'Advent' Tagged Posts
What is Epiphany?
Original Article by Jessica Van Roekel first appeared on Christianity Today and can be found at https://www.christianity.com/wiki/holidays/is-epiphany-three-kings-day-a-biblical-holiday.html Epiphany – while many know it as the day marking 12 days after Christmas and the time to take down the Christmas tree and decorations, it’s actually a holiday with significant meaning. Let’s take a look at the origin and traditions of this holiday today. What is Epiphany? Epiphany means “appearance or manifestation.” Throughout the world, Christians celebrate it on January 6 -…
What is Advent?
2View the Original Article Posted on Christianity.com, written by Justin Holcomb Some people may know that Advent serves as an anticipation of Christ’s birth in the season leading up to Christmas. That’s only part of the story. What Is Advent? History & Meaning For many Christians unfamiliar with the liturgical year, there may be some confusion surrounding the meaning of the Advent season. Some people may know that the Advent season focuses on expectation and think that it serves as an…
What do the candles in our Advent wreath mean?
This content was produced by Ask The UMC, a ministry of United Methodist Communications, and originally posted on UMC.org The Advent wreath was originally a German and Scandinavian home devotional practice used to mark the four weeks of Advent. Although many symbols have been attributed to it since that time, it was originally intended as a way to mark the Advent season and the weeks until Christmas. Families would light a candle for each past week and the current week…
What Are the 12 Days of Christmas?
Originally Posted on howstuffworks.com, read the original post here During the holiday season, “The Twelve Days of Christmas” is heard everywhere from shopping malls to television commercials to church functions. Everywhere you go, you can hear about Two Turtle Doves, Seven Swans-a-Swimming and Eleven Pipers Piping. But what does any of this mean? What does a song about doves, hens and geese have to do with Christmas? The carol has its roots in 18th-century England, as a memory-and-forfeit game sung by British children. In the…
What is Blue Christmas?
It is a time to recognize that Christmas can be a bittersweet time of the year. The constant refrain we hear about getting together with family, reminds many people of what and who they have lost, or what they never had. The anguish of broken relationships, the insecurity of unemployment, the weariness of ill health, the loss of a loved one, the pain of isolation- all these can make us feel very much alone in the midst of the festive…