Happy New Year!
Happy New Year? John, aren't you jumping the gun here? New Year's is almost a month away yet!
No, I haven't taken leave of my senses. Generally right after Thanksgiving a new church year starts. This season, four weeks before Christmas, is known as "Advent." Literally, "advent" comes from the Latin "advenio," meaning "to come." It is the season when we await the birth of the Messiah as the Old Testament believers awaited. It is also a time when we await the return of our Lord for Judgment. In a sense, this season does continue many of the themes of the last three Sundays of Pentecost-the end times and the coming Judgment.
The Lutheran church is a liturgical church. As such, it is often seen as "like the Catholics." Luther retained much of what the Church had in his reforms-he didn't throw the baby out with the bath water. As such, as the seasons arrive this coming Church year, I will highlight each season in this forum. This forum has posted an overview of the Church year in the past-feel free to read that overview.
The liturgical colors of Advent are currently light blue. Purple-for penitence-used to be the liturgical color, but now the focus of the season is no longer strictly on penitence but now also looks forward to our heavenly home.
The season also looks at the prophecies of the coming Messiah and how the impending birth fulfilled those prophecies.
Traditionally, four candles are lit in an Advent wreath. Week one sees one candle lit, week two sees two lit candles, and so forth. In the middle is a white candle-the Christ candle-which is lit on Christmas. There are several meanings attributed to the four candles. Some traditions for the candles include:
Tradition One (Anglican)
The individual candles (from left to right) represent:
1. Sunday 3rd December: The first candle reminds us of the patriarchs, Abraham and David, the Old Testament ancestors of Jesus.
2. Sunday 10th December: The second candle reminds us of the prophets, who foretold the birth of Jesus.
3. Sunday 17th December: The third candle reminds us of John the Baptist, who proclaimed and baptized Jesus in the Jordan.
4. Sunday 24th December: The fourth candle reminds us of the Virgin who bore Jesus in her womb.
5. Saturday 25th December: The fifth candle reminds of the birth of Jesus, God become man.
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Here's the follow-up discussion on this article: | View all related messages |
For a complete listing of article comments, questions, and other discussions related to John L. Hoh, Jr.'s Lutheranism topic, please visit the Discussions page.