This year’s Advent theme is “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” It’s from a dance pop song by Daft Punk that came out in 2001.
Listen to Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger on YouTube:
These words are printed and hung in the worship space on one of the walls. At the top of the page is the word in black. The words repeat underneath, fading to grey, but then change so that at the bottom of the page the opposite of the word in black again. Those opposite words: Softer, Worse, Slower, Weaker.
The complete pairings are: Harder/Softer, Better/Worse, Faster/Slower, Stronger/Weaker.
In the song, “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” is repeated over and over again (like any good dance song). But then the pattern changes and more words are added (and again repeated over and over again):
Work it harder, make it better
Do it faster, makes us stronger
More than ever, hour after hour
Work is never over
The American Work Ethic
These lyrics adequately describe the American work ethic. American society seems to dictate that we must work harder, to make things better, while doing it faster so that we can become stronger. It’s always progress. Always moving forward. Always getting ahead. Always working.
Sometimes this work ethic is labelled the Protestant work ethic. Notice how religion is paired with work. Even in the work of the church, we often ascribe to this work ethic of “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.”
But when we only look at the “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger” side of life, either in our own lives or in the church, we are only looking at half of reality. Because sometimes things don’t get better; they get worse. Sometimes things get harder, and not in a good way. Softness can be hard to find. Sometimes doing things faster can burn us out and we need a slower pace. Sometimes stronger just isn’t possible and we are left to wallow in our weakness.
Advent
In Advent we are anticipating and waiting for the birth of Jesus. In Jesus, strength is shown in weakness. In Jesus we see that even with the slowness in how long it took Jesus to appear, nevertheless the kingdom of God is fast approaching. In Jesus we see that when things are at their worst, they can get better. In Jesus we can see that working harder won’t guarantee our salvation; only the softness of grace given freely will.
In Jesus we find that things got both “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” and “Softer, Worse, Slower, Weaker.” In Jesus, the pairings are complete: things with Jesus became both harder and softer, both better and worse, both faster and slower, both stronger and weaker.
My hope for this Advent season is that we all can accept when things are “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger.” And also accept when they are “Softer, Worse, Slower, Weaker.”
And continue to wait for the day when everything is simply better.
Peace and blessings,
Pastor Alex
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