| The Christmas carol wars |
| Written by Michael L. Lindvall | ||
| Monday, 15 November 2010 20:37 | ||
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There are any number of passionately debated controversies animating the church these days — sexuality, Christology, the Middle East — but none may raise the heat in local congregations as much as the venerable debate about exactly when the congregation starts to sing its beloved carols.
At one extreme, the local shopping mall starts piping in The Little Drummer Boy as soon as the Halloween decorations are down. “So why not sing carols in church?” At the other extreme are those liturgical purists who would die before they allowed a Christmas carol through the church door until 12:01 a.m. on December 25. Both sides offer convincing arguments. The purists note the obvious, reminding us that “Advent is Advent,” a season with its own liturgical focus, noting that Christmas is observed December 25 until Epiphany. They remind us that there are twenty Advent carols in our The Presbyterian Hymnal, plenty to cover the four Sundays of the season. The liturgical purists’ parting shot is often the parallel argument of Lent and Easter: “Would you sing Jesus Christ Is Risen Today on the Fourth Sunday in Lent?” they ask. On the other hand, the liturgically permissive would have us be pragmatic. “People love Christmas carols,” they sigh. “In fact, congregational singing improves when we sing them.” They point out that there are no fewer than forty Christmas carols in our Presbyterian Hymnal. “Everybody has their favorite, and someone is bound to be disappointed if their pet carol doesn’t make the Christmas service cut.” The permissive assure the purists that they will sing Christmas carols the couple of Sundays after Christmas, but then add, “Get real, those Sundays are not exactly your peak-attendance period.” I more often than not side with the liturgical purists, but in this battle I have (partly) crossed over — for three reasons. First, it’s important to note that some carols work better before Christmas Day than others. Indeed, the texts, theology, and cultural associations of some carols make it very strange to sing them before Christmas Eve. Silent Night would not work on the Fourth Sunday in Advent. Other carols, however, do permit themselves to encroach into late Advent without too much liturgical or theological dissonance. I think of In the Bleak Midwinter, which my congregation has sung on a snowy Fourth Advent Sunday, or Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming, with its Advent-like reference to Isaiah. Secondly, people in many of our congregations travel on Christmas, and they may not make it to church on the night of the 24th or the morning of the 25th. For many folks, whether the pastor likes it or not, Fourth Advent has to serve as Christmas. On that Sunday, I often preach in a way that anticipates incarnation, and as often as not two of the hymns are Christmas carols. The third and perhaps most persuasive argument on this issue is simply that birth and resurrection are not at all the same thing. One you see coming; the other you don’t. Life may culminate in birth, but it has been there for a long while before the day of birth. Resurrection is a stunning, out-of-nowhere surprise. Lent is properly dark to the end, in fact darkest at the very end. Advent, on the other hand, turns up the lights every Sunday, another little candle lit every week anticipating the Light of World. So also perhaps another Christmas carol sung each week, a little song anticipating the Greatest Song Ever Sung. MICHAEL LNDVALL is pastor of Brick Church, New York City. Your Responses (1)
Walter L. Taylor
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Oak Island, NC We would do well to remember that historically speaking, what some see as liturgical "purity" is a rather late innovation in the history of Presbyterianism. Historically speaking, such things like Advent and (most certainly) Lent have come into Reformed/Presbyterian churches largely in the latter half of the twentieth century. Thus, the "rules" for following the liturgical seasons were written by those who did not understand or experience what worship is in the Reformed tradition. Thus, we should be rather critical, and even sceptical, about such "rules." For example, the "high church" practice of avoiding singing "hallelujah" in Lent is a dubious thing for Reformed Christians, who ought to maintain that there is no such thing as any Lord's Day on which we should say, "Praise the Lord," whether in English or in Hebrew. We cannot ever "pretend" that our Lord is not yet risen. Likewise, on the singing of Christmas carols, we should remember several things. Historically, few were sung in Presbyterian Churches until the early twentieth century (we didn't even celebrate Christmas in the churches until the nineteenth century). Thus, appealing to high church Anglican rules about when to sing them seems a bit skewed to me. On more than one occasion I have had Episcopal visitors to worship comment on how they wish they could sing carols in worship prior to Christmas Eve. This issue opens many cans of many different worms, and unfortunately many Presbyterians have simply embraced, uncritically, the directives of the Liturgical Renewal Movement without understanding what historic Reformed worship has been or should be. |
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