Rethink Mission: Inspiring gospel-centered missional churches

The season of Advent is right around the corner – the first Sunday is November 29th – and many churches have no idea how to help their people experience this season.

In some way, singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Andrew Bird gets this better than many pastors do.

This winter, Andrew is doing a small series of special concerts in older church sanctuaries in Chicago & Minneapolis.

From a recent article in Paste Magazine:

Inspired by childhood memories and Dutch term gezelligheid (which loosely translates as “coziness”), Bird plans to prioritize violin over horn instrumentals under a new, more ambient light, as he switches out the churches’ traditional overhead fixtures. “I want the audience to be both lifted and comforted as we head into another cold and dark winter,” he said in a statement. “I feel the space should be sacred so the audience can experience my music in a different atmosphere.”

Warmth, ambiance, sacred space. You might not have a chapel, cathedral or other sacred space to work with – but there are some things you can do to help set aside the time leading up to Christmas in a distinct way:

Think Simple, Think Sacred
You don’t have to go overboard this season. The point is to provide a sacred, reverent atmosphere for people to reflect appropriately on Christmas. Even if your worship is normally loud and long with a large band and joyful, upbeat songs – you can pare that down and weave in simpler, more reflective song choices.

You may be a contemporary church, but this is the season to experiment working in some liturgical elements in a tasteful way. This helps disarm the modern consumer spectacle we’ve made of Christmas by tying the season back to the ancient ways it has been observed.

Classy Not Gaudy
If you’re a traditional church, you’re going to be tempted to litter your stage with poinsettias. If you’re a contemporary church, you’ll most likely go with giant wrapped presents or other props that go along with your current sermon series.

Don’t.

Try something different this year: candles, simple staging, play with themes of light & darkness. Advent is about people waiting in darkness for the light to come. Help people feel that.

Don’t Be Afraid of Sadness
Advent embraces a tension that does not easily resolve. Yes, He is coming… but He’s not here yet. The ancient Hebrews waited 400 years with silence from Heaven. Will Messiah ever truly come? Even now we look around at our world and ask the same: will He come again and set things right as He has promised?

Instead of leaving every service with a happy, clappy message of hope, lean into the tension of Advent and acknowledge that sometimes hope waits a long time with no answer and that there are some wounds that will go unhealed this side of His return.

Honor the Arc
Advent, however, does culminate with Christmas: God comes down. Heaven breaks through. And angels (even if it was just in front of a handful of shepherds) erupt in joy.

You start the season in darkness but end in light. You start with longing and hope unfulfilled, but in the end – God answers! – and in a most surprising way.

Figure out a way to make your theme progress. My childhood church lit one more candle in a circle with each progressing week. Think that… but bigger.

You’ve got four Sundays to play with. Use them well. Tell a story.
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How have you told the story of Advent in a unique way?

Tags: advent, liturgy

This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 11th, 2009 at 8:43 am and is filed under worship. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.