Behind the Music Stand

     Perhaps you've noticed the Christmas decorations are still up around the church.  Having spent many good years working in retail, I empathize deeply with those who feel that they should all magically disappear on December 26.  However, being a church musician in a more traditional and liturgical church, I also have a tendency to order my life by the liturgical calendar.      The liturgical calendar evolved over centuries and has its most elemental roots in the Jewish calendar of feasts, and according to the calendar, four Sundays before Christmas Day is the start of the season called Advent.      The term Advent comes from the the Latin word for "Coming."  During the Advent season we are reminded both that Jesus came into the world as a baby all those millennia ago, and that He will come again to take His children home.  It is a season of reflection and repentance, during which we are expected to prepare ourselves for His arrival.      The problem we have in weste