Friday, December 24, 2010

Nine Lessons and Carols, Part II: The First Reading

The first reading is recited by one of the boys in the choir. Each reading is preceded by a sentence or two about the text and a carol that relates to the reading follows.

~~~~~

God tells sinful Adam that he has lost the life of Paradise and that his seed will bruise the serpent’s head.

GENESIS 3:8-19 (ESV):

8 And they heard the sound of the Lord God
walking in the garden
in the cool of the day,
and the man and his wife hid themselves
from the presence of the Lord God
among the trees of the garden.

9 But the Lord God called to the man
and said to him,

“Where are you?”

10 And he said,

“I heard the sound of you in the garden,
and I was afraid, because I was naked,
and I hid myself.”

11 He said,

“Who told you that you were naked?
Have you eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you not to eat?”

12 The man said,

“The woman whom you gave to be with me,
she gave me fruit of the tree,
and I ate.”

13 Then the Lord God said to the woman,

“What is this that you have done?”

The woman said,

“The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

14 The Lord God said to the serpent,

“Because you have done this,
cursed are you above all livestock
and above all beasts of the field;
on your belly you shall go,
and dust you shall eat
all the days of your life.

15 "I will put enmity between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and her offspring;
he shall bruise your head,
and you shall bruise his heel.”

16 To the woman he said,

“I will surely multiply your pain in childbearing;
in pain you shall bring forth children.
Your desire shall be for your husband,
and he shall rule over you.”

17 And to Adam he said,

“Because you have listened to the voice of your wife
and have eaten of the tree
of which I commanded you,
‘You shall not eat of it,’
cursed is the ground because of you;
in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life;

18 "thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you;
and you shall eat the plants of the field.

19 "By the sweat of your face
you shall eat bread,
till you return to the ground,
for out of it you were taken;
for you are dust,
and to dust you shall return.”

THANKS BE TO GOD.

~~~~


Boris Ord, "Adam Lay Ybounden"

Adam lay ybounden
Bounden in a bond;
Four thousand winter,
Thought he not too long.

And all was for an apple
An apple that he took.
As clerkes finden,
Written in their book.

Ne had the apple taken been
The apple taken been,
Ne had never our ladie,
Abeen heav'ne queen.

Blessed be the time
That apple taken was,
Therefore we moun singen.
Deo gracias!

~~~~~


JS Bach, BWV 637, "Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt"

Durch Adams Fall ist ganz verderbt
Menschlich Natur und Wesen,
Dasselb Gift ist auf uns errebt,
Daß wir nicht mocht'n genesen
Ohn' Gottes Trost, der uns erlöst
Hat von dem großen Schaden,
Darein die Schlang Eva bezwang,
Gotts Zorn auf sich zu laden.


~~~~~


JS Bach, BWV 641, "Wenn wir in höchsten Nöten sein"

All mankind fell in Adam’s fall,
One common sin infects us all;
From sire to son the bane descends,
And over all the curse impends.

Through all man’s powers corruption creeps
And him in dreadful bondage keeps;
In guilt he draws his infant breath
And reaps its fruits of woe and death.

From hearts depraved, to evil prone,
Flow thoughts and deeds of sin alone;
God’s image lost, the darkened soul
Nor seeks nor finds its heav’nly goal.

But Christ, the second Adam, came
To bear our sin and woe and shame,
To be our Life, our Light, our Way,
Our only Hope, our only Stay.

As by one man all mankind fell
And, born in sin, was doomed to hell,
So by one Man, who took our place,
We all received the gift of grace.

We thank Thee, Christ; new life is ours,
New light, new hope, new strength, new powers:
This grace our every way attend
Until we reach our journey’s end!

~~~~~

The English translation into verse of "Durch Adam's Fall" is "All Mankind Fell." The English version is in a different meter, so the English speaking church uses a different tune.

Nine Lessons and Carols, Part I: Processional, Prayers and Blessing

The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols is a tradition that started at King's College in Cambridge, England, and has been adapted for denominations across the Christian spectrum.

On this Christmas Eve and Day, All for Hymn will present carols and lessons from one of these services. The 2010 service at King's College can be found here. Here on All for Hymn, the carols may differ, but the lessons will be the same.

The tradition is for the service to open with Once in Royal David's City. The first verse is sung as a solo by one of the boys in the choir. Each boy must be prepared for this, as he is chosen for the honor right before the procession.

"Once in Royal David's City"

Once in royal David’s city
Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a Mother laid her Baby
In a manger for His bed:
Mary was that Mother mild,
Jesus Christ her little Child.

He came down to earth from heaven,
Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable,
And His cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly,
Lived on earth our Savior holy.

And through all His wondrous childhood
He would honor and obey,
Love, and watch the lowly Maiden,
In whose gentle arms He lay;
Christian children all must be
Mild, obedient, good as He.

For He is our childhood’s pattern,
Day by day like us He grew,
He was little, weak, and helpless,
Tears and smiles like us He knew;
And He feeleth for our sadness,
And He shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see Him,
Through His own redeeming love,
For that Child so dear and gentle
Is our Lord in heaven above;
And He leads his children on
To the place where He is gone.

Not in that poor lowly stable,
With the oxen standing by,
We shall see Him; but in heaven,
Set at God’s right hand on high;
When like stars his children crowned
All in white shall wait around.

~~~~~

A priest leads the congregation in the Bidding Prayer, the Lord's Prayer and a blessing. You can find them on pages 10 and 11 of this service folder.  After the blessing and before the first reading, a carol is sung. This carol sets the stage for the readings, which take us from the Fall of Man to the Birth of Christ.


"The Truth from Above"

This is the truth sent from above,
The truth of God, the God of love;
Therefore don’t turn me from your door,
But hearken all both rich and poor.

The first thing which I do relate
Is that God did man create;
The next thing which to you I’ll tell:
Woman was made with man to dwell.

Then after this ’twas God’s own choice
To place them both in Paradise,
There to remain from evil free,
Except they ate of such a tree.

And they did eat, which was a sin,
And thus their ruin did begin;
Ruined themselves, both you and me,
And all of their posterity.

Thus we were heirs to endless woes,
Till God the Lord did interpose,
And so a promise soon did run
That he would redeem us by his Son.

Nine Lessons and Carols on All for Hymn

The Service of Nine Lessons and Carols will be broadcast live from King's College, Cambridge, England, at 10:00 AM EST on wfmt.org.

Can't make it for that? Here on All for Hymn you can catch readings and carols adapted for virtual form, starting at 6:00 PM EST, with consecutive posts every 3 hours through 9:00 PM EST on Christmas Day. The readings are pretty much the same, while some of the carols will differ.

Here's one of my favorites that didn't make it into the Virtual Nine Lessons and Carols:


Stephen Cleobury, "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly"

Infant holy,
Infant lowly,
For His bed a cattle stall;
Oxen lowing,
Little knowing,
Christ the Babe is Lord of all.
Swift are winging
Angels singing,
Noels ringing,
Tidings bringing:
Christ the Babe is Lord of all,
Christ the Babe is Lord of all.

Flocks were sleeping,
Shepherds keeping
vigil till the morning new;
Saw the glory,
Heard the story,
Tidings of a Gospel true.
Thus rejoicing,
Free from sorrow,
Praises voicing,
Greet the morrow:
Christ the Babe was born for you,
Christ the Babe was born for you.

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Daily Advent Readings

About a month ago my friend Susann issued a challenge to read the Gospel of John, one chapter a day, starting 21 days before the First Sunday of Advent.

Many of our Facebook friends signed on for the journey! I decided to keep the ball rolling, and came up with a reading schedule for Advent that will take us through Dec. 24.

The focus is on the minor prophets of Hosea, Joel, Amos, and Obadiah.

One chapter a day, starting today. I post the reading each day on my Facebook profile. You can send a friend request here. Please leave the a comment in the friend request that says "I read your blog" or something to that effect so I can know the connection I have with you.

Other options: you can join the Facebook "event" here, or you can just follow along in your home.

Here is the schedule, day by day.

November 28: Hosea 1
November 29: Hosea 2
November 30: Hosea 3
December 1: Hosea 4
December 2: Hosea 5
December 3: Hosea 6
December 4: Hosea 7
December 5: Hosea 8
December 6: Hosea 9
December 7: Hosea 10
December 8: Hosea 11
December 9: Hosea 12
December 10: Hosea 13
December 11: Hosea 14
December 12: Joel 1
December 13: Joel 2
December 14: Joel 3
December 15: Amos 1
December 16: Amos 2
December 17: Amos 3
December 18: Amos 4
December 19: Amos 5
December 20: Amos 6
December 21: Amos 7
December 22: Amos 8
December 23: Amos 9
December 24: Obadiah - the entire book! ;)

The Facebook "event" is open to anyone with a facebook profile, you do not need an invitation. You can just sign up!

To get us started, here is a video of three settings of Nun komm der heiden Heiland.

Enjoy!


Savior of the nations, come;
Virgin’s Son, here make Thy home!
Marvel now, O heaven and earth,
That the Lord chose such a birth.

Not by human flesh and blood;
By the Spirit of our God
Was the Word of God made flesh,
Woman’s offspring, pure and fresh.

Wondrous birth! O wondrous Child
Of the virgin undefiled!
Though by all the world disowned,
Still to be in heaven enthroned.

From the Father forth He came
And returneth to the same,
Captive leading death and hell
High the song of triumph swell!

Thou, the Father’s only Son,
Hast over sin the victory won.
Boundless shall Thy kingdom be;
When shall we its glories see?

Brightly doth Thy manger shine,
Glorious is its light divine.
Let not sin o’ercloud this light;
Ever be our faith thus bright.

Praise to God the Father sing,
Praise to God the Son, our King,
Praise to God the Spirit be
Ever and eternally.

Special thanks to The Cyber Hymnal for these lyrics, which are in public domain.

Saturday, September 11, 2010

Historic Moments: Attacks on Sept. 11, 2001

Nothing in my lifetime has been more memorable than the attacks of September 11, 2001.

I will not forget.

Here is a US News and World Report clip on the Memorial at the Pentagon. Sorry about the ad at the beginning. The clip is very good, though.



~~~~~

Here's Kate Smith singing God bless America.



I will not forget.

Saturday, July 24, 2010

English Anthems: Accessibility to the Parish Choir, Part II

English anthems tend to have texts drawn from Scripture (word-for-word) or from liturgical sources such as the Mass, Evening Prayer, or appointed prayers for these occasions.

As such, if your church follows a liturgical tradition, the English anthem texts will have a ring of familiarity about them. If you read the texts without singing them, the words are often quotes from Scripture or prayers meant for corporate worship.

If you are introducing English anthems to your parish choir, a good place to start is with a familiar text. John Stainer's classic, "God So Loved the World," is practically a direct quote of John 3:16-17. Stainer lived from 1840 to 1901.

You can find a number of arrangements in public domain here.

+++++

God so loved the world,
God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoso believeth,
believeth in Him
should not parish,
should not parish
but have everlasting life.

For God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world,
God sent not His Son
into the world to condemn the world,
but that the world
through Him might be saved.

God so loved the world,
God so loved the world
that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whoso believeth,
believeth in Him
should not parish,
should not parish
but have everlasting life.
everlasting life,
everlasting,
everlasting life.
God so loved the world,
God so loved the world,
God so loved the world.


Friday, July 23, 2010

English Anthems: Accessibility to the Parish Choir, Part I

English anthems are, for the most part, accessible to the listener since they are not particularly fancy with their one note per syllable philosophy.

But what about the parish choir? Here are some anthems that are often used in parishes. The first is "Lord, For Thy Tender Mercy's Sake" believed to be composed by Richard Farrant.

If you are looking to introduce a bit of polyphonic music but don't want to overwhelm your parish choir, consider this piece. It starts out almost choral and hymn like, then breaks into simple polyphony, with two voices taking off at a time.

A video with the musical score is not available at this time, but you can find any number of editions in public domain and available for download here.

Shown in the video below is clip of a quartet from a local parish. I have always served smaller parish choirs, and have successfully done this piece with as few as 6 people. If necessary, a keyboard accompaniment (either organ or piano) may be added. Here in the video, the organ introduces the piece, gives the tone for the quartet, then the quartet sings a capella.

Some arrangements features an "Amen" at the end. The "Amen" may or may not have been part of the original piece. Most likely it was added on later.

+++++

Lord, for Thy tender mercy's sake
lay not our sins to our charge,
but for give that is past
and give us grace to amend our sinful lives.
To decline from sin
and incline to virtue
that we may walk in a perfect heart
before Thee now and evermore.