Deep Blue

TITLE: Deep Blue
DATE: December 1, 2018
TEXT: John 18:36-38 ESV- Jesus answered, My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world. Then Pilate said to him, So you are a king? Jesus answered, You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice. Pilate said to him, What is truth?
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In our western culture we have symbols.

For example, if I were to ask you for a number which symbolizes luck, most would say 7. If I asked for an unlucky number it would be 13. If I asked you to give me a color which symbolizes purity, most likely you would say white. Other colors symbolize other things. Red is the color of blood or passion; black is the color of evil or mourning.

There are also color symbols in the church; color symbols which ought give the worshipper a clue as to what will be the tone of worship that day. When I was growing up there were two seasons of the Church Year, Advent and Lent, which were purple.

Why purple? Two reasons:

1. Purple is a royal color, often reserved for use only by those who were part of the ruling families. These two seasons were intimately connected with the coming of Christ, the King, Who was on the Divine mission to save us.
2. But, according to church historians, purple is also the color of repentance and self-evaluation. (No, I don’t know why.) In Lent, we repent of our sins which are the direct cause which sent the Christ to the cross. In Advent we repent of our sins which brought the Savior into this world on the Divine mission to save us.

 So far I haven’t given you any information a good altar guild person doesn’t already know.

But wait, there is a change taking place. If you go to many churches, you won’t see purple on the altar. No, in many places you will see blue, not purple.

And the question is, Why?

• Did someone find an ancient manuscript written by the Apostle Paul which said, Good Christian churches shall, after Thanksgiving until Christmas be adorned in blue. Nope, no such book was found.
• Did the earthly church have a great Council of Denominations where, after much debate it was decided to make the switch? Once again the answer is No.

So, why the change? I believe (which means I can’t prove) the change has taken place because there has been a shift as to what Advent means. If purple represented repentance, a deep blue highlights the anticipatory nature of the season and our faith.

You see, deep blue is the color of the clear, predawn sky, the color which covers the earth in the hours before the sun arrives. Today we are using this deep blue to express our longing for the coming of the Son of God. It is our way of saying we are preparing not just to remember Jesus coming to earth 2,000 years ago; it is being prepared for His unknown hour of return on Judgment Day.

It is our being ready for Gods Son to change night into day, darkness into light, so that our hearts and our world will be filled with the salvation which can only be won by our King.

THE PRAYER: Dear Lord, every day I must pray, Be merciful to me a sinner. And every day I must pray, Thank You, Lord, for that mercy which comes to me through the Saviors sacrifice. In His Name I pray. Amen.

The music which introduces and concludes our devotions was written by Guy Baumann, one of my long-ago  confirmands. He is singing with three brothers. This song comes from the album: The Baumann Brothers which may be ordered here: http://thebaumannbrothers.com/index.html