We
all know there is much competition for attention between Advent and
Christmas Season (Advent 1 through Epiphany, January 6), and the wider
culture's "Christmastime" (November through December 25).
The result of this competition? "Christmastime" generally wins, and the primary focus of Advent on thesecond coming of Christ as fulfillment of all promised in his first coming, which we celebrate during Christmas Season, is lost.
That's
a major loss. Advent is the one time of the church year specifically
dedicated to this focus. While we rehearse and remember the second
coming, new creation, and the fulfillment of all things every time we
pray the Great Thanksgiving and celebration Holy Communion, Advent was
developed from the beginnings to be the season where focus our worship
and teaching around this explicitly. The Church Year starts with Advent
precisely so we can "begin with the end in mind."
I've used the
picture above in this kind of article for several years now because it
still speaks so eloquently. Look at it closely. The setting is the marketplace. No one is paying
attention to this man's sign
except the photographer. Everyone else is walking by, as if the sign
means nothing. The sign is there, yes. But it makes no difference to what anyone else is doing. They're there to shop! They aren't there to think about the end, or proper ends, of this world. Of
course, "Christmastime" causes us to lose more than just Advent. In
effect, we often lose Christmas Season, too. These twelve days (December
25-January 6) were designed as a time of celebration and intensive
contemplation of what the Incarnation of God in Jesus Christ began to
set loose in the world. Christmastime essentially ends with the babe in the manger and the comforting illusion that all is now well with the world. Our Christmas Seasonbegins
with the birth of Jesus and gives us two full weeks to encounter the
extraordinary love, threats, dangers and opportunities God's Incarnation
set off then and still sets off today.
The contrast could not
be more stark. The mission of
Christmastime is to silence the cries of the baby Jesus, because his cries would break the illusion that all is
well if we have played our role as "seasonal consumers" aright. But the
readings of Christmas Season do not let us do that. We hear poignantly
of the martyrdom of Stephen on December 26 and the wailing of Rachel
renewed in the "slaughter of the innocents" on December 28. The stories
of terrified then joyous shepherds in Luke, of wandering Iraqi
astrologers in Matthew, and of the Word becoming flesh and dwelling
among us in John provide at best a "strange comfort."
Christmastime lulls. Christmas Season awakens. Christmastime
offers a nostalgia- and consumerism-driven Lethean escape from this
world. Christmas Season drives us directly into this world's deepest
sufferings and most profound hope.
The powers of this world love
Christmastime, because it gets them off the hook! Christmas Season
reveals the lengths to which the powers of this world will go to avoid,
obstruct or halt the coming of God's kingdom. For the Church to keep Advent and Christmas Season need not call us to
stand back from or in harsh judgment on what the surrounding culture has created (with our
cooperation!) in Christmastime. Feelings of peace and comfort, the joy of giving and receiving, warmth in the midst of winter-- these are all fine things. We can still enjoy them with family, friends and siblings in Christ.
But actually keeping these seasons in worship and in the life of the congregation calls and equips us for something far more, and far richer, than
what “Christmastime” offers. A full
celebration of Advent, four to seven weeks, followed by a full celebration of
Christmas Season enables us to see what the wider culture often keeps
invisible, to feel with a depth Christmastime may anesthetize, and to love with
the fierce determination of “God with us, every one.”
Three Ways Forward: Modest, Restorationist, and Radical
A Modest Way In our article, A Modest Proposal for Advent/Christmas Peace, Safiyah Fosua,
Dean McIntyre and I suggested starting the singing of Advent music two weeks
early, and Christmas music beginning with what is now
the third Sunday in Advent. This would give four full weeks of Advent
focus, at least musically, plus up to four full weeks for Christmas
(counting Epiphany Day or Sunday), giving each some significant time and
focus. This wouldn't require changing lectionary readings at all. A Restorationist Way
A similar approach is offered by The Advent Project. Developed
by Rev. Dr. Bill Petersen, Episcopal priest and liturgical scholar,
together with a seminar of other scholars and practitioners in the North
American Academy of Liturgy, The Advent Project also suggests changing
the liturgical calendar, but not the lectionary at all. Petersen and
company note that Advent used to be a season of seven Sundays until Pope
Gregory VI shortened it to four in the eleventh century.
While
Pope Gregory VI shortened the celebration, he actually didn't change the
lectionaries. This meant that the readings appropriate for a seven-week
celebration of Advent were still being read for seven weeks, starting
with the first Sunday after All Saints Day (November 1). The current
lectionaries Western Christians now use, both Roman Catholic and Revised
Common Lectionaries, have preserved that pattern as well. So the Advent
Project's proposal, already tried in a number of Episcopal, Lutheran
and United Methodist
congregations, aligns our celebration of Advent with the
lectionaries we already have. Nothing else changes. Just the starting
date for Advent, and, perhaps, as the project notes, the number of
candles that might in included in an Advent wreath (seven plus a central
candle, rather than four). The Advent Project website
has not only rationale, but also a rich set of resources including
suggested prayers and "O Antiphons" (related to verses for "O Come, O
Come Emmanuel") for each Sunday to help congregations who want to try it
get started with solid support.
The Advent Project proposal
also seems also be to gaining some wider ecumenical traction. This year,
United Methodist, Episcopal, United Church of Canada, Presbyterian
Church USA,
Anglican Church of Canada, and several other denominations will continue
to raise awareness of this possibility through their websites. The
Consultation on Common Texts (developers of the Revised Common
Lectionary) hosted an ecumenical forum on the topic at our meeting in
New York in March, 2012.
And we'll be offering a webinar with United Methodist practitioners of "Extended Advent" on September 15, at 7:30 p.m. CDT for all who wish to learn more about why you might extend Advent where you are and how to do it. Click the link for more info and to register.
A Radical Way
Many of us
recognize that while these proposals would
restore a longer time of
Advent celebration, it may not yet directly
address what for nearly all of us remains a serious truncation of
Christmas Season. Our congregations seem to spend all their energy on
Christmas Eve, few keep Christmas Day itself, and as for the rest-- it's
one or two "low Sundays" at best until folks get back from various
"Christmas vacation" schedules. While the church year calls for high
celebration and deep contemplation together, we are most often more
scattered and less focused on worship in the two weeks following Christmas Eve than at any other time of the
year. That
is why I have offered a third, much more radical approach. It rearranges the
lectionary and, more dramatically, the calendar to produce for a four-week Advent and a four-week
Christmas Season.
Here's how it works. Start Advent two weeks
early,
and celebrate it for four weeks, ending with Advent 2 on the current
calendar. There are no changes in the lectionary so far. You just back
up and use the previous two weeks as Advent readings, which works just fine.
Then, on whatwould
have been the Third
Sunday of Advent, start celebrating Christmas Season by using the
readings
for the Day of Epiphany. For what had been Advent 4, use the readings
for the
Sunday after Christmas. For Christmas Day and Eve, flip the established
readings-- so the Incarnation is front and center on what is likely to
be the most widely attended service. Then, for the next two Sundays, use
the readings for Advent 3
and 4 as further reflection on the implications of the Incarnation and
as lead-ins to Baptism of the Lord Sunday (first Sunday after January
6).
Here's a proposed set of readings for Advent and Christmas Season 2014/2015 based on this plan: Advent 1: November 15
This
way, even if the people in your congregation are scattered after
Christmas Eve, you will still have given two full Sundays while more
people are around to the established Christmas Season Sunday readings,
not to mention Christmas Eve and Christmas Day itself, and you will have different readings to explore in a new way for the Sundays after Christmas.
This proposal is also
problematic. It seriously messes with the
calendar and the order of the lectionary we have and share with many
other Christians worldwide. It widely separates Epiphany from Baptism of
the Lord, while the two had originated as celebrations kept on the same
day. It may represent too much of a concession to the
pressures of US culture. And because it is such a radical change, it may
also be very unwelcome, despite the fact it may address our
theological,
liturgical and cultural needs for giving serious attention to both
seasons.
How Will You Respond? The time has
come, clearly come, to celebrate both Advent and Christmas as fully as possible in the lives
and worship of the Christians called United Methodists. So let me suggest you prayerfully consider how you will do something to ensure your congregations have a richer celebration this year than last of Advent and Christmas. Pick
one of these proposals, and give it a serious try. Or try something
else, such as a full regular celebration of Advent and Christmas Season
using the calendar and readings we already have, celebrating Advent for a
full four weeks beginning November 29, 2015, and then a full
Christmas Season (through Epiphany, January 6) beginning December 24 after sunset-- finding some way to keep the
energy of Christmas going well after Christmas Eve and its focus well
beyond the babe in the manger.
We have a powerful message to
proclaim, celebrate and contemplate as fully as we can at this time of the year.
Resolve to do what it takes to make that happen where you are.
And
know you have the full support of the worship office at Discipleship Ministries and our counterparts in many other denominations
as you do!