Advent - a Question for our non-LDS Christian Members

[_honorentheos]

I was first introduced to the tradition of Advent leading up to the "Heiligabend" while serving an LDS mission in Switzerland. I found it so fascinating and worshipful that I brought it home with me to my family. In my own way, anyways. It wasn't practiced by most LDS members I knew, but a few kept the old traditions alive and I wondered then why we missed such a great opportunity to extend the Christian message of hope through the full month of December leading up to Christmas.

Anyway.

My question: For those here on MDB who are not LDS but are Christian, do you celebrate the advent in any way? I promise I am not looking for debate or an opportunity to criticize. I'm mostly curious and, in some ways, looking to explore how American Christians have adopted this tradition.

Thank you in advance.

Note: I'm deliberately not explaining advent as my own explanation would probably be wrong. I'd like to know more about other's understandings and celebrations.

[_MsJack]

My question: For those here on MDB who are not LDS but are Christian, do you celebrate the advent in any way? I promise I am not looking for debate or an opportunity to criticize. I'm mostly curious and, in some ways, looking to explore how American Christians have adopted this tradition.

I love Advent. It's probably my favorite Christian holiday.

We have an Advent wreath. The colors of the candles can vary depending on one's tradition, but we use three purple candles and one pink. We also like to set a large, white candle in the center of the wreath. The four colored candles are lit on each of the four Sundays preceding Christmas, and the white candle is lit on Christmas Eve.

What the candles are meant to symbolize will also vary, but we prefer this sequence:

First Candle - Purple - Hope
Second Candle - Purple - Love
Third Candle - Pink - Joy
Fourth Candle - Purple - Peace
White Candle - White - Christ

On each Advent night, we gather together and allow our daughter to light the candle(s). She loves lighting it and usually finds it mesmerizing, and I really love letting her do this because it essentially allows her to participate in a religious ritual. Then we read a passage from the Bible and a passage from the Book of Mormon that matches the theme of the night (hope, love, etc.), trying to pay homage to the interfaith nature of our family. Then we sing a hymn that matches the theme for the evening. We try to let the candle burn for at least 30 minutes. This creates a nice staggered effect with each candle being lower than the last as Advent progresses.

We use the Bible/Book of Mormon readings that were put together by my friend Eric Huntsman who teaches religion at BYU. I've put these in blog form with his permission here. I'm probably going to mix up Advent a little bit this year with some readings from church history though.

If you do have any interest at all in celebrating Advent, I gotta tell you: get your candles now. Do not go out on the Saturday before Advent and expect to find anything. There's a good chance the stores will be out.

[_madeleine]

Yes, we have an Advent wreath, and light one candle a week. I buy an Advent calendar, one that has Jesus as the theme, not Santa or other secular themes. That is what I do at home, but since my family are not Christian they aren't interested in celebrating it with me any further than that. So, I participate how I can on my own.

The liturgy at mass and the associated Bible readings focused on Advent. I enjoy this most of all. One of the parishes I used to go to had the traditional Jesse tree, that was nice. A friend of mine participates in the Eastern Catholic Nativity Fast, which begins on Nov. 15th. I will abstain from meat as usual on Friday, and also Wednesday.

[_honorentheos]

I love Advent. It's probably my favorite Christian holiday.

We have an Advent wreath. The colors of the candles can vary depending on one's tradition, but we use three purple candles and one pink. We also like to set a large, white candle in the center of the wreath. The four colored candles are lit on each of the four Sundays preceding Christmas, and the white candle is lit on Christmas Eve.

What the candles are meant to symbolize will also vary, but we prefer this sequence:

First Candle - Purple - Hope
Second Candle - Purple - Love
Third Candle - Pink - Joy
Fourth Candle - Purple - Peace
White Candle - White - Christ

On each Advent night, we gather together and allow our daughter to light the candle(s). She loves lighting it and usually finds it mesmerizing, and I really love letting her do this because it essentially allows her to participate in a religious ritual. Then we read a passage from the Bible and a passage from the Book of Mormon that matches the theme of the night (hope, love, etc.), trying to pay homage to the interfaith nature of our family. Then we sing a hymn that matches the theme for the evening. We try to let the candle burn for at least 30 minutes. This creates a nice staggered effect with each candle being lower than the last as Advent progresses.

We use the Bible/Book of Mormon readings that were put together by my friend Eric Huntsman who teaches religion at BYU. I've put these in blog form with his permission here. I'm probably going to mix up Advent a little bit this year with some readings from church history though.

If you do have any interest at all in celebrating Advent, I gotta tell you: get your candles now. Do not go out on the Saturday before Advent and expect to find anything. There's a good chance the stores will be out.

Thanks, MsJack. That's really beautiful.

I'll also check out your blog.

You may have already talked about this on your blog, and if so I'll probably find the answer shortly. But if not do you mind if I ask how you came to develop this tradition? Did your parents do something before that evolved with your own family?

[_honorentheos]

Yes, we have an Advent wreath, and light one candle a week. I buy an Advent calendar, one that has Jesus as the theme, not Santa or other secular themes. That is what I do at home, but since my family are not Christian they aren't interested in celebrating it with me any further than that. So, I participate how I can on my own.

The liturgy at mass and the associated Bible readings focused on Advent. I enjoy this most of all. One of the parishes I used to go to had the traditional Jesse tree, that was nice. A friend of mine participates in the Eastern Catholic Nativity Fast, which begins on Nov. 15th. I will abstain from meat as usual on Friday, and also Wednesday.

And thank you madeleine. I have to admit I am completely ignorant about almost everything you mention in your second paragraph. I'd never heard of a Jesse Tree before you post. That's cool!

Does the liturgy follow a certain format from Sunday to Sunday? Like if I were to go to a mass on the first Sunday of advent I would expect a certain reading such as the Isaiah messianic writings or something? You'll have to forgive the fact I know next to nothing about Catholic worship.

Thanks!

[_MsJack]

You may have already talked about this on your blog, and if so I'll probably find the answer shortly. But if not do you mind if I ask how you came to develop this tradition? Did your parents do something before that evolved with your own family?

Thanks for asking. My parents were not practicing Christians. I pretty much grew up in an irreligious household. I guess you could say we were cultural Protestants, but we never read the Bible, prayed, or talked about God. We only went to church around Christmas or Easter time. It's a long story, but I became a Christian in my own right at age 10 and really got into it at age 16. So no, no Advent observance in my home when I grew up.

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.

I remember that first year I tried to do it, I made the decision rather late and wound up looking for Advent candles on the Saturday night before the first Advent Sunday. Alas, the stores were all out. I went home feeling frustrated and defeated, because we weren't going to be able to start observing Advent on time. The next day, I came to church and my congregation was handing out free build-your-own-Advent-wreath kits, complete with purple/pink candle sets.

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

[_madeleine]

Yes, we have an Advent wreath, and light one candle a week. I buy an Advent calendar, one that has Jesus as the theme, not Santa or other secular themes. That is what I do at home, but since my family are not Christian they aren't interested in celebrating it with me any further than that. So, I participate how I can on my own.

The liturgy at mass and the associated Bible readings focused on Advent. I enjoy this most of all. One of the parishes I used to go to had the traditional Jesse tree, that was nice. A friend of mine participates in the Eastern Catholic Nativity Fast, which begins on Nov. 15th. I will abstain from meat as usual on Friday, and also Wednesday.

And thank you madeleine. I have to admit I am completely ignorant about almost everything you mention in your second paragraph. I'd never heard of a Jesse Tree before you post. That's cool!

Does the liturgy follow a certain format from Sunday to Sunday? Like if I were to go to a mass on the first Sunday of advent I would expect a certain reading such as the Isaiah messianic writings or something? You'll have to forgive the fact I know next to nothing about Catholic worship.

Thanks!

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.

[_madeleine]

I remember that first year I tried to do it, I made the decision rather late and wound up looking for Advent candles on the Saturday night before the first Advent Sunday. Alas, the stores were all out. I went home feeling frustrated and defeated, because we weren't going to be able to start observing Advent on time. The next day, I came to church and my congregation was handing out free build-your-own-Advent-wreath kits, complete with purple/pink candle sets.

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

MsJack, my first Advent season I had never heard of Advent, let alone that there were traditions associated to it. A friend said I needed a wreath and four candles, to light one every Sunday. So I went out and bought a wreath and four candles. It wasn't until about halfway through Advent that I noticed the candles were a certain color and were tapers. Mine were nice earthy brown pillars. That is still my favorite Advent. Those candles burned forever!

[_cafe crema]

Yes, we have an Advent wreath, and light one candle a week. I buy an Advent calendar, one that has Jesus as the theme, not Santa or other secular themes. That is what I do at home, but since my family are not Christian they aren't interested in celebrating it with me any further than that. So, I participate how I can on my own.

The liturgy at mass and the associated Bible readings focused on Advent. I enjoy this most of all. One of the parishes I used to go to had the traditional Jesse tree, that was nice. A friend of mine participates in the Eastern Catholic Nativity Fast, which begins on Nov. 15th. I will abstain from meat as usual on Friday, and also Wednesday.

And thank you madeleine. I have to admit I am completely ignorant about almost everything you mention in your second paragraph. I'd never heard of a Jesse Tree before you post. That's cool!

Does the liturgy follow a certain format from Sunday to Sunday? Like if I were to go to a mass on the first Sunday of advent I would expect a certain reading such as the Isaiah messianic writings or something? You'll have to forgive the fact I know next to nothing about Catholic worship.

Thanks!

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??

Going to your OP I have like others said an Advent wreath, though we just put the candles in it, my mother was badly burned in a house fire and I am terrified of open fire in the house. 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"
Other than those 2 like Madeline I probably find more celebration in the liturgy at church.

[_Chap]

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?