The church calendar, liturgy, and knowing our roots

In 2009, when my family moved to Utah to serve at our current church, it was not just a changing of jobs and states; we moved to a different church tradition. In my first six years on staff as a youth worker, I was a lay youth director in two different Episcopal churches in Colorado. I am now a pastor at a Baptist church (although you'll notice you won't find "Baptist" in our name) where I serve as one of the student pastors. It was certainly a bit of a change. But as my mentor once put it, I've always been a closet Baptist, and for six of the years I served in the Episcopal Church, I attended a non-denominational-but-formerly-baptist seminary.

One thing my wife (who grew up in and whose parents are on staff at an Episcopal church) and I miss about our "Anglican roots" is the liturgy and an awareness of the church calendar. I'm thankful that in many evangelical circles, celebrating Advent and Lent is becoming more common. Last spring, our junior high pastor led an interactive Good Friday service for our church, and everyone loved it. In addition, we typically celebrate Advent and Lent in our junior and senior high ministries, although I have to confess we did not do it in our group this year.

I do wish that as Christians we had a better understanding of our Christian roots and traditions. Some, such as my Catholic and Anglican brothers and sisters, have a great understanding of these things, and I need to learn from them. There's a rich history that can really deepen our understanding of who Jesus is and--in the case of Advent--what it really means that he came to Earth in human flesh, and how that relates to us as we await the Second Advent.

Is your church observing Advent this year? If so, how does that look in your ministry to youth? Are you one of those people (like my father-in-law) who refuses to take down your Christmas tree until January 6th?

By the way, if you're looking for Advent resources and ideas, there are lots of good ones out there, including over at Rethinking Youth Ministry, which has some original stuff as well as links to other great resources as well.

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