The Colors of Advent

My friend Amber sent me a big long thing with tons of information about Advent. I am not sure what its original source is, but I figured it would be interesting to repost it piece by piece.

In the four weeks of Advent the third Sunday came to be a time of rejoicing that the fasting was almost over (in some traditions it is called Gaudete Sunday, from the Latin word for “rejoice”). The shift from the purple of the Season to pink or rose for the third Sunday Advent candles reflected this lessening emphasis on penitence as attention turned more to celebration of the season.

In recent times, however, Advent has undergone a shift in emphasis, reflected in a change of colors used in many churches.  Except in the Eastern churches, the penitential aspect of the Season has been almost totally replaced by an emphasis on hope and anticipation.

In many churches the third Sunday remains the Sunday of Joy marked by pink or rose. However, most Protestant 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 Kingʼs coming, or to symbolize the waters of Genesis 1, the beginning of a new creation. Some churches, including some Catholic churches, use blue violet to preserve the traditional use of purple while providing a visual distinction between the purple or red violet of Lent.

With the shift to blue for Advent in most non-Catholic churches, there is also a tendency to move pink to the Fourth Sunday of Advent.  It still remains associated with Joy, but is increasingly used as the climax of the Advent Season on the last Sunday before Christmas.

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 Christʼs birth brings into a cold world, they are not used as liturgical colors during Advent since they have other uses in other parts of the church year.

The word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” The focus of the entire season is the celebration of the birth of Jesus the Christ in his First Advent, and the anticipation of the return of Christ the King in his Second Advent. Thus, Advent is far more than simply marking a 2,000 year old event in history. It is celebrating a truth about God, the revelation of God in Christ whereby all of creation might be reconciled to God. That is a process in which we now participate, and the consummation of which we anticipate. Scripture reading for Advent will reflect this emphasis on the Second Advent, including themes of accountability for faithfulness at His coming, judgment on sin, and the hope of eternal life.

In this double focus on past and future, Advent also symbolizes the spiritual journey of individuals and a congregation, as they affirm that Christ has come, that He is present in the world today, and that He will come again in power. That acknowledgment provides a basis for Kingdom ethics, for holy living arising from a profound sense that we live “between the times” and are called to be faithful stewards of what is entrusted to us as Godʼs people. So, as the church celebrates Godʼs inbreaking into history in the Incarnation, and anticipates a future consummation to that history for which “all creation is groaning awaiting its redemption,” it also confesses its own responsibility as a people commissioned to “love the Lord your God with all your heart” and to “love your neighbor as yourself.”

Historically, the primary sanctuary color of Advent is Purple. This is the color of penitence and fasting as well as the color of royalty to welcome the Advent of the King.  Purple is still used in Catholic churches.  The purple of Advent is also the color of suffering used during Lent and Holy Week.  This points to an important connection between Jesusʼ birth and death. The nativity, the Incarnation, cannot be separated from the crucifixion. The purpose of Jesusʼ coming into the world, of the “Word made flesh” and dwelling among us, is to reveal God and His grace to the world through Jesusʼ life and teaching, but also through his suffering, death, and resurrection. To reflect this emphasis, originally Advent was a time of penitence and fasting, much as the Season of Lent and so shared the color of Lent.

Preaching…

Ryan has a couple of posts that highlight a certain preaching methodology. (Part 1 | Part 2)

It has brought about some really interesting comments. Whatever the case, it has definitely started me thinking.  So is drive by preaching really a demonstration of love?

Looking for love
Just a quick search of the New King James shows me that a few books in the Bible don’t mention the word love. It’s kind of an interesting list, actually.

• Numbers
• Ruth
• 2 Kings
• 1 Chronicles
• Ezra
• Esther
• Lamentations
• Joel
• Obadiah
• Jonah
• Nahum
• Habakkuk
• Haggai
• Malachi
• Acts

The first mention of Love in the Bible is in Genesis 22:2. The last mention is in Revelation 12:11. In light of the conversation, I find it interesting that the word can’t be found in the writings of so many of the prophets (Jonah, Habakkuk, and Malachi most noticeably), or the book of Acts.

In all of the preaching in the book of Acts, with all of the conversions in Nineveh, we don’t read anywhere of anyone telling sinners that “God loves you and have a wonderful plan for your life.”

In fact, the entirety of Jonah’s message was, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4). We read nothing of Jonah building relationships with the sinners in Nineveh. We read nothing of him setting up greed counseling centers. All we see is that one sentence. The result?

So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them. Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his thronw and laid aside his robe, covered himself with sackcloth and sat in ashes.

Powerful stuff. How did it come about?
We can pretty much understand from scripture that Jonah was not praying for Nineveh’s conversion. In fact, he was giddy about their impending annihilation! We read in Jonah 4:1, “But [Nineveh's conversion] displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry.”

So how did Nineveh’s conversion happen?
We understand that nobody comes to Christ by their own will. “No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him” (John 6:44). We also understand that nobody comes to Christ apart from their own will. “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord” (Acts 3:19).

There are a combination of factors in play here in the macrocosmic conversion of Nineveh, just as there are a combination of factors in play in the microcosmic conversion of a single soul.

1. Prayer
   I believe the first step to a person’s conversion is genuine heartfelt prayer to God for that person’s soul (cf. John 14:14, James 5:15, 2 Peter 3:9).
2. Preach
3. Hear
4. Believe
   

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart“, (that is, the word of faith which we preach); that is you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the mouth
confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says,”Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.“

How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written:

“How Beautiful are the feet of those who peace the gospel of peace,
Who bring glad tidings of good things!”

Romans 10:8-15

The final three steps in the process are all summarized in Romans 10:8-15.

We are all parts of an ongoing chain. We may be the one who prays. We may be the one who preaches — the first time. We may be the person who preaches the gospel and experiences their conversion.

I think that the preacher in the video is being motivated by love. I don’t think that is the way I would approach it, but as Jason is clear to point out in his comments, the gentleman’s stated motivation is clearly loving, and nothing he says is particularly offensive.

It may be one of those situations where the people are complaining so loudly because his words hit close to home. On the other hand, it may also be a situation where they have heard the same thing so many times that their ears are unresponsive. I think this is where the hypocrisy issue comes out clearest. We will never know this side of heaven.

Worship

What is worship?
This is a question I’ve been asking myself for a while. In the past, I have viewed singing to and before God to be synonymous with worship but I don’t think that’s necessarily a right assessment. Singing to and before God is worship. But to give such a limited definition to worship is where the inconsistencies arise. Two specific groupings of verses have been bouncing back and forth in my mind for the past few months (basically since I discovered them but that’s another story entirely).

These are John 4:23,24 and Romans 12:1,2. There are some rather disparate translations of these, particularly the Romans verses, and so I am going to quote from the Amplified Bible, which gives virtually every meaning of the words involved.

“23A time will come, however, indeed it is already here, when the true (genuine) worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth (reality); for the Father is seeking just such people as these as His worshipers. 24God is a Spirit (a spiritual Being) and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth (reality)” (John 4:23,24 Amp.).

“1I appeal to you therefore, brethren, and beg of you in view of [all] the mercies of God, to make decisive dedication of your bodies [presenting all your members and faculties] as a living sacrifice, holy (devoted, consecrated) and well pleasing to God, which is your reasonable (rational, intelligent) service and spiritual act of worship. 2Do not be conformed to this world (this age), [fashioned after and adapted to its external, superficial customs], but be transformed (changed) by the [entire] renewal of your mind [by its new ideals and its new attitude], so that you may prove [for yourselves] what is the good and acceptable and perfect and pleasing will of God, even the thing which is good and acceptable and perfect [in His sight for you]” (Romans 12:1,2 Amp.).

I know it’s bulky and it’s not a good leisurely read, but as the cover says, it “unlocks subtle shades of meaning.” Notice in Romans 12:1 the words that are translated in the King James as “reasonable service” (logiken and latreian) are translated in the NIV as “spiritual act of worship.” So it would seem that service to God and worship of God are interrelated. What I get out of this verse with this broader understanding of it is that we are to give God what HE deserves for the very reason that He doesn’t give us what WE deserve! I’ve been quoting this verse since April and it finally struck me tonight what it really means to worship. Rather, I should say I finally took another baby step in my understanding of it.

I was doing a word study on “worship” this evening and this is what blew me away. The Greek word most commonly translated as “worship,” and the same word used in John 4:23-24, is proskuneite. This is a combination of the words pros (towards) and kuneo (to kiss). What a beautiful word picture of how we should treat our worship of God! And the way to worship God, what He is seeking, is in spirit and in truth. The word for the noun translated as truth is alethia, which means “the reality lying at the base of an appearance; the manifested, veritable essence of a matter.”

So it is a blessed thing to be in a spirit of worship. But what God is truly seeking is someone who, in reality, LIVES in the spirit of worship. These two opposites are displayed wonderfully in Matthew 2. We see the “wise men” who came to worship Jesus (vs. 2) and Herod who claimed to want to go worship Him (vs. 8). God is seeking true worshipers, not those who give Him lip service. Proverbs 21:2 says “the LORD weighs the hearts.” “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)

Before the flood, we read that God was disappointed in what had happened to the men He had created. But we read in Genesis 6:8 that “Noah found grace [favor] in the eyes of the LORD.” Does that mean Noah was pure? No! Four verses later, it says “that ALL flesh had corrupted their way on the earth” (Genesis 6:12, emphasis mine). But Noah found grace in the eyes of God. How do we know he was a true worshiper? In Genesis 6:9 it says he walked with God, but a better example can be found in Genesis 8:20. Immediately after leaving the ark from over a year off of solid dry ground, Noah built the first recorded altar to God. In verse 21, the result of that worship is that God, while acknowledging the evil within us all, promised that He will never destroy all of humanity with waters again. Then in Genesis 9:1, “God blessed Noah and his sons.”

So why do we worship God? Well, primarily because He’s God and we’re not. Also because it is our rational service to Him. We give Him what He deserves because he withholds from us what we deserve. But what is worship?

In essence, worship is living a life devoted to God. Whereas Noah offered sacrificed animals to God, we offer our bodies to Him. Although we may have never done it before, it’s a lot easier to sacrifice an animal than it is to submit ourselves and “present all our members and faculties” to God. But when we are able and willing to do that, the rewards we reap are glorious! God wants true submission of our lives to Him. God deserves true submission of our lives to Him.