Today, Dec. 24, is the last day of the Advent season. But what is Advent?
Rev. David McKinley of Augusta’s Warren Baptist Church, located at 3203 Washington Road, said Christianity’s Advent celebration emphasizes the significance of Jesus’ birth in Bethlehem.
“Advent is the recognition of the coming and the arrival of Christ,” said McKinley. “… the meaning of Advent is all about looking back to the coming of Christ and the significance of who Christ is.”
According to McKinley, unlike other Christian denominations that might widely follow an annual pattern of rituals or scripture around December that are similar throughout the nation, the Baptist denomination partakes in more individual church traditions for the holidays.
“There are liturgical churches that tend to follow the same processes and the same patterns every year, but because our churches are not completely aligned in that way, each church sort of does what is significant to it,” he said.
This year, McKinley said his church had an Advent wreath that featured candles that were lit week by week and lit on each Sunday throughout December.
“The last one will be lit this Sunday at the Columbia County Performing Arts Center as we’re doing three candlelight services,” he said. “Each year we also give our families an Advent devotional as well that they can do which suggests some scripture reading and some art activities each week leading up to Christmas.”
By equipping families with devotionals specially made for the holiday season, McKinley said the church encourages the importance of reading scripture together and worshiping as a unit in and out of Sunday services.
“I think it’s very important that the church try not to act as if we do not recognize and invest in the value of family,” he said. “We want to reinforce and strengthen that by helping to give families a practical, tactile-type of experience that they can share with their children.”
McKinley said this unity will especially be recognizable in the church’s three Christmas candle services on Dec. 24 at 11 a.m., 2 and 4 p.m. that will have an estimated 6,000 attendees.
For one denomination of Presbyterians, Rev. Mike Hearon of First Presbyterian Church of Augusta, located at 642 Telfair St., said Advent represents a time of celebration for believers as they are reminded about Jesus’ birth.
Similar to the Baptist denomination, Hearon said Presbyterians also light candles within a wreath, and each represents an important aspect of Christianity as well as the idea of preparing themselves for “God’s provisions and God’s deliverance.”
“Each candle as it has evolved speaks of a different promise of scripture in terms of the coming of the Messiah,” he said.
With three purple, a pink and a center white candle, Hearon said the Advent wreath’s candles are lit one by one over the entire month of December and captures several aspects of the faith.
“The first week is hope, the second week is peace, the third week is love and the fourth is joy. The Christ candle in the center we light during the Christmas Eve service to remind us of the reality that God’s promise has been fulfilled,” said Hearon.
In rejection of the consumerism that Christmas has come to mean for many over the years, Hearon said Advent ultimately reminds Christians of the true meaning of Christmastime.
“It’s this idea that God gives us only what we need, but we can only receive it from Him,” said Hearon. “It’s the idea of ritualizing our joys inwardly … that’s the Advent message – that life, maturity and purpose is found inwardly in God’s provision not outwardly through our own circumstances.”
By encouraging family Advent devotionals throughout December, Hearon said Presbyterians also emphasize the importance of familial and individual relationships with God, especially during the holidays.
“The message of Christmas is that we’re not alone in the world and that God is with us,” he said. “The practice of worship as well as the inward reflection is a holistic approach to experiencing God.”
To showcase believers’ unity in God’s deliverance, Hearon said his church, like many, ends their Christmas Eve service by handing out small white candles to attendees and lighting it during the final song.
“The pastors light the first row and then the first row turns to light the next and so on,” he said. “Everybody leaves the service with a lit candle just to realize and be reminded that Christ is the light of the world and He spreads his life through us, and we’re to take that light out into the community.”
For Catholics, a recent post from the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ website states, “The Advent season is a time of preparation that directs our hearts and minds to Christ’s second coming at the end of time and to the anniversary of Our Lord’s birth on Christmas.”
The liturgical color for Advent, like Lent, is purple since both are times of preparation for “great feast day,” according to the USCCB.
“Advent also includes an element of penance in the sense of preparing, quieting and disciplining our hearts for the full joy of Christmas,” the recent post from USCCB stated. “The ‘O’ Antiphons are sung during this period and have been by the Church since at least the eighth century.”
Similar to Warren Baptist Church and Presbyterians, the website also stated that Catholics also have special Advent devotions, including the Advent wreath which reminds believers of the meaning of the season.
Catholic representatives were unavailable for comments upon requests.
