When can you begin having Christmas music during worship services?
Some suggest that the liturgical calendar requires 4 weeks of Advent preparation before Christmas begins. So you don't hear a note of Christmas music until Christmas Eve. Others believe that Christmas music is appropriate during the weeks of Advent.
While I can see the merits of both sides, I personally fall into the second category. Then again, I've celebrated "Christmas in July" before in congregations, complete with Christmas carols and outreach mission efforts, so I might be an outlier in this conversation, given that I think Christmas music is appropriate during the season after Pentecost.
Partially, this is because I think that most Christians are more familiar with the cultural calendar nearing Christmas, rather than the liturgical calendar. It can be weird to hear Christmas music, including religious music like "Joy to the World" or "Do You Hear What I Hear?" on the radio and in public, but not in church.
Even more, few Christians have much experience celebrating 12 days of Christmas -- in fact, they may not even know that the interminable song of that name is drawn from the Christian calendar. Worse, when people go back to work and school after the start of the new year, they are mostly thinking about when they should pack away the decorations... while the church is still celebrating Christmas.
The bigger challenge, though, is that I'm not convinced that the church does a very good job of showing the relationship between Advent and Christmas, especially when compared with the similar relationship of Lent and Easter.
While both Advent and Lent are seasons of preparation, they both naturally and necessarily incorporate parts of Christmas and Easter. Each Sunday in Lent is a feast day of the resurrection, at the very least. If Communion is celebrated, the reality of God's incarnation in Jesus and the resurrection are explicitly celebrated. Communal prayers usually recognize both of those realities too.
Advent is a season of preparing for something specific, the birth of Jesus and the coming of Emmanuel. This is why John the Baptist features so prominently in the scripture selections for the season (alongside beloved passages of Isaiah): his role is to prepare and announce the coming of the Christ. In some ways, John the Baptist makes very little sense unless you talk about Jesus at the same time.
So I'm not convinced that eliminating Christmas music from worship services during Advent really accomplishes what some hope. Aside from overcomplicating the lives of music directors -- really, I have yet to find a true Advent cantata that isn't at least 50% Christmas music and texts -- I'm not sure that it conveys much of importance to people in worship services.
Then again, I'm always happy to hear a strong view in the opposite direction. In the meantime, I imagine we'll keep singing Christmas music during Advent, the 12 days of Christmas, and occasionally in July.
Some suggest that the liturgical calendar requires 4 weeks of Advent preparation before Christmas begins. So you don't hear a note of Christmas music until Christmas Eve. Others believe that Christmas music is appropriate during the weeks of Advent.
While I can see the merits of both sides, I personally fall into the second category. Then again, I've celebrated "Christmas in July" before in congregations, complete with Christmas carols and outreach mission efforts, so I might be an outlier in this conversation, given that I think Christmas music is appropriate during the season after Pentecost.
Partially, this is because I think that most Christians are more familiar with the cultural calendar nearing Christmas, rather than the liturgical calendar. It can be weird to hear Christmas music, including religious music like "Joy to the World" or "Do You Hear What I Hear?" on the radio and in public, but not in church.
Even more, few Christians have much experience celebrating 12 days of Christmas -- in fact, they may not even know that the interminable song of that name is drawn from the Christian calendar. Worse, when people go back to work and school after the start of the new year, they are mostly thinking about when they should pack away the decorations... while the church is still celebrating Christmas.
The bigger challenge, though, is that I'm not convinced that the church does a very good job of showing the relationship between Advent and Christmas, especially when compared with the similar relationship of Lent and Easter.
While both Advent and Lent are seasons of preparation, they both naturally and necessarily incorporate parts of Christmas and Easter. Each Sunday in Lent is a feast day of the resurrection, at the very least. If Communion is celebrated, the reality of God's incarnation in Jesus and the resurrection are explicitly celebrated. Communal prayers usually recognize both of those realities too.
Advent is a season of preparing for something specific, the birth of Jesus and the coming of Emmanuel. This is why John the Baptist features so prominently in the scripture selections for the season (alongside beloved passages of Isaiah): his role is to prepare and announce the coming of the Christ. In some ways, John the Baptist makes very little sense unless you talk about Jesus at the same time.
So I'm not convinced that eliminating Christmas music from worship services during Advent really accomplishes what some hope. Aside from overcomplicating the lives of music directors -- really, I have yet to find a true Advent cantata that isn't at least 50% Christmas music and texts -- I'm not sure that it conveys much of importance to people in worship services.
Then again, I'm always happy to hear a strong view in the opposite direction. In the meantime, I imagine we'll keep singing Christmas music during Advent, the 12 days of Christmas, and occasionally in July.
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