Christmas Rant!

[yrieithydd]

Now Chapel has always been more Christmassy than I would like at the Carol Service but I'd allowed myself to hope this year as it was being acvertised as Advent Carols (and not as Christmas Songs of Praise). The Chaplain had admitted on Friday that it was rather more Christmassy than that and that he had been unable to bring himself to write that on the front of the service sheet. However, I was committed to mulling the wine for it. So I turned up yesterday to do that. At which point fun ensued as the executive chef seemed to think that it was sensible to mull wine in a tea urn. I was thoroughly unconvinced by this (especially given the limescale on it) and so, remembering the saucepan I `inherited' from my German housemate*, I went back to fetch it. This did indeed hang by its handles down into the urn, so I could mull wine in that and then put water in the urn, put the pan in the top and heat the urn to keep the wine warm for the service. During this, I got a chance to see the service sheet and I came very close to leaving after mulling the wine and heading down to LSM. However, I didn't. I wish I had. I left the chapel during the third hymn and spent the rest of the service listening from the crypt and keeping an eye on the mulled wine!

I coped with Once in Royal (verse 1 solo, verse 2 choir, verse 4 all, verse 6 all (with descant))⁺. However, when we got to O Little Town I found I couldn't bring myself to sing it. I nearly left then, but didn't. I got through a couple of readings a choir piece and then when we stood to sing O Come All ye Faithful, I stood up and slip out down the steps (thankfully I was positioned right by the stairs so I could keep and eye on things). I went into the crypt. I could still listen to the service but didn't have to participate. To be fair the choir stuff wasn't quite so oppresively Christmassy as the hymns (we had In the bleak and Hark the Herald after I left), but there was no mention of Advent at all and the Chaplain's sermon was Epiphany!

At least in my first year, when it was advertised as Christmas songs of praise we began with Adventy stuff and moved on to more Christmassy stuff which was at least a compromise between liturgical purists like me and people who want to keep Christmas with their friends before they go down. It was, due to the vagueries of term, on the feast of Christ the King.

I really don't understand this keeping Christmas with your friends thing. As I said to a friend the other day, `I love Advent and don't want it spoilt by Christmas!'; she agreed and then laughed as she realised the absurdity of the statement! On one level, I don't care what other people, especially those for whom Christmas is only about giving gifts and having fun (and getting drunk) and not about the Incarnation of our Lord do, but why does the Church have to pander to them? Advent is important. To miss it out is to miss out some of the important themes of the Church year. The joy of Christmas is greater having had the preparation of Advent. Up until then Advent had started well. Before Compline on Saturday, I suddenly grinned as I realised that the Office hymn would be Creator of the Stars of Night which I love. Then Advent Sunday at LSM was good. There was something stark about the sanctuary party processing in to the Advent Prose being sung unaccompanied. The Vicar's sermon was good too. Good hymns, though I am disappointed that I got to the end of Advent Sunday without having sung either O Come, O Come Emmanuel or Lo, he comes.

*Ie he left it behind so I started using it
⁺I use the verse numberings of AMNS. I don't understand this choice as if I were singing 4 verse of it I'd go for 1, 2, 5 and 6.

Comments

[the-alchemist.livejournal.com]

Downing was good. 'Hark the Herald' was the last hymn, but other than that it was totally Advent, I think. (Well, we had the Christmas readings as well as the Advent ones, but I think that's allowable. It seems fitting that we talk about what we're looking forward to, but not sing about it, for some reason.)

How do you feel about going carol singing with LSM? I can't feel it's wrong, because of father always being right and because it's such fun, and that also make me feel that singing carols on other occasions in Advent is OK.

[yrieithydd.livejournal.com]

How do you feel about going carol singing with LSM? I can't feel it's wrong, because of father always being right and because it's such fun, and that also make me feel that singing carols on other occasions in Advent is OK.
[grins]
It's sufficiently close to Christmas for me to be ok with it. I grew up with the tradition of having one's (Christmas) Carol Service on the evening of Advent 4 so I'm using to anticipating by a few days. There are those (my uncle included, at least in the past) who hold not before Christmas Eve. In principal I agree, and would love to see Carol services happening on the Sunday after Christmas say, but recognise that in today's mobile world there are many pratical problems with that.

I will not, however, be going Carol singing in the town centre with MethSoc on Wednesday. I managed it last year (on the Friday of this week anyway), but I can't do it this.

The other thing is I can see a difference between singing in Church and going out and singing to people in the streets. Something to do with the different foci of these things or something.

[angelofthenorth.livejournal.com]

Hmmm - keeping Christmas

I'm in favour of Christmas carol services as long as they don't interfere with Advent Carols. I can understand people wanting to keep a Christian Festival early, when they can't be with the people they'd like to celebrate it with - Christmas is in part a celebration of the Holy Family that God brought together (Single Mum, Step-dad and squalling God-as-brat - not quite your usual 2.4 children) to support the incarnation of our Lord.

I like Advent (if you can cope with one of my muddier sermons then I posted the link to last Sunday's) but I can understand the desire to celebrate Christmas among friends, even if one pre-empts it a little. This is why I think the CICCU services are a good idea, and should be in tandem with college advent carols...

[yrieithydd.livejournal.com]

I can understand people wanting to keep a Christian Festival early, when they can't be with the people they'd like to celebrate it with

But why anticipate? Christmas lasts at least 12 days. Why not keep it with friends between Christmas and Epiphany, maybe even make a lot of Epiphany. It's a good time to give gifts after all.

As far as I can tell these days my celebration of Christmas overlaps for one day with the secular Christmas which appears to start in November and stop on Boxing Day!

[angelofthenorth.livejournal.com]

Because sometimes we don't get back to uni until after the 6th?

[yrieithydd.livejournal.com]

Well, at which point one takes note of Common Worship's point about Christmas until Candlemas! It certainly seems to make more sense to me to be a bit late than to anticipate. The time after Christmas is either still Christmas or `ordinary' so less is lost than is the case with anticipation.

(Birthdays however, are different!)

[angelofthenorth.livejournal.com]

But it just doesn't work like that...

[mr-ricarno.livejournal.com]

...I am disappointed that I got to the end of Advent Sunday without having sung either O Come, O Come Emmanuel or Lo, he comes.

Ah, you should have booked tickets to come to our Advent service - we sang both last night. Great fun, and very moving - I was in tears for much of the service (in a good way).

[yrieithydd.livejournal.com]

I'm glad some colleges still know how to do Advent.

BTW, now I've noticed that you'd friended me I've reciprocated.