Advent (from the Latin word adventus, meaning “coming”) is a season of the Christian church, the period of expectant waiting and preparation for the celebration of the Nativity of Jesus; in other words, the period immediately before Christmas.

Since Advent begins tomorrow, I’m preparing for it this weekend. Some of my favorite Advent activities include:

• Making an Advent wreath and lighting it throughout the season (we’re doing this tomorrow after the church service).
• Listening to Christmas music from the church (current favorite: Christmas with the Tallis Scholars)
• Watching the old Disney cartoon, The Small One.  I watched this as a child, and now as an adult it makes me cry!

This year I am also going to make an effort to work through an Advent specific devotional.  I’ve done this in the past, but I’d love to get back into the habit.  I’ve chosen Love Came Down: Anglican Readings for Advent and Christmas for this year’s readings!  What are some Advent traditions that you honor every year?

For more Advent celebrations, check out the Third Annual Advent Carnival!

The definition on Wikipedia of Evensong is pretty accurate to what I attended yesterday:

Evening Prayer is a liturgy in use in the Anglican Communion (and other churches in the Anglican tradition, such as the Continuing Anglican Movement and the Anglican Use of the Roman Catholic Church) and celebrated in the late afternoon or evening. It is also commonly known as Evensong, especially (but not exclusively) when the office is rendered chorally (that is, when most of the service is sung). It is roughly the equivalent of Vespers in the Roman Catholic Church and the Lutheran churches, although it was originally formed by combining the Roman Catholic offices of Vespers and Compline. Although many churches now take their services from Common Worship or other modern prayer books, if a church has a choir, Choral Evensong from the Book of Common Prayer often remains in use because of the greater musical provision. Evening Prayer, like Morning Prayer (Mattins) and in contrast to the Eucharist, may be led by a layperson, and is recited by some devout Anglicans daily in private (clergy in many Anglican jurisdictions are required to do so).

The service was lovely.  It was mostly sung, and the choir was AMAZING.  My only thought was that I wish I’d had the words they were singing in the program (I’m much more of a visual learner, so I get a lot more out of it if I can read along when I hear choral music).  The service was also a bit more traditional – there was incense, and the language was a bit older.  All in all, I enjoyed the service and will likely attend again, but the 11:15AM service will still be my regular service.

Does anyone else have any experience with Evensong?

However, to me, Christmas has a different meaning. To me, Christmas is a celebration of love in honor of God loving us so much that He gave us His only Son (John 3:16)! Decorating is a fun activity that allows us to spend time together, giving gifts is a thoughtful outward expression of love, and the music is a way to worship and adore Christ.

Yes, I’m well aware that Christmas Day is not the actual date of Christ’s birth, that it was picked for a pagan holiday, yada yada, yada. I don’t really care. Do we think that Memorial Day is a bad idea because it doesn’t actually fall on the day that all the service men and women died? Of course not! We celebrate Memorial Day as a day of remembrance for what has passed. I view Christmas the same way. People get so caught up in the specifics of if it is completely factual that they don’t bother to take it for what it is – a remembrance of the birth of our Savior.

Christmas music holds a particular place in my heart. I love music – always have, and I’m sure I always will. I grew up listening to music, and music has a very strong presence in my life. While there are the secular Christmas songs (Rudolph, Frosty, and all that), I mostly listen to religious Christmas music. And I don’t mean Steven Curtis Chapman’s latest hit – I have strong opinions about the Christian music industry, but that’s best saved for another post.

I mean the songs themselves – “O Holy Night,” “Silent Night,” “Ave Maria,” as well as greater choral works. Many of them are not in English, but as a result of my singing in choirs for so many years, I am able to understand the songs. They seem to hold a feeling of reverence. I love to listen to them as I work, as I am driving, as I am meditating on His word. My musical experience allows me to feel as though His presence is visceral. I love it.

On Sunday evening we went to our church’s “Lessons and Carols” service. Basically what we did is we read passages from the Bible about the birth of Christ (including the prophecies, so we read from Genesis, Isaiah, Malachi, and Luke), and after each passage there was a song about that portion of the story. Sometimes the congregation sang, sometimes the Cancel Choir sang, sometimes the children’s choir sang . . . it was lovely. It brought so much more to the songs to see their biblical foundations, and it brought a new experience to the Word that I was able to keep humming!

What a joy it is that the Lord gave us not only His Son, but also that He gave us so many ways to worship Him! Listen closely to the Christmas music you hear this season, and remember why we sing these songs, and what they truly represent!

Christmas Piano photo, Originally uploaded by pinkertons.