Advent Calendar 2010: The Four Sundays of Advent!

Image taken from this site.

We here at UCP apologise for not issuing a blog on every day of the calendar but we hope you've been catching The Christmas Adventures of the Purple Elephant and the Little Mouse over on our parent blog Meady's Musings and hope to be regular from here on in...hopefully daily...and make sure to stay tuned for our special Christmas Eve prayer! :)

But on our posting today on Day 9 of the Advent calender we here at UCP would like to discuss the concept of the four Sundays of Advent! According to Christianity the Lord created the Heavens and Earth in six days and then on the seventh day he rested. This day in the Gregorian calendar is Sunday and traditionally for centuries and centuries is when Christians go to church. So just like there is the Advent Calendar all December long each Sunday in December is also an exciting countdown to Christmas and many churches mark the count down by lighting candles...I like how this site describes the whole ritual so here is an excerpt of it from the site Ken Collin's website:

"You light candles at the beginning of each service and snuff them out at the end.

* On the first Sunday in Advent, you light the first candle. Have your service, then snuff out the candle.
* On the second Sunday in Advent, you light two candles, first the one from the previous Sunday, then the second one. Have your service, then snuff out the candles.
* On the third Sunday in Advent, you light the two candles from the previous weeks, in the order you lit them before, then you add the third one. Have your service, then snuff out the candles.
* On the fourth Sunday in Advent, you light the three candles from the previous weeks, in the order you lit them before, then you light the fourth one. Have your service, then snuff out the candles. You should get a stair-step effect, since each candle is a different length by now.

If you have a fifth candle in the center, then on Christmas Day you light the four candles in the order you lit them before, and then you light the center candle. Have your service, then snuff out the candles.

You notice how I emphasize snuffing out the candles at the end of each service? This has absolutely no liturgical significance whatsoever, but it is vitally important and you must not leave it out. It prevents the candles from burning your house down."

I recommend that you snuff out the candles, rather than blowing them out. The reason is that if you blow them out, you might spray hot wax over everything.

And here is a lovely video of the ritual...the candles are usually part of a wreath called the Advent wreath: