EDITOR’S NOTE: This is a guest post from my friend, Pastor Lee Cummings. He is the lead pastor of Radiant Church, a thriving non-denominational church in Kalamazoo, MI. Many of you are in non-denominational settings– or at least non-traditional ones – where the celebration of a seaons like Advent may be new. My hope is that Pastor Lee’s story may be helpful to you as you explore the possibility of leading your church through Advent as a spiritual practice.
Let me begin with a confession. I began, 16 years ago as a church planter, with a bias against anything that smelled of tradition. From the very beginning of Radiant Church, I decided we were going to be “non-traditional” in our approach to Christianity. Even to the point where embarrassingly, it was two years before we actually celebrated Communion as a church family (not intentionally, it just wasn’t a core value and so it didn’t get instituted).
And as far as Christmas goes, we thought we were doing good to have a small children’s program complete with Christmas carols and a message from one of the nativity narratives from the gospels. To be honest, I didn’t care for Christmas too much, because I didn’t know what to do with Christmas as a pastor.
As a child my family attended a variety of different churches from Pentecostal to United Methodist. The one thing that always stood out to me about church and Christmas as a child was the season of time that we attended a UMC church – it was also at this time that we celebrated Advent. i didn’t know what it was per se, but I knew there was something different, something beautiful and awe inspiring about it that left a mark upon my soul, beyond getting another piece of candy everyday from the Advent calendar my parents had bought for me.
Fast forward to a few years ago, after a not so inspiring meeting with our Creative Team trying to figure out what we were going to do with Christmas, I went back in to my study and sat for a while trying to remember what it was about that season as a child that seemed so different. I did some reading and came across an Advent devotional by GK Chesterton that really spoke to me.
Around the same time, I was also wrestling with how “traditional” being “non-traditional” had become for us and how disconnected from the rest of the Body of Christ I sometimes felt in the “non-denominational” world. So I began to study, think and plan for the next year. Advent was about to make a comeback in my life.
This year is the first year that we have officially observed the season of Advent at Radiant Church, and it has been beautiful and powerful for our community. We entitled our series RE:Advent – returning to what the church has historically observed as a season of waiting,reflection upon Christ’s first coming and also preparation for his second.
We have intentionally implemented some traditional elements – such as the Advent wreath and candle lighting by various families each week as well as scripture readings. This alone has been worth the change- to see families participate. We have toned our typical rock and roll style of worship down to an acoustic tone and integrated video elements for each week that tell a story of hope, love, joy and peace without words.
I have written my sermons to create a certain degree of tension and longing for Christ’s coming. Our children’s ministry has dove-tailed their curriculum to fit with the adults so that families can discuss and pray together throughout the week.
This merging of ancient elements and prayers with our modern use of technology and style has created an ethos of beauty and a RE: connection with the historic church. It feels as if Christmas has weight and wonder once again.
This has been the first Christmas that I can actually say as a Pastor that I feel like I have led my church well to truly grasp the beauty and importance of the Incarnation. I have found that for us, Advent has served as an antidote for the consumerism and busyness of our American secular Christmas that surrounds all of us. It has prepared our hearts – from Emmanuel to Maranatha, our church has rediscovered the way to make room to for Him to come and be made ready for His blessed return.
