Advent Devotion 2 – Purple or Blue?

In many churches there are certain colors associated with different times in the church year. The color for Pentecost Sunday is red. Red is the color for the Holy Spirit. The color for Easter is white. It is symbolic of purity. White is also the color for communion and baptism. Green is the color for the Sundays after Pentecost called ordinary time. Purple is the color for Lent, the season of preparation for Easter. It is the color for repentance. It is also the color for royalty.

What about Advent? In some churches, purple is used. There is the association with repentance because Advent was a time of fasting and confession like a “little Lent.” Purple was also used because of the association with royalty. It was a season of preparation for the birth of a king, King Jesus.

An alternate color for Advent is the color blue. Some associate blue with Mary, the mother of Jesus. Some associate blue with royalty. And in today’s setting, there is the association of blue with Hanukah which reminds us that Jesus was Jewish.

Should we use blue or purple? With purple there is the possibility of groveling and discounting our potential and seeing ourselves as depraved sinners. With blue there is the potential for being simply obedient subjects who depend on our king to take care of everything thus abdicating our power and agency. Neither of these extremes holds much appeal.

There is also a positive dimension with each color. With purple, there is the reminder of our need to repent and to realign ourselves with God. There is the association with royalty and seeing Jesus as the sovereign of our lives and following him in service to others. With blue there is the association with the humility of Mary; her chosen cooperation with the purposes of God, her self giving. And with blue we remember Jesus‘ Jewishness promoting positive interfaith relations today.

Blue? Purple? Yes. Either one. Both.

“John said to the crowds. . . ‘Bear fruits worthy of repentance.’ . . . The crowds asked him, ‘What then should we do?’ In reply John said to them, ‘Whoever has two coats must share with anyone who has none; and whoever has food must do likewise.’”
Luke 3: 7, 8, 10, 11

Prayer: We pray for the will, obedience, and humility to emulate the compassion and generosity that we see in the Christmas story. May we invite Jesus to rule our hearts. May we have the courage to give our lives in service to the common good as he did. Amen.