Advent soon approaches!

Lamb

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Does your church do anything for advent? Special services? Wreath with candles for lighting each week? Certain songs to sing?
 

psalms 91

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Yes we do the candles and we have wreaths
 

Josiah

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Does your church do anything for advent? Special services? Wreath with candles for lighting each week? Certain songs to sing?


I pick my battles VERY carefully.... and I don't assume or feel that MY opinions need to mean anything..... church families are FAMILIES and I'm just one lowly member...... but there are some (unimportant) things in my parish that PERSONALLY I'd prefer to be otherwise. At my church, Advent and Christmas are completely intertwined as if one season. In the 4 weeks prior to Christmas, there are BOTH advent and Christmas hymns ... the advent wreath is up (with a lighting ceremony at the beginning of the service) but the Christmas tree is soon ALSO up (??!!??). Now, at Christmas Day, the color changes from blue to white and the advent wreath disappears and the advent songs stop - so the Christmas part lasts longer than the Advent part, but for the first 4 weeks, they seem intertwined. Do I lose any sleep over this? No. Have I chosen to even say anything to the pastor or elders about this? No. But each of the 4 weeks of Advent, it strikes me as ..... not traditional. In a church were half of the members are former Catholics and that's relatively liturgical, this surprises me just a bit. I try to be a duck sometimes - letting things roll off me like water. Every parish has it's traditions, its way of doing things - and that's okay. None of this is dogma, none of this is a matter of Scripture and Confessions....
 

Lamb

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I think some churches enjoy the suspense of the coming birth of the Lord :) It's like a great build up!
 

ImaginaryDay2

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I pick my battles VERY carefully.... and I don't assume or feel that MY opinions need to mean anything..... church families are FAMILIES and I'm just one lowly member...... but there are some (unimportant) things in my parish that PERSONALLY I'd prefer to be otherwise. At my church, Advent and Christmas are completely intertwined as if one season. In the 4 weeks prior to Christmas, there are BOTH advent and Christmas hymns ... the advent wreath is up (with a lighting ceremony at the beginning of the service) but the Christmas tree is soon ALSO up (??!!??). Now, at Christmas Day, the color changes from blue to white and the advent wreath disappears and the advent songs stop - so the Christmas part lasts longer than the Advent part, but for the first 4 weeks, they seem intertwined. Do I lose any sleep over this? No. Have I chosen to even say anything to the pastor or elders about this? No. But each of the 4 weeks of Advent, it strikes me as ..... not traditional. In a church were half of the members are former Catholics and that's relatively liturgical, this surprises me just a bit. I try to be a duck sometimes - letting things roll off me like water. Every parish has it's traditions, its way of doing things - and that's okay. None of this is dogma, none of this is a matter of Scripture and Confessions....

How do you see the seasons as different? What separates them? I ask as one who has moved back into a more traditional mindset from evangelical.
 

Lamb

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The seasons are marked with specific readings, colors, themes that help celebrate events and festivals.

Advent marks the beginning of the church year.

Here is a link for the Lutheran seasons:
http://www.bethelutheran.org/pages.asp?pageid=58331

Here is a nice image

Church%20Year%20blue3.jpg
 

Josiah

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How do you see the seasons as different? What separates them? I ask as one who has moved back into a more traditional mindset from evangelical.


Lamm did a good job in post # 6.... (she tends to do that)


I think the various "seasons" are simply focuses..... ways to make sure all that needs focus gets it (things aren't overlooked) and things that need a LOT of focus (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost for example) get the appropriate focus. And each has their own traditions, hymns, symbols, Bible readings - all make for a coherent message/focus.

For ME, there's another benefit, as well. I LIKE the idea that generally, over 90% of Christians around the world are celebrating/focusing/learning the same thing - same Bible readings, same Sunday of the Church Year... yes, there are billions of individual Christians, there are millions of congregations, there are thousands of denominations.... we're worshiping in hundreds of different languages in hundreds of different cultures... but we ARE one body, one church, one family - with the same readings, same focus, same worship. I like that. I'm not saying some non-denom can't have it's own individual focus, readings, etc. - nothing forbids that - but being a part of the ECUMENICAL practice of liturgical worship is something I appreciate. On those rare Sundays when my parish does "it's own thing" (or example, we recently had 3 weeks of stewardship emphasis.... early next year we're having a 3 week emphasis on prayer) - when we go off and do our own thing - it's okay but I do feel the separation with the whole church and I'm glad to get back on tract.



- Josiah



.
 
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Does your church do anything for advent? Special services? Wreath with candles for lighting each week? Certain songs to sing?

No nothing. Sometimes my mom buys a calender.
 

psalms 91

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Yes my Methodist church does
 

ImaginaryDay2

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Lamm did a good job in post # 6.... (she tends to do that)


I think the various "seasons" are simply focuses..... ways to make sure all that needs focus gets it (things aren't overlooked) and things that need a LOT of focus (Christmas, Easter, Pentecost for example) get the appropriate focus. And each has their own traditions, hymns, symbols, Bible readings - all make for a coherent message/focus.

For ME, there's another benefit, as well. I LIKE the idea that generally, over 90% of Christians around the world are celebrating/focusing/learning the same thing - same Bible readings, same Sunday of the Church Year... yes, there are billions of individual Christians, there are millions of congregations, there are thousands of denominations.... we're worshiping in hundreds of different languages in hundreds of different cultures... but we ARE one body, one church, one family - with the same readings, same focus, same worship. I like that. I'm not saying some non-denom can't have it's own individual focus, readings, etc. - nothing forbids that - but being a part of the ECUMENICAL practice of liturgical worship is something I appreciate. On those rare Sundays when my parish does "it's own thing" (or example, we recently had 3 weeks of stewardship emphasis.... early next year we're having a 3 week emphasis on prayer) - when we go off and do our own thing - it's okay but I do feel the separation with the whole church and I'm glad to get back on tract.



- Josiah



.

Thanks for this. I think what's been missing for so long for me is that sense of connection - as you said, part of an Ecumenical practice. Even though a certain Evangelical church may hang a denominational shingle on the porch, what I may get at another church of the same denom. on the same Sunday will most certainly be different. So the end result for me is there's no cohesive message and focus. But now, there have just been too many years gone by where the liturgical seasons have had no meaning for me, and I need to change that. Certainly, I know the mantra of "it's not the responsibility of the church, you can study on your own". And individual study is fine - i've been doing that. But the corporate focus and "edification", if you will, is just as essential.
 

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I was in a choir for many years and absolutely loved it. When I became choir director I learned more about the church seasons and went hunting for music that would apply. It gave the readings for Sundays more meaning and I still have gobs of music memorized so that when any pastor brings up a part of scripture I probably know a song about it ;)
 

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Last Sunday was the beginning of the season of advent. A blessed season in which the faithful remember that their God became a man to dwell among men and bring life and salvation to light. It is also a time to anticipate the fulfilment of the Lord's promises when he will return to judge the living and the dead - his reward is with him to being blessing to the faithful and to cut off wickedness from the earth forever. It is a penitential season because we think of the humility of God for our benefit and we think of our own duplicity when we contemplate his coming to judge the world. It is a blessed time because with God's grace we have hope of eternal life, the life of God himself, curing all our ills of heart and body.

Have a blessed advent :)
 

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On my kitchen table I have an advent wreath and I am using those battery operated flameless candles so that I can keep them lit and enjoy the spirit of the holiday season. A local radio station has real Christmas songs playing all month long now with church choirs and schools singing about the sweet baby Jesus instead of Santa Claus coming to town.
 

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On my kitchen table I have an advent wreath and I am using those battery operated flameless candles so that I can keep them lit and enjoy the spirit of the holiday season. A local radio station has real Christmas songs playing all month long now with church choirs and schools singing about the sweet baby Jesus instead of Santa Claus coming to town.

That's different. Even local 'Christian' stations will sometimes go overboard with an endless loop of the top 20 CCM Christmas 'hits', so that must be nice.
 
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Lamb

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Reviving an old thread!

December 2, 2018 is the beginning of Advent. My church has began a seasonal choir and I'm excited that we'll get to sing a song for the advent season. One is a little more contemporary and not a favorite of mine but it's easy for the members to learn.
 

Lamb

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Reviving an old thread!

December 2, 2018 is the beginning of Advent. My church has began a seasonal choir and I'm excited that we'll get to sing a song for the advent season. One is a little more contemporary and not a favorite of mine but it's easy for the members to learn.
 

Albion

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Yes. Everything that was mentioned in the OP.

Advent's color ought to be violet/purple, by the way, unless it is indigo. And the traditional color for the third Sunday is rose, signifying that the penitential season is shortly to yield to the spirit of Christmas. That's usually reflected in the Advent wreath, although some churches just use purple for the four Sundays of Advent and the candles in the wreath representing them.
 

NewCreation435

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Reviving an old thread!

December 2, 2018 is the beginning of Advent. My church has began a seasonal choir and I'm excited that we'll get to sing a song for the advent season. One is a little more contemporary and not a favorite of mine but it's easy for the members to learn.

Most Baptist churches I have been in have a cantata where the choir sings. When I was a pastor many years ago many of the members came from a Methodist church and we had an advent wreath and lit candles every week. But, most Baptist churches I know of don't have an advent wreath.
 
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