Advent

A Christian new year begins with the season of Advent, which starts on the Sunday nearest to November 30. The first of the four Sundays of Advent is the Church's New Year's Day. This season of preparation for the celebration of Christmas takes its name from the Latin word which means "coming," referring to the coming of Christ. Church tradition has assigned two themes to this coming:

1. The first coming, when Jesus Christ was born at Christmas, and
2. The second coming at the end of the world when Jesus Christ will return in judgment.

Thus, the season mixes joy in the redemption that has already come with the sober awe of the judgment which confronts us. Modern interpretation makes Advent a time of spiritual preparation, adding that Christ still is coming — coming into our hearts by grace to redeem and judge us now. He comes in Word and Sacrament, especially in the Holy Eucharist.

Originally, Advent was a season of penitential preparation for Baptism, but since the sixth century it has been the time of liturgical preparation for Christmas. Although the penitential character has endured, Advent is primarily a season of solemn joy and of anticipation. The traditional liturgical color is purple, the purple of majesty which heralds the coming of the King of kings.