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Dear Centenary,
I don’t know that Advent is a very popular season in our culture. It involves anticipating the coming of Christ into the world. It calls us to prepare for the arrival of God in Christ through prayer, reflection, and self-examination. In praying and hoping for a Savior to come, we, like the people of Israel are acknowledging that all is far from right with us or the world.
This Sunday is our Service of Advent Lessons and Carols here at Centenary. I hope you’ll join us for worship in person if possible, and online if not. At our Bible Study this week, we walked through the different elements of the service to prepare ourselves for worship this Sunday. Here are a few things we learned. Perhaps some of what we learned will help you as you prepare to worship with us Sunday.
The choir will begin outside the sanctuary, reminding us of the world beyond our doors, a world filled with possibilities to be sure, but a world also filled with pain, brokenness, division, and grief. The choir sings a Matins Responsory. (A lot of this language is unfamiliar, I know, but bear with me a moment or two). Matins one of the offices, or times of prayer, in a monastery. It is the time of prayer in the night, just before dawn. So, imagine that our worship on Sunday is beginning in darkness and that we are eagerly, perhaps desperately, searching for the light.
The choir moves around from place to place as the service progresses, physically reminding us of our search for the light of the world. The seven Scripture readings remind us of the suffering of Israel, particularly the suffering they endured when the city of Jerusalem and the temple were destroyed in 586 BCE and many of the people of Israel were taken captive, exiled in Babylon. There they longed for a new day to come. They longed for a deliverer to set them free. They questioned their faith. They longed to go home. Finally, their prayers were answered. They got to return and rebuild the city and the temple. Each of the readings is followed by Carols and/or Hymns that reinforce the message of each Scripture we will hear read. The themes of these texts and songs are longing in the midst of suffering, hope in the midst of great disappointment. The central hope expressed throughout this service is of a just and righteous ruler to come and set things right. People are longing for a Savior to deliver them. We might ask ourselves throughout this service what we long for as individuals. We might consider where we and our world need deliverance, justice, and peace. The two final texts focus on John the Baptist’s message of preparation and finally the fulfillment of the people’s long-held hopes for a Messiah in the birth of Jesus.
The choir finally arrives in the chancel area signifying their discovery, our discovery and recognition of the light that has entered the world in Christ. The long search that began in the darkness of night has not been unfruitful. The choir then sings a Vespers Responsory. Vespers is an evening service in the monastic tradition. So, this musical call and response celebrates that the journey we began before sunrise, this journey that has lasted throughout a very long day together, has come to an end.
But the journey hasn’t ended yet, not really. The last hymn reminds us of that. We’ll sing a great Charles Wesley hymn that focuses on Christ’s return to earth in victory, reminding us that there is more work yet to be done, and that Christ’s victory over sin, evil, suffering, sorrow, and pain, will one day be complete! The choir recesses out, leading us back into the world where we began to share the light we have found.
I’m hoping and praying that something will happen to us this Sunday in worship that challenges us, inspires us, and empowers us to find faith if we have never discovered it, to reclaim faith if we’ve lost it, and to reconsecrate ourselves to faithfulness to God’s calling to be the light of the world!
Peace,
Matt
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