Christmas 2021

I enjoyed another Christmas Eve of church hopping this year. Four services in three churches, all capped by playing a ditty or two for the last one. Covid protocols notwithstanding, it was a nice evening. I attended four services in three neo-Gothic edifices, one of which was my first visit. See here and here for previous experiences.

One service was led by an adequate Aeolian-Skinner being played more than adequately. One was led by a horribly inadequate Reuter being played more than adequately. And the last two on the big Schlicker were top-notch, which is why I go in the first place. (Notice that we organists mention the organ and the playing long before mentioning the sermon, if at all.)

I continue to mellow in my old age. While I miss the days of liturgical and musical propriety and am still agape at some things I see going on, I nevertheless made it through all services without leaving in disgust this time. While I would normally be horrified by beginning worship at such a holy time with, "Good evening! [*pause*] Oh, we can do better than that! GOOD EVENING!!" I can still sit there quietly without participating in such a garden party orgy in front of the manger. And when I discovered much to my horror that the fellow I saw in the narthex in the bright red wrapping-paper-patterned suit and tie was the pastor and that he had no intention of covering any of that up with vestments for the upcoming service, I nevertheless stayed on and rode the boat with everyone else. I shouldn't ignore the fact that perhaps some folks there would have been equally horrified to learn that I show up to some services to take in the architecture and hear the organ, not necessarily to celebrate the Nativity. On the other hand, based on the garden-party element throughout one service, I'm not sure anyone else showed up with perfectly upright worshipful intentions, either. It is what it is.

I am letting go of some liturgical snobbery. Facebook lights up each year with my colleagues grousing about how society lets Christmas in at Halloween and then lets it die on December 26, while we liturgical addicts are just getting started on our twelve days on the 25th. But that IS the difference between society and the church. So let's let them be different. Let church have its other-worldly schedule, and let society have its decorations and non-sequitur songs such as "My favorite things" and Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Church must be different -- that's it's job. I suppose I'll still resist Christmas carols showing up during Advent, but in the kinds of churches I would regularly want to frequent, I don't have to worry about that.

So this is a love letter to the Church and to the World: you two are still different, no matter how hard some folks try to fold you together into the same loaf. You are both man-made, and so I will no longer bemoan the tensions between you. I now celebrate them, even while I hope with a little trepidation that you will always remain separate. If Church stops resembling something other than the World, I'll be done. But by the time that saturation truly occurs, I'll be too old to get out of the house, anyway. Merry Christmas to all. To both.