‘THE COLOUR PURPLE’

 

‘THE COLOUR PURPLE’

Most colours are easy to make but purple…? It took centuries to discover. That is why Lydia (Acts 16:14) was somebody of note. She was in the trade. It was so rare it was reserved for emperors. Why did the Church choose it for Advent? I don’t know; but it might be something to do with the approach of royalty. The Messiah revealed himself in Bethlehem – so we use purple in Advent. And he revealed himself even more in his death and resurrection – so we use it in Lent.  

Whatever the reason purple is a combination of red and blue. Red stands for violence. Blue for peace. Our life is actually a combination of the two. We long for peace but Jesus said, ‘I do not come to bring peace but the sword’. Peace can only be achieved through violence – not to others – but to ourselves. ‘Unless you overcome yourself, you cannot be my disciple’.

What is different between this Advent and last Advent? Is it all vanity, as the writer, Qoheleth says; ‘What was will be again … there is nothing new under the sun.’ That was a bleak moment in the Old Testament. The underlying message of both the Old and New Testament is that we are involved in a process towards a goal. Paul appeals to the Thessalonians, to make more and more progress in reaching it.

The goal of all our efforts is to bring justice and peace to people everywhere. (Alice Walker wrote a novel, The Colour Purple, about the sufferings of African-Americans in the early 1900s in Georgia, USA).  The struggle for justice is the plan of God from the time of Abraham and it has to be achieved by human sweat because God has given us freedom and it can be hard to work to use our human freedom to achieve his divine aim. Thy kingdom come! But God cannot take short-cuts; that would be to disrespect our freedom. But we, humans, put up huge resistance and that is why the Church gives us these periods – Advent and Lent – to change, to overcome ourselves and let God in, so as to reach the goal.  ‘Watch yourselves or your hearts will be coarsened … and the day will spring on you like a trap,’ warns our gospel.

There is a homely image in Shona about strength oozing back into a tired person like milk intro a cow’s udder. Perhaps that is what Advent is – a time when we are renewed by the promise and joy of Christmas which comes to us once more. We are renewed after the tiredness of the passing year and, like footballers, enjoy the interval before the second half.

1 December 2024  Advent 1 C  Jer 33:14-16   1 Th 3:12-4:2    Lk 21:25…36