HOPE ~ The First Purple Candle
HOPE ~ The First Purple Candle
by Lynda McKinney Lambert, 2020
November 29, 2020 – This is the FIRST Day of the 2020 Advent Season.
Christians around the world will light a candle today.
~ a PURPLE ONE –
The Candle of HOPE
We are focused on HOPE today!
Anticipating the Birth of Jesus
We have HOPE
HOPE ~ Advent ~ The First PURPLE Candle
by Lynda McKinney Lambert, 2020
The history of antiquity provides facts, events and discoveries that influence our present day.
Did you know –
Culture is what was left behind by civilization. Culture is the objects themselves and not the people group.
Everything in our world today has connections to the past.
Words – Buildings – Burial Sites – Art
King Solomon declared, “there is nothing new under the sun.” (Ecclesiastes 1: 4-11)
As we take time to look at the past, we can get a better view of our present, and even into the future.
John 1:14 – See it here
And the Word (Christ) became flesh (human, incarnate) and tabernacled (fixed His tent of flesh, lived awhile) among us; and we [actually] saw His glory …
Today is the day to meditate on the PREPARATIONS that GOD PROVIDED for this supernatural and holy birth.
What does this mean to me?
I’ve come to understand that my life is a sacred pilgrimage.
Every life is sacred. Every life has VALUE.
It’s taken quite a few decades to be able to see it so clearly as I do now. I’ve come to understand that this humble journey of HOPE is what I’ve been writing about most of my life. My writing and my art are deeply rooted in the ancient past. My HOPE is in the God who created all life. My HOPE is in the WORD who became FLESH and dwelled among US. GOD entered into the world in the form of an innocent baby one dark night in Bethlehem. Mary was literally carrying GOD inside her BODY. Let’s not forget this fact as we think of a newborn baby – This is a supernatural event that we are witnessing as we read the Old and New Testaments in the Bible. There is nothing ordinary about this story –
Just this week, I was able to put my FOCUS into a concise intention of all I do as a creative person-
Seeking Euphoria
Before I retired from teaching at Geneva College, I enjoyed sharing historical discoveries with students. I lectured in the Humanities courses. I taught classes and lectured on the periods from antiquity to the present.
Walking by Inner Vision Blog is a CELEBRATION of LIFE –
TODAY, the CELEBRATION is for the PREPARATION of the birth that changed the course of history, and the world, forever. Every Christian understands that they are in PREPARATION for eternity.
As I light the FIRST CANDLE today, I am making my declaration of HOPE personal:
I am passionate about everything that I love – and those things are what I write about.
My first article with a focus on ADVENT was on this blog in 2014.
I had no idea that the first post on lighting the Preparation Candle would be an abiding interest in Advent.
It is now November 29, 2020, and I am still fascinated with Chapter 1 of Matthew’s Gospel, where he recounts Jesus’s birth and naming and the beginning, and where he states that Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the time of Herod the Great. I lectured on ancient architecture – so as I begin to learn more about the people who lived in the times when architecture was developed, I am super interested.
I am particularly fascinated by how those ancient events are celebrated by people living in the 21st century.
Make your own ADVENT Wreath:
During the four Sundays of Advent, churches and homes of Christians are illuminated with candles. Followers of Jesus light the candles of their Advent wreaths. The candles are placed into the evergreens in a perfect circle to symbolize God’s eternity.
Here is the Advent Wreath that I made for our Dining Room Table this year.
Lynda’s Advent Wreath for 2020.
Lynda’s Advent Wreath for 2020.
Advent means “coming,” and during the season, Christians prepare for Jesus’ coming.
The candles are lit in order, beginning Sunday, November 29, 2020.
The four Sundays preceding Christmas, which is when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, are recognized for four virtues.
The Candles and the ORDER
There are three colors of candles:
3 Purple, 1 Pink, and 1 white.
3 are Purple or Violet
Purple (or violet) has traditionally been the primary color of Advent. This hue symbolizes repentance and fasting.
The spiritual discipline of denying oneself food or some other pleasure is one way Christians show their devotion to God and prepare their hearts for his arrival. Purple-violet is also the liturgical color for Lent’s season, which similarly involves a time of reflection, repentance, self-denial, and spiritual readiness.
Purple is also the color of royalty and Christ’s sovereignty, known as the “King of Kings.”
So, purple in this application demonstrates the anticipation of and reception of the coming King celebrated during Advent.
Today, many churches have begun to use blue instead of purple to distinguish Advent from Lent. Some Christians now use blue to signify the color of the night sky or the waters of the new creation in Genesis 1.
I can never read the First Chapter of Genesis I enough because it is thrilling to read the Creation story. My latest full-length book of poems is called Star Signs – because of the exquisite and intimate imagery in Genesis 1 and the heavenly beginnings of the universe and the world that we live in at this time. At night, I stand, and I look up at the sky in all seasons. And, to know that God Almighty who created it all I see in the heavens, cared so much that he personally came to the manger in Bethlehem that night so long ago, in the form of a newborn baby.
~ Lynda McKinney Lambert
*
#1: Purple_ HOPE
The first candle is for HOPE or Preparation.
It can also be described as the prophecy candle.
Every event in the story of Jesus’ birth was introduced
long before they happened – by Prophets.
So, the first candle celebrates prophecies from the Old Testament.
Lynda’s Advent Wreath for 2020.
Advent means “coming,” and during the season, Christians prepare for Jesus’ coming.
The candles are lit in order, beginning Sunday, December 29, 2020.
The four Sundays preceding Christmas, which is when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, are recognized for four virtues.
The Candles and the ORDER
There are three colors of candles:
3 Purple, 1 Pink, and 1 white.
3 are Purple or Violet
Purple (or violet) has traditionally been the primary color of Advent. This hue symbolizes repentance and fasting.
The spiritual discipline of denying oneself food or some other pleasure is one way Christians show their devotion to God and prepare their hearts for his arrival. Purple-violet is also the liturgical color for Lent’s season, which similarly involves a time of reflection, repentance, self-denial, and spiritual readiness.
Purple is also the color of royalty and Christ’s sovereignty, known as the “King of Kings.”
So, purple in this application demonstrates the anticipation of and reception of the coming King celebrated during Advent.
Today, many churches have begun to use blue instead of purple to distinguish Advent from Lent. Some Christians now use blue to signify the color of the night sky or the waters of the new creation in Genesis 1.
I can never read Genesis I enough – it is such a thrill when I read the Creation story. My latest full-length book of poems is called Star Signs – because of the exquisite and intimate imagery in Genesis 1 and the heavenly beginnings of the universe and the world that we live in at this time. At night, I stand and I look up at the sky in all seasons. And, to know that God Almighty who created it all I see in the heavens, cared so much that he personally came to the manger in Bethlehem that night so long ago, in the form of a newborn baby.
~ Lynda McKinney Lambert
*
#1: Purple_
The first candle of the Advent wreath, the prophecy candle, or candle of hope.
Every event in the story of Jesus’ birth was introduced
long before they happened – by Prophets.
So, the first candle celebrates prophecies from the Old Testament.
When we study the prophecies, we have hope in the future, and preparation for the events that will come.
***
Read each Advent article.
Use se the links below:
Week 1 – The First Purple Candle – The Candle of HOPE – Here.
Week 2 – The Second Purple Candle – The 3 Kings Candle – Preparation – Here.
Week 3 – The Third Purple Candle – The Shepherds Candle – JOY – Here.
Week 4 – The Pink Candle – Angel Candle – Here!
Christmas Day – The White Candle – Jesus Candle – Here.
Christmastide – The 12 Days of Christmas Here.
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Photo by Heidi Murrin for The Tribune Review, Taken at Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, January 2014
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