Many people who have had Advent wreaths throughout the years and have seen them used in churches may be used to seeing a wreath with four purple candles, or three purple candles and one pink candle, sometimes along with a white candle.
As Christians, we Lutherans use symbols to speak of our faith, often underscoring the words that are said. The Advent wreath, while having pre-Christian roots, was adopted by the Church. Fire and light symbolize Christ’s coming and casting out the darkness of the world.
The wreath is a circle (although we may make an Advent “log” or some other shape) representing eternity, never beginning, never ending, much like God’s love shown to us in the birth of Jesus, and reminding us of eternal life.
The candles are part of the Advent tradition. Older traditions used purple as the color for the candles as well as for the stoles and paraments of the church. Purple was the color for Lent. It represents fasting, repentance, and the coming of Christ in the resurrection. Advent was, in a way, a “mini Lent” and called that due to (again) the fasting, repentance, waiting and expectation.
The pink candle was for the Third Sunday in Advent. It was called “Gaudete Sunday.” Gaudete is Latin for “rejoice.” It had its roots in the reading of Philippians 4:4-6 that includes the words “rejoice in the Lord always.” However, that reading is now only heard in Year C of the Church Year cycle. So the use of a pink candle every year is no longer in sync with the readings.
Many churches talk about being Bible-based churches. We Lutherans seek to keep our symbols in line with Scripture. The color blue is now used to distinguish Advent from Lent. The rich royal blue is used to symbolize hope, a hope longed for and expressed in the current readings for Advent. This is why we now use blue as the color for the season in Advent, even in our Advent wreath candles. The white candle sees that hope come to fruition for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It celebrates the arrival of Christ into our world and into our hearts: hope expressed and hope believed. It is one of the spiritual gifts we are given by God to face these challenging times.
We are grateful to connect with many of you virtually and hope for the day when many of us can gather together again in person.
Blessed Advent,
Pastor David E. Potter
