Gaudete Sunday

Dear Friends in Christ,

This Sunday is the third Sunday of Advent, traditionally known as Gaudete or Rose Sunday. Each Sunday in Advent has a different theme. The first Sunday is hope, the second, peace, the third, joy, and the fourth and final Sunday is love. It is not known when the Season of Advent originated, but it is known that by the fifth century it was being observed as a fast of forty days in preparation for Christmas beginning on the feast of Saint Martin on November 11th, similar to the way the season of Lent functions as preparation for Easter. Like Lent, Advent was also used as a period of preparation for people to join the Church. In the ninth century Advent was reduced to a period of four Sundays before Christmas but it retained its penitential nature, which is why the Church originally used purple altar cloths and vestments for Advent.

Gaudete means “Rejoice!” Gaudete Sunday provided a break from the penitential nature of Advent, similar to how Laetare Sunday, which falls on the fourth Sunday of Lent, was a day of celebration within the austerity of lent. Laetere also means rejoice, but unlike the exuberant, expressive joy of Gaudete, it refers to a more internal or anticipatory joy. Gaudete Sunday recognizes the imminence of Christ’s arrival, and the penitential practices thought in the beginning to be appropriate for Advent’s theme of expectation and preparing for the birth of Jesus as well as his second coming were suspended for one day to celebrate this forthcoming occasion.

In recent times the Church moved away from penitence as the dominant theme for Advent and began to emphasize hope as a more appropriate way to approach both the events at Bethlehem 2000 years ago and our expectation of the second coming of Christ. To distinguish Advent from Lent many churches started using blue as the color for altar cloths and vestments during this season (some churches even have pink just for Rose Sunday!). Blue is meant to symbolize hope, and while attributing emotions to colors is somewhat inexact and arbitrary, there is precedence for blue as a seasonal color.

The Sarum Rite, which is the basis for our Book of Common Prayer, specified using indigo for Advent to represent the darkness that existed before God created the Cosmos and in the world before the birth of God incarnate. As well as representing hope, blue is the color of royalty, and also of the night sky before dawn, the sea before creation, and is typically associated with Mary, the mother of Jesus (although ironically Mary’s role in Jesus’ birth is remembered in our readings for the fourth Sunday of Advent!).

We don’t have pink vestments at Saint Anna’s, but we do have blue vestments and this Sunday will have pink roses on the altar and will light the pink candle in the Advent wreath. And now you know why!

Yours in Christ,

Rev. Jane+

References: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Advent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaudete_Sunday https://www.stbenslososos.org/2015/12/02/why-do-we-use-blue-during-advent/#:~:text=The%20Sarum%20Rite%20was%20the%20original%20basis%20for,shows%20church%20leaders%20in%20ornately%20decorated%20blue%20robes.