This Is Light of the Valley

Worship Why's: The Color White

TL;DR = We use white in church to represent God himself and all that he has done for us, along with purity, triumph, and joy.

Why white?
This past weekend, the color of the paraments changed to white. White symbolizes purity, eternity, triumph, joy - and so it symbolizes God himself. We see it at Christmas when the Word was made flesh (John 1:14). We see it on the Sunday before Ash Wednesday - Transfiguration Sunday - when Jesus became pure white for a moment to reflect to his disciples that he really is both God and Man. We see it at Easter because Jesus' resurrection from the dead is a declaration by God that Jesus' life and death has triumphed over all our sins. We saw it this last Sunday (Saints Triumphant) as we remembered all those who God has gathered and now they live in the eternal purity and joy of heaven. We see it for baptisms to remind us that God not only washed us clean of all our sins but also covered us with his purity. We will see it this Sunday as we remember that Christ is the King of Kings and so rules triumphantly forever in his purity for our joy and comfort.

Why a cross and manger?
Our paraments and banners are adorned with the cross and a manger. The manger represents the first major festival of the Church year – Christmas. As recorded in Luke 2:7, Mary placed Jesus in a manger after he was born because they couldn’t find any rooms available in Bethlehem. The manger is a symbol of the lowly, unassuming birth of our Savior, that though he was God for all eternity, he took on human flesh and lived the perfect life we couldn’t live.

While the manger represents the birth of Jesus, the cross represents his death for our sins. After living a perfect life in our place, Jesus died an innocent death as a ransom for the souls of all mankind (Matthew 20:28). Because Jesus’ death satisfactorily paid for all of our sins, we are now clothed with his holiness and made right with God.

Why do our paraments say “Alleluia”?
Alleluia is the Latin form of Hallelujah, a Hebrew exclamation meaning “praise the Lord”. Hallelujah appears in many psalms in the Old Testament, as well as multiple times in the book of Revelation, always as a rejoicing exclamation praising God. In many orders of worship used at Light of the Valley, we sing Alleluia, paired with the Verse of the Day (usually John 20:31), between the second Bible reading and the Gospel reading. While we can and should praise the Lord every day, on the festival days and their subsequent Church seasons when the color white is used, we are reminded exactly why our God is worthy of praise.

Guest author: Danielle Geistfeld