Trinity Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)

Advent Window

The Advent window symbolizes the great expectation of the people of God that a Messiah would come to them.  The foremost prophet to articulate that vision was Isaiah.  The window remembers two of these prophecies.  He saw the Messiah as ushering in a time of peace so universal that the lion and the lamb would dwell in harmony (Isaiah 11:6-9). The Anointed One was also understood to come from the line of David, son of Jesse.  In Isaiah 11:1-2, the prophet tells how God will clear, like an ailing forest, the history of Israel's failures and how from the devastation will emerge the Jesse tree:

"There shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse and a branch shall grow out of his roots.  And the Spirit of the Lord will rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord."

The minor theme is "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35). A shock of wheat and loaves for bread speak of the basic hunger of humanity for nourishment -- spiritual as well as physical.  The bread symbolizes for the church the Last Supper and the expectation of ongoing participation in the life of Christ through the sacrament of the eucharist.  Advent is also a season of anticipating the Second Coming of Christ and our feasting with him at the Messianic banquet.