Celebrating Advent, Jesus and New Life!

 

Celebrating the Real Meaning of Christmas!

Coming soon! Christmas is coming! But before it arrives, we anticipate celebrating its true meaning: We call it Advent. Advent means “coming.” During this time of year we celebrate Christ Jesus came long ago, as He was born of a virgin named Mary. He comes into the hearts and lives of those who will deny themselves, take up the Cross and follow Him. And one day He will come again! One day, during this season, we celebrate a day we have set aside to celebrate His birth, though we don’t really know the exact day of his birth. We call this sacred birthday celebration Christmas!

Important Colorful Symbols

The Wreath

To celebrate Advent we use important symbols: There is the round wreath. It is a circle, and it represents the eternal essence of God. It has no beginning nor end just as the true and living God has no beginning or end. The wreath is green, and it reminds us of the resurrection life, and eternal life, God offers, through The Christ who has come!

The Four Candles In The Wreath +1:
Purple, Pink and White

There are four candles placed on the wreath. These candles represent Hope, Love, Joy and Peace. We light these successively throughout Advent. The fifth candle is called The Christ Candle, and it is a white color, and the white represents the purity of Christ which He provides for our hearts and lives. It is usually taller than the other candles. Three of the other candles are purple, and this color represents, among other things, repentance, fasting, prophecy, preparation, as well as the royalty of Christ, who is King of Kings and Lord of Lords. One candle is pink. This color represents rejoicing.

Red May Also Be Included

Red is also a color that may be included, and as a part of the wreath: This could come from the holly berries on a wreath. This prophetic color points the the redemptive work of this one who came, comes, and will ultimately come again! For, while it is important to remember Jesus came as a baby, in a manger, in a town called Bethlehem, we must be sure to remember that He came to be the Savior of the World, as He sacrificed Himself, as the Lamb of God, who takes away the sins of the world. Yes, He came and comes to take away your sin(s) and mine. He sacrificed His body on The Cross, and He shed His blood to atone for our sins.

What Advent, Nor This Season, Is NOT!
Good News To Share!

Now, one thing is to be clearly spelled out here: Advent is NOT about the myth of man dressed in red. For Jesus is NOT coming for the purpose of “making a list, checking it twice.” Nor is He about “going to find out who is naughty or nice.” It is very clear, from the ancient wisdom of the Bible, that “all of us have sinned, and we have all fallen short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23.) We were all declared “naughty” before the Almighty. We all deserve much worse than “coal in our stockings.” But, because of His great love for each of us, Jesus came to save us, to forgive us from being “naughty,” to cleanse us from all our sins in order that our “naughty list” would be wiped clean via the shedding of His blood, and via the sacrificing of His body on the Cross! Hallelujah!

Now, we who are forgiven, and who are being transformed, because of this Christ of the Cross, we experience God as love! We experience Him as being patient! God is kind! He does not envy! Nor is He arrogant toward us! He certainly is not constantly keeping a list of every frailty or failure, waiting for us to mess up, just so He can annually ask us, “Have you been good?” On the other hand, He is giving us grace to be new creations, where our old selves are being made entirely new. (2 Corinthians 5:17-21.) As a matter of fact, God “made Him, who knew no sin to be sin, for us, that we might become the righteousness of Christ.”

The Holy Spirit Testifies

The Holy Spirit actually gives a testimony about these things: The Holy Spirit tells us that God, because of God’s Eternal Covenant with us, “writes God’s laws on our hearts, and He places them on our minds, And our sins and lawless acts He remembers no more!” (Which is the polar opposite of maintaining a “naughty or nice list.” (See Hebrews 10:15-17) Finally, God demonstrates what the Holy Spirit is declaring, when He tells the story of God making us, who are formless, unpurposeful, and shapeless clay creatures, without Him, into beautiful pottery, for His purposes and life transformational will. (Jeremiah 18:1-7) Because Jesus is fully alive, we can be fully alive ourselves. (John 14:19)

Stay Tuned

Stay tuned, as we journey together through this Advent season! Celebrate with us Hope, Love, Joy and Peace that Christ Jesus, Himself, makes possible through His Salvation Grace. Let us celebrate the true reason for the season! Let us celebrate Jesus the one who is Christ.

God Bless You, and I pray that, during this Advent Season, you will truly experience Hope – Love – Joy – Peace and Purity in your heart and life, as well as God’s saving, sanctifying and healing grace, through Jesus The Christ. I don’t know about you, but I believe, we especially need these this season of 2020.

SoJourner