Bethlehem Sunday and John the Baptist

We continue our Advent preparations.  This time of waiting is not the impatient foot tapping of the grocery store line but the pleasant work of preparing our homes for guests, just as we prepare our church and our hearts, minds, and souls for Christmas.  The call to remind us of this preparation comes from John the Baptist.  The hymns this week reinforce the lessons perfectly: On Jordan's Bank the Baptist's Cry; Comfort, Comfort Now My People; and Hark, the Glad Sound.

These are the great hymns of Advent that we sing only once a year and hear only in church.  Shoppers at the mall miss out on such joyous texts as "Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding!...Cast away the works of darkness all you children of the day!"  That hymn's concluding verse reminds us of God's everlasting power, embodied at Christmas: "Honor, glory, might, and blessing to the Father and the Son, with the everlasting Spirit while unending ages run!"  Take note of the prayers during Advent, which reinforce these same themes.  They always include the line "Stir up your power, O Lord."

This second Sunday of Advent has come to be known as Bethlehem Sunday.  To match that theme, the choir will be singing an arrangement of "O Little Town of Bethlehem" by Ken Jennings.  The new tune highlights the text as a gentle lullaby.  I hope it conjures the beauty of cold, dark, starry nights.  But the song also reflects the joy of the coming holiday, as each verse reaches a dramatic climax describing God's power, before ending again in the quiet lullaby of expectation and waiting.

Wake, Awake

It's still November; there's still no snow on the ground; I still don't have much of my Christmas shopping done; but Advent will arrive this Sunday.  It's the beginning of a new church year.  This season of expectation and preparation begins with the lighting of the first Advent wreath candle.

Sometimes in our rush to sing Christmas carols and hymns we forget about the great music of Advent, which is a shame.  There is such a variety among them as well, and I'll try to highlight a few of the greatest in the next few weeks.  This first week, I want to mention one of the best known: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel.  The tune and text are both hundred of years old, but the origin of each is obscure.  The Latin origin of the text and the Gregorian chant tune are perfect for the theme of the first Advent candle: prophecy.  Some people also refer to it as a symbol of hope and expectation.  In this season of darkness, we yearn for the return of the light.  The symbolism of Advent is among the most theatrical of the church year, and the hymn text previews the entire season for us.

The choir will be taking the week off in appreciation of their participation in the Thanksgiving service on Wednesday.  But we will still have special music because David will be playing trumpet throughout the service.  We'll be playing more Baroque music by Telemann for the prelude and postlude.  The Rainbow Ringers will also be playing along with one hymn.  As always, I hope you enjoy the music and that this week it deepens your appreciation for the start of this new season!

Ring Them Bells

The bell choir is re-forming, with our first rehearsal coming up this week Wednesday at 6:45.  All are welcoem and invited to come join us.  It's fun and easy to learn and a great group activity.  In fact, I once heard a member of our church describe bell choir as "the ultimate team sport."  It's quite different from playing in a band or singing in a choir, in which individual players can play or sing their own melodies and harmonies.  Instead, each player has just a few notes, and the melody is passed from player to player.  It takes coordination and teamwork to make beautiful music.

What bell choir does not require is an expensive instrument, a good voice, a strong embouchure, fast fingers, or any of the other skills and talents that you might associate with being a musician.  In other words, it can be a great way to participate in a musical ensemble without requiring lots of practice.

The bell choir will play for our first worship service at the Advent Vespers on December 12th, so we'll be hitting the ground running.  I hope to see you there - and stick around for Chancel Choir to follow!

In the meantime, hum a few measures of Liza's famous number, which is its own Joyful Noise:
Ring them bells, come on, ring them bells
Make 'em sing, you'd better ring them bells
It's such a happy thing to hear 'em ting-a-ling
You gotta swing them, ring them, swing them, ring them bells!

Mark your calendars now

The Worship and Music Committee has decided to schedule an Advent Vespers service for the evening of December 12th at 7:00 PM.  We're still hard at work hammering out details, but it will be a night of meditation and prayer, candlelight and beautiful music.  It will mark the return of the bell choir and feature not just the Chancel Choir but a number of soloists and small groups.

It will be a worship service, not a concert, but it will be different from Sunday morning worship.  We will be focused on the symbols of darkness and light, waiting and preparing - all themes of Advent.  I'll be writing more about some of the specific music soon, but I hope you mark your calendar and spread the word.  It should be a beautiful service, and it would be fantastic to share it with a full church!

Pachelbel's Magnificat

Today is the last day of the semester, consisting of my last final exam, turning in my last term paper, and finishing up my grading. At long last, I will be able to turn my attention to preparing my home for guests and putting finishing touches on church music! This week our brass players rehearsed the music for Christmas Eve, and it only heightened my excitement for the services. There should be an abundance of beautiful music.

This Sunday, however, it is still Advent, the time of preparation, and my musical focus continues to be the Magnificat. The Psalm for the week is the text of Mary's prayer of thanksgiving from the Gospel of Luke (making the name "psalm" a bit of a misnomer, I suppose). This often overlooked musical moment in the service is the text and inspiration of much of the music for these past weeks.

I've mentioned before that I grew up in a very Catholic town, very aware of their veneration of Mary. Of course, the novels of Dan Brown and other popular works have reinvigorated interest in the "divine feminine." Lutheran theology and music certainly don't elevate Mary to the point of worship, but in this season of preparation I find the text of the Magnificat to be an important reminder of the physical reality of Mary's pregnancy.

A famous Latin Christmas chant begins "O Magnum Mysterium," reminding us that the incarnation is a great mystery. This week, my prelude will be selections from Pachelbel's Fugues on the Magnificat, Mary's prayer of mystery and exaltation. This last Sunday of Advent provides us a chance to express the wonder and the joy and expectation of the festival to come. I encourage you to pay special attention and sing with extra gusto during the Psalm!

Preparations

It's clear that a church near my home has put a new person in charge of their sign, because they have gone from the typical staid church announcements to the jokes that you sometimes see on such signs. Today I noticed that the sign says "Beat the Christmas rush. Come this Sunday." It's a good reminder in our season of preparations that we should still focus on the present moment.

It's so easy for a Lutheran church musician to succumb to the cycle of Reformation-Thanksgiving-Christmas-Easter-Pentecost, constantly preparing for the next festival and shortchanging the services in between. Every piece of music related mail that I've received in the past month has mentioned Lent and/or Easter. We're always preparing for the next thing.

I'm reminded of a sermon I once heard about the joy of being a post-Easter people. The minister's point was that there is no longer a need to prepare for Christmas or Easter, because the holidays we celebrate are simply anniversaries and reminders of events that we know well and traditions that we cherish. We are preparing ourselves for a larger mission and life ahead of us than simply a date on the calendar.

Musically, I was thinking too of music that reminds us of the importance of every day. There are no "minor Sundays" or "lesser festivals." Perhaps no better text sums up that attitude than Psalm 118 (often set to music, from Sunday schools to concert music): "This is the day that the Lord hath made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Just like the journey is sometimes more important than the destinations, it seems to me that the preparations of Advent are actually the highlight - the main dish that comes before the dessert of Christmas.

Be prepared

You know how sleep deprivation and the looming deadlines of exams and final projects can make you a little loopy? Well, I was trying to think about something pithy to say about Advent and the theme of being prepared when an old Boy Scout song started replaying in my mind (over and over):

Be be be prepared,
The motto of the Boy Scouts.
Be be be prepared,
The motto of the Scouts.
Prepared! Prepared!...

It's not exactly a brilliantly composed piece of music, is it? But you certainly can't miss its message, nor why it came to my mind during Advent. A motto is meant to be a short, catchy phrase that reminds you of a greater message, a deeper truth. While I certainly can't say that I turn to Baden-Powell or the BSA for all of my moral instruction, on this topic of being prepared, the BSA handbook has something to say that is relevant for us in this season:

"...all Scouts should prepare themselves to become productive citizens and to give happiness to other people. [Baden-Powell] wanted each Scout to be ready in mind and body for any struggles, and to meet with a strong heart whatever challenges might lie ahead. Be prepared for life - to live happily and without regret, knowing that you have done your best."

Those are goals worth singing about and ideals worth remembering at this busy time of year.

Snow, at last, and more Magnificat

It's starting to feel like December now that we have a few snowflakes on the ground. I love the crisp air of winter and the dark nights of silence that are a black canvas for the music of this season. The stars seem to sparkle more in the winter, like candles at a Christmas eve service, and the sunshine reflects even more brightly. Our Advent season of preparation is one of contrasts, light against dark.

The Magnificat also exemplifies this contrast of the season. The news of Mary's pregnancy is joyous and startling; her hymn is one of praise and wonder. The music of these four Sundays reflects that dichotomy.

Some hymns reflect the darkness and mystery of the season. "O Come, O Come, Emmanuel" epitomizes that style and sound, along with "Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming." The choir's anthems "Stay with Us" and "My Song in the Night" also emphasize the dark yearning and mystery of our prayers of preparation.

Last Sunday we also sang hymns from the other tradition, hymns of praise that echo the language of Palm Sunday: "All Earth is Hopeful" and "Prepare the Royal Highway," the latter of which includes the text: "God's people, see him coming: your own eternal king! Palm branches strew before him! Spread garments! Shout and sing!...Hosanna to the Lord, for he fulfills God's word!"

One of my favorite parts of Sunday's early service was the bright sunshine streaming through the stained glass at the back of the church. It seems like 9:00 is the perfect time to enjoy the light lately and to remember that even as the days get shorter, we can savor the light we do have as we sing the great hymns of Advent.

Magnificat

One of my favorite Bible passages is the Magnificat, which my Good News Bible titles "Mary's Song of Praise." It's a poem of praise that has been set to music countless times. I particularly remember hearing it performed as part of "The Black Nativity" in Minneapolis one year. That year the star of the show was Jennifer Holliday (of "Dreamgirls" fame), who played the role of an angel, and she sang several incredible show-stopping numbers that had the crowd on its feet over and over.

But in the middle of act one, sandwiched between raucous gospel songs, was the simple beauty of a woman signing the Magnificat. She had just been told that she was pregnant and she smiled and laughed with pure joy before launching into a sweet and simple melody. The opening phrase of the song is still one that I sing to myself. If I close my eyes, I can remember seeing her elated smile. It helps remind me of the many blessings in my life and reasons to be thankful.

This Sunday, I'll be playing Buxtehude's Magnificat as the prelude. If you don't listen closely, it might sound just like any other Baroque organ music. But I hope that you notice the ascending scales, the sixteenth notes that trip over each other with joy, and that you meditate on the famous text "My soul doth magnify the Lord" as a great way to start celebrating the second Sunday of Advent.

The anthem of the day will be "My Song in the Night," arranged by Paul J. Christiansen. It's a Southern folk hymn that ties into the theme of joy, beginning with these words: "O Jesus my Savior, my song in the night, come to us with Thy tender love, my souls' delight. Unto thee, O Lord, in affliction I call, my comfort by day and my song in the night."

(My writing has been sparse this week because I've been caught up in end-of-semester projects on top of decorating the house and all that goes along with the holidays. I appreciate all the comments and dialogue on the blog lately, though, and I'll try to maintain my writing pace next week!)

Happy New Year!

Welcome to Advent and the start of a new church year. This past Sunday was a refreshing change of pace in so many ways. For one thing, the altar guild had hung banners, put out the Advent wreath, and changed the altar colors to blue. I also noticed the stark contrast between Wednesday night's service when all the windows were dark. The silence of an evening service always seems heavier and more contemplative. By contrast, this past Sunday the light through the stained glass seemed especially brilliant.

We also switched our liturgical setting. We've returned to ELW setting 3, which is familiar to us from the LBW. This is honestly the first time since the ELW was introduced that I didn't feel a sense of relief upon returning to the familiar music. I had become used to the sound of the upbeat music of setting 2, and the "new" setting seemed almost pedestrian by comparison. I still love the music, but it no longer provides quite the same sensation of returning home. Do other people feel the same way?

The choir had the week off, but they'll be hard at work with Christmas preparations. It's so appropriate that Advent is the season of preparation and anticipation. A musician can never forget that! Everyone is busy with preparations - whether decorating, cleaning, making travel plans, or just trying to finish the school semester and holiday season still in possession of your sanity. Of course, none of those are as important as the spiritual preparations we come together to sing about every Sunday at the beginning of this new year.

Christmas in July

On our journey through the Creed this summer, we have reached the recounting of the nativity: "He was conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit and born of the virgin Mary." Naturally, this gives us an excuse to sing "Joy to the World" in July.

I decided to extend the musical theme with the prelude. We can't have Christmas music without at least a nod toward Advent, right? So the prelude on Wednesday night will be Dieterich Buxtehude's "Chorale Fantasia on Wie Schon Leuchtet," known to us as "O Morning Star How Fair and Bright."

Buxtehude is an important name in organ music history. He was an organist and composer in Lubeck, Germany, in the late 17th century and was one of the greatest composers of the mid-Baroque era. His works had great influence on the next generation of better-known composers, including Telemann, Handel, and especially J.S. Bach. The prelude I'm playing is one of his best known works, and it develops the entire text of the hymn in a highly ornamented style. You might even open your hymnal to follow along.