“Come thou long expected Jesus,
born to set thy people free;
From our fears and sins release us,
let us find our rest in thee.”
Hymn 66
The Season of Advent is now upon us. It is a season of delightful preparation that always includes the deeper notes of waiting, expectation, and repentance. Thus, not many weeks past the Feast of All Saints, we find ourselves intentionally re-entering a time of waiting for Christ. We stand with all of the peoples in Scripture who watched for God to act in the world.
The Episcopal church has a very robust but simple way to keep the Season of Advent. We place an Advent Wreath in our worship space; glowing with light, often surrounded by evergreens as a sign of life. Each day in December we look toward the Light of the World - Jesus Christ. In remembrance of his coming we light the candles on our wreaths at the beginning of worship each of the four Sundays of the season.
In a homegrown echo, we might light our way through our days of early darkness and chill nights with our own Advent Wreath. An evergreen base and candles of purple or Sarum blue could be located on a kitchen table, the breakfast bar, or wherever you eat your meal. In the process of lighting a candle, saying a prayer, and reading scripture together each night, we, quite literally, see the light begin to grow.
I am reminded of the Sabbath candles that are lit each Friday evening in the household of observant Jews. They, too, connect an important remembrance of the presence of God to the very practical process of gathering for a meal each week. This connection of light and prayer to the daily-ness of our lives is part of the power of this devotional practice. Our Savior entered all of the common duties of everyday life and often taught from those examples.
An Advent Calendar with goodies is fun, but quite misses the point of waiting until hope is fulfilled. I think they are best deployed in the presence of an Advent Wreath with candles and conversations. We might ask a child, “What might a shepherd have eaten in Jesus time?” I once had a cookbook whose creative meals were planned to evoke wondering about all the different characters of those days when the angel came to Mary.
There is another practical tool for entering into this holy season - the Advent Way of Love from Presiding Bishop Michael Curry. It is a good (and free) resource available to anyone who is interested. You can follow the link below to download the curriculum and calendar. These practices are useful at church or at home.
We Episcopalians know the value of a repeated symbolic action. We know that the layering of practice and prayers over weeks and years connects us to deep springs of the Holy Spirit. I invite you to establish your Advent devotion - whatever its shape - and then gently defend the moments of holy time against an ever-busy schedule.
I wish you a holy season of watching for the light of Jesus Christ to grow in us and our actions.
In Christ,
