Out of the grumblings of a Grinch, an idea was born.
A couple of years ago, my much more attractive and infinitely more intelligent wife was having one of those days that most of us occasionally have at Christmas. We were getting ready for church, and she was just feeling "Grinchy" that day. The money we waste, the outfits we wear, the barrage of Christmas music starting around Halloween...
Then, out of this, came some complaints about Advent. No, Tracy wasn't complaining about Advent itself or the celebration of it in general. Specifically, she complained about the candles. Yes, the candles! Why do we use those goofy purple and pink things? What's the point of that? Why can't we do something different?
Clearly, her heart, for that one day, was two sizes too small.
It's a good thing for us that God, through the power of Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, can take our worst and turn it into something good.
From that day on, Tracy and I have worked on some new ideas for Advent. No, this is not the Christian version of Festivus. Nothing in our idea involves an aluminum pole or the Airing of Grievances. And it's not that anything is particularly wrong with the current advent celebrations.
But why not change up the colors a little? Why not use some different names for the candles? Why not "freshen" our perspective on the coming of Christ?
The problem is that ideas come easy. Following through on them is a little more difficult.
Over the last two years, I've mentioned our original idea several times. Tracy always rolls her eyes and says, "Yeah, right!" But I'm not letting this one go. This is something that will be good spiritually for us, and hopefully for others. It may take us years, but I want to finish with a fresh look at the Advent season. (Ironically, it's usually Tracy who is pushing ME, so we are in unchartered territory right now).
We made a little progress this year, but still have a long way to go.
As it stands, we have the candles of patience, obedience, and reconciliation to go along with the candle of the outcast and the Christ candle. The colors are light green, yellow/gold, light blue, and purple. The Christ candle is white, but it is shorter than the other candles. This represents that Christ lowered Himself to our level in order to offer us God's grace and truth.
That's what we have so far. We are still working on it, and hope to have the project completed by next Christmas. Do you have any thoughts or ideas to add to the project? Leave us a message and let us know what you think!
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