Thank you, Gerhard Lang’s Mum

I know. It is hard to believe but the season is upon us already. This Sunday marks the first Sunday of Advent. The word “advent” comes for the Latin adventus meaning “coming” or “to come.” The season of Advent (the four Sundays before Christmas) have been set aside as a time of preparation for Christmas since at least the last half of the 6^th century.

Sadly, over the years, it seems as if Christmas has increasingly become a holiday disconnected from its purpose – to celebrate the birth of Jesus. Therefore, I believe it is important for Christians to recapture the season of Advent as a time for preparing for the coming of the Christ Child and remembering why He came. 

One way to mark the days in Advent is to use an Advent calendar. We don’t know conclusively who invented the advent calendar, but one contender is Gerhard Lang, or more accurately, his mum, whose name has been lost to history. When Gerhard was a young boy his mum attached twenty-four cookies onto a square of cardboard that he could eat in the days leading up to Christmas. When he grew up, Gerhard remembered his mum’s inspired idea and went on to manufacture his very own advent calendars in 1908. He didn’t go with treats, however, rather introduced the concept of concealing little pictures hidden behind little closed doors. Sound familiar? Still today, advent calendars have twenty-four doors. One to open each night beginning on December 1, behind which is a picture or an object (such as a small toy or candy). Apparently, someone eventually remembered Gerhard’s mum’s cookie idea. Praise God!  

Another way is to use an advent wreath. Here at South Church, we light an advent wreath every Sunday beginning this week. The concept of an Advent wreath, like so many other Christmas traditions, originated among German Lutherans in the 16th century. On our advent wreath we have four candles representing the four weeks of Advent. The four weeks before Christmas. The primary Advent color is Royal Blue – the color of royalty. It symbolizes the coming of the King as well as the night sky in which the star appeared to announce the birth of the Christ child. Pink is a secondary Advent color. Why pink? Think of a candy cane. The white in a candy cane represents purity of Jesus and the red His blood that was shed. When we combine red and white, we get…Pink. Therefore, the pink candle represents the joy we have knowing that Jesus is coming and ultimately – why. As we light the candles each week it symbolizes the expectation and hope surrounding our Lord’s first coming into the world.

However you choose to mark the time, I just pray that this season so full of joy and celebration is not overrun with a right jolly old elf whose belly shook when he laughed like a bowl full of jelly. Saint Nicholas has his place in the celebration of the season but it’s certainly not about him. It’s about Him who after He was born His mother “…wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them” (Luke 2:7). And we should remember why He came too. As John the Baptist said, “[Jesus is] the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world” (John 1:29)! He is the reason for the season. Remember, Christmas without Christ is just – mas. 😊