The Advent Season and Saint Nicholas by Pastor Walter Snyder Religion Columnist Q: I'm a life-long Lutheran who works with people from a variety of churches. I mention "Advent" and get a lot of blank stares. Would you please provide a summary of the season and our practices for me to share with my co-workers? A: "Advent" means appearance, approach, or coming. In churches following the ancient calendar, the new "Liturgical" or Church Year begins on the First Sunday in Advent. Advent begins four Sundays before Christmas Day. A more traditional way to express this is to say that Advent begins on the nearest Sunday to the Feast of St. Andrew (30 November), whether before or after. A time of preparation for the coming Christ, Advent also provides a time of reflection and repentance. Rather than joining society's headlong rush to celebrate and then forget Christmas as quickly as possible, Advent slows us down and leads us carefully and prayerfully through a time of penitence. Advent helps us remember that the sweet little Babe of Bethlehem came to save sinners by taking our sins on Himself, suffering horrible, and dying on the cross. We often speak Christ's "three-fold advent": 1) His lowly coming in the flesh, or ~incarnation~, that Christmas celebrates; 2) His continued in His Church through Word and Sacrament; and 3) His return to judge the earth on the Last Day. The Scriptures and hymns of the season clearly proclaim all three. Advent is an excellent time to start or to enhance family devotions. Many congregations and organizations offer fine devotional booklets; using them turns us away from commercial excesses and crass abuses of the time preceding Christmas. Joining with Christians around the world, our family uses a four-candled wreath, lighting a new candle each week. Our candles are 3 purple and 1 rose. Purple signifies repentance (on our part) and royalty (of the coming Christ), rose shows the dawn of heaven's light. We light them in the order "purple-purple-rose-purple." This comes from the penitential nature of the season, where, after the "fast" is half-complete, a time of refreshment is offered. I sometimes refer to the Third Sunday in Advent and the Fourth in Lent as "Lighten Up Sundays." The wreath actually began as a home devotional aid and only much later moved into many of our churches. Our congregation also uses the Advent wreath as a visual aid to point to the coming Light of Christ. Blue candles and church furnishings come from parts of Christendom which emphasize the Virgin Mary, since blue is her traditional color. This color is also said to commemorate God's faithfulness to an unfaithful people. Still other parts of Christendom use white or red candles. On Christmas Eve, a some light a white (Christ) candle. Many keep the wreath, replacing the colored candles with white on Christmas Day until Epiphany (6 January). White is "God's color," denoting His holiness. Using the wreath or colored candles in various arrangements during family devotions and congregational worship is one way of focusing attention on God and His Word, adding the benefit of attracting our children to this special time. Q. How did Saint Nicholas become "Santa Claus"? A: Because of language differences, you might say that Saint Nicholas has always been Santa Claus. Santa Claus is a distortion of ~Sinter Klass~, which is Dutch for Saint Nicholas. Nicholas was Bishop of Myra in the Fourth Century AD. Coming from a wealthy family and wanting to serve God in physical poverty, he resolved to give away his inherited fortune. He became renowned for his generosity, especially toward the truly poor and needy. The stories tell us that whenever possible, he gave his contributions in secret. A classic story (probably not true, but typifying his generosity) involves three sisters whose father wasted the family fortune. In those days, if a girl had no dowry---a sum of money to contribute to her husband---she had no way to marry into a respectable family. Normally, either slavery or prostitution might be her only means of support. When Nicholas heard of their plight, he came sneaking up to the house after all were asleep and tossed sufficient dowry money through the windows so that the girls could each wait for a proper marriage. Some versions have him wrapping coins (and jewels) in stockings---beginning a tradition of gifts in stockings. His commemoration is his "heavenly birthday" or death day, the Sixth of December. Parts of Europe and elsewhere use his feast as the day of gift giving, reserving Christmas solely for the true Gift, the Savior Jesus Christ. Scripture quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from ~The Holy Bible, English Standard Version~, © 2001 by Crossway Bibles. Ask the Pastor, © 2002 by Walter P. Snyder. 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