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+ Advent Spirituality: A Quiet Day, Dec. 1, and a Weekly Fireside Circle
+ The Spiritual and the Secular: Holiday Traditions
+ Lessons and Carols, Dec. 16
+ Three Christmas Pageants: Which One is Right for You?
Advent Spirituality: A Quiet Day, Dec. 1, and a Weekly Fireside Circle
Tim West, Spiritual Life Committee Chair
Quiet Day
"Be It Done Unto Me According To Thy Word: Receptivity, Expectancy, and Courage in Advent." The Rev. Victoria Jamieson-Drake, with help from Tim Hinton and Tim West, will present an Advent Quiet Day on Saturday, December 1, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Fletcher Hall at Camp New Hope (on Hwy 86, about 7 miles north of Chapel Hill). The day will include brief presentations; plenty of time for personal prayer, sitting or walking quietly, or just resting in God's presence; lunch; and Holy Eucharist. Begin Advent with a reflective day in the rolling, wooded hills of Orange County. This is the third year for our Advent Quiet Day at this wonderful location.
Fireside Circle
An Advent Circle is the name for a supportive group fostering deepening spirituality during Advent. We will meet once in each week of the season from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. in the parlor by the fire: Tuesdays December 4, 11, and 18; and on Sunday, December 23, at a location to be determined. We will use "Our December Hearts: Meditations for Advent and Christmas," by Anne McConney, an Episcopal priest and writer, as a springboard for discussion. We will also pray together and work with scripture and other sources for considering the meanings of the coming of Christ. Gayle Hartis and Tim West will serve as coordinators.
Please sign up with the parish office, (919)929-2193 for either or both of these events. The book fee is $8.75.
The Advent walkabout is not an easy journey, nor was it meant to be. This journey leads into the deeps of our own being. It is an opening of the portals we have taken care to keep closed, a letting in of the knowledge and doubt and pain without which there can be no letting in of the Christ, the child whose touch blesses, burns, heals, and transfigures. (Anne McConney)
The Spiritual and the Secular: Holiday Traditions
About three hundred years after Jesus' birth, the Western Church chose to celebrate that mystery on December 25, replacing a pagan feast. Gradually over the centuries, Christmas assumed a more important place in both the church and society. Commercial success, how-ever, has now come to depend so heavily on the Christmas season, that the feast itself seems to have returned to its original pagan status. "How do you as a Christian struggle with the secular/sacred tension of Christmas? What traditions help your household celebrate the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ?" In the articles below, parishioners respond to these questions.
Watson Bowes
Weeks before Advent, I find Christmas in profusion: golden reindeer, festive wrapping paper, Santa Claus in all sizes and shapes. I open my mailbox; it is full of catalogues adorned with wreaths, sleighs, and evergreen trees to properly inspire me to prepare for the celebration to come. Is this the secular acquisition of a spiritual event or is it the spiritual blessing of a secular event? Perhaps I no longer know the difference.
The tension between the spiritual and the secular may be as old as mankind itself, the conflict having been waged in the psyche and the community for eons. The chosen people needed constant reminding by the prophets to forsake the golden calf and cling to the faith of their fathers. Jesus said hard and perplexing things about leaving families and friends behind, giving away all possessions, forsaking even the harmless pleasures of sexual fantasies or the comfort of hating enemies. But he also realized the difficulty involved and knew that Caesar must have his share. For centuries after the early Christian martyrs died while steadfastly professing their faith, religious and spiritual values were accepted as the foundation for culture. Though life was often short and physically difficult, people, for the most part, gave earnest thanks to God for their blessings, or, like Job, complained to God about their misfortunes. The 'enlightenment' changed all of this and focused attention on mankind's intellectual and material resources for solving personal and public problems. Characteristically, Francis Bacon proclaimed science as the religion of modern emancipated man. As a consequence, Western culture has been gradually sanitized of any effective spiritual influence in government, the arts, entertainment, public education, commerce, medicine, the law, and conversation. Even in our homes, among our families, and in religious institutions, when the chips are down, the secular often trumps the spiritual.
G. K. Chesterton noted "the world catches us by the fringes of our garments, the futile externals of our lives." So easily am I drawn away from the spiritual life that it requires personal or public tragedies to drag me back to solid ground. Inwardly I yearn for the contentment and peace of the spiritual life and dislike being taken in by worldly desires and petty selfishness. I am dissatisfied with the incessant failure of education and enlightenment to end rancor and hate. I envy the discernment and wisdom of the saints and mystics. Yet I tend daily to plod along the path of personal accomplishment that I know leads only to a dark alley of unanswerable questions and inevitable disappointment.
To live the spiritual life is to be an alien in our culture, scorned by the successful, dismissed by the movers and shakers, and often misunderstood by our loved ones. In this endeavor I am empowered by the Eucharist wherein, while confessing that I have left so much undone, I am fed with spiritual food and sent into the world to serve Him in gladness and singleness of heart.
Molly Dempsey
During a pre-marital counseling session our priest brought up the topic of traditions. She pointed out that we two would be our own family now and as such we had the power to create our own traditions. Create traditions? What a wonderful chance to keep the most beloved of our parents' traditions and adopt new ones from our own experiences.
One tradition that I have loved since childhood and continued for my family is lighting the advent wreath. Although I am the one who makes and waters this table wreath, my children, ages six and two, are quick to remind us to light it each night at dinner. Even the two-year-old can mark the passing of each week as a new candle adds its light.
Last year I tried a new tradition of making gingerbread houses with my girls. After I constructed walls and roofs, they enjoyed adding elaborate decorations and displaying their artwork in our dining room over the holidays. Our house smelled wonderful for days!
Perhaps my favorite Advent tradition is one involving 'active use' of our nativity scene. We set up the scene on the first Sunday of Advent, and it starts with only the stable (last year made from gingerbread!!) and the animals. Mary and Joseph are placed several shelves away. Each day of Advent, our six-year-old moves the family closer to the stable until they reach it on Christmas Eve. Baby Jesus arrives on Christmas morning and then we get out the kings and their gifts. The kings have a long journey to make so they frequently start in the living room. Every day of the twelve days of Christmas, we move the kings until they too arrive at the stable on Epiphany. I love this tradition because it emphasizes the season of Christmas itself! Our tree stays up for those same twelve days and comes down on Epiphany.
We continue to refine and experiment with our set of Advent and Christmas traditions. These traditions are both meaningful to us and engaging for our children, bringing richness and focus to the holiday season.
Neil Pedersen
Christmas is an intermingling of many events at the time of the year when days are the shortest and when we are torn in many directions. It's a time of unprecedented marketing to consumers. It's a time when families enjoy their most consistent reunions. It's a time of giving, all too often out of obligation rather than generosity. Amidst all of this, we try to stay focused on the true meaning of Christmas: the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
On Christmas Eve in 1997, my wife, Deborah, and our two children, Kyle and Nora, got down to the basics. Kyle, having taken a year off from college, was living in a one room efficiency in Boston and unable to get time off from work. What was most important to our family was to be together on Christmas. So, that evening, the four of us, basically, slept on the floor in the same room as the sleet began to fall outside. Mary and Joseph were very much in my thoughts. Christmas dinner consisted of pinto beans and collards, courtesy of the children's grandmother (the restaurants were, appropriately, closed). It goes down as one of my most memorable Christmases because it stripped away everything else in life and allowed us to give thanks simply for the opportunity for our family to be together.
Usually, the Pedersens are in Murfreesboro, NC, on Christmas Eve at a Christmas party in the home of Deborah's parents. We 'enjoy' a family reunion of sorts, which, more than anything, gives fodder for gossip for the next day. At 11 p.m. we jump in the car and head over to the local Methodist church for a midnight service. Although the service provides an opportunity for reflection and celebration, it's not like being in our own church.
One year we had that opportunity. That year, the family reunion was to be held at Deborah's parents' winter home at Lake Okeechobee, Florida. But an unlikely event occurred: 15 inches of snow fell on eastern North Carolina, closing I-95. My in-laws were trying to thaw out their water pipes. Given the circumstances, we elected to stay in Chapel Hill and, for the first and only time, participated in the midnight service at Chapel of the Cross. What a joy it was to be in our spiritual home that evening, with friends and family to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.
Edie and Gary Poole
As our three daughters began growing older, we wanted them to understand why we celebrate Advent and Christmas. We have since made an effort to incorporate traditions that focus on Jesus' birth. Each evening during Advent we spend a few minutes gathered around the Advent wreath. We light the appropriate candles and sing carols and/or read a story. The stories relate to Jesus' birth and come from children's picture books, short stories, and Christmas legends. The songs come from a children's Christmas song book. We also use two fabric Advent calendars.
One is a Christmas tree that has an ornament added each day. The other recreates Jesus' birth in the stable. Our daughters take turns adding to the calendars each night throughout Advent. Sometime on Christmas day we have a simple dessert to help us change our focus from presents to Jesus' birth. We put a candle in everyone's cupcake or brownie and sing 'Happy Birthday' to Jesus as we blow out the candles.
On Epiphany we have cupcakes with a small treat in each one. This way, everyone gets to be a king! This helps us remember that even though Christmas Day has passed, the celebration is not over because the three kings have not arrived yet.
Our family looks forward to each of the traditions. They are not absolute, and they may change as our daughters age. Still, these activities we do at home and the events we attend at church help us prepare for and celebrate the real meaning of Christmas. It is a time when we are growing closer as a family and at the same time growing closer to our God.
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Van Quinn, Organist/Choirmaster
"In many and varied ways God spoke of old to our fathers by the prophets; but in these last days He has spoken to us by a son."
"In the fullness of time God sent His Son."
Advent is probably the richest and most complex of the liturgical seasons of the Christian Church. Its images, symbols, and poetic language draw together the Old and New Testaments and the full resources of the Judeo-Christian tradition in a remarkable intensification of time in which we are asked to embrace the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end, creation and apocalypse in the person of a Child born of a human mother. It is no surprise that the astonishing fact that God once, in a moment of human time, entered our sphere as one of us has always found its fullest expression in poetry and music and art, rather than in the rational formulations of theology. It may be that the Incarnation (what Soren Kierkegaard once called the "Ultimate Paradox") can only be grasped through the language of paradox and irony. Consider the power of these words from a sermon of Saint Augustine's: "The Maker of man was made man, that the Ruler of the stars might suck at the breast; that the Bread might be hungered; the Fountain, thirst; the Light, sleep; the Way, be wearied by the journey; the Truth, be accused by false witnesses; the Judge of the living and the dead, be judged by a mortal judge; the Chastener, be chastened with whips; the Vine be crowned with thorns; the Foundation, be hung upon the tree; strength, be made weak; Health, be wounded; Life, die." The deep, joyful expectation of Advent rests in the great truth that all of this is pro nobis -- for us and for our eternal good.
Our annual Advent Procession of Lessons and Carols is designed to open us to hear and live into this great truth. Our service is based upon two well-known services used in the chapel of King's College, Cambridge, England. The best known of these services, the widely broadcast Christmas Eve service of "Lessons and Carols" was drawn up by the Dean of King's College in 1918. The Very Reverend Eric Milner-White simplified and modified a service that had long been in use at Truro Cathedral and wrote for it a powerful "Bidding Prayer" which is used today. Because the rhythm of our parish life is so closely linked to that of the University calendar, the service that I have put together over the years combines both advent and Christmas themes and music. We do avoid, however, the most distinctive and exuberant of the carols and anthems that we associate directly with Christmas. For consideration of time in a morning service that is presented twice, we have limited our service to six lessons rather that the traditional nine.
Our service is conceived as a procession, a kind of symbolic journey to the East. If we had wider side aisles and a side chapel or two we would sing more of this music from different parts of the church. The opening music is sung at the West Door to the Church. During the third verse of a hymn, the choirs, acolytes, and ministers begin their symbolic journey to the altar at the liturgical East of the Church. A mystical turning to the East has always been a part of the symbolic structure of Christianity, to the rising of the sun and of the Son of Life. The verb "to orient" is derived from the Latin orior, to "arise" or "spring from." Certainly Advent is the time to "reorient" ourselves, to be sure that we are facing the right direction as we run the "race that is set before us."
The lessons are taken from the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospels, thus bringing together the full witness of the Christian canon. Sometimes the link between the Old and the New is the fulfillment of prophecy: the branch that shall come forth from the stem of Jesse; the Virgin who will conceive and bear a son; the ones who will come from Sheba bringing gold and incense (to say nothing of the camels and dromedaries!); the peaceable Messianic kingdom where the wolf will lie down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them. Ancient Israel's longing and expectation becomes our own as we look forward to the final accomplishment of God's purposeful will in the "fullness of time." Both the Biblical texts and those of the carols and hymns are also full of typologies -- foreshadowing or indissoluble linked persons, objects, events, or places; Adam and Christ; Eve and Mary; the paradise lost and the Paradise regained; the tree and the Tree; the Pharaoh of the oppression and Herod; the child Moses and the Child Jesus; the Exodus and the descent and return from Egypt. The imaginative and conceptual scope is cosmic: Alpha and Omega, Sin and Redemption, the Light which always triumphs over the Darkness.
There is not room to discuss all of the music that will be sung, but here are a few interesting things to look for. In "Adam lay ybounden" you will find the medieval doctrine of the "Fortunate" Fall: had the human race not fallen from grace, we would never have known the fullness of God's love for us in sending his Son to redeem us, and "ne had never our lady abeen heavene queen." Also you will find the ubiquitous non-biblical "apple" that entered the tradition when medieval writers noticed the close linguistic relation between malum and malus, apple and evil! In "A Hymn to the Virgin" what is lost through Eve is restored by the Virgin Mother. This carol, like many others, is a "macaronic" text, that is it alternates Latin (or some other language) phrases with those in the vernacular language. The poet of this text delighted in the fact that Ave ("Hail," the angel Gabriel's greeting to Mary) is Eva (Eve) spelled backwards. In sacred matters this cannot be a simple coincidence. Hence: "All this world was forlorn Eva peccatrice ('through Eve's sin') Till our Lord was yborn De te genetrice ('of you, his mother'). With Ave it went away: Darkest night, and comes the day ..." You will also find charming ironies. The "Spotless Rose" does, indeed, "unfold," but does so in the "cold, cold winter, and in the dark midnight." You can feel the chill in Howell's marvelous music. From Daniel Pinkham's "The King and the Shepherds": "We were kings but yesterday, Now like lowly folk we are. Gold we bring, but brighter far, the Light of lights in yonder manger." Consider the deep irony in Lauridson's "O magnum mysterium": "O great mystery and wondrous sacrament, that animals should see the newborn Lord, lying in their manger." As we sing in "In dulci jubilo": "O that we were there!"
O that we were there, indeed! But through opening our minds and hearts to God through the words of scripture and beautiful and powerful music we can begin to indwell this paradox and experience eternity in a moment of time. The service is framed by two great organ compositions, one from the 18th century and one from the 20th, both based on the medieval German carol "In dulci jubilo." "In sweet rejoicing" -- as we approach this greatest of mysteries with those of us who are still on our pilgrimage as well as with those "who rejoice with us, but upon another shore, and in a greater light, that multitude which no man can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, and with whom in the Lord Jesus we are one for evermore."
Lessons and Carols will be offered Sunday, Dec. 16, at 9 and 11:15 a.m. Those attending are advised to come to church earlier than usual to obtain a seat.
Three Christmas Pageants: Which One is Right for You?
Children's Pageant
Pam Miller
There is a long tradition of telling the Christmas story through participation. Part of this wonderful celebration is being able to share with our church family the Nativity story as told by our children. The smaller, more intimate space of the chapel seems the perfect place for our youngest children to be a part of the telling, and for the past several years the children's pageant has been held here. This year, our Children's Pageant will be take place on Saturday, December 22, at 2:30 p.m. All parishioners and friends are invited. We will gather in the parlor to choose roles and costumes at 2:30 p.m., then proceed to the chapel at 3 p.m.
Over the years we have collected and made a nice assortment of costumes, but we are always in need of more sheep, goats, and cows -- so if you happen to have such a costume, please bring it along. We have a costume for everyone, but if you wish to come in your own, please feel free to do so. For this occasion, there are no rehearsed lines, the story is told with narration and song as the children process and gather below the altar. Members of our Junior and Training choirs will lead us in singing several traditional carols and Stephen Elkins-Williams, our rector, will narrate. There will be some unique parts for the older children, along with a few surprises on this special day. We hope to see many of you there!
After our pageant, we will gather in the dining room for Christmas fellowship, food, and some fun activities. If possible, please bring a plate of goodies to share and enjoy. The church school subcommittee helps to organize our children's pageant. We extend a special invitation to all elders in our church to attend this occasion. For transportation needs or to help with activities of the children's pageant (storytelling or a craft), please call the parish office.
Christmas Eve Pageants
Tammy Lee, Van Quinn, Ann Terhune
The tradition of a Christmas Eve Pageant at the Chapel of the Cross goes back over 30 years. The original intent was to offer a Christmas Eve service that would appeal to families with young children or to other people who could not wait up to attend the late night Christ Mass. The Christmas Pageant was to be a seasonal contribution, a special gift from the high school age group to the religious life of the parish. In recent years, the age range of the participants has been broadened to incorporate grades 6-12 and to include former pageant participants who have gone on to college or graduate school but are willing to participate as soloists or instrumentalists.
The traditional text from the Gospel of Luke was chosen to tell the nativity story, and the account of the wise mens' journey to the manger was taken from the Gospel of Matthew. Roles filled by the youth include Mary and Joseph, shepherds, pages, an angel, wise men and their attendants, readers, a horse, and a camel. The baby Jesus is the youngest infant in the parish whose parents consent. The musical narrative by 17th century composer, Martin Mayer, was added about 10 years ago when there were two young people from the parish capable of singing the solo parts. At about this same time, the Junior Choir was transformed into 'Heavenly Hosts' by donning glittering wings and tinsel halos. String and brass accompaniments were added as young people who could offer these gifts were recruited from year to year. A novel tradition began when a child, cast as the angel, wanted to dance the role, so appropriate music was incorporated. "The March of the Three Kings" by Hector Berlioz was selected as the musical announcement of the arrival of the wise men and their attendants, animals, and dancing pages. Roles have been expanded or modified from year to year in response to talent available, the interests of the children, and the imaginations of the directors. Costumes are periodically refurbished, but former Marys and Josephs from 20 years ago can no doubt recognize parts of the current one-size-can-fit-all wardrobe.
The highlight of the 5 p.m. pageant has always been toward the end, when all the lights are dimmed, and every person in the sanctuary holds up a lit candle. As hundreds of soft lights flicker in the warmed darkness, the congregation, led by the Heavenly Host choir, sings familiar carols. The children in the congregation walk forward to present wrapped gifts they have brought for the Christ Child. These offerings are later distributed to needy children in the area. Clusters of children, some steered and encouraged by parents or ushers, approach the tableau of the Holy Family, the shepherds, and the wise men with awe and wonder. Some dare to step forward and pat the friendly camel or the gentle horse, and others peek toward the manger to catch a glimpse of baby Jesus.
In 1995, the 5 p.m. pageant became so crowded that there were people lined around the walls of the church and packed in standing rows at the back. Many of the smallest children could not possibly see what was going on. Since this service seemed to have become a main Christmas religious event for so many people, not only in our parish but in our community, we decided to add a second pageant the next year, which would begin at 3 p.m. The 3 p.m. pageant is structured to be appropriate for very young children and their families. It begins while it is still light outside and only lasts about 45 minutes. The Christmas narrative is read rather than sung, and the music is simpler. The solemn candle lighting at the end is not included, but it has its own joyful spirit of spontaneity and accessibility. The church is alive with wiggling bodies and excited conversations. Little people are standing up on pew seats or venturing out into the aisles for a better view.
Last year, we added a 'Live Nativity' near the entrance to the church. There is an authentic outdoor stable shelter for the Holy Family, the wise men, and the shepherds. In addition, there are the real sheep, cows, and a donkey. Those attending either pageant can stop by on the way in or out of the services to appreciate the manger and pat the friendly beasts.
For many people, the pageants are Christmas at the Chapel of the Cross. Ask anyone who has attended a pageant to tell you why they come back, year after year. Maybe they'll talk about the power and sweetness of the moment when you walk through the huge wooden doors. The pews are filled with people dressed up for 'afterward' family dinners or other celebrations. Little girls sit down carefully -- beautiful and dear in red or green velveteen dresses and shiny patent leather shoes, and little boys pull away, under or over the pews, their shirttails already breaking loose from their Christmas pants. There is an air of excited expectation, festive, reverent, noisy, and then, the lights dim, the choir's halos sparkle in the darkness, the first reader appears at the lectern, and there is silence. The ancient story of the miracle, of innocence and love come down, of hope and joy extended to all, is told one more time, always new, always familiar, always ours.
© 2001: Chapel of the Cross
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