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Advent Listening and Waiting in Full Color

 

Today’s post is from the artist Robyn Sand Anderson.

 

In 2015, I created a series of paintings interpreting Arvo Pårt’s “Magnificat & Sieben Antiphonen”. I had interpreted music with paint a few years prior and found it to be particularly fulfilling. I seem to see certain colors with certain notes, chords or voices. I made the decision to try another grouping and consulted Dr. Brian Schmidt, a friend from our previous congregation in New Ulm, MN. I had worked with him on Buxtehude’s Member Jesu Nostri when he was choral conductor at Duke University Chapel. He suggested Arvo Pårt’s Magnificat grouping, which his South Dakota Chorale had performed. I listened to the CD and was moved to interpret it.

This painting is the first of eight and is named “Magnificat”. I listened to the music multiple times, letting it wash over me, waiting for visuals that come from it. I usually see a certain color or two, sometimes an image or symbol, texture or movement. Sometimes I will sketch, sometimes I just start with a color and see where it takes me. One decision leads to another. It involves a lot of “listening” and waiting, but also a step forward and sometimes back. Like Advent. We wait. We listen. We boldly take a step forward. Sometimes it works, and sometimes we need to step back and wait. Discern. Listen. And then we see glimpses of beauty, of light in the darkness.

I am in a book club right now and we are reading “Neither Wolf Nor Dog: On Forgotten Roads with an Indian Elder” by Kent Nerburn which speaks to this opening up to our Creator.

Listening and waiting. Two things that are very hard for us to do, yet there is great Beauty waiting for us there.

 

La Posada, Searching for Shelter

 

Today’s post is from Patrick Cabello Hansel, co-pastor at St. Paul’s Lutheran in Minneapolis, MN.

The first Baby Jesus at our church is now 11 years old.  He’s the goalie on our soccer team, which finished runner-up this year.  The year he was baby Jesus, his mom and dad were Maria y José (Mary and Joseph), and his six-year-old sister was an angel.  The now not-so-little boy was born here and holds the rights of U.S. citizenship. The rest of his family members are immigrants, who have not always found the welcome they came looking for.

La Posada is a traditional Mexican and Central American Christmas procession, in which the congregation walks with María and José looking for Posada, or shelter for the baby Jesus.  People walk from house to house singing Christmas carols, often carrying candles.  José sings a song at each house they stop at.  The English version goes something like this:

Lodging, I beg you, in the name of heaven.

My beloved wife is weary, she can’t walk anymore.

We line up the houses ahead of time, and the people who meet us at the door are coached to be mean innkeepers.  They sing back to the congregation something like this:

We don’t take people like you, you’re too poor.

Leave us alone, go away!

So the pilgrims continue walking. Depending on the weather, we visit a few more houses, then end up back at the church, where this time, the pilgrims are welcomed in. We sing carols in candlelight, then onto the fiesta: food, music, piñata.

No matter the cold, there is joy in walking outside in a winter night. There is mystery, there is danger, there is hope that someone will welcome us.

Today, there are more refugees in the world than any time since World War II, and immigrants are demonized across our land.  What if each of those families was Mary and Joseph?  What if each of those children was the Holy Child, the one bringing peace? What if each of us was the shelter, the posada?

 

Advent 4 with Hymns from Around the World

 

Today’s post is from Lydia Posselt, Pastor at Family of God in in Buckingham, PA. This is the second of two posts about how congregations will be worshipping this year when the fourth Sunday of Advent falls on Christmas Eve.

 

I’m coming to the end of my first year as pastor in my congregation, and Christmas is the last “first” of the list. This also happens to be the year when Advent 4 is Christmas Eve. Since the day is so full, I decided to concentrate on Christmas Eve and to adapt an “Advent Lessons and Carols” service from Sundays and Seasons for the morning service. The result is a relaxed service that recognizes Advent 4. Since I know that many of my members will likely come to both the morning service and also one of the two Christmas Eve services we offer (at 4 and 8p.m.), this is a way we can give attention to both celebrations.

This particular Sundays and Seasons template we’re using is called “Savior of the Nations Come” and highlights Advent hymns from around the world.  For the most part I’m using the hymns S&S recommends, like “Come Now, O Prince of Peace” (ELW 247) and “He Came Down” (ELW 253), but I made a few small changes to the liturgy: I took out the opening dialogue so that we can still light the 4th candle on the Advent wreath and do our usual lighting liturgy, and I added where each of the hymns come from next to where they are listed in the bulletin. I also swapped out “The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came” (ELW 265) for the “Canticle of the Turning” (ELW 723) which happens right after the annunciation reading from Luke 1:26-38. That way we hear the text of the annunciation and then we get to sing a version of the Magnificat “along with” Mary.

After I came back from a trip to Namibia in May to preach at the Lutheran World Federation Assembly, I have been introducing a few of the hymns I learned while there in our worship, and my congregation has enjoyed learning them. I think it’s important to highlight that Lutherans come from all over the world, as do great hymns. There are just too many good Advent hymns to include during any given Advent season, and I think this service is a great way to enjoy ones that might not otherwise make it into the rotation this year. Even though they may not be all that familiar to my congregation, they are catchy tunes that are easy to learn and very singable. If this goes over well, it will be something we can keep “in our back pocket” whenever the next time Advent 4 is also Christmas Eve… or really at any point during Advent we want to do something a little different!

Pictures are of members of Family of God painting the back glass wall of our sanctuary, which separates the sanctuary from the narthex (above) and the finished painting all ready for Advent (below).

 

A Bridge from Advent to Christmas

 

Today’s post is by Gretchen Rode, Associate Pastor at House of Hope in New Hope, MN. This is the first of two posts on how congregations will be worshipping on the 4th Sunday of Advent/Christmas Eve.

 

This year, the 4th Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve.  At House of Hope in New Hope, Minnesota, we know that a morning worship service is important so that those who come home for the holidays or routinely come on Sunday morning have a place to be during this usual time.  We also want to honor that it is a busy day for us as pastors/church staff and that most of our people will already be in the Christmas Eve mood.  With this in mind, we hope to have a light-hearted time of gathering to mark this last day of Advent and begin to move into Christmas together as a community.

So, to bridge between Advent and Christmas, we have created a service that starts in Advent and ends in Christmas.  Our service begins in the darkness of Advent with the lighting of the Advent wreath, singing Advent hymns “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus” and “Prepare the Royal Highway,” and reading the Gospel for the Day (Luke 1:26-38) which tells the story of the Angel Gabriel coming to Mary.  The Gospel is a perfect bridge to our well-known Christmas story.  We will sing “The Angel Gabriel” after the Gospel (skipping the sermon time) and transition to the Christmas portion of our service.  This second half of the service will include a statement of faith crafted from Psalm 98*, Christmas hymns “Joy to the World” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” and, in a nod to the traditions of the season, we will bless Christmas ornaments* and gifts* and sing “Deck the Halls.”  We hope that this shortened service will send our people out into the day, centered on Christ and ready to celebrate together this blessed time of Christmas!

We will be using liturgy from Sundays and Seasons for quite a few parts of this service.  We love the “Call to Worship from Psalm 98” and will be using it as our statement of faith: “Justice for everyone, everything fair! Sing to God something brand new!  For God has done wonderful things!”  For the blessing of Christmas ornaments, we will invite congregation members to bring an ornament from home (and we will have some on hand to give out as well).  This blessing will be a slightly altered “Blessing of the Christmas Tree,”* adding to the last line “May we who stand in its light eagerly welcome the true Light that never fades, and as we carry these ornaments home may we remember that your light goes with us wherever we go. All glory be yours now and forever. Amen.”  We envision that everyone will hold their ornament as they sit in the pew and saying this blessing together.  If there are many children at this service, I might invite them up during this time to help lead the blessing from the front.  We intend to incorporate the Blessing of the Gifts Rite during the Benediction as a sending.

We hope that each part of the service will help our congregation to celebrate this joyful day and to connect rites that are done at home with the welcoming of God into the world that we celebrate at Christmas time in the Church.

 

*Liturgy for the Statement of Faith from Psalm 98, the Blessing of the Christmas Tree, and the Blessing of Gifts come from Sundays and Seasons in the Seasonal Rites for Christmas for Year B, 2018.

 

LiturgyGram: About the Season of Advent

 

Advent is the first season in the church year, comprising the four weeks before Christmas. The word “Advent” comes from the Latin, “to come,” and the church has observed Advent as weeks of preparation since the fifth century with themes of watchfulness, preparation, and hope infusing this season. Together we both anticipate the celebration of God’s coming in the form of the Christ child and the final coming of Christ in the time to come. Blue or purple is the appointed color for the season.

 

A Few Notes on Current Practices for Celebrating Advent

  • Lutheran churches observe Advent in numerous ways. Most light the advent wreath during the four weeks of Advent, adding one new candle each week. These candles are typically lit during the Gathering rite. Prayers for the Advent Wreath lighting can be found in Sundays and Seasons.

 

  • Some congregations hold midweek services during the Advent season.

 

  • Many congregations experience the challenge of celebrating Advent in a culture that celebrates Christmas during the month of December. The commercialism of Christmas can so easily creep into the faith practices of the church. Some congregations hold Advent Festivals for the Sunday school or Advent musical events to help the faithful understand how to keep Advent amid the culture’s early celebration of Christmas. Advent devotional booklets for home use are also a helpful resource.

 

  • Theological issues related to Advent often come up when discussing worship planning, especially related to musical matters. On the one hand, Advent is a time to prepare, to sing music related to the impending birth of Christ. On the other hand, as Christians, we know that Christ is already present with us. It is important that Advent is not a “pretend time,” as if Jesus had never come into the world. Focusing on the waiting for the light of Christ in a dark world and on the eschatological nature of Advent can help make Advent a more depth-filled, honest time of waiting.

 

  • Keeping this in mind, it is wise to make musical decisions in Advent (as in all other times) with care. Some assemblies do not sing any Christmas carols in Advent, remaining true to the spirit of watching and waiting that characterizes the season. Other congregations, for pastoral or teaching reasons, begin to sing some Christmas carols in Advent. If a new Christmas hymn is to be learned, for example, Advent might be a time for teaching.

 

FAQ: Why do we make the sign of the cross?

 

Today’s post is an excerpt from the FAQ resource, “Why do Lutherans make the sign of the cross?” The complete FAQ and many others can be found on the ELCA Worship web site.

 

“In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit” or “Blessed be the Holy Trinity, + one God, who forgives all our sin, whose mercy endures forever.” These words begin the orders for Confession and Forgiveness in Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The rubric (directions in red italics) that accompanies these words says: The assembly stands. All may make the sign of the cross, the sign marked at baptism, as the presiding minister begins.

As this invocation is made, an increasing number of Lutherans trace the sign of the cross over their bodies from forehead to lower chest, then from shoulder to shoulder and back to the heart; and others trace a small cross on their foreheads.

The sign of the cross, whether traced over the body or on the forehead, is a sign and remembrance of Baptism. The Use of the Means of Grace, The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America’s set of priorities for the practices of word and sacrament, says of this gesture:

These interpretive signs proclaim the gifts that are given in the promise of God in Baptism…The sign of the cross marks the Christian as united with the Crucified (28A).

The sign of the cross is ecumenical, in that is used by the Orthodox, Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and Episcopalians, and is slowly increasing in use among mainline Protestants. It is also a remembrance of the death and resurrection of our Lord: the center of our faith. The sign of the cross is a treasured part of our heritage as Lutherans, because the practice was encouraged and used by Martin Luther himself. Luther made provisions for using the sign of the cross on at least three occasions.

  • In Holy Baptism The text of Luther’s 1526 Order of Baptism called for the sign of the cross to be made over the candidate as a part of Baptism. “Receive the sign of the holy cross on both your forehead and your breast” (Luther’s Works 53:107).

 

  • At Ordination. In his order for the Ordination of Ministers of the Word, Luther says of the benediction: “The ordinator blesses them with the sign of the cross” (Luther’s Works, 53:126).

 

  • In Daily Prayer. Luther instructed his followers to make the sign of the cross at both the beginning and the end of the day as a beginning to daily prayers. In the Small Catechism, in the section on morning and evening prayers Luther says: “When you get out of bed, bless yourself with the holy cross and say ‘In the name of God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.’ ” This same instruction is given for bedtime.

 

To learn more about the sign of the cross and the times when it is often used during worship, read or download the full worship FAQ here.