I will admit that I listened to Christmas music yesterday and I caught myself telling Brian that I'm not ready for it to be over... Christmas that is.
I keep hearing people say that Christmas is over, "I took down my decorations on the 26th." GUYS y'all must not have watched my advent video! What's advent? Well if you didn't watch the video I will tell you...
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| My family at church on Christmas Eve... minus Brian, of course. |
Advent comes from the Latin word for "arrival" or "coming." It's the period of time that we prepare for the birth of the Lord. Advent starts 4 Sundays before Christmas-- that's when our Church puts out the "advent wreath" which is composed of 5 candles.. 3 purple, 1 pink and 1 white. The candles are lit each week of advent, a new Sunday... a new candle. On Christmas Eve the church will light the white candle (in the middle) which represents the life of Christ. "The color white represents purity. Christ is the sinless, spotless, pure Savior. Also, those who receive Christ as Savior are washed of their sins and made whiter than snow."
The first Sunday of Advent marks the beginning of the liturgical year. Advent is a time of joy and preparation for Christmas. Then on Christmas Day, Christmas begins and lasts for the next 12 days... This year until Sunday, December 6th. That 12 days leads us to "Epiphany" which is the day the wise men made it to the baby Jesus.
At St. Mary's we always celebrated this with the Epiphany Pageant. I spent many January's dressed as an angel or shepherd. I actually shared a picture in my Christmas walk down memory lane.
So that's my explanation... and I could have very well gotten some of it wrong. The moral of the story is... Christmas isn't over, yet. And even when it is.. I hope God's love and sacrifice surrounds you every day. I wanted to leave you with this beautiful song I listed to on my classical Christmas pandora station yesterday :)
Love, Alex
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