A Protestant View of the Advent Wreath

This is from my first experiences with Catholic Advent over a year ago.  Please excuse any incorrect statements - I was not yet a Catholic when I originally wrote this!

Colors have meanings in Catholicism.  Green stands for growing and fertility.  White is the color of saints, standing for light, innocence, and purity.  Red is the color of blood, and it represents God's love, martyrdom, and fire.  Black is the color of mourning and sorrow.  Purple is the color of penance, humility, and the sadness that goes along with realizing the wrongs one has done.  Pink represents joy, particularly with forgiveness, renewal, and hope.  Gold stands for joy and can replace red, white, or green, but not purple, pink or black.

The four Sundays before Christmas are known in Catholicism as Advent, or the waiting period before the arrival of Christ.  This holiday is best known for its wreath - a simple Christmas wreath with three purple candles and one other candle, either pink or white.  The purple candles represent the humility in waiting for the arrival of our Lord.  When the candle is white, this represents the light that Christ brings to our lives, forgiving us and bringing us back into a state of purity.  When the candle is pink, we are joyful for Christ's arrival.Personally, I like the purple/pink combo.  Pink is my favorite color, so I really appreciate a religious system that honors my favorite color.  In Lent, purple represents penance, but not during Advent.  Purple this time of year represents the humility of waiting.

I never thought of waiting as a humble thing until going through Advent this year, but, if done correctly, waiting is truly a very humble thing.  Think about it:  You texted your friend, and you're waiting for a response.  You've called your boyfriend, and you're waiting for him to call back.  You've finished all your homework, and you're waiting for a grade.  Waiting done right is a very humble thing.  You're at the mercy of the other person.  You're waiting on them in their time on their terms, not yours.  

Waiting done right is the reason we call the servers at restaurants waiters - they wait on the guests to make up their minds, to eat their meal, to need more drink, and to leave so they can collect their plates and clean up.  Waiting done right is an attitude of servanthood, of putting the other person first, of giving them their time and space to get back to you.  Waiting is what Advent is all about.

Most of the time, I think we get the Advent period wrong.  We tend to think it's all about Christ coming to save us, to rescue us, to give us the hope and joy we lack.  We're 'waiting' for Christ to come, and we know He'll get here on Christmas Day, just as He did two-thousand-some-odd years ago, and the last twenty-some-odd years of our life.  He'll get here precisely at 6:06 every Christmas morning when we read Luke 2, and we'll go on with our lives at precisely 6:09 when we open the first present, the Bible tucked safely back on the shelf.  For us, now, Advent is just another item we tick off our schedules and let pass with the year.

For the Jews, however, waiting was not just about tapping our fingers and checking our watches.  A betrothed Jewish girl was to be waiting - ready for her groom's arrival at any minute, to tell her that he had finished their home and he was ready for her to move in with him as his wife.  She wasn't just going about her chores with her friends like any other day.  She was constantly checking for him to come - looking up to the path from which he would walk to her.  She was WAITING for him.  She was his future bride, and as such, she had certain expectations to uphold.  Her period of waiting was to make ready and uphold those expectations when the time was right.  It wasn't, "Oh, when he gets here, I'll do this and this," it was, "Before he gets here, I will be doing these things, so he will see that I am a worthy wife for him."

Waiting, in short, isn't about us.  It's about the other side.  It's about practicing the kind of love only patience can show - I'm going to be ready for you when you get here.  Take your time.  I trust that you'll be here when You're ready, and I'm going to be ready for You because I love You.

Maybe I'm reading too much into the wreath, and, when I was not Catholic, I probably got some things wrong.  Nevertheless, the aspect of waiting I see represented in the purple is best reflected in the pink.  The white candle, again, speaks of what Christ does for us - He frees us, He rescues us, He loves us - but I don't think it expresses the full symbolism of the wreath adequately.  The pink color expresses renewal and, simply, joy.  We are joyful because our Lover is here.  We are joyful because we have waited and He has redeemed us - we are truly worthy of His presence because He has deemed us to be so.  If/when I ever have cause for an Advent wreath again, I will have one of the purple/pink variety, and I will be sure to wait as best I can. 

(Update:  I STILL don't have my own Advent wreath, but then again, my landlords don't allow open flame in their residences!  I will, however, be using an Advent wreath as soon as possible.)