Hi, I'm Joni Eareckson Tada and… it’s the season of Advent!
I know, that’s hard to believe what with Thanksgiving leftovers still in the refrigerator, but yesterday was the First Sunday in Advent and, if your church celebrates the season like ours does, we lit the first candle yesterday on the Advent wreath which sits on top of our church piano up by the pulpit.
Now… there might be a few friends listening who aren’t up-to-speed on what Advent is all about. Well, the ancient Christian church celebrated Advent as kind of a fresh start to faith and worship. Kind of like a time to anticipate and spiritually prepare to really celebrate the birth of Jesus. So… what’s with the wreath and the candles? Well, back in the 1500’s, the Advent wreath was developed to mark the beginning of the season – of course, the wreath is made of evergreens with four candles around it and one in the center. One candle is lit on each succeeding Sunday during Advent, with the fifth candle in the center which is always lit on Christmas Eve. The candles around the wreath are usually purple (for years that has traditionally been the main Advent color symbolizing repentance and fasting… plus it also is a color that looks forward to the coming of Christ as King of Kings… you know purple is royalty. And in the middle is a white candle that represents the arrival of Christ, sinless and pure.
Now the Advent readings are what are most interesting. Like yesterday, when we lit the first candle, we read from Isaiah in chapter 1: “A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse; from his roots a Branch will bear fruit. The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him…” As well as other prophesies about the Messiah’s coming from Isaiah. The first Sunday in Advent is all about hope… your God will come; He will come and rescue you. In fact, there’s a very familiar Christmas carol that was written just for the First Sunday of Advent: “O come, O come Immanuel and ransom captive Israel.” Next week when we light the second candle of Advent, the readings will be about our sin and our need of a Savior. The third Sunday in Advent? The theme is joy: “Come thou long expected Jesus born to set thy people free.” Then there’s the fourth Sunday in Advent with more hymns and readings and, of course, lighting the Christ candle on Christmas Eve. And you can imagine what the Advent hymn is for that day: “Joy to the world the Lord is come!”
I realize that not many churches follow the ancient Christian church calendar nowadays (I was raised in the Reformed Episcopal Church, a very conservative evangelical – but small – denomination), so I grew up with these things and, to me, Advent is a such a heartwarming, wonderful season of great Bible readings and tremendous hymns of the faith. Speaking of hymns, if you’d like to get in the Christmas spirit a little early, I’d love to send you the CD of my Christmas Carols for a Kid’s Heart – 12 wonderful carols that you can slip into the CD player in your car or put on in the morning. Get the children singing along. There is nothing like the sounds of happy kids singing praise to the Lord, especially when those praise hymns reflect the Advent season. Just take a minute to go over to my radio page at joniandfriends.org and ask for your CD – we’ll send it to you right away. In the meantime, happy, happy Advent of our wonderful Savior, Jesus Christ.
Used by permission of
JONI AND FRIENDS
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Agoura Hills, CA 91376
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