God and Jesus
What is Advent?
Advent is the season of about four weeks before Christmas, beginning on the fourth Sunday before Christmas Day. The word means “coming”, and Christians use the time to prepare for the coming of Jesus: looking back to his birth and forward to his return.
When is Advent?
Advent begins on the fourth Sunday before Christmas, which is the Sunday nearest to 30 November, and ends on Christmas Eve. So it can be as short as three weeks and a day or as long as four full weeks. Advent Sunday is also the first day of the church’s year, which is why the readings and hymns start again from the beginning.
Two comings
Advent looks in two directions at once. It looks back to the first coming of Jesus, born in Bethlehem, and the long centuries of waiting that led up to it. And it looks forward to his second coming, when Christians believe he will return to put the world right. That is why the readings in Advent are not yet about the stable, but about watching, waiting and being ready.
But when these things begin to happen, look up, and lift up your heads, because your redemption is near.
The last words of the Bible are the church’s Advent prayer:
He who testifies these things says, “Yes, I come quickly.” Amen! Yes, come, Lord Jesus.
John the Baptist and Mary
Two people stand at the centre of the Advent readings. The first is John the Baptist, who appeared in the desert calling people to turn back to God before Jesus began his work. The Gospels see him as the voice Isaiah had promised centuries before. (The translation used on this site prints God’s personal name as “Yahweh”, where most Bibles have “the LORD”.)
The voice of one who calls out, “Prepare the way of Yahweh in the wilderness! Make a level highway in the desert for our God.”
The second is Mary, the young woman who was told by an angel that she would bear God’s Son, and who said yes.
Mary said, “Behold, the servant of the Lord; let it be done to me according to your word.” The angel departed from her.
Candles, wreaths and calendars
- The Advent wreath. A ring of greenery holding four candles, one lit on each Sunday of Advent, with a fifth white candle in the middle lit on Christmas Day. In many churches three of the candles are purple and the third-Sunday candle is pink, because that Sunday, called Gaudete, which means “rejoice”, is a lighter moment halfway through.
- Purple. The colour of Advent in most churches, the same as Lent, because Advent began as a season of fasting and preparation. Some churches use dark blue instead.
- Advent calendars. A German custom from the nineteenth century, originally with a Bible verse or picture behind each door. The chocolate came much later.
- Christingle. An orange with a candle, a red ribbon and sweets on sticks, representing the world, the light of Christ, his blood and the fruits of the earth. Christingle services, often for children, have been popular in the UK since the 1960s.
Carol services and the run-up to Christmas
In the UK, Advent is when churches hold carol services, nativity plays and services of nine lessons and carols, in which the story of salvation is told in nine Bible readings with carols between them. Most churches also hold a service on Christmas Eve, often at midnight, and on Christmas morning. These are the best-attended services of the year, visitors are expected, and nobody will ask whether you believe. If you have ever wanted to try church, this is the easiest time to do it.
What to expect when you visit a church
How to keep Advent
Advent asks for something that December makes hard: slowing down. Some people read a chapter of the Christmas story each day, from the opening chapters of Luke and Matthew. Some set aside ten minutes of quiet each morning, or join an Advent course at a local church. Many give to a charity or to people who will have a hard Christmas. Strictly speaking, Christmas itself starts on 25 December and runs for twelve days to Epiphany on 6 January, which is why some churches wait until Christmas Eve to sing the carols everyone wants to sing.
What is Christmas really about?