Advent Worship Music

Joseph beat me to the punch on my usual Thursday post! Ya snooze, ya lose, I guess (plus, he's 5 hours ahead of us in the UK!).  In the interest of consistency, I'm double-dipping a bit - this is a revision of a note I posted on facebook a week or two ago.  Many churches - especially those that use primarily contemporary worship music - struggle to know what to sing in congregational worship during the Advent season.

From my totally subjective perspective,** here is a list of 13 contemporary/popular worship songs that aren't traditional Christmas/Advent songs - they're mostly songs that are sung throughout the year - but that I think are particularly appropriate during the season of Advent (and brief annotations as to why)...and I leave it to you to let me know what I've left off, or what I am mistaken to include...Perhaps this list helps, or at least provokes some discussion and other (better!) ideas...

• Here I am to Worship - "light of the world, you stepped down into darkness...humbly you came to the earth you created / all for love's sake became poor" - skip the bridge during Advent, though ("...to see my sin upon that cross") - or maybe all the time...it just doesn't fit the rest of the song, thematically, as someone recently pointed out to me.
• Hosanna (Praise is Rising) - I think Palm Sunday songs are great for Advent. When we cry "Hosanna!" we are saying, literally "God save us!"
• Mighty to Save - "everyone needs...a Savior / the hope of nations...author of salvation" - I don't even mind changing "we're singing for the glory of the RISEN King" to "NEWBORN King" during Advent/Christmas...but that's your call. (That it's #1 on the CCLI charts might or might not speak to its merit, in your opinion...)
• Love Came Down - awesome new song by Brian Johnson - can be played acoustically (like we did today) or as a rock song. "Love came down and rescued me / Love came down and let me free."

Advent Wreath

Advent has begun. I trust you all have had a great first Sunday of this season.

My wife and I moved to our town in June. She got a job at the Nazarene Church here as part-time pastor alongside the full-time pastor. I was taken on as a one-day-a-week/unpaid deacon. In one of our recent meetings we decided that I would be in charge of the Advent wreath for this year. I thought about using whatever the church had on hand, but I figured, 'You know what, why not just make one.'

So I did (pictured above). I cut pine branches and holly branches and cedar-looking branches and put them together around a circle-shaped 'oasis'. The symbolism of the different foliage is significant, so we took the first part of the service to have a liturgy explaining and sanctifying the making of the Advent wreath. We were happy to find that after the service, many of the congregation complimented the 'new' Advent wreath and appreciated the explanation.

In light of this, I wonder how many of our congregations know what the Advent wreath means? Do any of you take time to explain the meaning of all the elements and not just the candles? I had only participated in a service like this a couple of times and found it to be a really positive experience for our largely 'liturgically deprived' congregation.

Peace,

Joseph

Blog Profile: Advent Longings

Quick resource post at the start of advent - follow Pastors Jon Twitchell, Jeremy Scott and others on their Advent Longings blog. They are providing resources for local churches to journey through the Advent season together.  Join in!  Thanks to all the contributors for their efforts!

Advent and Christmas practices

Two more Sundays to Advent 1. In anticipation of this time of anticipation, I wanted to get some ideas about singing during the Advent season.

Advent and Christmas have been high-jacked by consumer culture. The shops are already being transformed into Christmas shopping Meccas, the shoppers are receiving leaflets in the mail advertising Black Friday, and the children are being bombarded with toy advertisements during Dora the Explorer and the Backyardigans. Once the shopping commences, the shoppers are enveloped with Christmas songs, 'I'll be home for Christmas', 'I'm dreaming of a White Christmas', even 'Joy to the World'.

Advent liturgy « Godspace

I thought you all would like this, it is actually a video clip!

Peace,
Steven

Advent Practices

With the season of Advent almost here, I was wondering what are some of your Advent practices? Do you use an Advent wreath, when do you start singing Christmas carols, when do you decorate the Church and what are some of your favorite Advent hymns? One thing I have done is to use the collect for the First Sunday of Advent from the BCP as a opening prayer each of the four Sundays of Advent.

"Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, now and for ever. Amen"

Peace,

Pastor Steven