Advent
& Christmas Traditions
What special Advent and Christmas traditions do you have? What special memories do the decorations and hanging of the greens have at the Community Church? When talking with different congregants I have learned a lot about different traditions that we participate in here at the Community Church. One tradition our church holds scared is the Advent Wreath that sits around the center Bible. As the story goes, Rev. Phil Jansen asked in 1967, shortly after the new Sanctuary was built, if we could have an advent wreath to remind the congregation about the meaning of each Advent Sunday. Being an avid wood worker, Rev. Jansen built an “ordinary” sized wreath and placed it near the Choir loft. When Rev. Jansen left in 1969 and Rev. Anderson arrived, Naida Johnson asked the new pastor if we should continue the tradition of the advent wreath. Apparently Rev. Anderson wished for the Advent Wreath to be bigger and better. Thus, the large Advent Wreath that wraps around the center Bible was born! As with all traditions, the Advent Wreath has been tweaked and tinkered with and changed to create a more improved and more resourceful wreath. For example, the wreath used to have smaller tapered candles and now boasts larger pillar candles.
New to the Advent Wreath this year will be a change in the colors of the candles. The liturgical colors of Advent are traditionally purple or blue. The deep purple color represents the Royalty of the Messiah. The traditional blue color represents the waiting of the Virgin Mary and blue is color used when churches celebrate Mary. We will use the traditional purple colors and we will add one rose-colored candle. The rose color represents joy and is the third candle lit. This is the joy coming out of the darkness of this penitence time of the year. It is also a turning point in the season as the liturgies change from penitence language to language about the birth of the Messiah.
