The church year begins with Advent – the waiting time, the time of expectancy, of longing. The theme of Advent is two-fold: we wait for the coming of Christ as Christmas and we long for the final coming of Christ when the whole of creation will be fulfilled.

Advent developed originally as a season for preparation for the celebration of baptism at epiphany. The color we use for Advent is purple.

Visuals of the season will include the advent wreath (an evergreen wreath with three purple candles, one pink candle and a central white Christ candle added on Christmas Eve), and a Chrismon tree covered with white monograms of Christ.

Advent begins in 2007 on December 2 and ends Christmas Eve, December 24th. The season of Christmas begins on December 25, followed by Epiphany on January 6, 2008.