Advent 2011: A Season Of Waiting For The Coming Of Christ

Advent (from the Latin adventus meaning "coming") is a liturgical season observed in many Western Christian churches as a time of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus at Christmas. Advent marks the beginning of the Western liturgical year and begins on Advent Sunday, the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, Dec. 25. For Christians, the season of Advent serves as a reminder both of the original waiting by Israelites for the birth of the Messiah, and the waiting by Christians for the return of Christ. The most famous hymn of Advent is "O Come Emmanuel." Its lyrics, based on the Prophet Isaiah, articulate the hopeful anticipation of the Advent season:

O come, O come, Emmanuel,
And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here
Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Originally observed as a time of fasting and penitence, the emphasis of the season of Advent is one of expectation and anticipation for the coming Messiah. The season of Advent starts out in a sombre tone and for the first two weeks, purple and blue are the primary colors used in church. On the third Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday (gaudete means rejoice) pink or rose are the primary colors used. This shift in color symbolizes change in emphasis from expectation to celebration.

In 2011, the Advent season begins on Nov. 27, 2011 and ends on Dec. 24, 2011. The Eastern Churches' equivalent of Advent, Nativity Fast, is 40 days long and began on Nov. 15, 2011.

The themes of the Advent season are Hope, Peace, Joy and Love. Lighting of candles, especially the circular Advent wreath with five candles is an important tradition of the Advent season. Each Sunday of Advent, one of four candles is lit -- with the final candle, the Christ Candle, being lit on Christmas Eve.

PHOTOS: Images Of Advent

Loading Slideshow

• Darkness To Light Advent Procession

  SALISBURY, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 28: The interior of Salisbury Cathedral is illuminated by candles carried by choristers during the annual 'darkness to light' advent procession on November 28, 2010 in Salisbury, England. This year's service - which begins with the cathedral in total darkness and silence before the Advent Candle is lit at the West End - features Bruce Munro's fibre optic 'Light Shower' installation high in the Spire Crossing made with 2,000 points of light. The annual advent service is a mix of music and readings during which two great processions move around the different spaces in the building which is, by the end, illuminated by almost 1300 candles. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

• Darkness To Light Advent Procession

  SALISBURY, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 28: The interior of Salisbury Cathedral is illuminated by candles carried by choristers during the annual 'darkness to light' advent procession on November 28, 2010 in Salisbury, England. This year's service - which begins with the cathedral in total darkness and silence before the Advent Candle is lit at the West End - features Bruce Munro's fibre optic 'Light Shower' installation high in the Spire Crossing made with 2,000 points of light. The annual advent service is a mix of music and readings during which two great processions move around the different spaces in the building which is, by the end, illuminated by almost 1300 candles. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

• Darkness To Light Advent Procession

  SALISBURY, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 28: (EDITORS NOTE A LONG EXPOSURE WAS USED IN THE CREATION OF THIS IMAGE) The interior of Salisbury Cathedral is illuminated by trails of candles carried by choristers during the annual 'darkness to light' advent procession on November 28, 2010 in Salisbury, England. This year's service - which begins with the cathedral in total darkness and silence before the Advent Candle is lit at the West End - features Bruce Munro's fibre optic 'Light Shower' installation high in the Spire Crossing made with 2,000 points of light. The annual advent service is a mix of music and readings during which two great processions move around the different spaces in the building which is, by the end, illuminated by almost 1300 candles. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

• Darkness To Light Advent Procession

  SALISBURY, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 28: The interior of Salisbury Cathedral is illuminated by candles carried by choristers during the annual 'darkness to light' advent procession on November 28, 2010 in Salisbury, England. This year's service - which begins with the cathedral in total darkness and silence before the Advent Candle is lit at the West End - features Bruce Munro's fibre optic 'Light Shower' installation high in the Spire Crossing made with 2,000 points of light. The annual advent service is a mix of music and readings during which two great processions move around the different spaces in the building which is, by the end, illuminated by almost 1300 candles. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

• Darkness To Light Advent Procession

  SALISBURY, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 28: The interior of Salisbury Cathedral is illuminated by candles carried by choristers during the annual 'darkness to light' advent procession on November 28, 2010 in Salisbury, England. This year's service - which begins with the cathedral in total darkness and silence before the Advent Candle is lit at the West End - features Bruce Munro's fibre optic 'Light Shower' installation high in the Spire Crossing made with 2,000 points of light. The annual advent service is a mix of music and readings during which two great processions move around the different spaces in the building which is, by the end, illuminated by almost 1300 candles. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

• The Advent Processional Service

  LONDON - DECEMBER 01: St Paul's Cathedral holds The Advent Procession Service December 1, 2008 in London, England. The Season of Advent started yesterday and in this service the Choir will move through a darkened Cathedral illuminated only by candlelight. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

• Candles Burn in a Baroque Church

  WIES, GERMANY - DECEMBER 13: Candles burn inside the UNESCO world heritage site of the baroque Wieskirche Church on December 13, 2007 in Wildsteig, Germany. Snowfall brought winter back to the Bavarian Alps. (Photo by Johannes Simon/Getty Images)

• Worshipper Lights a Candle

  A Christian worshipper lights a candle in the Church of the Nativity, the alleged birth place of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, 09 December 2007, on the third Sunday of Advent. Christian worshippers begin their spiritual preparations by lighting a candle on each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Eve. AFP PHOTO/MUSA AL-SHAER (Photo credit should read MUSA AL-SHAER/AFP/Getty Images)

• Worshipper Lights a Candle

  Young Christian worshippers light candle in the Church of the Nativity, the alleged birth place of Jesus Christ, in the West Bank town of Bethlehem, 09 December 2007, on the third Sunday of Advent. Christian worshippers begin their spiritual preparations by lighting a candle on each of the four Sundays leading up to Christmas Eve. AFP PHOTO/MUSA AL-SHAER (Photo credit should read MUSA AL-SHAER/AFP/Getty Images)

• A Carol Service

  TEWKESBURY, UNITED KINGDOM - DECEMBER 02: Members of the Abbey Choir sing in the Advent Carol Service at Tewkesbury Abbey on December 2 2007 in Tewkesbury, England. During the summer floods the historic Abbey became a focus when it and the rest of Tewkesbury town centre became completely cut off by flood waters. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

• O Come, O Come, Emmanuel!

Comments

[maria52]

12:02 PM on 12/10/2011

Thank you so much for the gorgeous slideshow and music of "Come O Come, Emmanuel".

[Jahnabi Barooah]

02:57 PM on 12/11/2011

You're most welcome, glad you enjoyed!

[Gem777]

08:53 AM on 12/09/2011

There are so many loser's who put down the only hope they have for seeing their way out of darkness,it is so stupid to come against something good,that you know nothing about! yet uplift the things that are bad & rotten to the core! That is more your pace.You need to find out the truth before you go stating remark's about people who live a lot more godly then yourself it appear's.
Maybe that is what bug's you! is you just do not understand.Look to God & seek the truth,stop looking at what people do for a while,just look at yourself in the mirror,that should be enough.For what will it profit a man if he will gain the whole world and lose his own soul!

[Hysterian68]

05:37 PM on 12/03/2011

Advent: lights, gothic grandeur, smells and bells, great choral music. Nobody beats the Anglicans for floor show theatrics like this,especially this time of year. A wonderful feeling of liberation as you ponder the mysteries of the cosmos, but, upon closer reflection , you're back to the cruel reality: you are worshiping YOURSELF.

[jgdyogiangel]

12:57 PM on 12/03/2011

I actually am in a Yogic chruch which I adore and we have an 8 hour mediation on Christ. Christ comes again within you not without and if you meditated on his presence for even a few hours you would know it to be true. The second coming is within not without.

[jokamachi]

01:27 PM on 12/01/2011

I'd rather wait for His return than be an atheist sitting around with my thumb up my butt. Besides, this time of year belongs to Christians, not these science losers. Merry Christmas, believers.

[geckorun]

05:01 PM on 12/01/2011

Well that's hardly festive. But enjoy.

[Lucy0808]

09:15 AM on 12/02/2011

How Christian of you.

[Jamal Alexander]

12:04 PM on 12/01/2011

Good luck with all of the waiting. Nothing it going to happen.

[Jahnabi Barooah]

04:53 PM on 11/29/2011

Advent is definitely one of my favorite seasons of the Christian year!

[maria52]

12:06 PM on 12/10/2011

Yes, me too. We bought a darling Advent calendar this year. It brought back the wonderful anticipation I used to feel as a child opening up a new window every day to see which miniature scene was inside. Really magical. The one we found this time, has a Christmas tree and teddy bears and candles, and there's a mini chocolate inside each window...

[CMR64]

04:46 PM on 11/29/2011

personally I can't wait for Christmas

[Hillbilly49]

10:33 AM on 11/29/2011

Mathew said the second coming would come during his generation.

Matthew 16:28, in which he says "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom."

[Hillbilly49]

10:35 AM on 11/29/2011

Another example is found at Luke 21:32, where he says "I tell you the truth, this generation will certainly not pass away until all these things have happened." He makes similar statements in Luke 9:27 and Mark 9:1.

[PETER TIMINGS]

03:45 PM on 11/29/2011

pre-Christian prophets often warned that Jehovah’s day of vengeance was near. A miniature “day of Jehovah” came in 607 B.C.E. when Jehovah executed vengeance upon his wayward people. (Zephaniah 1:14-18) Later, other nations, including Babylon and Egypt, suffered such a “day of Jehovah.” (Isaiah 13:6-9; Jeremiah 46:1-10; Obadiah 15) The end of the first-century Jewish system of things was also foretold, and it occurred when Roman armies devastated Judea in 70 C.E. (Luke 19:41-44; 1 Peter 4:7) But Peter points to a future “day of Jehovah,” one that will dwarf even the global Flood in magnitude!
13 Peter introduces his description of that coming destruction, saying: “But by the same word.” He had just said that “by the word of God,” the pre-Flood earth stood “out of water and in the midst of water.” This situation, described in the Bible’s creation account, made possible the Deluge when the waters poured down at God’s direction, or word. Peter continues: “By the same word [of God] the heavens(Human Governments) and the earth(Ungodly People) that are now are stored up for fire and are being reserved to the day of judgment and of destruction of the ungodly men.” (2 Peter 3:5-7; Genesis 1:6-8) We have Jehovah’s dependable word for it! He will bring an end to “the heavens and the earth”—this system of things—in the fiery wrath of his great day! (Zephaniah 3:8) But when?

[Noble9]

10:58 AM on 11/29/2011

So...maybe those guys are still alive, maybe in a retirement home somewhere?

[Hillbilly49]

11:21 AM on 11/29/2011

Do you think?

[speedy evans]

09:16 AM on 11/29/2011

where in the book did jesus call himself the son of god...if your looking for a man to come back from the dead you'll need to be at the graveyard not at church

[Gem777]

09:13 AM on 12/09/2011

John 10:30, I and my Father are one.John 14:9,he that hath seen me hath seen the Father.John 14:10, Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? the words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself: but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works.Also if you had done enough research on Jesus just as a historical research subject,you would have found that there is a lot of documentation dating way back which states there was a man named Jesus who did die and who did raise from the dead.Not only this,but the Holy bible-has proven true over and over again,They can locate places written in the bible as well as many of the graves places of the people written in the bible,It has been proven true already,you are a little behind are you not? Time to check up on your facts,Because Jesus is coming back again also.

[AbrahamSadegh]

02:45 AM on 11/29/2011

It is written that we are made in the image of God and that the Kingdom of God is within us. Nearly 7,000 million of us – and counting – are therefore individually and collectively responsible for becoming all that we can be through the omnipotence of our free will and to accept the challenges of transforming this Spaceship Earth we are blessed with to the Paradise it has the potential to become. This is the true meaning of the concept of the Second Coming of a Messiah, Mahdi, or a Redeemer.

Thousands of years of individual and collective experiences as well as a continuous reduction of our ignorance regarding the realities of this “Elegant Universe” through scientific discoveries should be sufficient for us to consider ourselves as adults and thus accept the individual and collective responsibilities of taking care of our own affairs rather than waiting for a messiah or anyone else to come and save us from ourselves. Considering All Wars as Civil Wars would be a step in the right direction.

[PETER TIMINGS]

03:53 PM on 11/29/2011

The kingdom of God is not within you. Jesus said the Kingdom of God is in your midst, meaning he Jesus is the king designate. Who was Jesus talking to when he uttered those words, the religeous leaders who later had him put to death. Would the Kingdom really be inside them.? Daniel also said at D2v44 And in the days of those kings(Present day Governments) the God of heaven will set up a kingdom(In 1914) that will never be brought to ruin. And the kingdom itself will not be passed on to any other people. It will crush and put an end to all these kingdoms, and it itself will stand to times indefinite;

How could something inside you crush and put an end to other kingdoms?. Jesus also said pray for the kingdom to come. How could you pray for the kingdom to come if its already inside you.

[AbrahamSadegh]

01:16 AM on 11/30/2011

Luke 17.21 (KJV) the kingdom of God is within you.

Luke 17.21 (RSV) the kingdom of God is in the midst of you.

Luke 17.21 (The Catholic Bible - RNT) the kingdom of God is among you.

Peter, let me elaborate on what I meant in my post. I believe that at the moment of birth we are at the apex of human evolution – God as the master of evolution – with the realities of billions of years of evolving instincts that can depending on the totality of one's environment including individual and collective freedom of choice make one to be the worst creatures on the planet or in contrast to live a life that is compatible with the potential to become godlike which is a life-long process of moving towards perfection.

The choice we need to make on a global basis is to "accept the individual and collective responsibilities of taking care of our own affairs" and help our planet reach its fullest potential for the whole of humanity.

[eddy joe]

08:45 PM on 11/28/2011

Christians that I know don't celebrate the birthday of Christ, whenever it was. Jeremiah 10

1Hear ye the word which the LORD speaketh unto you, O house of Israel:

2Thus saith the LORD, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

3For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

4They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

[mustardhead98]

08:57 AM on 12/13/2011

Thanks for the passage-very interesting!

[eddy joe]

08:40 PM on 11/28/2011

If you are not waiting for the return of Christ, how can you call yourself a Christian?

[phyrro]

08:57 PM on 11/28/2011

If you are not waiting for the return of the living dead how can you call yourself a living dead.

[peter010908]

07:00 PM on 11/28/2011

Keep waiting

[phyrro]

08:59 PM on 11/28/2011

I am very patient - I can wait for another 5 minutes.

[peter010908]

09:47 PM on 11/28/2011

I'm afraid that wont be long enough... people have been waiting over 2000 years. They can be waiting anothe 2000 year and still nothing will happen.

[thegodlessgeneration]

05:42 PM on 11/28/2011

Nobody knows the exact day or year of Jesus' birth (estimates range from between 7BCE and 2BCE). I've always thought this was interesting. The sudden appearance of the brightest star in the night sky would have caught people's attention. The fact that the star moved as it guided the wise men to the manger would've made people hysterical. Bright, moving stars are not often seen by people. Given the fact that it was in the sky and could be seen by people far away, it's a bit odd that nobody else mentions it (besides the Bible). I mean, Herod the Great was a Roman client king of Judea and the star was basically on his doorstep.

Also, if Herod had actually ordered the death of every boy under the age of 2 in Bethlehem and the surrounding areas (a pretty big deal), you would think Herod or others would have made a note of it. Herod's order is far from normal. The only place Herod's order can be found is in the Bible; not actual history that can be corroborated.

I understand that some Christians are not concerned with the exact date, just that Jesus' birth happened in the first place. But if there is no hard evidence that Jesus was even born (besides the Bible), isn't it pointless to celebrate his birthday on a day that nobody is sure of?

[PETER TIMINGS]

04:08 PM on 11/29/2011

“The notion of a birthday festival was far from the ideas of the Christians of this period in general.”—The History of the Christian Religion and Church, During the Three First Centuries (New York, 1848)
“The later Hebrews looked on the celebration of birthdays as a part of idolatrous worship, a view which would be abundantly confirmed by what they saw of the common observances associated with these days.”—The Imperial Bible-Dictionary (London, 1874)
Jesus was born around September. December 25 is associated with Roman festival Saturnalia.

Bible condems looking to the stars it was not God who put it here. First it led the astrologers to Herod who wanted him dead. Second Gods enemy Satan was the one who arranged for the bright light.

The wise men were infact astrologers and when they arrived they found Jesu in a house and he would have been about 2 years old.
Matthew 2v9 "When they had heard the king, they went their way; and, look! the star they had seen [when they were] in the east went ahead of them, until it came to a stop above where the young child was. 10 On seeing the star they rejoiced very much indeed. 11 And when they went into the HOUSE they saw the young child(NOT BABY) with Mary its mother, and, falling down, they did obeisance to it.

Eccl 7v1 says "A name is better than good oil, and the day of death than the day of one’s being born.