Worship - December 13, 2018

Photo by Dylan Mello

    The advent season has always held a special place for me when it comes to worship.  The ability to have reflection time and expectation has really grabbed a hold on me as each annual Advent season approaches.  Every year, I love waiting to hear and sing the specific hymns of Advent. The anticipation we experience each week in our services as we await the joy of Christmas brings me a sense of awe and wonder.  

    The main highlight of my worshipping experience is the Advent Lessons and Carols. No matter what church I’ve been in, each special service fills me with a feeling that is hard to describe.  A building filled with fellow worshippers exploring the meaning of the season is quite a sensation. Personally, this worship experience allows me to let go, listen to themes, the words, and attempt to find the message in front of us. A particular anthem, “Veni Domine”, stands out to me at this time of year.  The translated words are such, “Come, Lord, and do not delay. Visit us with your peace so that we can rejoice in your presence with hearts made pure. Come, Lord, and as a mother consoles her children, so shall you comfort us, and we shall see you and our hearts will rejoice.” I can’t help but see the imagery of these lines and how this captures many of the feelings of Advent.  I can see Mary holding the newborn Jesus, comforting his hunger, fears, and cries. And so, we turn in the same way to Jesus. We wait for the celebration of his birth to remember how we share and experience this love.

    Advent is a busy season for worshipping.  There is much time spent looking ahead to the planning of Christmas and all that entails.  I think it is important to slow down and recognize the importance of this waiting. We are waiting to rejoice in the celebration of Jesus and the peace and love that he brings.  We can remember why we have four Sundays of the season, why we light the candles each week, and how refocusing our efforts can bring us back to a place of solace.

Post by Dylan Mello

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas”

Embed from Getty Images

From Psalm 28:

        The Lord is my strength and my shield;

                    my heart trusts in him, and I have been helped;

        Therefore my heart dances for joy,

                    and in my song will I praise him.

“It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas,” says one popular song you’ve probably heard lately.  But as I go about my daily life, I’m struck by how much it’s sounding like Christmas. Our world right now is saturated with music looking forward to Christmas. It’s everywhere you go, as the song says—in shopping malls, on the radio, in elevators and doctors’ offices, in television commercials and at the movie theatres. I even had Christmas-themed hold music on a phone call yesterday.

These songs—both the secular ones and the traditional Christian hymns—go a long way towards getting is un the holiday spirit.  They remind us of warm, cozy evenings spent with family and friends; they invite us to be jolly and cheerful; they offer solace for people who struggle with anxiety, loneliness, or fear, particularly in this time of year. Many cherish attending a performance of Handel’s Messiah, or of going to a local parish’s service of Lessons and Carols. And I’m sure I’m not alone in looking forward to hearty singing at a midnight service on Christmas Eve.

The world—and the church—often uses music to set a tone, to get us in a particular mindset or mood. But how can we use the music in our lives more intentionally, as a way of responding to God? In Psalm 28, praising God in song is a response to God’s steadfast love. The psalmist, thankful for God’s grace and protection, offers not faint praise but jubilant dance and song.

St. Augustine famously wrote that those who sing, pray twice. In this season of preparation and renewal, consider which familiar songs embody how you might respond to God’s working in your life. Perhaps, this Advent, the quiet expectancy of “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” reflects your sense of anticipation. Or perhaps the majesty and awe of “Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending” speaks to your yearning for Christ’s glorious reign. In this season filled with so many familiar songs, which songs can you use in your own prayer life?

Post by Jett McAlister