Friday, June 20, 2008
Christmas in July? (Advent in August?)
Today is the longest day of the year, and so, naturally, my thoughts turn to ... Advent. Maybe because this means we’re halfway to the next longest night of the year, which for one church makes for a powerfully resonant Advent service. But on this day of bright sunshine, let me ask worship planners: Christmas in July? Advent in August?
Why not? Although many preachers get to November and wonder how in the world they’re going to tell the same story all over again the following month, I (and I’m just a biblical studies student, not a preacher or
worship planner, so I don’t know what I’m talking about when it comes to planning) find that one month isn’t enough for me to explore all the rich themes and layers of that great mystery, the Incarnation. So if you’re curious, or just looking for something to fill those summer months, I’d be intrigued by a summer series on the Incarnation.
I should clarify up front: I do think the traditional Christian year bears great wisdom in its attempt to move us through the progression of Christ’s life and reign, from manger to cross to crown, and so I’m not a fan of whimsical reshuffling of the liturgical seasons (and definitely not any permanent changes to them). But when you look at them, the themes—if not the actual season—of Advent fit very well between Ascension Day and Christ the King Sunday.
To begin with, our current post-Ascension Day focus on Christ’s triumphant kingship is the perfect transition into the first week of Advent, which focuses on Christ’s second coming more than his first, as Joyce Zimmerman explains. She says that in that way, Advent doesn’t hit the “rewind” button on the Christian year and start from the beginning, but it flows naturally from the liturgical season before it.
Put differently, we could say that Ascension Day sets up a new perpetual Advent season, as we await Christ’s coming again. The actual Advent season comes, and begins, in that context.
And so, just as this current season of Christ’s kingship shapes how we worship in Advent, maybe Advent can help shape how we worship in this season celebrating Christ’s reign. After all, we have an ascended high priest who is “able to sympathize with our weaknesses” (Hebrews 4) precisely because he “became flesh” (John 1), who is exalted because he, “though he was in the form of God, did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited, but emptied himself ... being born in human likeness” (Philippians 2). (Listen to this stirring sermon on these passages.) Our king came down from heaven to be born in a manger, and that astounding fact forever defines his rule from his throne. He is Lord not just because he is fully God, but because he became (and remains!) fully human. He is omnipotent but showed his might by becoming a helpless baby. And so we could spend the whole summer simply worshiping Christ as lofty, but maybe we could spend some time in the summer meditating on what it means that Christ became lowly.
Speaking more practically, wouldn’t it be refreshing to ponder some of the truths of Advent without the annoying distractions of the Christmas shopping season? Maybe taking Advent out of its familiar surroundings, which often numb us to the raw astonishment of the Incarnation, would help us experience the promise of “Immanuel,” God with us, in worship in a new way.
Interdisciplinary Application • Leadership • (0) Comments • Permalink