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Happy Advent! Happy New Year! This year, with the Fourth Sunday of Advent falling on Christmas Eve, we experience the shortest Advent season there can be. Advent is a beautiful season of expectation as we hear the thrilling and familiar words of prophecy and yearning for redemption, which culminate in the birth of Christ.
This weekend is a bit jam-packed as we experience only a few hours of the fourth week of Advent. On Friday we have our Longest Night service for all those who are grieving losses. Sunday morning, we celebrate the Fourth Sunday of Advent, and a few hours later it’s Christmas Eve!
In the morning, our thoughts turn to the historical birth of Christ as we hear the story of the annunciation. Our introit is the Matin Responsory for Advent. A responsory is a piece in which lines are sung by soloists and responded to chorally, rather like a dialogue. The opening text of this responsory is “I look from afar, and lo, I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering the whole earth. Go ye out to meet him and say, tell us art thou he who is to come reign over thy people, Israel.” The piece makes use of a harmonized Gregorian psalm-tone chant by Palestrina. In church music circles, when you hear this piece, you know Christmas isn’t far away!
At the anthem we have a sumptuous acapella setting of the Russian Orthodox “Hail Mary'' text, Bogoróditse Dyévo, ráduisya, by Sergei Rachmaninoff. This piece is from his larger work, Vsenoshchnoe bdenie (All-Night Vigil), Op. 37, which was published in 1915. The choir will sing in Church Slavonic.
The morning service concludes with the beloved carol, “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” The text sets the stage for what is about to take place. The ending words, “O come to us, abide with us, our Lord, Emmanuel” is the perfect way to close out Advent and usher in Christmas.
Our friend, Rhian Kenny, principal piccolo in the PSO will be with us to enhance the music for Christmas Eve along with the Chancel Choir and Adult Bell Choir and timpanist extraordinaire, Jacob Hollo. The music begins at 2:40. You will hear and sing many familiar carols. There will be candlelit singing of “Silent Night” and we will commune. Merry Christmas!
Please pray for us musicians and for Ben as we prepare the way of the Lord in music, liturgy, and word. Come, Lord Jesus!
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