Cedar represents royalty, pine and fir represent ever living holly represents Jesus' passion and death, and ivy represents His resurrection. As we decorate our homes and places of worship with evergreens during the Advent season, let us remember God's eternal and everlasting love for us. The wreaths that are hung on the doors and inside our sanctuary also have symbolic significance. Their endless circle reminds us of the endless love of God, and the evergreens remind us that when we accept God's gift of eternal life through our Savior Jesus Christ, we will never die. The circle of the wreath is a visible reminder of the flowing of the years, the repetition of the holidays and seasons.
Winter leads to spring, which leads to summer and fall.
Winter comes again and the process repeats continually. In the Church, Advent leads to Christmas which moves through Epiphany to Lent and Easter, and Pentecost, and we come once more to this day, the first Sunday in Advent and we begin telling the Christian story once more. That story, God's story, our story, like the wreaths of Christmas knows no end as it inspires and changes each of us again and again. The Advent wreath is exactly what the word implies, a circle of evergreens bound together. Placement in a circle represents God's gift of life through Jesus Christ to a world of darkness.