I know, hard to believe isn't it? This year has flown by!!
Our family is one that loves tradition! Probably a little too much :) But during this time of year our traditions abound and frankly, we like it that way!!
One of our favorite traditions is observing Advent.
What is advent? It is traditionally a time of expectation and waiting for the celebration of Christ's birth. It is a time to focus your attention, thoughts and actions on things that are everlasting as opposed to short-lasting.
In order to do this, we have nightly Advent readings that include the lighting of the Advent candles, a short lesson, reading of scripture, singing, and prayer.
Our advent wreath is simple greenery with four candles in the middle, three being purple and one pink. The purple candles are the color representing royalty and penance and the pink, being that Advent is partially patterned after Lent, represents joy .
Week 1 stands for Hope, and week 2 Love. Week 3 stands for joy and week 4 peace. In the center of those candles is a short white candle that is lit on Christmas morning representing Christ!
Different churches and different denominations observe Advent differently so we have just picked what makes sense to us and gone with it!!
I remember when growing up, the Baptist church we attended observed advent and each Sunday we sang the following song:
Light One Candle
1. Light one candle for hope One bright candle for hope He brings hope to every heart He comes! He comes!
2. Light one candle for love One bright candle for love He brings love to every heart He comes! He comes!
3. Light one candle for joy One bright candle for joy He brings joy to every heart He comes! He comes!
4. Light one candle for peace One bright candle for peace He brings peace to every heart He comes!
He comes!
Because this song has a lot of memories and meaning to me, it is one of the songs we sing each Sunday when we light that week's candle.
Do I think you have to observe Advent? Nope!
But for our family, it is a way that we can come together each evening and bring our busy, excited thoughts all back to the reason we are rejoicing and celebrating in the first place. That God...GOD, chose to become a human and come to earth and live just to sacrifice himself for ME so that not only we can spend eternity together, but so that we can have a relationship now!!
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Love Advent! We haven't done the candle lighting before. But this year we are doing a Jesse Tree. I am enjoying walking through the "heroes" of the Bible leading up to Jesus. We hang a different on a little tree each day and are using Ann Voskamp's book "The Greatest Gift" for our thoughts and reading this year. And I love this year that my living room is filled with nativities :-)
ReplyDeleteLynn, I have heard a little about the Jesse Tree and it sounds like a really neat thing to do!! Miss you!
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