Advent Beyond Nostalgia

When we lived in England, it was a normal and expected part of the Advent and Christmas season to sing carols. Not just in corporate worship, but during a Carol service - where Christians and non-Christians alike would come and sing along to songs that felt more nostalgic than worshipful. But isn’t that the truth even for followers of Jesus who gather weekly with the people of God? We all are tempted by nostalgia more than wonder during the Advent season.

As you begin to think about and prepare for Advent, what would it take to spend time celebrating the season by helping people not just sing familiar carols, but meditate on the truth these songs declare about the wonder of the Gospel and the fact that God is with us?

If you are unfamiliar with the history, additional verses, or inspiration behind some of the carols that you will be leading, spend a little bit of time reading about these songs online. I often find that understanding the original context changes the way I experience and lead a song.

Work to connect songs and sermons. We lead people, not songs. So help the people understand why we are singing what we are singing, what it means, and how we are to respond.

Use the slides, projection, or printed material to help do some of the heavy lifting. I like to use the slides to help shepherd people. Rather than feeling the pressure to explain everything, how might you use what is already at your disposal to help lift the eyes of those your are leading toward the transcendent truths we celebrate together?

Christmas may be a popular time for non-Christians to attend church, but Christians need the Gospel just as much as anyone else. Let’s prepare the truths of Scripture beautifully to be sung, prayed, and remembered inviting the Holy Spirit to lead in our preparation as well as our leading. And ask the Holy Spirit to make alive cold dead hearts for the first time, and the hundredth time.

Songs For The Season

They say, “Write what you know.” And for the most part, everything I share on my website is things that I have learned and feel that I can grasp with enough familiarity to share. Today, I want to share something I am learning in real-time.

Songs are important. I care deeply about the new songs we choose, as well as the way we introduce those songs to the congregation. I care deeply about the canon of songs that make up our master song list, as well as the way those songs shape our theology of God and the Gospel. I care deeply about whether our songs are purposed for personal devotion, or corporate worship because all songs are prayers. I even believe there are guiding principles that can help us determine what is a good song.

But what I am learning in realtime, is that there are songs for seasons.

I read an article in Worship Leader Magazine last month titled, “Worship At The Speed of Sound.” In it, WLM published the findings of a team of researchers who had studied the lifespan of corporate worship songs registered with CCLI from 1988 to 2019. The researchers had a hunch that the creation, distribution, ascent, and decline of a corporate worship song has increased rapidly over that time period. And understandably, they were correct. Social media, online distribution, ‘worship artists,’ conferences, touring, and radio, were all contributing factors both in the number of songs available, as well as their availability.

Some songs have staying power - think of many of the hymns that have been passed down through the ages or songs like Chris Tomlin’s “How Great Is Our God.” Some songs cut through the noise for a season, and all but disappear - one such song cited in the research is Jesus Culture’s “Fierce.”

I truly believe that the bulk of our diet when it comes to song choice should be songs that have staying power. Songs that ring with resonance in different seasons and stages of our lives. Songs that are sung in the hospital room, at the altar, and during the midnight hour as a parent rocks a child to sleep. But what I am learning is that there are songs for seasons. Songs that are still good, beautiful, and true. Songs that capture a moment in the life of our churches - both locally, and globally. These are the songs that we will look back with sheepish affection, and fondness as we are reminded of the Spirit’s movement in our lives and histories. These are the songs for the season.

What have been songs for the season in your life?