Well, hello. This is Pastor Brian. I just wanted to come with you and share a few thoughts as we are fully into this first week of Advent in this busy Christmas season.
I also wanted to touch on some of the key points of this Advent season. Perhaps many of you are unsure even what Advent means or some of the other symbols.
So first what is Advent?
Advent is a word that is derived from the Latin word adventus. It means “coming.” So Advent is a season in which we prepare ourselves for the coming of Jesus. We celebrate his first coming some two thousand years ago, and we anticipate his second coming at some date in the future that we as of yet don’t know.
So also then you may be wondering what is an Advent wreath? What does that mean?
It’s a wreath that we put on the altar that consists of a ring of evergreen. That evergreen is to symbolize that God’s love endures forever; it’s in a circular pattern that shows that God has no beginning or end. Also in that ring we find that some of the branches of the evergreen are sticky or pointed. That is to remind us of the crown of thorns that Christ bore for our sins. Also there are four candles around the perimeter, typically they’re blue or purple. The first three are Hope, Love, and Peace, they’re normally purple or blue. Then there’s typically a pink candle of Joy. And then the center candle is the Christ candle that we will light on Christmas Eve to represent how he is the light of the world.
As we also look around our sanctuary, you will see many poinsettias that decorate all around us.
The poinsettia has always been considered a traditional Christmas flower symbolizing love, hope, goodwill, and Christmas joy, but within that poinsettia even there are other symbols of meaning that we can find. The flowers often form the shape of the star of Bethlehem, obviously the leaves are red which remind us of the blood Christ shed for us, and then there are white leaves on some of the poinsettias that represent Christ’s purity.
Overall the poinsettia represents humility and generosity because an old legend says a poor boy came into a church sanctuary on Christmas Eve long ago and brought in some weeds and they were transformed into a poinsettia.
And so we always realize that this poinsettia is a symbol of rebirth, hope, and peace.
And now you might be wondering about Chrismon trees.
You’ve heard that word probably over and over over the past few weeks.
The Chrismon tree that stands behind me is decorated with these symbols of Christ that are called Chrismons. Chris meaning Christ and mon meaning monograms. So they’re monograms of Christ and they come with many different symbols on them. All of ours were cross stitched over 40 years ago by women of this church.
This one is a Celtic cross which says the circle at the top represents eternal life. The we have the Chi Rho which was the first letters for the Greek word for Christ. Then last we have the fish. The fish was representative of the Savior. The fish was used as the sign for early Christians of safe places where they could gather. There are many more on the tree behind me.
They were originally created by Frances Kipps Spencer, a member of Ascension Lutheran Church in Danville, VA in 1957. And there is always one critical thing about these. One promise made is that Chrismons would never be sold, that they would always be a gift of love. And so therefore that tradition has been maintained all over the years as they have spread around the world.
The Chrismons are placed on an evergreen tree. The evergreen in this case symbolizes Christ as our savior giving us eternal life. Also the lights that are inside the tree represent the light of the Christ child shedding forth His life into the world. The white found on the Chrismons is the symbol of purity. The gold found around the tree on the decorations is the symbol of royalty, and majesty, and glory. The pearls also there represent it is all a work of God.
The Chrismons are just simple representations of Christian symbols from of old, but they form a very beautiful decoration as they are placed on our tree with special reverence on the first Sunday of Advent.
I would encourage you to come and join us on this second Sunday of Advent as we light the candle of Love and share Christ’s love with each other here at Dacusville United Methodist Church.
God be with you,
Pastor Brian
