Year C: Advent Lessons and Carols with Birthday for Christ for the Third Sunday of Advent, December 12, 2021

 The tradition of Christmas Lessons and Carols began at Truro Cathedral in England, so it’s only natural that I consult The Book of Occasional Services from the Episcopal church when I begin to plan a service of Advent Lessons and Carols.

There are ominous rules like The lesson from the third chapter of Genesis is never omitted.

My usual starting place is with the Episcopal list of designated readings. I choose the readings I want to use (trying not to repeat them every year) and then choose carols that match the readings.

This year, I tried a different approach.

I began with the Advent hymn Savior of the Nations, Come. It’s a staple of Lutheran Advent hymnody, although the hymn is much older than the Augsburg Confession.

Paul Westermeyer says this about the hymn:

This is one of the longest-running hymns in the church. It has generated a huge repertoire of music. The text scans the whole story by taking us into the manger while assuming the victory of the cross and resurrection. The result is to make ‘Come’ refer to Advent’s paradox: Christ’s first coming, second coming, and coming to us here and now.

By starting with a hymn theme, I suppose this morning’s service has more in common with a Paul Manz hymn festival than it does the ancient Episcopal service. Still, the Anglican influence can be felt by the inclusion of the final reading from Baruch – one of the apocryphal texts.

With the inclusion of Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming and Once in Royal David’s City, you can even see a little Christmas slipping into our Advent worship.

 

The format is easy to follow. We all sing one stanza of Savior of the Nations, Come and it’s followed by a reading. After the reading, we all stand to sing a hymn.

I also have to say a word about carols. The definition of what is a carol has changed over hundreds of years. Early carols were secular in nature and often involved dance rhythms. Even the religious ones were never sung in church.

But today, O Come, O Come, Emmanuel, even though it’s based on chant, is generally considered a Christmas carol.  The songs we sing today are rightly called “Christmas hymns,” rather than “Christmas carols.”

Today we use a very loose interpretation of the word “carol.” Whether we call them hymns or carols, let us sing with gusto and full hearts, for Jesus has come, and is coming again.

 

OPENING VOLUNTARY Savior of the Nations, Come (Nun komm der Heiden Heiland) setting, Jacob Weber

 

LESSONS AND CAROLS

Isaiah 40:1-11 Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence (Picardy) ELW 490

Isaiah 7:10-15 Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming (Es ist ein Ros) ELW 272

Galatians 4:1-7 He Came Down ELW 253

1 Corinthians 15:12-26 Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus (Jefferson) ELW 254

Micah 5:2-4 Once in Royal David’s City (Irby) ELW 269

Baruch 4:36-5:9 O Come, Divine Messiah (Veni, divin messie)

The final hymn is not in ELW. I learned it a few years ago while performing with RareSong. We sang a concert of music that French and Spanish colonists may have sung when Fort Caroline and the city of St. Augustine were founded. In published form, this French carol dates at least to the 1600s. I was determined to add it to our modern repertoire and began looking for sources. I was happy to discover our Roman Catholic siblings in faith have been singing it all along!

I  have the privilege of performing with this group of musicians
called RareSong. We perform Renaissance and Medieval music -
basically anything before the Baroque era.

MUSICAL OFFERING Hail to the Lord’s Anointed Thomas Keesecker

COMMUNION HYMN O Come, O Come, Emmanuel (Veni, Emmanuel) ELW 270

SENDING HYMN Prepare the Royal Highway (Bereden vag for Herren) ELW 264

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Prelude and Chorale on “Hark! A Thrilling Voice Is Sounding” (Merton) Kevin Hildebrand / William H. Monk

Gifts have already begun to gather
around the tree in Hart Hall for our Birthday 
for Christ celebration.

BIRTHDAY FOR CHRIST

Today’s service also includes our annual “Birthday for Christ” procession. A long-standing tradition at St. Mark’s (nobody knows exactly when it started), gifts from our congregation help to brighten the holidays for children who are homeless or under protective custody. A series of Christmas carols, a verse for each month of the year, is sung while the assembly brings their gifts forward.

sources:
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship (Augsburg Fortress)
Hymnary.org
Wikipedia
The Book of Occasional Services (Church Publishing, Inc.)