Dear St. James’ Parish Family,
It is hard to believe it is November! This is a month of turning in the church year. We begin with the great Feast of All Saints and end with the start of the new church year when we enter Advent. Throughout it all, symbols help point us along the way.
Beginning on All Saints you will notice a small change to how the sanctuary is set up. No, we’re not moving the chairs! (Yet) This change will center on the altar. As it is right now the altar is set for the entire service with “the stack” – that is a chalice, a paten, a pall, a veil and a burse. These are symbols of the Eucharistic liturgy and they are important. But did you know there are two distinct liturgies in our Eucharist? We begin with the Liturgy of the Word and then move into the Liturgy of the Table. In an effort to better visually recognize this – and have what we mean match with what we do – we are going to place the Gospel book on the book stand in the center of the altar to be our symbol for the Liturgy of the Word, and then bring the Eucharistic vessels over at the start of the Liturgy of the Table.
This is one of a few small changes we will be incorporating over the next month. As we move into Advent, and a new seasonal bulletin, you may notice that the format will shift a bit to reflect the above change, and a few others. One is that instead of Processional and Recessional Hymns, the opening and closing hymns will both simply be called Hymn in Procession. Whoa, you may be thinking, don’t go crazy there with the change! Or perhaps even, who cares Kristin? And you’re right, this is a very small thing. And yet it holds a big symbolic meaning. Procession and Recession point solely toward ‘entering church’ and ‘exiting church.’ When we call them both hymns of procession then what we are saying is that we process out of the world into church, and then we process out of church into the world. As George Herbert wrote, we are meant to live seven whole days, not one in seven.
And finally, a note about Advent. St. James’ along with many churches over the last many years made the move to use blue instead of purple as the liturgical color for the season. At one time Advent was seen as a penitential season of penitence and fasting in preparation for the coming of the Lord. Thus purple was used, and on the third Sunday, pink – a burst of joy and color. Known as Gaudete Sunday (Gaudete being the Latin word for rejoice, which begins the Epistle reading on that Sunday), this was a break from the somber scripture of the season and offered a more joyful sense of anticipation.
When churches began to move away from understanding Advent as a “mini-Lent” and began emphasizing joyous anticipation and preparation for the entire season, blue was the color chosen – one that can evoke the sense of the morning sky shortly before the dawn of the sun. In some places the pink candle migrated along. But again, in making our symbols match what we say we mean, there are really two to choose from, and that is either purple/pink or all blue. And so it is that the change you will notice is that we will have four blue candles on our Advent wreath this year – and indeed in the ones you make and take home!
Because on the First Sunday of Advent, we will have Advent devotional materials for the entire family, as well as supplies for each family to make and take home a wreath to light throughout the season, marking time and counting down to the Mystery of Christmas. Please mark your calendars to join us on November 29th and look for more information about this in the coming weeks.
November is a month of turning the church year. I hope to see you all as we come close to-gether, with our symbols pointing the way.
In peace,
Kristen+