Sarum Blue and Advent Textiles

You shall make the robe of the ephod all of blue.

                                                                   Exodus 28:31

When I was growing up, the liturgical color for Advent was purple in my church, like the Roman Catholic Church. Advent, like Lent, was a penitential time to examine ourselves and reflect on end-things like the fact that we all die and the teaching that Jesus will return to judge the earth. So it was appropriate for the liturgical color be dark, but not too dark, maybe off-dark. Not black, but dark purple.

Later, I discovered that Advent could be blue. In fact, Episcopal Churches that were liturgically more formal—”high” churches—preferred blue. This is a revival of a very old tradition from the great medieval Cathedral of Salisbury in England. Before the Reformation, Salisbury had its own traditions apart from Rome and its liturgies are generally regarded as very ancient and therefore authoritative. The prominence of ancient Salisbury—known for centuries as Sarum—made “Sarum Blue” especially appealing to high churches.

Plus, the blue is beautiful. Lots of Protestant denominations have now adopted blue for Advent, quite apart from its association with Salisbury. They see blue as a shift away from penitential fear of Christ’s second coming, and toward the hope and expectation of the pre-dawn sky.

Trinity used purple for Advent until past associate Adrien Dawson designed and made a blue set with the help of Trinity Parishioners. These are delicate, hand-dyed silk with silvery applique emblems suggesting candles.

This month we were fortunate to acquire—at no cost to us—a new blue set. It’s more formal with more structure. The main fabric is a true Sarum Blue silk damask, and the trim combines blue with a rosy-purple silk damask and silver thread.

We will use the latter set this week, the first Sunday of Advent, but I am interested in your thoughts about which set we should use for the remainder of the season. Look at the photos here and consider what you see on Sunday. How do they make you feel about entering the dim light of Advent in anticipation of Christ’s light coming into the world? Maybe it doesn’t matter to you, but if you do have a preference, let me know. Whatever we use, it should engage your senses so you can worship more fully.

In peace,