Yesterday was the first day of Advent! Advent is the season of the Church year made up of the four Sundays before Christmas. It is a season of reflection, expectation, and preparation before the celebration of Jesus’ birth on December 25. It is also the beginning of the Church year, so yesterday was the Church’s New Year’s Day. The colors for Advent are either purple or blue (at Christ Church we use blue) and a common symbol is the Advent wreath, a wreath of evergreen boughs with four candles, an additional candle being lit each Sunday until Christmas.
Yesterday, we started off the season with Journey into Advent, an intergenerational Sunday School event in the Great Hall. There were two different options available: Scripture and Song. For Scripture, Will Horkan led a discussion of the lectionary readings for the day. For Song, Jonathan Poe and Lacey Chaney led a musical exploration of the season through Advent hymns. Then everyone came together to assign costumes for the Christmas pageant and to make Advent wreaths for everyone to light in their own homes. In the church, you can see the nave decorated in blue and the Advent wreath lit at the beginning of each service. We will also be singing Advent hymns all the way until Christmas Eve.
We hope you’ll join us here at Christ Church as we make our way through this beautiful season and get ready for Christmas!
