Burying the Alleluia?

Dean McIntyre is a hero of mine. He knows more than I’ll ever forget. Even better, he shares it like this —-

BURYING THE ALLELUIA IN LENT
Dean McIntyre

1. Burying the alleluia is an adiaphoron. (NOTE: Adiaphoron (plural, adiaphora): “a matter indifferent.” In theology or for us in the church, it is often used to describe something – a belief, a ritual, a ceremony, a practice – that is up to the individual to decide, there being no official position from church law or scripture. Screens or hymnals, robes or not, which altar candle gets lit first, King James Version or New Revised Standard, singing Christmas carols during Advent — all adiaphora.)
2. There is no official United Methodist requirement, rubric, or even recommendation regarding this practice.
3. The UMC is a big tent and some churches will follow this custom religiously, others will forgo it, while still others do not even know or care about it, and all three of these are equally OK.
4. While the practice is common in the Roman Catholic and some Protestant faiths, it is not followed in the Orthodox faith, where, in fact, the days of Lent are referred to as “Days of Alleluia.”