What is Advent?
Advent is about preparing our hearts and homes for the coming of the Christ child on Christmas Day. It’s usually celebrated by reading Bible stories or devotions intending to make us think about how much Jesus gave up to be our savior. It also reminds us how much God loves us to send Jesus to earth to live as a perfect human in a no longer perfect world as a sacrifice for our sins. It’s celebrated the four weeks before Christmas and most churches have extra services as part of the celebration.
Why is it called Advent?
The Catholic Exchange has an interesting analysis of why the Latin word adventus was chosen for this season of the church year. I know enough Latin to know that advent literally means “they come to”, making adventus a noun for arriving. This catholic website says that there are a few words for arrival, but the early christian church leaders wanted advent because of how the Romans used the word. It wasn’t simply “arrival”, it was a triumphant arrival after a great victory and sometimes used to describe a leader’s birth. Therefore, in Advent we celebrate the victorious birthday of Jesus.
What are the symbols of Advent?
The main two symbols of advent are the Advent wreath and the Advent calendar. It could be argued that the Christmas tree and other religious symbols of Christmas are also symbols of Advent, but for today I’ll explain the two main symbols of the church season.
Advent Wreath
The Advent wreath is a circle of evergreen with four candles evenly spaced on the circle and often a fifth candle inside the wreath. The evergreen circle is a symbol of God’s never-ending love and our eternal life in heaven through faith. Evergreen itself has a number of meanings like victory and health.
The first candle is traditionally purple and called the “prophecy candle” for all the prophets who predicted Jesus’ birth and death. The second candle is also purple and is the “Bethlehem candle”, symbolizing the faith of Mary and Joseph on their trip to Bethlehem. The third candle is traditionally pink as it’s a symbol of joy. The “shepherd’s candle” is lit over halfway through the church season and is a reminder of the joy that led simple shepherds to trust God to watch their sheep while they celebrated the birth of the long awaited King of the Jews. The fourth candle is purple again and is the “angel’s candle”, celebrating the peace that the angels proclaimed and that Jesus would teach in a few years. The fifth candle isn’t always added, but it’s a white candle symbolizing Jesus’ birth on Christmas Eve.
Advent Calendar
The Advent calendar is designed as a way to focus the faithful to prepare their hearts for Jesus. The idea is that each day the christian reads a story or thinks about a different aspect of Christ or His birth as a way to deepen our faith and understanding. I know that I need help focusing on Christ in this busy season, so I’m going to create an Advent calendar of Bible studies here to help me focus and better understand this season and God as a whole.
Come along and join me as I look at the prophecies predicting Jesus, the faith of people connected with Jesus, the joy God brings, and the nativity itself.
For more reading on the meaning and history of this beautiful season, check out this article.