Tomorrow is a very special day. It is the first Sunday in Advent. For me, this season brings with it a sense of great anticipation and joy, as well as a subtle underlying sense of dread. Now, I am sure that many of you can understand this sense of dread with Christmas being less than a month away and all of the shopping, activities and festivities that must be crammed into those 27 days, but, I have a sense of dread that most people would find hard to understand, and that dread is Christmas music.
LOL I thought that might catch your attention. I am sure that you are wondering, why on earth would anyone dread Christmas music? Well, I am glad that you asked. First, let me say that I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! I always have and I always will. It is my favorite music and as a matter of fact I have it playing on the stereo right this moment as I am writing this. I remember as a young boy, singing in the Moline Boys Choir, we would begin preparations for the Christmas concert season in September, so I had the opportunity to enjoy Christmas music from September through early January when the Christmas concert season ended. Even to this day, I have at least 2 Christmas songs on my MP3 player that stay on there all year long.
The dread that I face is the same as the dread that most pastors face this time of year. When do we sing Christmas music? When I first was introduced to the Pastor Parish Committee of Cana and Crothersville UMC’s I was asked, “Do you like Christmas Music?” I thought Wow, if this is the most difficult question that I am asked in this process, this will be a piece of cake. Of course I answered, “Yes, I love Christmas music,” Which met with a resounding chorus of pleasure from the group that was assembled. Well, apparently, Christmas music had been a source of contention in the past because they had pastors who would not do Christmas music until after Christmas.
Now, I can already sense the concern welling up inside of you, why would you wait until right at Christmas or after to sing Christmas songs? The answer is really quite easy, as I said, tomorrow begins the season of Advent, NOT Christmas. Yes, I know that the world celebrates Christmas beginning as early as October. Wal-Mart had the Christmas music going right after Halloween and they have had their Christmas section up and going much earlier than that. Even Karen always tries to put up her Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving or as soon after as possible.
The problem for a pastor or worship leader, is how do you stay true to the Christian calendar in a world that is pushing Christmas ever earlier and earlier? If I follow the world’s time table, we would simply ignore Advent and go straight to Christmas. I am sure that there will be people upset with me tomorrow because I don’t have any “Christmas “ songs, "Joy to the World," "What Child is This?" etc., planned although I have 4 beautiful Advent Carols scheduled, and thankfully for me at least two of them will be recognized by the congregation as “Christmas” carols. The dilemma that I face, is should we simply ignore Advent? I know there are those who would say YES, but as a pastor, I can no more ignore Advent than I can Lent. We would never sing “Christ the Lord has Risen Today” on Good Friday, let alone Ash Wednesday. These are critical times of reflection and introspection for the church, and to ignore them just because the world is rushing to join the big party and celebrate Christmas is simply wrong, in my opinion.
I do have to smile when people tell me that, “We have always sang Christmas songs beginning after Thanksgiving!” Well, that is not really true, I know that when I grew up we never put up our tree until the 13th of December, which was my Mom’s Birthday, and before that, most Christmas traditions involved putting up the tree and preparing for Christmas on Christmas Eve. Yes, I know that for most of us we grew up in a world that pushed Christmas earlier and earlier, mostly because Macy’s and the other retailers wanted us to, but it hasn’t been that many years ago that the season of Christmas really began much closer to Christmas than it does now. Even the popular song “The 12 Days of Christmas” refer to the 12 days AFTER Christmas, between December 25th and Epiphany January 6th.
So now, what do I do about it as a pastor? Prepare for an open revolt among the congregation? Possibly! Stick to my conscience and make everyone mad? Could be! The funny thing is that I thought that I had truly found a great compromise one year between the world and the church. The first Sunday of Advent, I had 2 out of four songs as Advent carols or Christmas carols, the second Sunday of Advent 3 out of four were Christmas or Advent carols, and then the third and fourth Sunday of Advent were ALL Christmas. Don’t you think that sounded like a reasonable compromise? Well, apparently not. I was told that ALL of the hymns beginning with the first Sunday of Advent had to be Christmas or people would just go somewhere else where they can get what they want, meaning, all Christmas music all the time:) . Are you beginning to see why I dread the decisions about Christmas music.
Well, this year I have decided that it really isn’t worth having people get angry over, I already have the music planned for this Sunday, basically using up the Advent carols in the UM Hymnal, and starting next Sunday we will be doing almost exclusively Christmas music, (perhaps with different Advent words, I know, I am such a rebel)
My prayer for everyone is that this season of Advent be filled with a spirit of joy and happiness. I also pray that you take the time to contemplate the meaning of the season, and that you are not too quick to move from Thanksgiving into Christmas. May the Peace, Joy, Love and Hope of the season of Advent be truly a blessing for each of you. And, as for the Christmas music? Don’t give your pastors too hard of a time, they love Christmas music too!
Blessings
LOL I thought that might catch your attention. I am sure that you are wondering, why on earth would anyone dread Christmas music? Well, I am glad that you asked. First, let me say that I LOVE CHRISTMAS MUSIC!!! I always have and I always will. It is my favorite music and as a matter of fact I have it playing on the stereo right this moment as I am writing this. I remember as a young boy, singing in the Moline Boys Choir, we would begin preparations for the Christmas concert season in September, so I had the opportunity to enjoy Christmas music from September through early January when the Christmas concert season ended. Even to this day, I have at least 2 Christmas songs on my MP3 player that stay on there all year long.
The dread that I face is the same as the dread that most pastors face this time of year. When do we sing Christmas music? When I first was introduced to the Pastor Parish Committee of Cana and Crothersville UMC’s I was asked, “Do you like Christmas Music?” I thought Wow, if this is the most difficult question that I am asked in this process, this will be a piece of cake. Of course I answered, “Yes, I love Christmas music,” Which met with a resounding chorus of pleasure from the group that was assembled. Well, apparently, Christmas music had been a source of contention in the past because they had pastors who would not do Christmas music until after Christmas.
Now, I can already sense the concern welling up inside of you, why would you wait until right at Christmas or after to sing Christmas songs? The answer is really quite easy, as I said, tomorrow begins the season of Advent, NOT Christmas. Yes, I know that the world celebrates Christmas beginning as early as October. Wal-Mart had the Christmas music going right after Halloween and they have had their Christmas section up and going much earlier than that. Even Karen always tries to put up her Christmas decorations on Thanksgiving or as soon after as possible.
The problem for a pastor or worship leader, is how do you stay true to the Christian calendar in a world that is pushing Christmas ever earlier and earlier? If I follow the world’s time table, we would simply ignore Advent and go straight to Christmas. I am sure that there will be people upset with me tomorrow because I don’t have any “Christmas “ songs, "Joy to the World," "What Child is This?" etc., planned although I have 4 beautiful Advent Carols scheduled, and thankfully for me at least two of them will be recognized by the congregation as “Christmas” carols. The dilemma that I face, is should we simply ignore Advent? I know there are those who would say YES, but as a pastor, I can no more ignore Advent than I can Lent. We would never sing “Christ the Lord has Risen Today” on Good Friday, let alone Ash Wednesday. These are critical times of reflection and introspection for the church, and to ignore them just because the world is rushing to join the big party and celebrate Christmas is simply wrong, in my opinion.
I do have to smile when people tell me that, “We have always sang Christmas songs beginning after Thanksgiving!” Well, that is not really true, I know that when I grew up we never put up our tree until the 13th of December, which was my Mom’s Birthday, and before that, most Christmas traditions involved putting up the tree and preparing for Christmas on Christmas Eve. Yes, I know that for most of us we grew up in a world that pushed Christmas earlier and earlier, mostly because Macy’s and the other retailers wanted us to, but it hasn’t been that many years ago that the season of Christmas really began much closer to Christmas than it does now. Even the popular song “The 12 Days of Christmas” refer to the 12 days AFTER Christmas, between December 25th and Epiphany January 6th.
So now, what do I do about it as a pastor? Prepare for an open revolt among the congregation? Possibly! Stick to my conscience and make everyone mad? Could be! The funny thing is that I thought that I had truly found a great compromise one year between the world and the church. The first Sunday of Advent, I had 2 out of four songs as Advent carols or Christmas carols, the second Sunday of Advent 3 out of four were Christmas or Advent carols, and then the third and fourth Sunday of Advent were ALL Christmas. Don’t you think that sounded like a reasonable compromise? Well, apparently not. I was told that ALL of the hymns beginning with the first Sunday of Advent had to be Christmas or people would just go somewhere else where they can get what they want, meaning, all Christmas music all the time:) . Are you beginning to see why I dread the decisions about Christmas music.
Well, this year I have decided that it really isn’t worth having people get angry over, I already have the music planned for this Sunday, basically using up the Advent carols in the UM Hymnal, and starting next Sunday we will be doing almost exclusively Christmas music, (perhaps with different Advent words, I know, I am such a rebel)
My prayer for everyone is that this season of Advent be filled with a spirit of joy and happiness. I also pray that you take the time to contemplate the meaning of the season, and that you are not too quick to move from Thanksgiving into Christmas. May the Peace, Joy, Love and Hope of the season of Advent be truly a blessing for each of you. And, as for the Christmas music? Don’t give your pastors too hard of a time, they love Christmas music too!
Blessings
1 comment:
Very nice blog. Personally Christmas songs are my favorite. You should sing "Joy to the World" every week! However, I am a little upset that there was no recap to my thanksgiving...
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