Presbyterians didn’t always observe Advent
Edgewater Presbyterian Church sanctuary at Advent. Photo: Gerald Farinas.
I was washing the blue Communion table linen ahead of this Saturday’s Advent decorating at church when I realized this: in a different time, a Presbyterian like me would never be doing this for church.
Reformation-era Presbyterians didn’t really care for dividing up the Church year into liturgical seasons.
The argument was that the New Testament didn’t really tell us to divide the year into seasons of Lent, Easter, Pentecost, and number the rest of the weeks by ordinal numbers (Ordinary Time).
Those reformers were really keen on getting rid of things in the Church that wasn’t explicitly told to us to do in the Bible.
As the Rev. Dr. Bob Cathey has lamented about some aspects of the Reformation, “We threw out the baby with the bathwater on some things.”
When the Church of Scotland and Dutch Reformed came to America and settled in with the Catholics and Episcopalians, Presbyterians began to return to the practice of following a liturgical calendar.
It made sense to divide up the year by the phases of Jesus’ life, death, resurrection, and ascension. It made it easier to study and preach the Word when it followed some kind of chronological and thematic order.
Also, when following a common liturgical calendar with other denominations, people were kind of learning the same lessons each Sunday no matter which traditional mainline church they attended.
And the head of the Church year begins with the waiting for Jesus’ birth.
We returned to observing the Advent of our Christ’s birth in the beginning of the colder season.
How the early Presbyterians observed Advent
Those first Calvinists emphasized simplified worship. That means a lot of rituals found in the Roman Church was removed.
Among these things were the altar, altar cloths, incense, crosses and crucifixes, stained glass, and gilded communion plates and chalices.
When it came to the Christmas season, there certainly wouldn’t be decorated trees, wreathes, boughs, and garlands—which came from older Germanic Indigenous religious traditions.
In fact, those first Presbyterians called them symbols of paganism and witchcraft!
What they did do was focus on Scripture and preaching.
I’m so glad I don’t have to sit through a one or two hour sermon by Pastor Kristin. Because that was actually normal in those early years among our Puritan ancestors.
Christ’s coming and eventual birth was certainly read out loud and mentioned in sermons—but that was it. No rituals were attached to it.
Ecumenism brought the intent of Advent back
19th century American Spiritualism spurred ecumenical efforts to rid the nation of slavery, anti-indigenous sentiments in the frontier, and women’s equality.
Note: I’m currently obsessed with reading about and listening to podcasts about Spiritualists and these social issues. Sojourner Truth is fire.
This increase of cooperation on these issues meant exposing each other to older liturgical traditions from each others’ churches.
Also developing at this time was an intentional spiritual preparation, reflection, and anticipation of the Second Coming of Christ.
This naturally developed into an intentional spiritual preparation, reflection, and anticipation of Christ’s birth.
Advent practices today
If you come to our church in Edgewater, you’ll find those now-typical Advent symbols:
We light the candles on an Advent wreath each Sunday during worship. The blue or purple candles symbolize hope, peace, and love. One pink candle symbolizes joy.
We happen to use blue linen at our church symbolizing the dark night sky—a poetic way of expressing the anticipation of waiting for the sunrise (Jesus) and the coldness being warmed (by the light of Christ).
Other churches use purple to symbolize the royal nature of Christ’s birth.
Our lectionary readings focus on prophetic texts, the Annunciation, and themes of waiting and preparation.
Our music reflects that waiting and preparation. We sing hymns like O Come, O Come, Emmanuel reflecting anticipation and hope.
Advent is often used to reflect on social justice—aligning with Presbyterian Church (USA) commitments to peace and equity.
We encourage acts of service and generosity as a reflection of Christ’s love and the season of giving.
Some congregations offer Advent devotionals, and Bible studies—or family-focused practices to deepen the spiritual significance of the season.
Advent makes our Christianity richer in meaning
While historical Presbyterianism downplayed the liturgical calendar, Advent is now widely embraced in ways that blend Reformed theology with broader Christian traditions.
I’m glad we observe Advent.
Edgewater Presbyterian Church decorating. Photo: Gerald Farinas.
