When we come together this 1st Sunday of Advent and sing “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” we will be participating in a sacred Advent ritual more than a thousand years old. It takes us back to monastic life in the 8th- or 9th-century. For the week leading up to Christmas, they would sing a sequence of Latin “O antiphons” (an antiphon is a short chant like a refrain based on scripture). The purpose of these O antiphons was to concentrate the mind on the coming Christmas with a sequence of scriptures. Each day was a different O antiphon, climaxing with this one. Click here for a lovely rendition of the Latin original.

Yet there’s more to this particular antiphon than just its advanced age. Continue reading Upcoming Worship Dec 3, 2017 →

Advent has another week to go, the week of deepest darkness that comes before the glorious Christmas dawn.  The more we immerse in the spirit of Advent–making time for our spiritual life  doing things like reading, praying, getting out in nature, serving people in need–the more joyous our Christmas  can be.  Yet joyous outbursts are part of Advent, too–we felt it last week on Pageant Sunday and we will feel it Christmas Eve in the first half of the 6:00 PM service.

We will begin this Sunday in joy, too, celebrating Christ’s birth by hearing some of the nativity story and singing “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and “Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” and “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear.”  The choir will sing “Do You Hear What I Hear?” and a trio of Betsy Alexander, Bridget Peters and Marcia Tomlinson will sing “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree.”  John Atwood will be playing special music involving chimes and a major Bach Prelude and Fugue that is traditionally associated with Christmas.  The sermon will reflect on the “Universal, Unconditional, Unstoppable Love” that we witness in the Christmas story, and that we continue to see at work in our lives and in the world today.

Yet like Christmas Eve, we will end the service quieting into the silent night of Advent still left ahead, singing “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” and the ancient plainsong benediction one last time.  John’s postlude will be the Ukrainian Bell Carol.

Here is a Simon Preston recording of the Bach Prelude and Fugue in C Major that John will be playing:

This Sunday will be a glorious mix of high and low church art, all of it beautiful and moving.  The children’s pageant will once again act out the story as our Diverse Musical Traditions Team sings the Gaither song, “Come and See What’s Happenin’ in the Barn!”  We are hoping to have fourteen children participate, which is very exciting!  The same team will also sing the classic bluegrass Christmas song, “Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” which has been recorded by everyone from Ralph Stanley to Emmylou Harris and over four hundred others.

Organist John Atwood will play the haunting Appalachian carol, “I Wonder As I Wander,” to complete the low church art.  He will also play two pieces from the baroque high church art department, both by Johann Pachelbel,   One of them will be a chorale prelude on the tune that the choir will sing as an Intoit,  “From Heaven unto Earth I Come.”

Our congregational hymns will include “O Little Town of Bethlehem,” “Joy to the World” (the children will sing it with the choir at the end of the Pageant and the congregation will join in at the end) and “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” as well as the Benediction hymn set to the ancient plainchant Advent tune.

We will light the candle of Joy and read responsively from Psalm 126 and hear Luke 1:39-45 and John 15:9-11.  The sermon title will be taken from the John passage, “So That My Joy May Be in You.”  We will reflect on what it means to have Christ’s joy in us in very practical terms–it is the peak experience, the highest meaning and pleasure in life, and Christ is very clear that he wants us to experience it to the fullest.  Why let anything stand in our way?

To hear two of the pieces of music that will be in the service, Continue reading Upcoming Service Notes, December 11, 2016, Pageant, Joy, 3rd Sunday of Advent →

We light the candle of peace on the Second Sunday of Advent, and we immerse in the vision of Christ as the Prince of Peace coming to earth.  Division, conflict, anxiety, terror, violence–all seem to be on the increase in our nation and in the world, so the Sunday of Peace has rarely been so welcome.  We will immerse in its hope and joy and love this Sunday.

The prophets Isaiah and John the Baptist take center stage (Isaiah’s peaceable kingdom vision, 11:1-10 and John’s foretelling of Christ in Matthew 3:1-12), with a supporting role by John the Baptist’s father, Zechariah with his beautiful Benedictus about the tender mercy of God and the dawn from on high that is coming “to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace.”  (Luke 1:68-79)

For a list and a sampling of the beautiful music, Continue reading Upcoming Service Notes for December 4, 2016, Second Sunday of Advent →