The Four Candles of Advent
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In those days John the Baptist came, preaching in the wilderness of Judea 2 and saying, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven has come near.” 3 This is he who was spoken of through the prophet Isaiah:
“A voice of one calling in the wilderness,
‘Prepare the way for the Lord,
make straight paths for him.’”[a]4 John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey. 5 People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6 Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River.
7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to where he was baptizing, he said to them: “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the coming wrath? 8 Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. 9 And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. 10 The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.
11 “I baptize you with[b] water for repentance. But after me comes one who is more powerful than I, whose sandals I am not worthy to carry. He will baptize you with[c] the Holy Spirit and fire. 12
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A shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse;
from his roots a Branch will bear fruit.
2 The Spirit of the Lord will rest on him—
the Spirit of wisdom and of understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and of might,
the Spirit of the knowledge and fear of the Lord—
3 and he will delight in the fear of the Lord.He will not judge by what he sees with his eyes,
or decide by what he hears with his ears;
4 but with righteousness he will judge the needy,
with justice he will give decisions for the poor of the earth.
He will strike the earth with the rod of his mouth;
with the breath of his lips he will slay the wicked.
5 Righteousness will be his belt
and faithfulness the sash around his waist.6 The wolf will live with the lamb,
the leopard will lie down with the goat,
the calf and the lion and the yearling[a] together;
and a little child will lead them.
7 The cow will feed with the bear,
their young will lie down together,
and the lion will eat straw like the ox.
8 The infant will play near the cobra’s den,
and the young child will put its hand into the viper’s nest.
9 They will neither harm nor destroy
on all my holy mountain,
for the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.10 In that day the Root of Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his resting place will be glorious.
We have lit the first Advent candle last week and today we light the second. Each week of Advent, and each candle, symbolises something important about our journey towards Christmas.
Advent 1 – The Patriarchs: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob
Advent 2 – The Old Testament Prophets
Advent 3 – John the Baptist
Advent 4 – The Virgin Mary ………….
Christmas Day – Jesus at the centre
Today I want to think about the tradition of Advent candles – Patriarchs, Prophets, John the Baptist and Mary. What can we learn from them?
The Advent ring with candles began in Germany, 1839. Pastor John Hinbrich Wichern took a wooden wheel and put 24 candles in it to help school children count the days until Christmas. They lit a candle each day and a large one on Sundays. The custom had its origins in 16th century. It eventually changed from 24 to 4 the candles used today as Germans in the 20th century brought the tradition to the UK, it spread to churches and homes.
So the first Candle – the Patriarchs (Promise)
“Patriarch” is just another name for “Fathers.” It means fathers of the nation of Israel – Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The main thing we can learn from Abraham is about his faith. When God called Ab. to leave the Ur of the Chaldes (Iraq) to follow God’s call it was to an unknown place, Ab obeyed. He stepped out in faith. We can all learn from that faithful response to the call of God. When God calls us, do we answer of ignore the call? Is God calling you to do something for him today? Will you answer or ignore?
Because Ab trusted and obeyed, he became the first Patriarch and the leader of a great family and grandad of the Jewish tribes (and the nation Israel). Just like the Jewish people are not millions of individuals (they are one people) we are not merely individual Christians – we the body of Christ (the church). The whole is far greater than the many individuals that make up the family of God.
Abraham and the Patriarchs all point us forward to our LJC and reminds us that we are part of God’s family and it is better to walk together than wander alone.
2. Second Candle is the Old Testament Prophets (also known as the peace candle)
The Prophets who foretold the coming of God’s Messiah.
The Old Testament has many prophecies (Isaiah to Zachariah). All spoke about the coming Saviour. OT reading today is Isaiah 11:1-10, a prophecy about Jesus’ descending from Jesse: ‘a shoot will come up from the stump of Jesse.’ Jesse was the Gt Grandson of Ruth). Ruth 4:13,14 says Ruth had a son called Obed and v14 said “May he become famous throughout Israel.” Obed grew up to become father of Jesse, remember that prophecy Isa 11:1? Guess what, Jesse was the father of David>Solomon>Rehoboam>Abijah> Asa>Jeroboam >Jehoram >Uzziah x20>Jesus. That family line (30 generations) leads to Jesus (Isa 7:14). Immanuel, God with us (Matt 1:23). By saying ‘Yes to God and trusting Him, Ruth became part of God’s plan. She put God first, going to Bethlehem with Mother in law Naomi. By returning to Bethlehem - 30 generations later an ordinary girl & fiancé Joseph had to go to Bethlehem for a census.
3. Third Candle – John the Baptist
Our Gospel reading today is about John the Baptist. He was Jesus’ cousin and called to prepare the way for Jesus’ ministry. He looked wild, prophet-like (Elijah). A modern-day prophet preparing the way for the actual Messiah.
Today I want you to imagine John the Baptist rushing into the wilderness of our parish shouting, 'Prepare the way, get your life-road straight for our God.' Let’s listen to him and look at our own life-road, look to see where the crooked ways are and ask God to help us make them straight. Crookedness of selfishness, pride, self-importance, anger, greed, lust. As we look to Jesus this Christmas, invite him to take over as ‘Lord’ of our lives and he will guide us and help us make our paths straight.
We can be prepare the way for Christ in our own hearts by confession and forgiveness of LJC (1 John 1:9) thro’ the cleansing power of Holy Spirit. As a church we live in a wilderness of non-belief. We can either retreat and be cozy in church or we can seek to prepare the way of the Lord, spreading the Good news & praying for FRANC.
4. Fourth Candle – Mary
Like Abraham, the Virgin Mary said “yes” to God when the angel turned her life upside down with these words ‘Fear not.’ And it was because of that “yes” that Jesus was born and the family of God had a firstborn. If Abraham’s “yes” gave birth to Israel, Mary’s “yes” gave birth to Christ. Mary was with Jesus throughout his life; from the stable manger in Bethlehem to the cruel cross.
Soon we will be celebrating the nativity and it is very easy to be cozy and close to Baby Jesus in a manger. It’s a beautiful scene with Carols too.
Going all the way with Jesus will be costly, it was costly for the disciples, and yet that is our call, and it is the same as Mary’s call – to say ‘yes” to God and to make room for JC in our lives.
Four candles – the Patriarchs, the Prophets, John the Baptist and the Virgin Mary. All have one thing in common and it is the most important lesson for us to learn.
This Advent ring is a circle with Christ in the middle. Each candle, in meaning, is connected to the others and each has Jesus in the centre.
Church, and each member, we must remember that without Christ at the centre of who we are and what we do we lose our raison d’etre, our very reason for being.
Our purpose in life is to say “Yes” to God, to prepare the way for Christ by calling the world and ourselves to turn from a self-centred life to a Christ-centred life and then to stay close to JC through thick and thin keeping him at the centre. Just as he is in the centre of this Advent ring.
Let us Pray: O God our Father, we are preparing to celebrate the birth of your Son Jesus Christ. While we recall his coming as a baby in weakness and humility, remind us that one day he will come again in power and glory. Keep us watching, waiting and ready. Faithful to your call to be your church in this place. Amen.
