Some Christians think it’s a little unfair that somber Lent gets six weeks and joyful Advent only four.  Perhaps the Church Calendar is like that because penitence takes more work than joy, and Christians need more help with it.

Still some liturgical experts are trying to rectify the imbalance between Advent and Lent by extending Advent to six weeks. 

This movement is called The Advent Project and emerged recently among a small number of Episcopalian congregations. The Advent Project points out that before the twelfth century, Advent in the Christian Church lasted seven weeks until Gregorian reform foreshortened it to four. 

We started trying this at Kenilworth Union for the first time in 2019.  Since then, some Advents here are four weeks and some are six and some are seven, depending on what the preachers are trying to accomplish homiletically.  It will be six weeks in 2023.  Here is the Advent and Christmastide schedule.

The title of the sermon series might not make much sense to you.  We’ll explain what’s going on next week.