December 15 was the Third Sunday of Advent, also known as Gaudete Sunday. This day of rejoicing in the midst of the somber Advent season was fitting for our church's service of Lessons and Carols. Christmas Eve would have been still more appropriate, but in a time when many choir members are out of town for Christmas—not to mention a time when pastors really, really don't want to give up their opportunity to preach to a packed church—compromises are made. I love the Lessons and Carols service: lots of Scripture readings, lots of music, no sermon. Apologies to my pastor friends and relatives....
I know that the entire service was videotaped, but that's not available right now, so I once again resort to what I can find online. Except for Christmastime, that is, which features our choir of two years ago—before we joined, so don't strain your eyes looking for us. I'll modify this post if and when our own versions become available. Hymn numbers are from the Episcopal Hymnal (1982). We, personally, did not sing all of the works listed below; some were solos, some by youth and children's choirs.
Prelude: Soli Deo Gloria (arr. Mark Hayes) Our youth choir sang the non-Latin words in English, but this Russian version is cool.
How thankful we are to have been part of this service.
Gaudete!
UPDATE 11/1/19 Ugh. This time, the problem with the automated updating of Flash videos to iframe cut out not just a little but most of this post. :( However, I can't deal with it now.
