Welcome to the Advent Music Project

Welcome to the Advent Music Project --

We'll be celebrating the 28 days of Advent (and the 12 days of Christmas) with a song a day, giving all of us five good minutes to think about the different meanings of Advent, what we bring to this season, and how we are waiting, hoping and in need of grace in our own lives.

Advent is an old tradition with new roots in the Protestant community.  For a long time Protestants considered special church seasons to be "too Catholic," but with the increasing pressurizing and commercialization of the holiday, many began to see the benefit in taking time not just to celebrate Christmas, but to figure out WHY we do it.  **Spoiler Alert**: it's not for the gifts, the mistletoe or the roasting chestnuts.  (*tear*)

So here we're trying to get back to the source of Advent: the yearning for renewal, the need for God's presence, and the promise that God, was, is and will be healing creation back into wholeness.  Advent isn't just to remember the birth of baby Jesus, but to "hope forward" for when Jesus will come again in triumph to reconcile all things.  A lot of progressive Christians don't like the phrase "Second Coming" because it's been hijacked by a very different theological mindset, but that's what we're talking about: God's promise that we are not abandoned to work out history by ourselves, that God's ultimate purpose for creation is exuberant wholeness, and that Jesus is more than just a nice idea.

This project started from our own hunger for different music to mark the season than the tin-can pop-style carols piped through the mall speakers.  We still love a good dance-off to "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree," but know that Advent is about something deeper.  So while the Advent Music Project starts with sharing music that matters to us, we're really hoping to start a conversation: so what news clips, songs, quotes, ideas, and connections are you making around these themes?  Share with one another and us!

We'll be exploring a whole range of songs and musical styles, from roots and rock to hip-hop, folk and jazz.  Many of the songs will still "feel" similar, though, with themes of brokenness and waiting, need and hope.  These are the core ideas of the season, and we'll continue to use them as touchstones even as occasionally we may veer off to explore a more upbeat thought or idea.  If you don't like the song one day, just check back tomorrow; hopefully we'll all walk away from this project with a few new thoughts, and a few new songs to add to our idea of what Mr. Stevie Wonder calls, "What Christmas Means to Me."  Blessings in this season of darkening days, and may your walk be marked by the coming Light.  Peace.

                                        - Anna and Lindsey