The Second Sunday of Advent, Year A: December 4, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY Variations on "Es ist ein Ros"

Alfred V. Fedak

See the text and tune at ELW 272.

"A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,

and a branch shall grow out of his roots." (First Reading, Isaiah 11:1)

This hymn's text uses the image of a rose, rather than a "shoot," blooming from Jesse's lineage, but it's a clear echo of today's reading from Isaiah. It even says, "Isaiah had foretold it. . ." Using the image of the flower permits even more expressive poetry in the line, "This flow'r whose fragrance tender with sweetness fills the air, dispels with glorious splendor the darkness everywhere."

This endearing text is equally at home in Christmas and Advent. The first of Fedak's variations is marked "tenderly," but they become more playful as they move to the end.

GATHERING HYMN Prepare the Royal Highway (BEREDEN VÄG FOR HERRAN)

ELW 264

Each time we sing this hymn, I'm reminded that this is the point that Handel decided to start his "Messiah." After a calm recitative of "Comfort ye, my people," the tenor breaks into one of the best-loved Handel arias - "Every Valley Shall Be Exalted." Mountains and hills are made low, the crooked is straightened, and the rough places become plains."

Together, the recitative and aria are one my favorite moments in the oratorio medium. If you have a minute, listen to the English tenor Nicholas Starratt's rendering at this link.

Nicholas Starratt
from his websiter

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Pz9BCMFoP8&list=RD2Pz9BCMFoP8&start_radio=1

Though he was born in Finland, the author of this text was of Swedish heritage. Frans Mikael Franzén was ordained in 1803 and began his pastoral career in a rural parish where he worked on his hymn writing skills. When he died in 1834, he was bishop of the Swedish diocese of Härnøsand.

PSALM Hail to the Lord's Anointed (FREUT EUCH, IHR LIEBEN)

ELW 311

Today we sing a metrical setting of the psalm. Metrical settings are poetic versions of texts in a specific meter that allows them to be sung with a hymntune.

HYMN OF THE DAY Comfort, Comfort Now My People (FREU DICH SEHR)
ELW 311

MUSICAL OFFERING Creation Will Be at Peace 

Anna Laura Page

The text of this piece also closely relates to the Isaiah reading. I don't think I would wrong if I said this is one of our choir's (and the Cantor's) very favorite pieces of choral literature for church choirs.

It's dedication reads "For Peggy Say, sister of former hostage Terry Anderson." 

In 1985, Terry Anderson, an American journalist, was taken hostage in Lebanon after playing a tennis game in Beirut. He was held in several secret locations and finally released after six years and nine months.

This text and music remind us that there will come a day when kidnapping (and evil's other manifestations) will end - and creation will be at peace. 

The Peaceable Kingdom, Edward Hicks (1780-1849)

COMMUNION HYMNS
Now the Heavens Start to Whisper (SUO GÂN)
ACS 901

This traditional tune from Wales pairs elegantly with a contemporary text by Mary Louise Bringle. While a new tune to Lutheran hymnals, its form with three lines being identical makes it easy to learn. The contrasting third line holds both the highest note and the high point of the melody. Both text and tune have a quietness about them. Notice the words "whisper," "slumber," "stirring, faint within," "drift away" - reminders that Christ comes in the quiet so that our hearts grow "soft" and "warm." (From Sundays and Seasons)

There's a Voice in the Wilderness (ASCENSION)
ELW 255

SENDING HYMN Hark! The Glad Sound (CHESTERFIELD)

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Trumpet Tune on "Comfort, Comfort Now My People"

Jerry Westenkuehler

Sources:
(Image of John the Baptist) Eyck, Jan van, 1390-1440. John the Baptist, Ghent Altarpiece, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. https://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=56708 [retrieved November 21, 2022]. Original source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_van_Eyck_-_The_Ghent_Altarpiece_-_St_John_the_Baptist_(detail)_-_WGA07634.jpg.

The Hymnal Companion: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Wikipedia

(Peaceable Kingdom image)  By Edward Hicks - National Gallery of Art, Washington, D. C., online collection, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=175611