Christmas Lessons and Carols for the 2nd Sunday of Christmas: January 5, 2020

Here is the assembly music for Sunday!

Opening Voluntary Away in a Manger setting, David Lasky

Gathering Hymn O Come, All Ye Faithful (Adeste fideles)

Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) 283

Hymns and Songs for Lessons and Carols

Joys Seven (The Seven Joys of Mary) This traditional English song probably has its roots in medieval devotional literature. It has only recently become associated with Christmas.

When God Is a Child The text is by the modern hymn writer Brian Wren (b. 1936) with the tune “Moon Beams,” by Joan Collier Fogg,

On Christmas Night (Sussex Carol) ELW 274

Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Mendelssohn) ELW 270

There’s a Star in the East This African American spiritual is also known by the title “Rise Up Shepherd, and Follow.)

Hymn of the Day What Child Is This? (Greensleeves) ELW 296

Musical Offering Walk in the Light

André Thomas

Communion Hymn O Little Town of Bethlehem (St. Louis) ELW 279

Sending Hymn Love Has Come (Un flambeau)

ELW 292

Closing Voluntary Hark! The Herald Angels Sing setting, David Cherwien

Music for the Fourth Sunday of Advent: December 22, 2019

Opening Voluntary Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus (Jefferson)     

setting, Edwin T. Childs

See the tune and text at Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) ELW 254.

Gathering Hymn People, Look East (Besançon)

ELW 248

Hymn of the Day The Night Will Soon Be Ending (Llangloffan)

This hymn is not in ELW. The text is by Jochen Klepper, a German journalist and poet who was married to a Jewish woman. Upon realizing he could not protect his wife or stepdaughters during Hitler’s regime Klepper, his wife, and youngest stepdaughter, Renate, committed suicide. An older daughter, Brigitte, escaped to England. Read more here: https://www.gdw-berlin.de/en/recess/biographies/index_of_persons/biographie/view-bio/jochen-klepper/?no_cache=1

Night in Asheville, NC

Musical Offering As the Dark Awaits the Dawn

Carl Schalk

Text by Susan Palo Cherwien

This is a choral setting of ELW 261.

Communion Hymn He Comes to Us as One Unknown (Repton)

ELW 737

Sending Hymn Joy to the World, the Lord Is Come (Antioch)

ELW 267

Closing Voluntary O Day of Peace that Dimly Shines (Jerusalem)

setting, Mark Sedio

A Service of Lessons and Carols for the Third Sunday of Advent: December 15, 2019

A musicologist might scoff at our use of the term “carol” for our assembly singing on Sunday. True carols have a rich history that did not begin in the church. In fact, “carol” used to refer to secular music and implied dancing.  Most of the music we sing for the Advent/Christmas/Epiphany arc would be better labeled “hymns.”

So, this Sunday our Advent service of lessons and carols might be better termed “lessons and hymns,” but we’ll borrow Wikipedia’s definition of “carol”:

A “Christmas carol” (or Advent carol for this Sunday) is a carol (song or hymn) whose lyrics are on the theme of Christmas (or Advent!) and which is traditionally sung on Christmas itself or during the surrounding holiday season.

Whether you call them “carols” or “hymns” I hope you will enjoy singing them and that they will deepen your sense of hope and expectation in this season of Advent.

This year’s service is based on the “O Antiphons” that are found in the favorite hymn “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.” The antiphons, dating from about the 8^th century, are tied to specific days leading to Christmas. Around the twelfth century they were combined into a single hymn which was translated by John Mason Neale to become the hymn we love today.

Late November Sunset in the North Carolina Mountains

Opening Voluntary Comfort, Comfort Now My People (Freu dich sehr)

setting, Kenneth T. Kosche

Gathering Hymn Fling Wide the Door (Mach hoch die Tür)

Evangelical Lutheran Worship 259

First Carol

Hymn of the Day Comfort, Comfort Now My People (Freu dich sehr)

ELW 256

Second Carol Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus (Jefferson)

ELW 254

Third Carol Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming (Es ist ein Ros)

ELW 272

Fourth Carol Now the Heavens Start to Whisper (Suo Gân)

A Nativity Scene at the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC

Mary Louise Bringle began writing hymns in 1999. Her work appears in the hymnals of many denominations, including three texts in ELW. She is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Brevard College (Brevard, NC) where she also serves as chair of the Humanities division. A more extensive bio can be found at https://www.giamusic.com/store/artists/mary-louise-bringle.

Now the Heavens Start to Whisper pairs her text with the melody of a traditional Welsh lullaby.

Fifth Carol Awake! Awake, and Greet the New Morn (Rejoice, Rejoice)

ELW 242

The sixth reading is also the lectionary-appointed gospel reading for the day.

Hymn of the Day Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding (Merton)

ELW 246

Musical Offering (sung by the Festival Choir) Magnificat

Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)

Communion Hymns

The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came (Gabriel’s Message) ELW 265

O Come, Divine Messiah (Venez Divin Messie)

The tune of this French carol dates at least to the 16 century.

Heinz Memorial Chapel in Pittsburgh, PA

Sending Hymn Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers (Haf trones lampa färdig)

ELW 244

Closing Voluntary Picardy

setting, Kenneth T. Kosche

ELW 490

Music for the Second Sunday of Advent December 8, 2019

Opening Voluntary Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus (St. Mark’s Ringers)     

setting, Lee Afdahl

Evangelical Lutheran Worship, our hymnal, pairs this Charles Wesley text with the tune Jefferson; however, other denominations sing it with different tunes. Two of the tunes are Stuttgart and Hyfrydol – both of which are utilized in Afdahl’s arrangement. At the end of the piece, we hear both tunes played at the same time!

The panels on St. Mark's  "Seasons of the Church Year" banner, including the one for Advent,
were hand-stitched by Grace Echerer in 1994.

Gathering Hymn Prepare the Royal Highway (Bereden väg för Herran)

ELW 264

Frans Mikael Franzén 

After his ordination in 1803, Frans Mikael Franzén worked on developing his hymn-writing skills and contributed 29 hymns to Svenska Psalm-Boken, a collection of psalms for Swedish churches that was published in 1819. Franzén was bishop of the Härnøsand diocese until his death in 1847.

The tune, first published in 1694, has an undeniable dance quality.

In 1536, King Gustav I of Sweden, separated the national church from the Roman Catholic Church. Sweden’s national church has been Lutheran ever since.

Hymn of the Day There’s a Voice in the Wilderness (Ascension)

ELW 255

This certainly feels a like a hymn that must have been written for Advent, but James Lewis Milligan (1876 – 1961) wrote the text to celebrate the creation of the United Church of Canada. The UCC was formed by the union of Presbyterian, Methodist, and Congregational churches.

Musical Offering (sung by the Festival Choir) Creation Will Be at Peace

Anna Laura Page
In 1985 Terry Anderson, an American journalist, was taken hostage while working in Lebanon. He was released in 1991. This choral anthem, with its text freely drawn from today’s reading from the Hebrew scriptures, is dedicated to Anderson’s sister, Peggy Say.

Communion Hymns

Blessed be the God of Israel (Forest Green) ELW 250

Few hymntunes are as satisfying to sing as Forest Green. Here it is paired with a metrical setting of the canticle of Zechariah, also known as the Benedictus. These are the words recorded by the gospel writer Luke. The story goes that after Zechariah wrote the famous line “His name is John,” he regained his voice and delivered this powerful song of praise. All these things tie it not just to Advent, but to the leading figure in today’s gospel reading – John the Baptist.

Try singing this tune with the text of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” and you’ll never want to sing St. Louis again. (Okay, that’s a stretch. I know that for many St. Louis is a beloved tune and they have a hard time separating the text and tune. In truth, St. Louis was written specifically for O Little Town at the author’s request.)

On Jordan’s Bank the Baptist’s Cry (Puer nobis) ELW 249

St. Mark's Moravian star

Sending Hymn Hail to the Lord’s Anointed 
(King’s Lynn)
You’ll find this hymn in ELW with the tune Freut euch, ihr lieben, but I wanted to use a more familiar tune suitable for a procession and settled on this English tune.

James Montgomery’s text is a paraphrase of Psalm 72 which he wrote for Christmas services celebrated by the Moravian Church in Yorkshire, England.

A Moravian star has long been used as part of the Advent trappings at St. Mark’s. It goes up for the first Sunday of Advent and remains through the Feast of the Epiphany. It is said that the first Moravian star was probably the result of a geometry project in a Moravian school. Whether or not this is true, Moravian stars have been around since about the 1830s.

Closing Voluntary Trumpet Tune on Hyfrydol

Michael Helman

The closing voluntary brings back one of the themes from the opening voluntary and echoes the church’s cry of, “Come, thou long-expected Jesus!”


Sources:
Wikipedia
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Paul Westermeyer)
Portrait of Frans Mikael Franzén: By Johan Gustaf Sandberg - Johan Gustaf Sandberg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=790341