Advent Wreath unlit

Advent - my favourite season - is a time of waiting, of anticipation. It seems somehow appropriate that today's blip should show the Advent wreath at the very beginning of the service today, when the first of the purple candles was lit by a small child. At the moment of this photo, we were waiting in fact for the waiting proper to begin.

The wreath was made by yours truly and a pal a few days ago, using greenery gathered from a variety of trees and the pink berries that grow in the church grounds and seem made specifically for this symbol. (You can read about that here.) For each of the four Sundays of Advent, a candle will be lit - the pink one on Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday in Advent - until finally the white candle is lit at midnight on Christmas Eve and the whole wreath is alive with flame.