Dear Friends,
My daughter face timed me last week and the first thing I noticed was the Christmas tree. Just so you don’t feel behind (or offended that she broke an unwritten rule of ‘no Christmas before Thanksgiving’), all the decorations were not complete. She assured me it was the first phase. My point is this: I experienced a visible reminder of the season of arrival, or advent. As a church musician, my mind immediately went to the added preparation, practice and service playing ahead in the next month. Yet, I felt the excitement of once again experiencing the season of Advent leading up to Christmas and Epiphany.
Advent, in pre-modern cultures without the benefit of immediate communication, described a season when people would camp out and wait for the arrival of a king. They might not only wait for days, but weeks or even months as a royal caravan traveled across land and water (without google maps). Similar to them, many of us have the privilege of using music to lead those around us to freshly experience the age-old seasons of Advent and Christmas as we prepare for the coming of a king – this time, the Christ Child.
May you have the energy, creativity and blessing of seeing this season with fresh eyes.
Warmly,
Judy Kohl,
Dean