of the candles vary with different traditions, but there are usually three purple or blue candles, 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. The center candle is white and is called the Christ Candle. It is traditionally lighted on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. The position of the Christ Candle reminds us that Christ is at the heart of the season, giving light to the world.
So how do I translate Advent to my own circumstance? Today we live in a super-sized world in which bigger and better define our expectations for much of life. But the Bible reminds us that we should not “despise the day of small things,” because God does some of his best work with small beginnings and impossible situations. For me, Advent helps me keep the focus on “the main thing.”
Just read the Bible (this is my challenge to you) and you will find a list of ordinary men and women used in extraordinary ways by an almighty God. Abraham, a coward who couldn’t believe God’s promise. Jacob, a cheat who wrestles with everyone. Joseph, an arrogant teenager. Moses, an impatient murderer who couldn’t wait for God’s plan. Gideon, a Baal-worshipper. Samson, a drunk who fell prey to a beautiful woman. David, a shepherd who became king eventually abusing power and became an adulterer. Solomon, not the wisest of wise men. And finally, a very young Jewish girl from a tiny village no one heard of in a remote corner of a great empire.
I am amazed how God continues to begin with small things and inadequate people. That gives me hope because if He can use them, and reveal Himself through them in such marvelous ways, it means that He might be able to use me, as inadequate and too often lacking in faith that I am. Then, too, it means that I mustn’t put limits on what God can do with the smallest things, the most unlikely of people, in the most hopeless of circumstances. I think that is part of the wonder of the Advent Season.
While most people today want to talk about the death of Jesus and atonement of sins, I am convinced that one of the main purposes of Christ’s coming was to provide hope. It was a central theme that rang throughout the Old Testament, that endings are not always endings but are opportunities for God to bring new beginnings. Christ’s resurrection proclaimed that truth about our greatest fear, death itself.
In my own experience, those who have suffered and still hope understand far more about God and about life than those who have not. Maybe that is what hope is about: a way to live, not just to survive, but to live authentically amidst all the problems of life with a Faith that continues to see possibility when there is no present evidence of it, just because God is God. That is the wonder of Advent.
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy he has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,” 1 Peter 1:3
Tagged: Bible stories, Christmas, hope, Jesus, purpose and calling
