Advent: Finding the Balance Between the Sacred and Secular

You know the routine: the Friday after Thanksgiving, the secular Christmas season officially begins. Of course, Christmas decorations have been up for a week or so, Christmas displays in stores have been twinkling for a month by now, and some ornaments and other decorations have been sitting on the shelves since before Labor Day. Forget the Twelve Days of Christmas; today it's the Twenty (or so) Days of Christmas, beginning with the Friday after Thanksgiving.

That's how the commercial Christmas season goes. Frankly, it poses a problem for the church musicians and worship leaders who want to observe the season of Advent. How do you resist the clamor to sing Christmas carols on the first Sunday in Advent when the malls have already been playing them for several days? How do we help Christians truly prepare-in a spiritual rather than a material sense-for the coming of our Savior in the form of Jesus? The key to helping us all prepare for the coming of Christ is balance: between Advent and Christmas, between the sacred and secular, between the culture and Christ.

What Is Advent?

Advent is the season four weeks before Christmas in which we prepare for the coming of Christ. Its name comes from the Latin word adventus, which means "coming." The season proclaims Christ's anticipated coming again in the fullness of time, as well as the coming of Christ as infant Savior whose birth we celebrate at Christmas. Because the season emphasizes Christ's comings and not merely his birth, it is not enough to use the season merely as a preparation for Christmas. Instead, the time is appropriate for preparation for the second coming of Christ and the inward soul searching that should mark that preparation.

The Sundays in Advent focus on the second coming of Christ (first Sunday), John the Baptist's message of Christ's coming (second and third Sundays), and the events just before Jesus' birth (fourth Sunday). There are appropriate hymns for every Sunday in Advent in The United Methodist Hymnal. However, some of these hymns are unfamiliar to many United Methodists. Further, many of worshipers are unfamiliar with the season of Advent and are caught up in the secular celebrations going on all around them. Trying to explain to someone who just heard "What Child Is This" over the sound system at the mall that we should reserve that hymn for the fourth Sunday in Advent is often a difficult task.

Many worship leaders are tempted to take extreme positions. On the one hand, one might stick legalistically to the lectionary, refusing to bow to cultural pressures to move Christmas up several weeks. Leaders who take this position risk confusing and even angering those who do not appreciate the purpose of Advent as a time of spiritual preparation. If worship leaders want to plan worship with the people they serve in mind, then having a stubborn approach to Advent may not serve the needs of the congregation well.

The other extreme approach is to bow to cultural pressures and go ahead with the Christmas celebration. Sing the Christmas carols, but save those that mention Christ being born today for later in the season. Enjoy the fun before Christmas carol saturation makes people want to throw the radio out the window if they hear dogs singing "Jingle Bells" one more time. This approach may appease many members, but it also denies them the potential fullness of the season. We celebrate the birth of Christ because of who Christ becomes, our Savior and Lord. If we focus only on the birth, we run the risk of being sentimental and of cheapening the significance of Christ's life.

Finding the Balance

Fortunately, worship leaders have options. Use the suggestions below to spark discussion and creativity among your worship planning team. Keep in mind that the goal of worship preparation and planning is to meet people where they are and to help them encounter the living Christ in worship. For other suggestions regarding worship planning for Advent, see The United Methodist Music and Worship Planner (Abingdon Press).

Shift the lectionary readings a week or two. One of the purposes of the Revised Common Lectionary is to allow worshipers to experience the entire biblical story, not just the pet passages of the preacher. The Scripture themes of the last Sundays in Pentecost and the first Sunday in Advent are similar, focusing on the coming reign of God and the second coming of Christ. Use the first two Sundays in Advent to explore John's proclamation of the coming of Jesus. In the last two Sundaysin Advent, move more toward the Christmas readings. Use the fourth Sunday in Advet readings on the third Sunday and the Christmas Eve readings on the fourth Sunday (especially if you do not have a Christmas Eve service). Or you might use the fourth Sunday in Advent reading from Year B (Luke 1:26-38) on the third Sunday; then complete that passage with the fourth Sunday reading, Year C (Luke 1:39-45) on the fourth Sunday.

Use some of the more general Christmas carols ( or verses thereof) in the early Sundays in Advent. Some suggestions:

• Away in a Manger, United Methodist Hymnal, 217, verse 3
• It Came Upon the Midnight Clear, #218
• O Little Town of Bethlehem, #230, verses 3 and 4
• En el Frio Invernal (Cold December Flies Away), #233, verses 1 and 2
• O Come All Ye Faithful, #234, refrain
• Hark! the Herald Angels Sing, #240, verses 2 and 3
• Love Came Down at Christmas, #242, verses 2 and 3
• Joy to the World, #246, verses 2, 3, and 4
• There's a Song in the Air, #249, verse 3
• Once in Royal David's City, #250, verse 4

You might use several verses of these hymns as a carol medley, or use verses on their own as congregational or choral service music.

Teach some of the new Advent hymns to your congregation. Every Christmas carol was new to the people when it was first introduced. Use a gathering time before worship to teach a new hymn. Choose one of the hymns as a theme for Advent, and sing it each week in the service. For example, "Prepare the Way of the Lord," #207, is a very easy round to sing with the congregation. Teach it the first Sunday, then use it as a congregational call to worship for the four Sundays in Advent. Next year it will be familiar to the congregation, and you can use it as a hymn.

Have the choir sing one of the newer Advent hymns as a hymn anthem. Have the children or youth sing "Prepare the Way of the Lord," #207 or "Toda la Tierra" (All Earth Is Waiting"), #210. Have the adult choir sing "Blessed Be the God of Israel," #209; "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light," # 206; "To a Maid Engaged to Joseph," #215. (Instructions for these hymn anthems are available in 52 Instant Hymn Anthems by David L. Bone, Abingdon Press). Adults may also sing "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming," #211, and "People, Look East," #202. (Instructions for these hymn anthems are found in Hymn Anthems for the Church Year by Julia Morgan, Abingdon Press.)

As you plan for Advent, remember to keep the balance between the liturgical need to prepare for the coming of Christ (both as an infant and in his final reign) and the needs of the people in the pews. A more centrist practice of Advent may provide an opportunity for education and preparation without alienation.

Peace to you in your planning.

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Anne Burnette Hook formerly served as is the director of music resources for the Discipleship Ministries.