Third Advent: light the pink candle of joy!
The
Christmas angels sang a joyful message!
Luke
2:7-15: “…and Mary gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in
cloths and placed him in a manger... And
there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their
flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the
Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.
But
the angel said to them, ‘Do not be
afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people.
Today
in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.... Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host
appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”
There
are 4 Advent candles. Three are either deep
purple, or royal blue, which are the colours of monarchs. We expect a King! We contemplate the Advent
of Christ the King and deep purple or royal blue reminds us of a King that was
born, a King that reigns to our benefit and for our salvation and a King that
will return in glory.
His Kingdom is
founded on the hope, peace and love made possible by the birth, teaching, life,
sacrifice and victory of Christ Jesus.
The King
has come; the King is coming! “The Spirit and the bride say: Come!”
This, as the angels told the shepherds, is good
news of great joy.
Joy is
the predominant emotion of the Season. Joy fills our hearts and lives as a
result of the hope, peace and love that Christ gives us as the Light of the
world. We are so happy, because darkness fled before the Light, even Jesus our
Saviour. The prominent third, pink Advent candle testifies to this.
We share his light with the world through the joy we express during our
festivities, because in the City of David a Saviour was born to us!
We bring
light to a cold, despondent, warring and selfish world by sharing the hope,
peace and love of our Lord. This we do,
as the angels did, with great joy and lots of cheerfulness.
Since earliest
times pink represents the joy of Christ!
Even
during Lent, one of the seven Lenten candles was pink since the days of the
ancient church. Because, although we are
saddened by the severe suffering of our Lord, the liberty his suffering brought
us, is our deepest source of bliss, optimism and joy! Right in the middle of Lent, the pink candle
reminded a repenting, lamenting church that victory and resurrection would soon
be celebrated.
So, even
when we during Advent stand amazed by the fact that God became a man, born of a
woman, to become our conquering King, and even though it asked of him to temporarily
lay down his divine glory to become a mere man, for our salvation, and even
though we may grieve over the fact that our sins brought this humiliation upon our Lord,
the overwhelming experience of deliverance, salvation and redemption by God who
was born a Child, is pure joy. The gratefulness,
thanksgiving and relief we experience, make us truly happy.
‘Glory
to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men and women on whom his favour
rests.’ the angels sang.
Glory to
God in highest, for the peace of God is good news of great joy.
Christ
conquered our sin, our death and our judgment and gave us peace.
We receive
God’s firm hope and divine love, in Jesus.
Joy to the world, the Saviour reigns!
Let, earth receive her King!
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