One of the ways many churches and families keep the focus on Christ during Advent is with an Advent wreath. When my children were growing up, we would have a weekly family devotional centered around an Advent wreath, followed by eggnog and cookies. We have also used an Advent wreath in the churches I pastored. The children of our congregation participate in the lighting of the candles. I invite them to come up to the front pew of the church just before they are dismissed to Sunday School. There, I have a conversation with them about the meaning of Advent and the candle they are about to light. Their comments and “insights” bring a smile to my face. I look forward to this part of Advent every year.
Advent wreaths are rich in symbolic meaning. The evergreen wreath symbolizes the eternal life that we have in Christ. By lighting the candles, we celebrate Christ, who is the Light of the World. There are five candles, four colored candles on the wreath, and the white Christ candle in the center which we will light during our Christmas Eve Carol and Candlelight service. During each Sunday of Advent, we light a new candle as well as the candles from the preceding Sundays of Advent.
Three of the candles on the wreath are purple, the color associated with Advent, symbolizing repentance. Repentance is a change of direction through which we turn away from sin and turn to Christ, our Lord and Savior. The third candle is pink, symbolizing joy. Each of the candles has its own meaning. I have found that the meaning associated with the purple candles varies from church to church.
This morning, one of our children lit the first candle, the candle of hope. There is a big difference between Christian hope and hope-so, wishful thinking. For example, I hope I can get a DeLorean time machine, or that I will hit the lottery jackpot. Neither are going to happen. There is no such thing as a time machine, and you have to actually buy a lottery ticket to win the jackpot. But Christian hope is a grounded hope. It is hope that is grounded on the promises of the sovereign God who always keeps His promises. He promised to send His Son to be our redeemer, and He did just that in Christ’s first advent. And Christ has promised to return to put an end to the reign of evil and establish His kingdom of righteousness and peace. We can count on Him to keep this promise, and therefore have hope to sustain us through all of the pain, suffering, and evil of this world!