Music for December 6, 2015 + The Second Sunday of Advent

Vocal Music

• By All Your Saints – arr. Joel Martinson (b. 1962)

Instrumental Music

• Once He Came in Blessing – John Leavitt (b. 1956)
• Light One Candle to Watch for Messiah – Wayne L. Wold (b. 1954)
• Prepare the Way, O Zion – Paul Manz (1919-2009)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 67 - Comfort, comfort ye my people (Psalm 42)
• Hymn R128 - Blessed be the God of Israel (Forest Green)
• Hymn 53 - Once he came in blessing (Gottes Sohn ist kommen)
• Hymn 657 - Love divine, all loves excelling (Hyfrydol)
• Hymn R92 - Prepare the way of the Lord (Taizé)
• Hymn 65 - Prepare the way, O Zion (Berenden vag for Herran)

In the Gospel reading today, we learn that somewhere near the year 29 A.D., John the Baptist began proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins. This fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, 

The voice of one crying out in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and hill shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’

You will hear (and sing) those words several times this Sunday as we remember that prophecy.

St John the Baptist Preaching - Anastasio Fontebuoni

The only piece of music that does not directly tie into the theme of today's Gospel is the organ voluntary at communion by Wayne L. Wold. Wold is professor, organist, and chair of the music department at Hood College in Frederick, Maryland, and also director of music ministry at First Lutheran Church of Ellicott City, Maryland.  In 1984 Wold wrote an Advent hymn using the Yiddish tune Tif in Veldele (Deep in the Forest)as the melody. It's in A Minor, as typical of many Jewish folk tunes, and has a lovely, haunting quality about it. The hymn and this tune have since been included in 4 hymnals, two Lutheran hymnals, one Catholic, and the newest Presbyterian Hymnal, Glory to God. Each line begins with this simple statement.  

Light one (two, three, four) candle(s) to watch for Messiah: let the light banish darkness. 

What I find charming about this organ prelude based on the Yiddish melody is that Wold has written it in the style of César Franck's lyrical Prelude, Fugue, and Variation. I will be playing just the first (prelude) and last (variation) movements of the piece. 

Hymn Spotlight - Hymn R128 - Blessed be the God of Israel (Forest Green)

The Prayerbook suggests a canticle as an alternative to the usual Psalm for the second Sunday of Advent. The Song of Zechariah (father to John the Baptist) is found at Luke 1:68-79. Carl Daw, an Episcopal priest now located at Boston University, wrote a hymn based on this canticle in 1989, and it is included in our Renew hymnal to the tune “Forest Green”  by the famous English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams.