The Third Sunday of Advent.

I don’t know what God was thinking about when he /she /it invented Advent, but i don’t think it was chocolate.

Clearly I know very little about Advent if I think it was invented by a divine being/presence/thing so you may well ask why the hell Bitsnbobs has suspended normal service and opted for four stand alone posts during December, each one titled Advent Sunday.

And some have!

One (an almost anagram of her name) went as far as questioning my sanity in posting a song from Elton John!!

It’s simple – I’m copping out from doing a full on advent calendar, but still trying to make December look different, and a touch seasonal.

Seasonal – huh!

The sun is shining, the temperature is 15 degrees I have the door open and the nut smells of late autumn are drifting through to me - not a touch of Christmas to be seen or heard.

So what’s the point?

So what’s the point of anything?

Well………………….. you might as well do something eh?

So, what is advent all about and can I somehow, here in week three, get a little closer to “festive” than the pop song and sword fight that were my first two offerings?

I must confess at this stage that my “source” is – The Voice. Not THE voice that comes to you in the small hours from a-high, but The Voice Online which I know nothing about except that it is clearly christian and more knowledgeable, or opinionated, on the subject (advent) than me.

Here it might be worth adding a little aside on the creative process undertaken here at Bitsnbobs.

I get an idea –“hey, let’s do four candles of advent”. Then I say “and nothing else in December?” – Clearly risky as I may loose the few readers that I have gathered. Then I say “take a chance – that’s what it’s all about! (see Thom Pod) Then I ask “have you got four candles” – not easy that, I had Elton Singing about one and someone I mistakenly thought was Errol Flynn slicing one in my memory bank, and that was it. I figured I could also film one and that maybe a fourth would spring to mind, or be stumbled upon, so “yes, there’s three, it’s possible”. Let’s go!

As a technique for creative masterpieces I admit there is something lacking but it’s how I do it, and then hope that along the way there will be a divine intervention, or at least a bit of help from the elements.

Or The Voice On-line.

In it I learnt that Advent is, traditionally purple and all about penitence. Damm, I’m not sure that I have reflected any of that. Sorry. (does that count for penitence?)

Then I learnt that the first Sunday is really “preparation” – and clearly I had covered that – especially with all the talk of The End of Year Quiz (coming soon).

So how does the sword fight fit in?

Clearly I am going to have to read the whole of The Voice to find something – hang on……..

The Voice explains that after the first candle the remaining three vary in significance depending on the church. They could be - Bethlehem, Shepherds, Angels- or – Love , Joy, Peace – or – John the Baptist, Mary, the Magi – or, and this is my favourite as I am going to have to look at least one of the words up in a dictionary - Annunciation, Proclamation, Fulfilment.

Wouldn’t it be brilliant if I could somehow link Annunciation to Sword Fight – where’s my Collins….?

But I can’t.

So let’s move onto number three and hope things get better.

So, think, think, think, rack, rack, rack – where have I seen candles in films?

“And then, in The Voice I read this - The third candle, usually for the Third Sunday of Advent, is traditionally Pink or Rose, and symbolizes Joy at the soon Advent of the Christ. It marks a shift from the more solemn tone of the first two Sundays of Advent that focus on Preparation and Hope, to a more joyous atmosphere of anticipation and expectancy.”

And that’s brilliant because there was a lot of hope hidden in last Sunday’s tale, though I used the word healing- along with all the hoping that the initial idea would work out - and now this!

Ok, ok, so it's not pink!

But it is Chaplin.

Candles and Joy!

And festive!

Perfect.