My favorite season is Advent. Growing up, my family did a great job of embodying the season of Advent. We had joy as the decorations went up. We had anticipation as we did the Advent Calendar together. We had peace and longing as we lit the advent wreath before each meal together and sang O Come O Come Emmanuel.
Yet as a pastor, I've been forced to realize that many in our churches do not know the meanings behind our traditions. Do the lights remind us of the coming of the light of the world into our darkness? Do the presents remind us of the greatest gift of all? Does the Advent Wreath speak of longing for complete peace, justice, love, etc.?
In the Emergent Church, one of the marks is a reclaiming and re-appropriating of Ancient symbols. While my church is far from emergent, I've used this idea to remind me to "tell the old old story." In Advent, we must articulate the importance of our longing and the symbology of the decorations, lights, & wreath.
For the last two years, one of my congregants has made it very clear that she is angry when we don't sing Christmas songs starting at the beginning of Advent. While I find this both disturbing and sad, I have found the need to bridge the gap between those who celebrate Advent and Christmas with those who celebrate only Christmas. This year, we are doing a Hymn Sing for 10 min. before worship in order to get some of our favorite Christmas songs in. This frees us to focus more on the longing of Advent during the worship service.
So to honor the longing of Advent, we've been exploring the ways our world is broken and in need of Christ, in the future, in the past, and in the present, through us. It has been great! The longing has been a core feature.
Yet in order to bridge the gap, we have done all this through the Christmas story itself: Kings, Shepherds, Nativity (with an end times story and Christ's Baptism thrown in early on). As a pastor, I have to help interpret the story to where people are, not where I think we should be. Hopefully, through bridging the gap, we are speaking to the longing in all of us, and our empowerment through Christ to make a difference today.
