People in the Waco community will voluntarily sleep on the streets tonight. As a part of the National Hunger and Homelessness Awareness Week, “A Night without a Home” is showing participants what it’s like to be homeless.
The evening begins at 5 p.m. with a meal at the Salvation Army Community Kitchen. Participants will then be heading over to Columbus Avenue Baptist Church, where they will spend the night outside. A breakfast with the homeless at First Lutheran Church will conclude the simulation on Wednesday morning.
“A Night without a Home” is just one of the events being put on by The McLennan Country Hunger Coalition and the Heart of Texas Homeless Coalition to promote awareness this week.
Other events include “Dinner and a Movie,” which is being held at Jubilee Theater Wednesday night. The movie Easy Street will be shown at 6:45 p.m. On Thursday night, Beatnix Burger Barn is hosting Open Mic at 8 p.m., and Friday is the Annual Food For Families Food Drive. Donations for the food drive are being accepted at every event.
For more information, contact Ellie Lewis (vista@mclennanhunger.org), or Kenneth Moerbe (kpmoerbe@grandecom.net) at 254-715-0134.

A darker purple (sometimes called "Royal Purple") is used whereas in Lent the color is often a reddish purple ("Roman Purple"). This shade is used around the church, on the priest's vestments and usually the Tabernacle. On the 3rd Sunday of Advent, Gaudete Sunday, rose pink is used since this Sunday takes on a more joyous tone. In some Anglican and Lutheran churches, blue is the liturgical colour for Advent, a custom traced to the medieval Sarum Rite. This color is often referred to "Sarum blue." In the Eastern churches, red is used.

The "Late Advent Weekdays" or December 17-24, mark the singing of the Great Advent 'O Antiphons'. These are the antiphons for the Magnificat at Vespers, or Evening Prayer (in the Roman Catholic Church) and Evensong (in the Anglican Church) each day, and mark the forthcoming birth of the Messiah. They form the basis for each verse of the popular Advent hymn, "O come, O come, Emmanuel."

Many churches make use of Advent wreaths during this season, with one candle representing each of the four Sundays precetding Christmas. The pink candle is lit on the Sunday before Christmas. During Christmas Day, four lit white candles are used.

From the 4th century, the season was kept as a period of fasting as strict as that of Lent (commencing in some localities on 11 November; this being the feast day of St. Martin of Tours, the fast became known as "St. Martin's Fast," "St. Martin's Lent" or "the forty days of St. Martin"). The feast day was in many countries a time of frolic and heavy eating, since the 40-day fast began the next day. In the Anglican and Lutheran churches this fasting rule was later relaxed, with the Roman Catholic Church doing likewise later, but still keeping Advent as a season of penitence. In addition to fasting, dancing and similar festivities were forbidden.