Gaudete! Or in English, Rejoice! As we now enter into the third week of Advent, we light the pink candle on the Advent wreath, and it is a natural question to ask why this one doesn’t quite fit in with the others. It makes sense that the middle candle – the Christmas candle – would stand out (it’s white). But isn’t the Advent colour blue? Did we just run out of the blue candles?
In some churches this morning, the clergy will be wearing rose-coloured vestments – it is an option that some churches take to change the colour of this one day of the church year to pink, to deck the clergy and altar out in the same rose colour as the Advent Candle, and to once again use the power of our visual sense to communicate symbol and story through colour.
You may have noticed that, to this point, our Advent readings have had a sombre tone. The first week of Advent speaks of apocalypse, and invites us with Jesus to reflect on the coming kingdom of God, the promise that Christ will be with us again. The second week of Advent introduces us to a wild and woolly character: John the Baptist. He comes blazing on the scene calling his people to repent, to turn their lives back to God. Advent, in marked contrast to the hyper-activity and romanticism of secular Christmas, is a season of the church year that invites reflection, inner quiet, penitence, renewal. In the past it has been referred to as ‘mini Lent’.
And yet, Advent is also a time of preparation for the mystery, the joy, of Christmas. This third week then, we turn a corner. We see in our Advent wreath that the light has become stronger – three candles now lit. The birth of Jesus is just around the corner. Our readings and prayers begin to become more celebratory: today our Sunday School and Youth Choir share with us their annual Christmas Pageant, and at 4pm today, our Senior Choir help us, through the service of Lessons and Carols, to frame the story of Jesus’ birth in the wider story of salvation history.
The third Sunday of Advent announces this turn toward Christmas with these traditional words:
‘Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your forbearance be known to all, for the Lord is near at hand; have no anxiety about anything, but in all things, by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God. Lord, you have blessed your land; you have turned away the captivity of Jacob.’
We don’t have pink vestments here, and our worship doesn’t open with these traditional words. But let us nonetheless take a stirring message from our one pink candle this morning: God gives the gift of God’s own self to us at Christmas for the purpose of restoring human joy. Gaudete! Rejoice! May our hearts be opened to receive this purpose as we move ever closer to our celebration of Christ’s birth.