Advent - a Question for our non-LDS Christian Members

[_DrW]

When we lived in Germany my wife would spend a lot of time designing and making some very nice advent Calendars. These usually had a little flap or door for each day closed with Velcro that the little kids could open each evening to see what the activity would be.

Behind the door would be a candle to be lit for the evening. There might also be a small surprise like a candy cane or a small toy often carved from wood. Usually there would also be the title of a German Christmas Carol to be sung before bedtime after the latest candle was lit. (Repeats were allowed because we only knew so many German carols.)

It was a good way for the children to be reminded of the meaning of Christmas and they really looked forward to opening the door each evening in December. During the day, of course the Calendars hung high enough on the walls that no one was tempted to peek ahead.

[_Blixa]

I'm a huge fan of advent calendars, having been given a spectacular one when I was around 7 by some Italian friends of my parents (friends from their time in North Africa. I used to get cool swag from their network of far-flung contacts from that time: people in the American service stationed overseas, people from the British diplomatic core and military, and Italian and Palestinian expatriates).

I will have to track down a website which features amazing DIY paper craft advent calendars as well as readymades. I'll post it when I find it.

[Guest]

When DH and I moved to Illinois in 2009, and became separated from both sets of in-laws, we decided it was time to start creating some family traditions of our own. I joined the Evangelical Covenant Church shortly after arriving in Illinois, and the local congregation was interested in observing Advent. So that was when I remembered Eric Huntsman's Advent e-mails and decided to implement our own Advent observance. It seemed like something that both Mormons and evangelicals could appreciate, even if Mormons don't traditionally observe it.

That's interesting. Eric's explaination of Advent that you shared on your blog was helpful and gave me many things to think about.

It's still a young tradition for us, obviously, but we like it a lot. I hope it sticks.

Me, too. Best wishes.

[_honorentheos]

It's the usual Roman Rite, with the exception that clergy are wearing purple instead of green and the prayers, hymns and homilies reflect the season. There is an Advent wreath in one of our church's alcoves, with it's Advent candles burning. The only time we see rose colored vestments is on Gaudete Sunday.

It is a joyous season. :)

The daily readings are here http://usccb.org/Bible/readings, if you go to December you'll see the purple Advent season. Each Sunday does build to the next, the Sunday and daily readings in between are focused on the prophecies concerning the Messiah and the associated fulfillment as related in the Gospels and letters of St. Paul. And/or, the events leading up to Jesus' birth.

The Sunday readings follow a 3 year cycle with the cycles labeled A, B or C we are currently in year B, I think the daily readings follow a 2 year cycle. Advent is the beginning of the church year so on December 2nd we will switch to year C. The advent readings then cycle every three years, the first day of Advent coming up will have an Old Testament reading from Jeremiah, there will be 2 more readings one from Thessalonians and the Gospel reading from Luke. In 3 years we will hear the same readings at church. Helpful??

Very helpful, both. Thank you!

We also have an advent calendar I made, it's a quilt with little pieced bags we add everyday. We put candy and excerpts from the Mass readings in them and hang them up on our door, the kids take turns in the morning getting them down, now they are all old enough to read the "readings" and they get candy before breakfast. Sometimes the candy wakes one of them up enough to think and talk about what was read. Probably my favorite part when one of my kids talks about "Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything"

I like the idea behind this a lot.

[_honorentheos]

Chap,

I have to say your post really left an impression on me. Thinking about this tradition as you described it, projecting it back onto a time when humanity wasn't saturated by artificial light 24 hours a day - very meditative.

Part of the Advent package was the recognition that Advent is not Christmas: so Christmas itself burst upon my family as a sudden change at dusk on Christmas Eve, when decorations went up, we began to eat festive stuff and get ready to enjoy the celebrations to come. That meant that we were not (as many are) already bored with Christmas when it had hardly begun. That approach had its merits, and I still tend to treat Christmas that way even when I no longer accord it any objective significance. Why shouldn't I?

Agreed, and you've given me a few more things to think about. Much obliged to you, sir.

[_honorentheos]

When we lived in Germany my wife would spend a lot of time designing and making some very nice advent Calendars. These usually had a little flap or door for each day closed with Velcro that the little kids could open each evening to see what the activity would be.

Behind the door would be a candle to be lit for the evening. There might also be a small surprise like a candy cane or a small toy often carved from wood. Usually there would also be the title of a German Christmas Carol to be sung before bedtime after the latest candle was lit. (Repeats were allowed because we only knew so many German carols.)

It was a good way for the children to be reminded of the meaning of Christmas and they really looked forward to opening the door each evening in December. During the day, of course the Calendars hung high enough on the walls that no one was tempted to peek ahead.

Thanks Dr W. Do you mind if I ask how much of this tradition you've kept? Do you and your family adopt traditions as you travel? My impression is that you are close to my own position regarding religion so I'm very curious.

[_honorentheos]

I'm a huge fan of advent calendars, having been given a spectacular one when I was around 7 by some Italian friends of my parents (friends from their time in North Africa. I used to get cool swag from their network of far-flung contacts from that time: people in the American service stationed overseas, people from the British diplomatic core and military, and Italian and Palestinian expatriates).

I will have to track down a website which features amazing DIY paper craft advent calendars as well as readymades. I'll post it when I find it.

I'd really appreciate that, thanks Blixa.

[_madeleine]

I was brought up in a church that was a variety of Episcopalianism.

On that basis, I would say that there was an element in that tradition that has not been mentioned much in this thread. That is that Advent was liturgically structured as a time of meditative and penitential preparation for the coming of Christ, not simply at Christmas but also at the end of time, when we would all be judged for eternity. That does not mean that it was a miserable time, or that there was no happy anticipation about it, but it was not just a piece of pre-Christmas fun. The evenings got darker and darker, and we recognized that darkness while looking forward to the light to come

Here is the prayer for the first Sunday of Advent, to illustrate that atmosphere:

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal, through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, now and for ever. Amen.

And for the third Sunday:

O LORD Jesus Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee; Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit ever,* one God, world without end. Amen.

And the whole sequence of preparation began emotionally with this hymn:

O come, O come, Emmanuel.

Part of the Advent package was the recognition that Advent is not Christmas: so Christmas itself burst upon my family as a sudden change at dusk on Christmas Eve, when decorations went up, we began to eat festive stuff and get ready to enjoy the celebrations to come. That meant that we were not (as many are) already bored with Christmas when it had hardly begun. That approach had its merits, and I still tend to treat Christmas that way even when I no longer accord it any objective significance. Why shouldn't I?

Yes, I agree. :) Advent is threefold for Catholics, celebrating the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, awaiting Jesus' return, and the Eucharist.

[_Chap]

...

Yes, I agree. :) Advent is threefold for Catholics, celebrating the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, awaiting Jesus' return, and the Eucharist.

I agree too - I was a catholic as well, just not a Roman catholic! Meaning, of course that we did not think the Pope, as bishop of Rome, was entitled to authority over other Christians as opposed to the the respect due to the person holding the see founded by St Peter.

(That note, as I am sure you appreciate, is intended to be mildly teasing, rather than polemical!)

[_madeleine]

...

Yes, I agree. :) Advent is threefold for Catholics, celebrating the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, awaiting Jesus' return, and the Eucharist.

I agree too - I was a catholic as well, just not a Roman catholic! Meaning, of course that we did not think the Pope, as bishop of Rome, was entitled to authority over other Christians as opposed to the the respect due to the person holding the see founded by St Peter.

(That note, as I am sure you appreciate, is intended to be mildly teasing, rather than polemical!)

Yeah. :) I don't hold any idea that Roman Catholics are the only catholics.