"The Seven Week Advent" by the Rev. Mike Wernick

The Rev. Mike Wernick

On November 11, 2012, the people of Holy Cross Episcopal Church and Ascension Lutheran Church (in Kentwood) will begin the celebration of an expanded, seven-week Advent. The Rev. Mike Wernick (Rector and Pastor of both) learned about and experienced this expanded Advent at Bexley Hall Seminary in Columbus, OH from The Very Rev. William Petersen (who developed the idea in 2006 as a part of liturgical renewal) and The Rev. Dr. Elise Feyerherm (who prepared some of the materials). Fr. Mike thought the people at these two parishes would appreciate the underlying theology, and so presented the idea to them some months ago.

The Rev. Petersen explained: "In its origin, the season of Advent was nearly seven weeks. The Gregorian Sacramentary introduced a four-week Advent in Rome in the seventh century, but this truncated version of the season was not widely adopted in other western churches until the twelfth or thirteenth century. The Orthodox churches still observe a longer Advent; but by the

time of the 16th-century western reformations, few remembered that Advent had once been longer; and until the Christmas culture of the 20th century gained momentum, its focus had clearly been eschatological."

The primary focus of Advent is the full manifestation of the Reign of God. This is the exclusive focus of the lectionary from the Sunday after All Saints’ Day until the last week of Advent. Only in the last week do these readings which form the thematic emphasis of the Church’s weekly worship begin to shift from a focus on eschatology to that of incarnation.

But competition from our modern culture, with Christmas decorations lurking in the back corners of supermarkets from late August, join with the surreptitiously expanding shelves of Christmas items in other retail establishments, just waiting for Halloween to pass so that they can all explode into their own full manifestation on November 1st. Add to this the unrelenting barrage of television and other electronic media advertisements and music for the holiday season, and the marketing purposes are complete.

And the Church has little defense against all of this. By the time Advent begins, many churches are already singing Christmas hymns or holding "Lessons and Carols" services; and by the beginning of December we are well on our way to Bethlehem. For all intents and purposes, then, our culture––the culture of Christmas––has effectively eclipsed the season of Advent and precluded any engagement of its primary focus.

But what is the primary focus of Advent? If it's only the Nativity or our preparation for it, then something vital is missing. We say that the season is the beginning of the liturgical year; but the original intent of the season was to begin, by looking to the end. The wisdom of poet T.S. Eliot captures some of the sense of this intent in the line, "In my beginning is my end." To apply that wisdom to the present matter is to recognize that we're better served, at the start of a new year, to look to the end, to the goal, to the eternal moment that makes sense of all our moments. And, for Christians, this means a focus first on the full manifestation, the parousia, of all that is

implied in and by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.

This trial use includes resources that are available online at www.theadventproject.org (such as collects, updated O Antiphons, prayers of the people, a wreath lighting ceremony, proper prefaces, and hymn suggestions, and an opportunity for feedback) and is supported by the North American Academy of Liturgy.