ADVENT

INTRODUCTION

Advent, the first season of the Church year, begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas. (This is the Sunday falling on or nearest November 30.) Varying from twenty-two to twenty-eight days, the season ends on Christmas Eve. The liturgical colors for Advent are purple and blue.

We spend this time preparing for the celebration of Christmas. We make gifts and buy them. We cover the presents in wrappings plain and fancy, making each gift as secret as the child who grew in Mary's womb. We prepare and receive cards, wishing each friend and loved one a happy and holy celebration of Christmas. Our houses are perhaps more fragrant now than at any other time of year, with a heady mix of the aromas of candle wax, evergreens, and spices.

Even those who don't go to church are certain that the coming Christmas is a time of great joy. Along with the canned carols at the malls and plastic Santas on the lawns, we need to understand the longing for joy that prompts them. We need to find ways to enrich our own and our community's preparations with the deeper meanings of Advent.

Advent Means Coming

We need to remember, for example, that the word advent means "coming." During Advent, we prepare for the celebration of the coming of Jesus as a babe in Bethlehem.

That birth fulfilled both the words of Israel's prophets and the events in Israel's history that each speak of God's saving grace. Thus, the Church has appointed scriptures for Advent that tell of God's promises to the people of Israel, especially prophecies that suggest the coming of a Messiah and a messianic age.

"You are God's beloved," Abraham heard in an alien land, and "God will be yours," promised Isaiah. Every covenant and prophecy — from the exodus to the foretelling of the nations' return to Jerusalem — recalled the promise of union with God. In Jesus, the promise is fulfilled.

A Season of Paradox

But Advent is also a season of paradox. We have inherited this twofold emphasis on joyful expectation and as well as somber repentance from the early Church. In the fourth century, Christians began celebrating Christmas as a religious festival, replacing the older pagan feast of the Unconquered Sun. It follows that in part of Christendom, the Church sought to make Advent a period of joy, glowing with the power of the Son of God.

In other places, the Church directed candidates who would be received into the Church on Epiphany, January 6, to fast during the preceding midwinter weeks. For this reason, Advent eventually became a time of penitent preparation for all Christians.

Preparing the Way for the New Creation

During Advent, we also recall and honor those who prepared the way for Jesus, and especially those who welcomed his birth: Zechariah, Elizabeth, Mary, Joseph, and others. We hear the stories of preparation. We sing carols of expectation.

But our expectation is not limited to the past events of Bethlehem. Jesus is coming, not only once to Bethlehem over two thousand years ago, but also today in word and sacrament. Jesus is coming again, in great glory, at the end of all time. Thus, in Advent, we also read scriptures that tell of an ultimate judgment, the end of this age, and a new reign of the kingdom of God.

These scriptures suggest questions: Might Jesus' second coming encompass both an outward, physical event and an inner event of the mind and heart? Indeed, it is often the apocalyptic events of our lives that bring us from a time of "running our own shows" (at great distance from God) into a new, deeper relationship with God.

So now we watch and wait. We watch and wait as the days of Advent run to Christmas. We watch and wait as the Church prepares place and song and heart for our infant Savior. We watch and wait for he who comes to us, in scripture and in Eucharist, who feeds us with his life. We watch and wait for the one who comes to fulfill all things, to make the whole creation new.

We watch and wait for Jesus, and he is coming.

Beyond the Celebration

The Advent season lends itself particularly well to giving to others. Beyond the Giving Tree activity, invite participants to take advantage of the many opportunities offered by most congregations to assist those in need through food collections, financial donations, wrapping and distributing gifts, etc. Invite persons from church or local social service organizations to speak to the group, emphasizing the ongoing needs of the poor. You might organize specific outreach opportunities throughout Advent and provide sign-up sheets during your Advent celebration.

WORSHIP

Opening Prayer

Begin the celebration by praying (or singing together) an Advent hymn:

Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus

Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free;
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee.

Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art:
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart.

Born thy people to deliver, born a child, and yet a king,
born to reign in us for ever, now thy gracious kingdom bring.

By thine own eternal Spirit rule in all our hearts along;
by thine all sufficient merit raise us to thy glorious throne.

CRAFTS

Advent Wreaths

The Advent wreath is a tradition that helps us take time out from our busy Christmas preparations to open our hearts to Jesus.

The circular form of the wreath, like God's love, is never-ending. The greenery that covers it reminds us of everlasting life and hope because evergreen trees are green even in the midst of winter.

The candles are symbols of the light God brings us. Three of them are dark "royal" purple or Sarum blue (from the medieval Sarum rite in England). Both symbolize preparation, penitence, and royalty to welcome the new King. The purple of Advent is also the color of suffering used during Lent and Holy Week. This points to an important connection between Jesus' birth and death. Deep blue is the color of the clear, predawn sky, the color that covers the earth in the hours before the sun rises in the east. Most of us are not looking at the sky at that hour — perhaps we're still asleep, or too weary to notice it as we get ready for work or school. Nonetheless, a deep, dark blue is the color that covers us in the dark, cold hours before the sun dawns. Thus, the deep blue for Advent reminds us of the season of expectation and anticipation of the dawn of Christ.

The fourth candle is pink and is lit on the Third Sunday of Advent when we celebrate with special joy. Some people light a white candle, the Christ candle, in the center of the wreath on Christmas Day.

Make an Advent wreath to symbolize the everlasting nature of God's love and light. If you are doing this as a church-wide event, offer several methods by setting up materials for each method at separate tables, and invite families to work together to make an Advent wreath of their choice for their homes. Provide families with additional materials that they can use...