The Third Sunday of Advent

Joy! The pink candle!

I am sure Mom, Dad, teachers, nuns and others explained the significance of the pink or rose candle, but it never stays with me.  A little googling lead me to this explanation of this third or "Gaudete" Sunday in Advent, and why we "pink it up."

"Now, why the pink candle? In the earliest years of the church the only church season was Lent, the seven weeks prior to Easter. Lent was a season of fasting and prayer as the church commemorated the crucifixion of Jesus. The traditional color of banners in the church during this time was a deep purple, signifying royalty, repentance, and suffering. During Lent the church lit seven candles, one for each week of the solemn season. However solemn the season, the story of Lent also has a twinge of hope and joy since the death of Christ prefigured the resurrection. So, on the third Sunday of Lent, the church was encouraged not to fast, but to feast. In ancient times on this particular Sunday the Pope would honor a citizen with a pink rose, and as time passed the priests wore pink vestments on this day as a reminder of the coming joy.

When the season of Advent was instituted the church viewed it as a mini-Lent, a time for reflection and repentance (thus the purple). In so doing, the church adopted the first four candles of Lent and changed the third candle of Advent to pink in honor of the Lenten tradition. This is why we have a pink candle in our Advent Wreaths.

To further heighten the sense of anticipation of Christ's coming during Advent, the church named each candle in the wreath -- the first being hope, the second peace, the third joy, and the fourth love (there are a number of other traditional names as well, though these are some of the most ancient). It has always seemed fitting to me that the pink candle is the candle of joy, the one that speaks to us with its twinge of color."

I am looking forward to thinking about Joy this week in the midst of more waiting stories.  I am so grateful to Bindu, Anna and Molly for sharing their wonderful stories last week. 

To really live the season Advent, one is supposed to wait until the season of Christmas, or Christmastide or the twelve days of Christmas to celebrate Christmas.  Old teaching required you buy your tree only on Christmas Eve Day after noon.  We certainly never did that growing up, nor have I managed anything close in my own family.  But I did make sure we waited for a bit.  I was happy in my reading for this blog to see that most churches recommend Gaudete Sunday (the third Sunday) as the day to begin tree trimming and decorating. 

And so we will.

Have a joyful week everyone!  Thanks for reading and I hope you'll keep coming back.

~Amy