{"id":31907,"date":"2015-11-30T11:47:18","date_gmt":"2015-11-30T17:47:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/?p=31907"},"modified":"2015-11-30T11:47:18","modified_gmt":"2015-11-30T17:47:18","slug":"help-its-advent-and-our-paraments-clash","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2015\/11\/30\/help-its-advent-and-our-paraments-clash\/","title":{"rendered":"Help, It&#8217;s Advent and Our Paraments Clash!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>At our little parish on the south side of Indianapolis, we have worked hard to coordinate our \u201carts and environment\u201d space with our liturgical seasons.\u00a0 We\u2019ve had volunteers graciously polish our brass candlesticks, take time out of their work week to tend to our plants and flower arrangements, and have recently had a skilled craftsman-parishioner construct a stand for our beautiful Advent wreath.\u00a0 We have many blessings.<\/p>\n<p>Despite our many gifts, I am stuck this Advent season on one small point for our parish.\u00a0 In short, while our priest matches our deacon, and our deacon matches our priest\u2026both priest and deacon most certainly <em>do not<\/em> match our altar cloth!<\/p>\n<p>While our priestly and diaconal vestments are of the \u201cblueish-purple\u201d school of liturgical colors, our altar parament (and our new Advent banners) are most certainly of the \u201creddish-purple\u201d camp.\u00a0 We are a purple-clashing disaster.\u00a0 On the one hand, I recognize that my parament problem is, in the large scheme of things, a small issue (as my brother would say, \u201canother first-world problem!\u201d).\u00a0 Nonetheless, I feel justified in identifying this lack of coordination as, at least, immensely annoying.\u00a0 In liturgical studies, we frequently discuss how the dynamic of liturgy is studded with a \u201cboth\/and\u201d character\u2014a character which embraces <em>both <\/em>song <em>and <\/em>silence; <em>both <\/em>Table of the Word <em>and <\/em>Table of the Eucharist; <em>both <\/em>praise <em>and petition<\/em>.\u00a0 I would argue that the value of this \u201cboth\/and\u201d dynamic does not extend to color coordination!<\/p>\n<p>Across the Christian denominations, the proper shade of purple for Advent and Lent has been a debated issue.\u00a0 Some are of the opinion that distinct shades of purple should be used for each\u00a0season\u2014but this poses a problem for a congregation who cannot afford to spend a significant budget on paraments.\u00a0 For Roman Catholics in the States, the United States Council of Catholic Bishops simply advises that the \u201cliturgical color for Advent is purple, just like Lent\u2014as both are seasons that prepare us for great feast days\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/prayer-and-worship\/liturgical-year\/advent\/liturgical-notes-for-advent.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">USCCB<\/a>).<\/p>\n<p>At the end of the day, liturgical colors are meant to teach and to reinforce the character of liturgical seasons.\u00a0 They are meant to \u201cdraw people to the true nature of the mystery being celebrated rather than being ends in themselves\u201d (<em>Built of Living Stones <\/em>124).\u00a0 Perhaps our mismatched cloths and clothes might serve to remind us (and me) that we are continually striving for perfection in our imperfect earthly worship, and continually preparing our mismatched\u00a0selves to be ready to greet our Savior.<\/p>\n<p>In the meantime, we will do our best to continue decorating our worship space in a way which is prayerful, appropriate, and functional. \u00a0We will attempt to focus on our \u201credemption at hand\u201d rather than the \u201canxieties of daily life\u201d this Advent season (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.usccb.org\/bible\/readings\/113015.cfm\" target=\"_blank\">Luke 21: 28, 34<\/a>). \u00a0And, we will try our best to serve our Lord in our worship and in our work\u2026even if we do make poor fashion choices!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Despite our many gifts, I am stuck this Advent season on one small point for our parish.  We are a purple-clashing disaster.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[8,91],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31907","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art-and-architecture","category-liturgical-year"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Help, It&#039;s Advent and Our Paraments Clash! - Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/praytellblog.com\/index.php\/2015\/11\/30\/help-its-advent-and-our-paraments-clash\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Help, It&#039;s Advent and Our Paraments Clash! - Home\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Despite our many gifts, I am stuck this Advent season on one small point for our parish. 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