Daily Music for Advent
Note: Because our visitors come from many different time zones, we put put up each entry a day in advance.
Note: Because our visitors come from many different time zones, we put put up each entry a day in advance.
7th December: Saturday, Week One in Advent
God, it is not easy for us to wait, but that is what this season is about. Waiting is what Advent calls us to do. Help us to wait patiently for you. As we wait, help us not to remain stagnant. Guide us to the top of the mountain to see the beauty of the world, and aid us in running down the mountain to proclaim Your handiwork.
During this Advent season of waiting for the birth of Christ, be especially with those in need of your healing and your comfort. Let them feel that you are waiting with them, strengthening them. Help us know your loving presence, help us feel your gracious peace.
God of hope, God of peace, God of joy — as Advent moves forward, our minds are filled with thoughts of Christmas. During this emotionally charged season of Advent, we wait in anticipation for a baby born in a stable. We anticipate true living in a hope that only you can provide, O God of joy. We pray this Advent that as you created the world, you might yet again create the hope, peace, joy and love that our hearts need immediately.
This season, offer us signs of hope in our earthly siblings in Christ. So, open us now, O God, to one another. Open us to hope that others bestow upon us. Open us now, O God. Open up our hearts to the joy that awaits us this special season. Open our hearts to the real joy of Christmas — a joy that doesn’t come in the presents we find under our tree, but in the presence of your light in our lives, the presence of your grace and the presence of your love.
Courtesy of The Presbyterian Outlook website.
God, it is not easy for us to wait, but that is what this season is about. Waiting is what Advent calls us to do. Help us to wait patiently for you. As we wait, help us not to remain stagnant. Guide us to the top of the mountain to see the beauty of the world, and aid us in running down the mountain to proclaim Your handiwork.
During this Advent season of waiting for the birth of Christ, be especially with those in need of your healing and your comfort. Let them feel that you are waiting with them, strengthening them. Help us know your loving presence, help us feel your gracious peace.
God of hope, God of peace, God of joy — as Advent moves forward, our minds are filled with thoughts of Christmas. During this emotionally charged season of Advent, we wait in anticipation for a baby born in a stable. We anticipate true living in a hope that only you can provide, O God of joy. We pray this Advent that as you created the world, you might yet again create the hope, peace, joy and love that our hearts need immediately.
This season, offer us signs of hope in our earthly siblings in Christ. So, open us now, O God, to one another. Open us to hope that others bestow upon us. Open us now, O God. Open up our hearts to the joy that awaits us this special season. Open our hearts to the real joy of Christmas — a joy that doesn’t come in the presents we find under our tree, but in the presence of your light in our lives, the presence of your grace and the presence of your love.
Courtesy of The Presbyterian Outlook website.
6th December: Friday, Week One in Advent
5th December: Thursday, Week One in Advent
A very simple refrain from the ecumenical community of Taizé gives us a constant message in these Advent days: Wait for the Lord, whose day is near; Wait for the Lord, keep watch, take heart!
Click on the image to listen.
Click on the image to listen.
4th December: Week One in Advent
A simple hymn from childhood that miraculously popped up on YouTube recently. It’s infectious and likely to remain with you as what is called an ear-worm! The words and music are by David Palmer. It asks the age-old question – When is the Redeemer coming? He is addressed by the great Advent name: Emmanuel, God with us.
3rd December: Tuesday, Week One in Advent
The Wilderness, Anthem by S S Wesley
Sung by the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban Choir
A longer musical piece today which sets the text from Isaiah, the allotted reading for this day. It speaks of a time when the wilderness will blossom, when many signs and wonders will be seen and sorrow and sadness shall flee away. The great English composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876) composed this glorious piece in 1832.
TEXT
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them,
and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.
Say to them of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not:
Behold, your God, even God, he will come and save you.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart,
and the tongue of the dumb sing:
for in the wilderness shall waters break out,
and streams in the desert.
And a highway shall be there:
it shall be called the way of holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads:
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
Sung by the Cathedral and Abbey Church of St Alban Choir
A longer musical piece today which sets the text from Isaiah, the allotted reading for this day. It speaks of a time when the wilderness will blossom, when many signs and wonders will be seen and sorrow and sadness shall flee away. The great English composer Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876) composed this glorious piece in 1832.
TEXT
The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them,
and the desert shall rejoice, and blossom as the rose.
It shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.
Say to them of a fearful heart, be strong, fear not:
Behold, your God, even God, he will come and save you.
Then shall the lame man leap as an hart,
and the tongue of the dumb sing:
for in the wilderness shall waters break out,
and streams in the desert.
And a highway shall be there:
it shall be called the way of holiness;
the unclean shall not pass over it,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion
with songs and everlasting joy upon their heads:
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.
2nd December: Monday, Week One in Advent
'Come, my way, my truth, my life'
Words by George Herbert; music by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Sung by the Chet Valley Churches Choir
'Come, my way, my truth, my life'
Words by George Herbert; music by Ralph Vaughan Williams
Sung by the Chet Valley Churches Choir
1st December: First Sunday in Advent
Renowned Irish composer and singer, Enya, sings this great Advent hymn.