With you and Sarah are both posting about your church experiences, I feel like maybe I should too, but honestly I feel pretty much comfortable at First Cong and am not in the market for something different.
Hey, whatever works for you. There's always stuff that troubles me -- and also hymns and stuff that I wanna record 'cause I like them -- and we know I put nearly my entire life up on here anyway, so for me it makes sense to post a lot about it.
(Though we're doing blue candles rather than purple-and-pink, which discomfits me -- from what I know, the purple is for penitance and the pink is for joy in the middle of this somber, wintery season. The blue is possibly for Mary -- that's what me and the female ministerperson thought and I don't know for sure.)
According to the linked page I found via Google:
Historically, the primary sanctuary color of Advent is Purple, the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King. The purple of Advent is also the color of suffering used during Lent and Holy Week. This points to an important connection between Jesus’ birth and death. The nativity, the Incarnation, cannot be separated from the crucifixion, the Atonement. The purpose of Jesus’ coming into the world, of the "Word made flesh" and dwelling among us, is to reveal God and His grace to the world through Jesus’ life and teaching, but also through his suffering, death, and resurrection.
However, many churches now use blue to distinguish the Season of Advent from Lent. Royal Blue is sometimes used as a symbol of royalty. Some churches use Bright Blue to symbolize the night sky, the anticipation of the impending announcement of the King’s coming, or to symbolize the waters of Genesis 1, the beginning of a new creation. Red and Green are more secular colors of Christmas, although they derive from older European practices of using evergreens and holly to symbolize ongoing life and hope that Christ’s birth brings into a cold world.
[...]
The third candle for the Third Sunday of Advent is traditionally Pink or Rose, and symbolizes Joy at the Advent of the Christ. Sometimes the colors of the sanctuary and vestments are also changed to Rose for this Sunday. Whatever sequence is adopted for these Sundays, the theme of Joy can still be the focus. For example, when using the third Sunday to commemorate the visit of the Magi the focus can be on the Joy of worshipping the new found King. Or the Shepherds as the symbol for the third Sunday brings to mind the joy of the proclamation made to them in the fields, and the adoration expressed as they knelt before the Child at the manager.
Additional new -- to me, anyway -- learning from said link: "The four outer candles represent the period of waiting during the four Sundays of Advent, which themselves symbolize the four centuries of waiting between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ." Liturgy, ceremony, etc. would be so much more meaningful if anybody had ever actually explained what all this stuff meant. I'm attached to the way United does Advent, but that's primarily because it's what I'm used to. However, I do really like that at United during Advent, each Sunday a family would come up and read Scripture and a little recitation about which candle was being lit and would then light that candle.
reply, part 1
But of course *g*
With you and Sarah are both posting about your church experiences, I feel like maybe I should too, but honestly I feel pretty much comfortable at First Cong and am not in the market for something different.
Hey, whatever works for you. There's always stuff that troubles me -- and also hymns and stuff that I wanna record 'cause I like them -- and we know I put nearly my entire life up on here anyway, so for me it makes sense to post a lot about it.
(Though we're doing blue candles rather than purple-and-pink, which discomfits me -- from what I know, the purple is for penitance and the pink is for joy in the middle of this somber, wintery season. The blue is possibly for Mary -- that's what me and the female ministerperson thought and I don't know for sure.)
According to the linked page I found via Google:Additional new -- to me, anyway -- learning from said link: "The four outer candles represent the period of waiting during the four Sundays of Advent, which themselves symbolize the four centuries of waiting between the prophet Malachi and the birth of Christ." Liturgy, ceremony, etc. would be so much more meaningful if anybody had ever actually explained what all this stuff meant. I'm attached to the way United does Advent, but that's primarily because it's what I'm used to. However, I do really like that at United during Advent, each Sunday a family would come up and read Scripture and a little recitation about which candle was being lit and would then light that candle.