Comments on: Advent cartoon

By: Kennedy

Kennedy — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 13:09:28 +0000

Here's the link.

By: Kennedy

Kennedy — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 23:05:32 +0000

There is a long, earnest and sometimes heated (well warm anyway) discussion on Advent candles on the blog of the Provost of St Mary's Episcopal Cathedral in Glasgow. See

By: James, a Vicar

James, a Vicar — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 21:31:26 +0000

Stuart, as you can see in Dave’s cartoon there is stuff around the bottom of the candles. In our churches the stuff is usually foliage which is solely the business of the flower arrangers. And we don’t usually have flowers in church in Advent or Lent so there is even more fuss over the limited quantity of foliage!

By: Stuart

Stuart — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 19:40:33 +0000

Sarah, simple…. upset everyone and light it yourself!

James, what have flower arrangers got to do with Advent?

Advent, like Lent, is a season of preparation and repentance therefore there are no flowers in church at this time. Tell the flower arrangers they have 4 weeks off to prepare their spectaculars on Christmas Eve.

By: SarahW

SarahW — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 17:07:00 +0000

You’ve just reminded me that I will have to make this difficult decision on Sunday when I take a family service. It’s a church I don’t know that well, but I expect that they will almost certainly have a wreath, with, I suspect, purple and rose candles, who do I choose?!?

ps Any ideas for a family service using the lectionary readings would be gratefully appreciated…

By: Keith

Keith — Tue, 27 Nov 2007 14:29:35 +0000

Yes, I’ll follow James and stick it in the pew sheet, unless the readings take up too much room. Boy, my folks will think Christmas has come early when they see one of your cartoons turn up in the pew sheet! I think there is some comic potential in the situation which flower ladies or advent wreath producers find themselves in after a few years when there is a cupboard full of fat candles burned down to varying sizes – the temptation to try to recycle them for a cheaper advent wreath and what about all those pink ones?!

By: TimT

TimT — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 23:40:09 +0000

I would like to leave a pedantic comment in a pedantical manner. Those two folks in the front row – the captions read:

“Lit it last year. There was an… incident”.

And “has lit it every year for the last 14 years.”

Now how can the person who lit it last year have lit it last year if it was lit every year for the last 14 years by the other person?

Or did the incident involve such heresies as two people lighting the candle at once? Quelle horreur!

Thank you for allowing this moment of pedantry. May I be smited and blighted for my comments, but not too much. Sincerely, me.

By: James, a Vicar

James, a Vicar — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 14:12:52 +0000

Dave

This is the explanation that I found – but the flower arrangers (at one of 4 churches in this area) want red ones because they match the holly berries. Perhaps, a more theological statement than what follows.

“Advent comes from the Latin word ‘adventus’ meaning ‘Coming.’ Advent begins the church year starting four Sundays before Christmas. The season of Advent has been set aside as a time of preparation since the 6th century. Advent is a time for preparing for Christ’s second coming, even as we remember and celebrate his first coming at Christmas. This is why the colour of the season of Lent is used, purple or blue, the colours also of Lent, of forgiveness and repentance.”

“Traditions vary from church to church, but usually one week, either week three or four in Advent, is set aside as more celebratory than others. Rose is the colour of this week rather than purple, which is why a rose candle is used. In our churches we will celebrate this week on the fourth Sunday of Advent, when we remember Mary, the mother of Jesus to whom is attributed that great song of joy, the Magnificat.”

By: Dave

Dave — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:45:19 +0000

James – you had no way of knowing this, but at the very moment you posted I was surfing around the internet looking for information about the colours of advent candles. I have to find something funny about the aforementioned subject before I can go to sleep tonight. Woe, as they say, is me.

By: James, a Vicar

James, a Vicar — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 23:34:01 +0000

Thank you for the cartoon. I am feeling brave and will use it next Sunday in our Notice Sheet. I say brave because this is clearly based on one or more of our local churches. I should be able to stay reasonably anonymous – there must be plenty of Vicars called James.

However, Dave, you have managed to avoid commenting on the other issue surrounding Advent Candles – what colour they should be. I follow a Vicar in this place who made the flower arrangers cry by insisting on purple (and one pink) candles. I remain relatively popular by not having found a way to make the flower arrangers cry.