Generation after generation will give joyful praise in you…
Tobit 13:11b
Have you noticed all the new and returning faces in church these past two Sundays? Did you know that many of them are coming specifically for Advent? We like to make jokes about the CEOs (Christmas and Easter Only worshipers), but this year we are seeing a bunch A+ folks, people who are specifically coming for Advent and now considering more regular Sunday worship. I don’t think it’s a mystery why. People need hope, peace, joy, and love as much as they ever did, and they need to feel it in community.
We all need to be reminded of the reality of God’s grace through Jesus Christ coming into the world now and forever, and Advent is the season where we allow ourselves to soak in this realty. All our liturgical seasons have their particular holiness, but Advent radiates a special holiness that helps us cope with the darkness of the world, both its shortened days and rising brutality. It connects us with all the generations of the Church who have endured such darkness–and worse–and taught us how to persevere.
This is why we chant.
As far as we can tell, the earliest liturgies of the Christian Church had two features. 1) They were laser-focused on Jesus’ return to bring the Kingdom of God to the Earth. 2) They were chanted. When we chant the Holy Eucharist, we join our voices with the faithful in every generation who sang their longing for Jesus to return. Together with them we sing our hope for an end to spiritual darkness and the restoration of God’s peace throughout creation.
I will not pretend that Advent chanting isn’t a gift I give myself–I would chant all year if I thought you’d let me get away with it–but Advent is a season where chanting is all but essential. So, join in with it. Don’t worry if you don’t know the notes or think you can’t sing. Add your voice to generation after generation of Christians preparing for Jesus to come into the world.
In peace,
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