We all know that the secular calendar starts with the month of January. But in the Church calendar, the year begins with the four Sunday season of Advent. Advent can begin in either late November or early December, depending upon what day of the week Christmas Day falls on, because there has to be four Sundays before Christmas. Sometimes, the fourth Sunday of Advent and Christmas eve can even be the same day, as happened in 2023.
“Advent” comers from the Latin word “adventus, which means “arrival”—which makes sense because it is the time of year Christians await the arrival of Jesus. Therefore, the mood is preparation, expectation, hope, and celebration. In some traditions, Advent also looks forward to the return to Jesus, or the Second Coming, and so there is also an urging of repentance.
One of the traditions that has developed relatively recently (in the early 1800s), is that of the Advent Wreath. The circular shape of the wreath represents the completeness of God and turning of the seasons. The use of evergreen in many wreaths is a symbol of eternal life found in Jesus, and sometimes you might also see pinecones or other seeds to represent new life. Four candles are spaced evenly around the circle. Three of them are either blue or purple (here at St. Martin’s we use blue). One of them is pink or rose, which is lit on the third Sunday as a sign we are turning toward Christmas. In the center of the Advent Wreath is a white candle, known as the Christ Candle. This is lit on Christmas Day.
The first week, we light the first blue candle: the Candle of Hope (or Prophecy). We lit it to remember the hope that God would fulfill God’s promises in sending us a Savior to show us how to live a life of love, compassion, and peace—a hope that will be fulfilled in Jesus.
The second week, we light the second blue candle (toward the back). This is the candle of Peace (or the (Bethlehem candle). It reminds us of the lasting peace that Jesus offers to the world, the peace he calls us to actively support by working for justice and freedom for all—because that is the only way to get true, lasting peace.
The third week, we light the pink candle: the Candle of Joy (or the Shepherd’s Candle). This third Sunday is also knows as “Gaudete Sunday, which means “rejoice” in Latin. We rejoice that the birth of Jesus is coming very near!
The fourth week, the last one in Advent, we light the fourth candle in the circle: the Candle of Love (or the Angel’s Candle). We remember here that God so loved the Earth, that God gave us God’s Son, to show us how to walk in love always.
You can make an advent wreath of your own, or you can find them in stores, so that you can observe the season in your own homes as well as at the start of worship.
