"if we obey the liturgical rubrics, the main Sunday services continue doggedly to proceed as though the nativity has not yet happened, when everything around them proclaims that it has. OUR SISTERS put up no decorations until Christmas Eve, and our feasting starts on Christmas Day (and is well worth waiting for). But the staff who work with us find this austerity unnatural, and do their best to cheer us up by bringing in cards and candles and boxes of chocolates, and — of course — mince pies. For years, I have struggled with this, trying to keep an Advent stillness within myself, while being assailed by premature festivities all around, and sometimes being required to provide them. Last year, I declined to attend a glorious cathedral carol service in the first week of December. I would have loved to take part in it after Christmas, but it was not on offer then."
That articulates the dilemma very acutely and nicely. And I have over the years tried to hold something of a line over this, mainly because I keep hearing moans about the commercialisation of Christmas and the way it loses its meaning and have felt that perhaps trying to work with the 12 days of Christmas and observing Advent more disciplinedly could help with that. I do think that part of the problem is that the extension of the season into late November and the focus on all the present giving on one day is part of the problem. Smearing the season over a month seems to trivialise some of the meanings and inoculate us even more to the meanings in the carols of gospel messages. There is an important function psychologically and sociologically to having seasons of preparation which include restraint and self-discipline before festival seasons. It's about rhythm, appreciation, capacity building for enjoyment and wholistic appreciation of the context of celebration in a still-suffering world.
However, I'm beginning to think that being too counter-cultural may be a lost cause and we may be better to recognise the reality and -once again- go down the route of weaving significant aspects of the non-Christian festivities into a Christian framework.
Sr. Rosemary writes,
"When I reflected ... the truth finally hit me. December is note a preparation for Christmas; it is Christmas. Keeping Advent in December is a lost cause. Does that mean that the profound spirituality of Advent has been lost too? Not necessarily, if the churches could only decide to accept the suggestion tentatively offered in The Promise of His Glory: Services and Prayers for the Season from All Saints to Candlemas (Church House), ... and move the time of preparation to the real pre-Christmas period: November. In this less eventful month, people could be encouraged to attend a short study course, or gatherings for quiet prayer, at a date when they need not worry about meetings clashing with parties. Preaching and meditation on the traditional four Last Things could very suitably be linked with All Saints, All Souls and Remembrance Sunday, at a time when Common Worship: Daily Prayer (Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England)
already directs us to focus on the Kingdom."
My own experiments so far with this ran to having Advent start on or after 17th November as part of honouring our Celtic heritage and links to Eastern Orthodoxy who had and have a 40 day season of preparation for Christmas analogous to Lent. So perhaps, combined with the All Saints and All Souls/remembrance idea this could make a coherent approach.
Sr Rosemary points out a further advantage to approaching things in this way:
"Preaching in these weeks could offer extended consideration of the great mystery of the incarnation. I have often felt frustrated at the lack of opportunity to invite the congregation to engage deeply with the theological significance of Christmas. The emphasis at Christmas services is often on welcoming occasional attenders, and some of the most thoughtful of the regulars are away spending the holiday with Granny.
A midnight mass enlivened by the presence of post-party revellers, a Christmas morning service — complete with excited children clutching presents, and parents anxious about roasting turkeys and visiting relatives — does not offer the most propitious setting for demanding theological thought. It would be good to have done that earlier."
I do think that this is probably a really fruitful way to go. And it needn't 'throw' currently successful Advent occasions: "Those churches that have the resources to offer an Advent carol service or procession could still hold it on the Fourth Sunday before Christmas, but as marking a heightened stage in this time of preparation rather than its beginning. Advent wreaths and calendars could similarly be used to produce a crescendo towards the climax of the feast itself." which seems fair enough and workable. Though I would say that it may be worth reworking things like Advent crowns to work with the revised approach; all sorts of creative possibilities suggest themselves. Advent 'crowns' with 7 or 8 lights (picking up some Hanukkah resonances, perhaps), perhaps the last three being red, green and white (pulled from the predominant colours of secular celebration). It'd be interesting to play with liturgical colours for this too. Perhaps deep blue for the start of November, shading into a traditional purple and then a week or so into December picking up a variety of 'Christmas colours especially white and red and green in combination ... ?
I'm actually pretty sold on this approach broadly ... but I'm wondering what other people might think too.
And I wonder what sense it makes in the antipodes too.
Church Times - Find a new space for the incarnation
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