Advent

It’s my habit to read the thoughts inscribed on the boards outside churches and as the famous Mahim Church is enroute my office, I seldom miss a thought outside this church. However, today’s thought on the board, “Advent creates people. New people. “ sort of confused me forcing me to look into the meaning and rationale behind this thought. To my surprise, the thought had a lot of tradition behind it.

The Advent season is a four week period before Christmas that celebrates the anticipation and coming of Jesus Christ. Not only is the Christian meaning for preparation and celebration of the coming of Jesus Christ, his birth at Christmas, but also to celebrate the new life when someone accepts Jesus Christ as their Savior, and lastly, the anticipation of Jesus returning again. Hence the thought – people – new people.

The season of Advent begins from the fourth Sunday before Christmas through Christmas Eve. The four Sundays of Advent each have a specific theme or focus. The purpose of each theme is to spend time reflecting on the true meaning of the season – the life of Jesus Christ. As I understand the theme for each of these 4 weeks of Advent are- The Prophets’ Candle, symbolizing hope; the Bethlehem Candle, symbolizing faith; the Shepherds’ Candle, symbolizing joy; the Angel’s Candle, symbolizing peace. Hope–Peace–Joy–Love. Faithfulness–Hope–Joy–Love.

Thanks to this thought, I could know these additional details about Christian faith in this season of joy and hope – Christmas.

Season’s greetings to all my readers.