This Sunday is “Pink Candle Sunday!” The Sunday is named “Gaudete” Sunday which comes from the Latin word for “Rejoice” which was the first word in the historical first song of the mass for this Sunday (which quoted the Epistle lesson for the day, Philippians 4, “rejoice in the Lord always,”). Traditionally, the color of this Sunday is “rose”, and if you’re talking to a real traditionalist, they will tell you all the ways that “rose” is not the same as “pink” but legalism has little place in the 3rd Sunday in Advent. Gaudete Sunday is meant to be a break from the fasting of Advent, a relaxation of the rules in the light of the Gospel, a breather. 
Here at University Lutheran, I’m in my third year of trying to make Pink Candle Sunday a big deal. I actively encourage you to wear pink to worship, and if not something pink, then something “gaudy” for “gaudete” Sunday. A part of the reason that I do this is that I think the colors of the Church year are a blessing that we have that other protestants have sloughed off years ago. Just as the colors in our season and our world help us to see the bigger realities, the colors of the Church Year do something to communicate the message of Christ. Just ask the people who make the Philips Hue – colors matter.
The colors of the Church year are, at their most basic level: purple/violet, white, and green. This is supposed to form a three part cycle: Purple for preparation, White for celebration, and Green for application. So in Advent (originally purple), we prepare for Christmas. In Lent we prepare for Easter. White reminds us to celebrate Christmas and Easter, and every other “Christ Festival” (i.e. Baptism of our Lord, Epiphany, Christ the King Sunday, etc). And green pushes us to consider how we apply the good news of the celebrations to our lives – so in Epiphany we are applying the good news of Christ’s incarnation and in “Big Green”/Post-Pentecost we are applying the good news of Christ’s Resurrection.
But there are other colors – Blue became the “Advent color” because it reminded people of the sky from where Jesus will come in the Second Coming. Red is the color of martyrs (witnesses) and of the Church (Pentecost Sunday, Reformation Sunday). And pink, well, we know all about pink now. As a guy who wears black every single Sunday, I get excited about colors, but not just for the colors themselves, but for what the colors mean and how they tell us about a Savior who came to earth to save us from our sins. So this Sunday, wear pink, but not just for the sake of wearing pink. Instead, wear pink as a reminder of the joy that you have because You know that you have been baptized (like my little girl will be this Sunday) – and wear your joy as gaudy as you can.