Advent whizzes by us with the velocity of an Oklahoma gale. This coming Sunday will be the third Sunday of Advent, where we light the only pink candle and we focus on joy. As the days get shorter, the tendency might be for us to feel the heaviness of the onset of winter and the melancholy that often rides as the flipside of the pre-Christmas frivolity. That protection against melancholy is part of the reason the tradition of the pink candle was begun.

Many centuries ago, the Roman Catholic Pope would give someone in one congregation a rose on the fourth Sunday in the season of Lent, as a way of relieving the solemnity of the season. The Advent season used to be celebrated as was a solemn season of preparation, as well, before it gained the “countdown” feel and party-laden atmosphere it has today. The rose-colored custom was extended into the Advent season in the form of a rose-colored candle, appropriately placed on the Sunday of joy.

Where do you find your joy in Advent? What hymns, songs, or stories bring you the most joy? Do you thrill to the chords underneath “Joy to the World” or are you more of a Springsteen’s “Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town” on the radio turned-way-up kind of person? Hope to see you Sunday as we share the joy with one another in our morning worship, and in our evening of music.