Faith Works 11-24-23

Faith Works 11-24-23
Jeff Gill

Advent is a necessary season
___


The four Sundays leading up to Christmas starts late this year; in fact, December 3rd is the latest it does come.

Most ministers, I believe, prefer Advent to start after the Sunday following Thanksgiving, just to buffer the chaos of travel and family events around the fourth Thursday of November, before diving into the four Sundays preceding Christmas Day (still the 25th).

I always felt odd when Advent began in November, but I also think it odd that the World Series now can extend into November, although the Rangers saw to it we only had one day of baseball into this month.

November 26th has a liturgical role all its own; I know many Christians are not liturgical, even a little, and there are non-Christian readers here. But aside from the Feast of Christ the King of Reign of Christ Sunday (have at it, if you so observe!), I'm wanting to nod in preparation towards a season of preparation, called Advent.

Liturgical purists will debate musical propriety and how or when ornamentation goes up and where. Some of this, I want to note, is because for long centuries we didn't have trees and garlands and wreaths made from mysterious plastics and polymers. All our decor was natural, and as is the way of all flesh, and of all greenery, it came to pieces fairly quickly.

So both churches and families tended to place and decorate the tree on Christmas Eve, and keep it up perhaps a few days, at most until January 6 and Epiphany. Lights were small clipped candles, and not a few of those candles helped speed the end of the decorations.

Now, just to bring everyone up to speed, we have electricity, and decor in stores from just after the Back to School displays come down. I'm neither defending nor endorsing manic holiday decorations, it's just a historical development. We used to couldn't, so we didn't. Now we can, so we do.

As to worship and spiritual disciplines, I prefer to operate from the other end. Rather than spend so much time on what we can't or shouldn't do in Advent, or trying to ban and exclude stuff, I just want to say: Advent is cool. You should try it. Let the full bore Christmas stuff wait a bit, and try out some of these Adventy ideas.

I'm not, for instance, entirely on board with "no carols until Christmas Eve!" but I do think it is a wonderful thing to always sing something with an Advent theme on those Sundays leading up to the celebration of Christ's birth. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" is an ancient classic, and has some fascinating contemporary settings; "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" is plaintive and eminently adaptable. "Breath of Heaven" by Amy Grant is to me a very Advent oriented song, and "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" is directly on point.

Until I started putting this together, I had in the back of my mind the idea that both "Break Forth, O Beauteous Heavenly Light" and "Lo, How a Rose 'Ere Blooming" were by J.S. Bach, but I realize the latter is in fact a German carol, but the tune is by Michael Praetorius. Either one is majestic, brooding, and thought provoking.

Because that's the point of Advent. To enhance our ultimate celebration by thinking and praying and working through, very carefully, what it means to anticipate the coming of God-with-us into the world.

That's what Advent is all about, Charlie Brown!


Jeff Gill is a writer, storyteller, and preacher in central Ohio; he's not a purist in much, truth to tell. Tell him how you observe Advent at knapsack77@gmail.com, or follow @Knapsack77 on Threads.