Reflections on "Skipping Advent: No Christmas Carols"

This abbreviated sermon was preached during the Lessons and Carols service.  

 “Skipping Advent:  No Christmas Carols”; Second Sunday of Advent; Lessons and Carols  December 10, 2023; SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp

Introduction:   Skipping Advent/Skipping Christmas - no singing, Christmas Carols

the liturgically minded among us might note that Advent  is a time of waiting with Advent hymns that help us prepare for Christmas and not a time for Christmas carols,

but, as our Lessons and Carols service reminds us, here at St. Andrew we include a Sunday of Christmas carols as part of our Advent preparation.

so imagine no singing of Advent hymns - No “O Come, O come Emmanuel” (or listening to it played so beautifully on the cello like we did last week) 

Imagine no singing of Christmas carols - no singing Joy to the World or Silent Night.

Not only would we miss the melodies we love, but we would miss the story being told through music, a particularly powerful way of telling that story that touches us in different ways than just telling the story.

the hymns and carols we sing during worship tell the story of the God we wait for; 

the God who comes in Christ;

the God who will come again.

A story for us to claim as we sing it;

A story for us to tell others as we sing it.

 Ernest Gordon, author of “Through the River of the Kwai” said the most spiritual moment of his life was Christmas 1944. Out of deference to the men in the camp, they were not given work detail that day and were given a bit more food. He said that as they moved around the prison yard, they sensed that things were different. In one of the barracks (basically a thatched hut with a dirt floor and open sides where the men slept), one soldier began to sing a Christmas carol. It was echoed over the infirmary where men were dying. Then all around the camp, the men began to sing, and those who could, those who were ambulatory, came to the parade field and sat there in a great circle. Gordon said, "God touched us that day."

Gordon, who later became dean of the Chapel at Princeton University, said that the most sacred event that he had ever been involved with. No preaching, nothing of the usual church paraphernalia, just men united by their common misery, singing of God being with them and God's sovereignty. And he said, "We were touched by God.”

(From the book Through the River of the Kwai "Have I Got News For You!" Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Speaker The Rev. Dr. William L. Self December 17, 2005; you may also use this link to read a NY Times article written at his death http://www.nytimes.com/2002/01/20/nyregion/no-headline-223891.html)

Music is not just heard through the ears but pierces our hearts.

The movie Christmas with the Kranks, based on John Grisham's novel, Skipping Christmas, follows the Kranks as they skip Christmas and buy tickets to go on a cruise.

Their decision infuriates their neighbors because the Kranks are not participating in any of the traditional customs. The neighbors strike back in a variety of ways to force the Kranks to celebrate Christmas.

One of the neighbors sends carolers to the Kranks' house. The Victorian-dressed carolers gather in the front yard and on the front steps to sing Christmas carols. They sing with a vengeance and stare in the windows at the Kranks who are trying to hide from the carolers.

The husband suggests they call the police. "you can't call the police on carolers,” says his wife.

“Sure you can,” he replies. “They're trespassing. They're uninvited.”

Conclusion:  May your Advent season be full of trespassers so we can all sing the story of the God who comes in Christ to be be with us; the one who will come again.