A Change in Advent Candles
The
traditional color for Advent candles has been three purple and one pink or rose
and one white (the Christ candle).
Purple had always been the color for Advent and Lent and is used to
symbolize royalty (purple required more mixing and therefore was only reserved
for the royal and very wealthy) and repentance.
Those who
have historically worked with liturgy and the liturgical arts in the church saw
a need to differentiate Advent from Lent.
So some people developing liturgy have gone to blue as a color for
Advent as a way distinguish it from Lent.
One of
the questions I regularly love to ask any kind of artists is, “If you had a
chance to pull off any kind of work or celebration or event, what would that
be?” I love to hear people speak out of
their deepest passions for where they believe God might be leading them. I did that with a Roman Catholic nun in St.
Louis who regularly worked in the liturgical arts. Her answer back to me forever changed my view
of Advent.
She said,
“With all of the movement toward honoring creation, honoring the earth, and the
nod in Scriptures to the coming of the dawn in Advent, I would love to do vestments
that would progressively lead from the deepest night to the breaking forth of
the brightest dawn. We really do not
have much meaning in the purples and blues of Advent. That, I think, would bring meaning.”
So I
began using candles that would go from the deepest purple, to deep blue, to a
lighter blue, to rose, to white. When I
would explain this to congregations, different people would remark how they
could see all those colors in the dawn on a particular day or on the setting of
the sun as they drove in their car as evening fell. It became a spiritual cue to remember the story.
As we
practice the lighting of our Advent candles in the coming weeks, remember that
the deepest of nights eventually reveals the dawn. We are called to begin our work at
midnight. But dawn comes. It certainly comes.
For a more joyous and meaningful
Advent and Christmas season
As we
move into the time when we will celebrate the Advent and Christmas season,
there are so many resources available to us.
Our Pilgrim and Puritan ancestors saw all the celebration around the
Advent and Christmas season as idol worship.
Though we would not their dour disposition, we are all too aware
that
the meaning of the season is regularly drained by expectations and
demands. These resources might help us
stop, reflect, and infuse these holy times with meaning and possibility.
The
United Church of Christ Still Speaking Writers’ Group has written an Advent
devotional for 2014 titled, “Tear Open the Heavens.” You can pick one up on Sunday in the narthex
or contact Breanna Rolandson, the church’s Administrative Assistant, to receive
one.
Other Advent and Christmas
Resources
The
Advent Conspiracy (www.adventconspiracy.org) begins
with the simple
notion that Christmas can still change the world. With the four
tenets to worship fully, spend less, give more, and love all who could
disagree? Take a look at their great
resources and enter an entire web community seeking to be faithful.
For you and your family
The
Center for the New American Dream always puts out great material. This year is no different. They have a great, standard guide to lessen
stress and experience more resounding joy.
That guide, titled “Simplify the Holidays,”can be found online or
downloaded in .pdf: http://goo.gl/wRR6Gt. The guide is also accompanied with an
interactive calendar to help us sharpen our spiritual practice. That can be found here: http://goo.gl/oGAwCC.
Create your own coupon books, take the pledge (for more joy and less
stuff), or see any of their fantastic resources here: http://goo.gl/Wb5yWp.
Good
resources for a more reflective, joyous Advent and Christmas season can be
found at the Simple Living Works! website.
These are the folks who used to print out the great devotionals and
resources in “Unplug the Christmas Machine” and “Whose Birthday Is it
Anyway?” You can look around their
website at www.simplelivingworks.wordpress.com and find
some of their seasonal resources for 2014 at http://goo.gl/IcmEEQ.
Alternative Advent Hymns from Maren Tirabassi
Rev. Maren Tirabassi always does a great job with liturgies and hymns. I consider her the poet laureate of the United Church of Christ. (Rev. Julian DeShazier is waiting in the wings) Here Maren offers four alternative Advent hymns. As always, they are lyrically great and full of justice. See them here: https://giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com/2014/11/24/3615/.
justice. They regularly publish a Just Giving
Guide. That can be found here: http://sojo.net/just-giving-guide
Rev. Maren Tirabassi always does a great job with liturgies and hymns. I consider her the poet laureate of the United Church of Christ. (Rev. Julian DeShazier is waiting in the wings) Here Maren offers four alternative Advent hymns. As always, they are lyrically great and full of justice. See them here: https://giftsinopenhands.wordpress.com/2014/11/24/3615/.
Just Added: Alternative Gift Giving
Sojourners is a national Christian organization
committed to faith in action for social
Christmas with a preacher!
If you
would like to see a great movie for the whole family, you can check out this
documentary put together about the performance artist, Bill Talen, and his
alter ego, Rev. Billy. “What Would Jesus
Buy?” offers a wonderfully hilarious look at Rev. Billy and his Stop Shopping
Choir as they try to bring back real meaning for the season. Watch him exorcise the demons from the
Starbucks cash register and call people to a recognition of who they are at
their most whole. Although the movie
made the big screen some years ago, it is now free to watch on youtube here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAxuNdtZt7c
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