Christians have observed Advent since at least the fourth century. The word comes from the Latin adventus, meaning “coming.” Advent began as 40 days of baptismal preparation leading up to the celebration of Epiphany. Over time the season evolved into the four-week pre-Christmas observance it is in most liturgical traditions.
Advent scriptures offer an unusually wide-angle view of God’s plan. Christians know we live between Christ’s incarnation and his return, but Luke 1 and Revelation 21 can seem like two very disparate biblical events until we experience the Advent reality that God is up to something—always has been, always will be (Isaiah 43:19). When we connect God’s unconditional love and unwavering faithfulness across time, we also see God’s pattern of promises made, promises kept, promises that will be fulfilled. Advent can be a sacred connector, simultaneously completing and restarting the story of our salvation and offering us unwavering hope no matter what each new day or each new year might bring.
So how do we set the table for this seasonal banquet? How can we communicate the awe and wonder and hope and promise of Advent? There are the visible trappings to be sure, but few of these have the potential we church musicians can access through music and through relational ministry.
To be sure, people will have multiple distractions over these four weeks:
- Anyone working retail will be hoping for a prime season of sales.
- Anyone whose age is still in single digits will be hoping for face time with Santa.
- Corporate types will be hoping to close the quarter strong.
- Teachers and students will be laser-focused on the start of winter break.
Church musicians are not immune to our own form of seasonal distraction disorder. Advent is a calendrical reality—the culmination of months of planning, rehearsals, and prayer. From concerts to caroling to candlelight services, Advent can seem like a nonstop slide from Thanksgiving leftovers into Christmas pajamas. Hope for us can mean our singers stay healthy, our instrumentalists show up on time, and the weather cooperates with our worship and concert schedules.
What all of us can miss in our jam-packed December days is the voice of Advent reminding us to remember, cherish, and proclaim the life-shaping, context-defying, future-defining hope we have as people of God redeemed by Jesus Christ. The One who loves us unconditionally not only came to us as one of us—to live and show us how to live, to suffer and take away the power of our suffering—but that same Lord has promised to return and complete the restoration of creation (Revelation 21:4). Promises made—promises kept—promises yet to be fulfilled. We have so much hope to share!
So how can we share this hope and help our people share it too? We have the gifts of time, music, and prayer.
The gift of time might initially sound ironic as we contemplate the next few weeks, but consider the face time you will have in the rehearsals and presentations during Advent. Choose your words and your warm-ups carefully. Focus people’s attention on the good news they will have the privilege of proclaiming through the texts they are singing and the notes they are playing. Warm up their hearts as well as their fingers and voices.
The music of Advent is itself a gift. Look closely at the hymns, songs, and anthems you’re preparing. More than likely, you’ll find God’s hope everywhere! Rehearse the texts and their meaning as thoroughly as you rehearse the notes. Invite your people to connect the poetry they are singing with the scripture that inspired it. Remind your musicians how composers used their craft to bring the texts to life, and consider ways you can offer the same insights to the congregation in worship or the audience in performance.
A Marty Haugen hymn based on the words of many prophets is a classic example:
To us, to all in sorrow and fear, Emmanuel comes a-singing,
His humble song is quiet and near, yet fills the earth with its ringing;
music to heal the broken soul and hymns of loving kindness,
the thunder of His anthems roll to shatter all hatred and blindness.
The prayers of Advent can bring the reality of God’s promised hope into the changing context each new year brings. One of my favorite prayer cycles, the O Antiphons, can be particularly helpful. Traditionally meant to be prayed one per day the week before Christmas, these prayers can also be repeated each day or each week throughout the season and be as fresh and relevant as each day’s news cycle.
I’ve adapted the traditional language for daily devotional use. These can be prayed as is, or they can become the prompts that inspire your personal prayer:
Wisdom of God, reaching from age to age and guiding creation in love: teach us how to pray for our world today.
Mighty Lord, who gave your Law to Moses on Sinai: teach us how to live as your people amid the challenges and changes we face.
Root of Jesse, sign of God’s love for all people: show yourself throughout your world, and reveal that world to us through your eyes.
Key of David, opening God’s eternal Kingdom: free the prisoners of darkness, whatever form that darkness may take.
Eternal light of God’s justice: shine on those who suffer injustice and who live in the shadow of death.
King of the world and Lord of the Church: restore your creation with power and love.
Emmanuel, God-with-us: help us to rejoice!
Above all, don’t let the urgency of this season distract you from the importance of the message it brings—that despite any evidence to the contrary, we who are people of God are invited and equipped to bring the hope we have found in Christ to the world—in December and all year round. The final verse of the Hagen hymn defines our banquet of hope:
Rejoice, rejoice, take heart in the night, though dark the winter and cheerless,
the rising sun shall crown you with light, be strong and loving and fearless.
Love be our song, and love our prayer, and love our endless story,
may God fill every day we share, and bring us at last into glory.
—from Rejoice, Rejoice!
Awake, Awake and Greet the New Morn
by Marty Haugen © 1983, GIA Publications
Amen! ….and our opening hymn for Advent 1.