What's the deal with the pink Advent candle?

I don't know your traditions, if you have these traditions, but growing up the four Sundays of Advent were Hope, Peace, Joy, and Love. This last Sunday was the third Sunday of Advent and therefore Joy. Another tradition I have often seen in Advent wreaths is having the third candle be pink instead of the typical purple color of Advent. I did a little digging (wikipedia) to find the story behind this pink candle and have discovered the following.

The third Sunday of Advent is called "Gaudete Sunday" in the liturgical calendar, and "gaudete" is Latin for "rejoice". Historically this Sunday's mass begins with Philippians 4:4-6.

But why the pink candle? Turns out the candle is pink to help distinguish and highlight this Sunday and specifically the theme of joyful anticipation of Jesus's coming into the world. I find this idea intriguing.

I don't know about you, but I experience Advent as a quiet and contemplative season of the year. I enjoy reflecting upon the melancholy themes of exile and walking in darkness before Christ's triumphant entry. Just as we are waiting for the light of Christmas and Jesus's first coming, the whole world is still waiting for the light of Jesus's second coming.

But Christmas is not only about the solemn reflection upon the state of the world, it is a joyful celebration of Emmanuel, our God who came to be with us. After being rejected by humanity God in His goodness He sent us His Son. Jesus came back to this dark world which He could have easily given up on (I would not blame Him if He had). We have hope, peace, joy and love because Jesus has come into the world. Jesus is coming and nothing will ever be the same.

And so it is fitting for Christmas to be a fun and festive season; to give gifts, sing carols, eat cookies, and be with family. Our God is a God of celebration. In the Torah He very specifically called the Israelites to celebrate three festivals in remembrance of what God had done for them (Passover, Booths, and Pentecost). It is only appropriate we too be a people of celebration as we remember all the Lord has done for us.

Yes this world is still in darkness, but we joyfully await Jesus's triumphant return.

What a candle taught me about Advent

A few years ago I had the opportunity to spend Thanksgiving with my sister in Copenhagen Denmark.  Without Thanksgiving to get in the way the whole city was in full Christmas-mode.

A fun Danish Christmas tradition my sister showed me is burning Advent calendar candles (pictured) called a kalenderlys.  The idea is simple enough, each day you burn one day's worth of candle counting down until Christmas.

This last summer we found one of these candles in our travels, and for the month of December I have been burning the candle each day.  This task is nice and cozy, but it has required more intention than I initially expected.  Each day I am forced to find time for the day's burning.  This requires me to plan my days in such a way I will have time for the kalenderlys.  If a day were to be missed I know the little golden numbers on the candle would be there taunting me until the time had been redeemed.

It's amazing how restful it is to daily spend time watching a candle burn.  Since I can't leave the flame unattended, I am required to sit and be still.  So far the time burning the kalenderlys is either spent praying or sitting with my wife Emily (my two favorite people).  The Advent calendars I had growing up (opening a door each day) helped me count the days until Christmas, but they did not require a daily pause from me.  A picture or Bible verse can be merely glanced at; a candle takes time to burn.  I am held accountable for spending time each day resting and reflecting upon the miracle of Emmanuel.

I don't know about you, but I at least can make the idea of spending time with Jesus into this great overwhelming task.  Jesus did not come to add clutter to our lives, but we have a knack for missing this point.  It is easy for me to confuse quantity and quality of time spent with God.  The kalenderlys helps me also remember even a small portion of time spend well with the Lord is time well spent.

This advent season instead of buying into the craziness of our modern holiday let us make room to be still and remember what the Lord has done for us.

Advent is not like a Civil War reenactment

Once again the season of Advent is upon us and with it come a whirlwind of emotions.  I love the season of Advent.  And I especially love how Advent is not like a Civil War reenactment.

There is great power in remembrance.  One of God's most frequent commands throughout scripture is to remember, and we see this in various expressions from piles of stones to Passover dinners.  Even beyond the Lord's direction we understand the power of recall and contemplation.

Advent is a wondrous time of remembering, to take time and be still, and think about the Lord's coming to Earth.  We contemplate the truth of how before Jesus's arrival we all were a people in darkness, but with His coming "the people walking in darkness have seen a great light" (Isa 9:2).  We remember the miracle of Emmanuel, "God with us"; the impossible truth that despite our rebellion and rejection of God He came back for us.  We are not alone.  It is powerful to remind ourselves of this truth.

But the similarities between Advent and a Civil War reenactment end here.  A reenactment has the power to help us remember, to visualize and experience the past, but the events are forever locked in the past.  No matter of contemplation and recollection will ever cause change.

Advent is a season of hope not only in events of the past but also events of the future.  As the world waited in darkness for Jesus's first advent, we now quietly await Jesus's second advent.  We can relate to lyrics such as "O come, O come, Emmanuel, and ransom captive Israel, that mourns in lonely exile here until the Son of God appear" because this too is our story.  Our lives are in exile upon this rock.  Earth is not my home.

We do not reenact or remember the events of two thousand years ago only to recreate the memories or experiences of Christ's advent; we are not merely trying to recapture every year the wonder of events past.  We also contemplate Christ's first coming to give us hope and help prepare us for His second.  Our lives should look different in light of our hope of Advent.  Emmanuel not only came back to save us, but is coming back to bring us home.  The conclusion of Christ's Second Advent is our return to Paradise and God's presence; the restoration of everything we lost at the Fall.  Our hope is in going home.

Are we looking to the future this Advent?  May we contemplate Jesus's first advent as a reminder of the hope we have in His second.

E. coli and Multigenerational Thinking

I love bacteria (mostly).  We can learn a lot from these little bugs, about Biochemistry and a couple Theological metaphors too.  Today we will look at our friend (most of the time) Escherichia coli (E. coli).  E. coli and the Apostle Paul both have the same idea about replication and discipleship.

An often under-appreciated component of our faith and the proper functioning of a church body is the raising up of new leaders.  Leaders demonstrate a lot of their vision for the Church by how they work to raise up new leaders.  A "God-sized vision" is bigger than any of us.  No one person is the answer to what and where God is leading His people, globally and also locally.

A proper stewardship of God's call/gifting to leadership is illustrated by a person's ability to pass the baton and allow others to step in to be a part of God's process.  Not only does this help guard us against the aptitude of power to corrupt, but it also prepares the community for when a specific leader leaves.  All of us within the body of Christ are replaceable, and must be, because God's work of redemption on Earth is greater than any of us.  Are our leaders, and we as leaders, working to prepare our replacements?

The book of Judges is a story of failed leadership.  Over and over we see this cycle of failure and bondage which stems from the leaders' inability to raise up the next generation of leaders.  Before Judges we see Moses lead God's people.  Moses discipled Joshua, and when Moses dies Joshua is prepared to take over (Deuteronomy 34:9, Joshua 1:).  We see is Judges 2:7 Joshua too raised up other leaders after himself.  The breakdown in leadership, which sets the stage for the entire book of Judges, comes in Judges 2:10 "After that whole generation had been gathered to their ancestors, another generation grew up who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel".

If this is the problem, the answer, according to Paul and E. coli, is a multigenerational view of replication.

The whole life-cycle of an E. coli cell takes 60 minutes to complete, but under ideal circumstances E. coli cells are able to divide ever 20 minutes1.  E. coli achieves this rate of replication by reinitiating DNA replication before the previous round of replication finishes.  Within a given cell we see "mother" chromosome, "daughter" chromosome, as well as "granddaughter" chromosome2.  For optimal growth E. coli has to think beyond the daughter generation and onto the granddaughter generation.

The Apostle Paul had the same idea.  In his final letter to Timothy, his primary disciple, Paul writes in 2 Timothy2:2 "the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others."  Within this one sentence we see Paul describe four generations of leaders; Paul, Timothy, reliable people, and others.  Paul understood for the First Century Church to grow and persist it was crucial to have a multigenerational mindset.  This remains true of the Church even today.

As Paul writes and E. coli shows, let us grasp and practice the work of multigenerational thinking.  As my father-in-law and veteran church planting coach Kevin Sutter puts it, our goal should be to train up others and "work yourself out of a job."3

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1. Ingraham, John L. et al.  Microbe.  ASM Press. 2006. p.172.

2. Crooke, E. et al. Organization of sister origins and replisomes during multifork DNA replication in Escherichia coli. PubMed. 2007.

3. Sutter, Kevin.  Keys to Church Planting Movements. 2006. p. 63.

Why I give my money to Jesus and you should too

Money can be a very uncomfortable subject for people, especially in the Church and involving the Church.  Most of us have a sense we should be giving to God, but we often don't know why or how much and can feel pressured by words like "tithe" and "stewardship".  Additionally our culture tells us to guard our money; we should be wary of anyone who mentions money and scrutinize everyone for ulterior motives.  I find it interesting, but not too surprising, to see societies with the most money are often the most obsessed and grudging about it.

The Bible however offers a very different view of money and tithing.  The first corporate offering from the Israelites happens at Sinai.  God is speaking to Moses on the mountain and He is getting ready to instruct Moses in how to build the Tabernacle.  God says to Moses "take for me an offering; from all whose hearts prompt them to give you shall receive the offering for me." (Ex 25:2)

God wants to build the Tabernacle so He collects an offering.  As you may remember at this point the Israelites had just left Egypt, where they were slaves, three months prior.  How did they have anything to offer God?  Before leaving the land of Egypt God provided for the Israelites by enabling them to plunder the Egyptians (Ex 3:21-22, Ex 12:35-36).

With the building the Tabernacle God offered the Israelites the opportunity to give back to God, and not only do they have the chance to give to Him, but they have the chance to partner with God in establishing His earthly dwelling.  Before Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem, for centuries the Tabernacle was the place where God's presence dwelt on Earth.  Here we have the whole nation of Israel in the desert, with nothing but what God has already brought them, and He provides the option for the Israelites to worship Him with their wealth.  God's first corporate offering is a chance to sow into His work of redemption and reconciliation on Earth.  What an awesome and powerful opportunity these Israelites had, to be given the chance to help establish God's Kingdom here on Earth.

How else did the Israelites make use of their plundered treasure?  You may remember a certain golden calf which they also used their gold to build.

Whether worshiping God or worshiping idols, there is power in what we invest our money in.  Jesus wisely said "where your treasure is, there your heart will be also" (Mt 6:19-21).  Our investments often betray our true priorities and insecurities.

At its heart tithing to God and His ministry is not some grudging demand for my dues, but an invitation to invest in His Kingdom.  By accepting His offer we can sow into His Kingdom and see it come to Earth; to help create God's dwelling place here.  How blessed are we to have this opportunity to partner with God and His work.