Christmas with the Cross: A Modern Take on an Ancient Tradition
For me, as a child of the 90s, Advent often felt like an esoteric tradition that I didn’t understand well. Yet, each sunday leading up to Christmas, my mom and dad would gather all of us around the coffee table on which sat a ramshackle wreath with five candles. When I got older, my parents would occasionally let me or my siblings light the candles (though there was always some bickering over which of us would get that privilege). I remember learning about Hanukkah and wondering if Advent was invented so Christians would have a reason to light candles too. Even so, the older I grew, the more I treasured this tradition. Then, as an adult, I began to realize that there was so much more to it than I had ever understood.
A brief history of Advent traditions
All over the world, for hundreds of years, Christians have celebrated the weeks leading up to Christmas, a season known as Advent. From the Latin, adventus meaning “arrival” or “coming,” Advent’s earliest roots date back to the 4th century, but at the time it was less connected with the idea of Jesus’ birth. Instead, it was a practice in which new believers would prepare themselves for Baptism. However, as the Church’s liturgical calendar became more set, so did the traditions surrounding Advent and the connections to Jesus’ birth (and eventual return).
Advent wreaths are, in all likelihood, a co-opted pagan tradition from Germanic groups who lit candles in the dark of winter to look forward to the light and warmth of spring. If you ask me, this in many ways makes their use in Christian celebration all the more beautiful, as what better source of hope in darkness could there be than Jesus? It is, I would say, a wonderful reminder of the One who is able to bring beauty from ashes and work all things for good.
In the 1800s, a Lutheran minister placed 24 candles around a cartwheel to help children mark the days till Christmas. “Advent calendars” designed with a similar purpose of counting days till Christmas began to spread through the 1900s.
The most common form of advent wreath today is usually an evergreen circle with four or five candles. Most traditionally, the four outer candles are usually three violet colored and one rose colored. However, in churches that are less liturgical, it is also common to see four red candles. The fifth candle, when present, is usually white and placed at the center of the wreath. Different traditions and denominations have slight differences, but the candles are usually said to represent hope, joy, peace, and love though not always in that order. The fifth candle usually represents the light and purity of Jesus.
A personal Advent journey
As I touched on above, Advent was an important part of my family’s Christmas traditions growing up. As an adult, I wanted to be sure I brought that tradition into my own family. I have now been married for over seven years, have a two-year-old son and a second son due in April. And I’ve struggled to make advent a priority for us each year.
To be honest, I think part of my struggle comes from the kinds of material I’ve found. Usually, Advent content falls into at least one of three categories: 1) too overwhelming, 2) too lackluster, or 3) non-reusable. Sometimes it’s a combo of all three!
The “too overwhelming” material ends up having 10 minutes of reading and a 15 minute activity for each day from Dec. 1 to Dec. 24. It feels impossible to keep up with it all, and after you miss a day or two, you realize it would take nearly an hour to “make up” the days. I for one always feel extreme pressure not to skip days, so I inevitably give up and pledge to do better next year.
The “too lackluster” material just doesn’t have any meat to it. It may explain the traditional symbolism of the candles, but it doesn’t really go into detail about them or have any useful discussion questions to help my family interact with the content. This content also tends to spend four weeks talking about Jesus’ birth, without ever addressing the context of why a Savior was necessary. In this case, I miss days because I can’t help but think “who cares?” and inevitably I give up and pledge to do better next year.
The “non-resuable” material feels like it’s designed to be purchased all over again each year; it feels like the content is designed to be consumed by my family instead of designed to guide my family through an experience to help us form our own Advent tradition.
A proposed solution
That’s why in 2019 I finally decided to just write my own content. I took my 7 years of experience developing Christ-centered children’s curriculum and family ministry resources and endeavored to write an Advent family worship guide.
I started with the idea that Advent shouldn’t just focus on Jesus’ birth, but should look back on why his arrival was necessary and look forward to see how he would save us. Additionally, it probably wouldn’t surprise anyone familiar with my professional history to know that I’m a big fan of studying the Bible chronologically. With those two ideas in mind I wrote Christmas with the Cross.
It is only content for the four Sundays of Advent and Christmas Eve, with each day designed to take 10–15 minutes to get through. It aims to tell the full story of the gospel, starting with the fall, walking through some of Israel’s history, examining Jesus’ birth, and ending with the story of His death and resurrection. Each week includes a suggested Bible passage, a teaching connection, a Christmas carol to sing (with all the lyrics printed right on the page so you can engage with the rich theology beyond the first verse everyone knows), and discussion questions.
And I would love for you to try it! It’s a free resource that I hope will bless your family this year as you meditate on the true meaning of Christmas. Click the button below to give it a try, and please send feedback. My hope is to improve it year after year while keeping the basic content the same to help families build gospel-centered Advent traditions.
