It’s my yearly time to speak into the contemporary worship community and experience regarding the Advent/Christmas season. Here is last year’s letter for reference.
This is a heads up to all worship leaders, and friends who join our community here. It is also a loving cry to our creative leaders for attention to the season into which we are about to enter.
Next Sunday, Advent begins, and worship leaders should attend to its themes, and its history.
We reclaim themes such incarnation, expectation, redemption, eschaton and new creation, in such vibrant ways, in this season of the Church year.
Nowhere moreso do we move the soul toward these remembrances, reclaimings and reimaginings as through the new, and old, songs of Christmas (see SimpleCarols post below).
I think I’ve decided that the beauty and power of Advent is accentuated by most of the carols, and that there is a reason I long for the season to come. It’s definitely my favorite time of year to engage the privilege of being a worship leader.
I wouldn’t trade the role for any artist wanderings or creative forays, this privilege of simply leading people in the traditional carols on a weekly basis through the Advent and Christmas season.
Some may suggest nostalgia is a part of the draw, and they may not be far off on one level, but so many of the carols exude the simple elucidation of an otherwise complex mystery.
We begin again the Christian year - the according of time around the epicentral themes of the Scriptures, and the Christ event.
Lead your community, along with other spiritual leaders in your community, in the Advent journey.
7 Comments
my question is:
what do we do with some of the historical carols in which the theology is less than shining?
i’m thinking of songs which refer to a placid, plastic baby Jesus, “meek and mild.” This line, so familiar and wonderful in its very familiarity flies in the face of advent itself, God come as fully, fully, man and fully God.
i, for one, am for changing such lines, when artistically possible, to better theology. i believe this leads, in the end, to better advent, better waiting, better worship.
thanks for letting me post dan
Good thoughts, Joel. I usually remedy the issue you’re speaking of by not doing the song, or skipping verses.
Good thoughts. Changes can be daunting for some congregants, but I’d make small ones as needed for your community’s sake.
What do you think about singing advent songs during advent and carols during Christmas? Have any simple chords to advent songs?
O Come O Come Emmanuel is the historic advent carol. It’s often sung verse by verse through the advent season. Name the other advent carols of which you speak. Some are more anticipatory than others.
Doing O Come this week, definitely advent. How about O Come Divine Messiah?
We did “Joy to the World” this morning. We sang the first verse again at the end of the song. I explained that we are doing it this way the first time to emphasize the incarnation and the second time to emphasize our waiting for His return. I got some really good feedback from the congregation. There are a lot of little things we can do with some teaching during advent that enriches this seasons worship experiences.
Beautiful, Dylan. Carols as teaching tool - such an important idea, and always to be done with wisdom.
I don’t know the O Come Divine Messiah one, Brian. I’ll look it up. Thanks for that.
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