A SERVICE OF LESSONS AND CAROLS FOR ADVENT SUNDAY , DECEMBER 3, 2017 5:OO PM INTRODUCTION “God is love, and those who abide in love decision with consequences bequeathed to every abide in God, and God abides in them. We love generation since. because God first loved us. The commandment God voices displeasure at Cain’s act, and in we have from God is this: those who love God Leviticus gives Moses the great commandment: to must love their brothers and sisters also.” love neighbor as oneself. These words, from the First Letter of Isaiah sees that the nation of Israel will be John, state a central tenet of our faith, and sum able to realize God’s redemption—to break the up in a few words much of the message of the grip of sin, violence, and murder—only through Bible. The story of the Bible is the story of the great suffering endured by an innocent servant (to Advent of Christ, the gradual unfolding of our many readers the nation of Israel itself). This understanding of God’s message of love and servant will become the receptacle for all redemption. The readings tonight were chosen to violence, an atoning human scapegoat. illuminate this process. Isaiah envisions redemption for Israel The first law given by God was given to through suffering that is God’s will (Isa. 53:10). Adam and Eve, which they transgressed when (With the coming of the Christ, it becomes clear they ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge. This that redemption is for all humankind, and that the disobedience condemned them to lives of toil, servant —Jesus—suffers not because of God’s will pain, and sorrow, and set the stage for all that was for suffering, but because a world wedded to to come. violence will have it no other way). Finally, the coming of the Christ is A mere generation later, Cain murders his announced to Mary, who reconciles herself to the brother Abel in a time when there were no angel’s message and to the stupendous role she recorded rules against murder, when the Bible’s agrees to undertake. matrix of morality and conscience was still And here ends the first part of the story. unrevealed, ‘a formless void.’ It is in this void Our Christmas lessons and carols service will pick that humankind—Cain—first chooses violence, a up the thread on December 17. Please join us. Please help create a prayerful and meditative atmosphere in the church before the service by refraining from conversation. Directions to stand should be understood as a request of only those able to do so comfortably. ORDER OF SERVICE ORGAN VOLUNTARY Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland BWV 659 Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) Please rise when the clergy and choir enter the church. MATIN RESPONSORY Sung by the choir. Adapted from Palestrina (1525-1594) by David Willcocks (1919-2015) I look from afar. And lo, I see the power of God coming, and a cloud covering the whole earth. Go ye out to meet him and say: “Tell us, art thou he that should come to reign over thy people Israel? “High and low, rich and poor, one with another?” Go ye out to meet him and say: “Hear, O thou shepherd of Israel, thou that leadest Joseph like a sheep, “Tell us, art thou he that should come?” “Stir up thy strength, O Lord and come, to reign over thy people Israel.” Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost. HYMN “Come thou, Redeemer of the earth” Stanzas 1-4 sung by the choir, in procession. 1 Come thou, redeemer of the earth, 2 Begotten of no human will, And manifest thy virgin birth: But of the Spirit, thou art still Let ev’ry age adoring fall, The Word of God in flesh arrayed, Such birth befits the God of all. The promised one to all displayed. 3 From God the Father he proceeds, 4 Thy cradle here shall glitter bright, To God the Father back he speeds; And darkness breathe a newer light, Defeating both the cross and grave, Where endless faith shall shine serene, At God’s right hand he lives to save. And twilight never intervene. 6 - Unison 3 THE BIDDING PRAYER Said by the Officiant Beloved in Christ, as we await the great festival of Christmas let us open our hearts and minds that we might perceive its true meaning. Let us hear, in lessons from Holy Scripture, the tale of God’s loving purposes from the first days of our disobedience through the annunciation of our great Redeemer’s coming, in the words of prophets and evangelists, apostles and poets. Let us rejoice in our carols and hymns, that the good purpose of God is being mightily fulfilled. Let us celebrate the promise that our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, will bring all people and all things into the glory of God’s eternal kingdom. The blind receive their sight, the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor receive ministry and hope. But first, let us pray for the world which God so loves; for those who have not heard the Good News of God, or who do not believe it; for those who walk in darkness and the shadow of death; and for the Church in this place and everywhere, that it may be freed from all evil and fear, and may in pure joy lift up the light of the love of God. These prayers and praises let us humbly offer to God, in the words which Christ himself taught us All, together Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever and ever. Amen. The people may be seated. 4 MOTET Sung by the Choir William Byrd (c. 1540-1623) Rorate caeli desuper, Drop down ye heavens from above et nubes pluant justum and let the skies pour down righteousness. Aperiatur terra Break, O earth, a Savior yield , et germinet salvatorem. the fairest Flower of the field. Benedixisti terram tuam, Lord, thou art become gracious unto thy land, avertisti captivitatem Jacob. thou hast turned again the captivity of Jacob. Gloria Patri et Filio, Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, et Spiritui Sancto : and to the Holy Ghost : Sicut erat in principio et nunc et semper as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be : Et in saecula saeculorum. Amen. world without end. Amen. — Isaiah 45:8, Psalm 85:1, THE FIRST LESSON Genesis 3:8-15 Reader: Dylan C., A Gentleman of the Choir God tells sinful Adam and Eve that they have lost the life of Paradise. CAROL Boris Ord (1897-1961) 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 clerkès finden, written in their book. Ne had the apple taken been, the apple taken been, Ne had never our Lady abeen heavené Queen. Blessed be the time that apple taken was, Therefore we moun singen, Deo gracias. —Sloane MS (modernized), 15th c. English HYMN Sung by all, standing 5 The people may be seated. THE SECOND LESSON Genesis 4:1-16 Reader: Bailey Curran, Interim Youth Ministry Coordinator After Adam and Eve are expelled from Eden, Cain murders his brother MOTET Edward Cuthbert Bairstow (1874-1946) Let all mortal flesh keep silence, and stand in fear and trembling, for the King of kings and Lord of lords, Christ our God cometh forth to be our oblation, and to be given for food to the faithful. Before him come the choirs of angels, with every principality and pow’r: the cherubim with many eyes and wingèd seraphim, who veil their faces as they shout exaltingly the hymn: Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia. —Liturgy of St. James THE THIRD LESSON Leviticus 19:1-4, 9-18 Reader: John Abdenour, Director of Music God gives the people the Great Commandment ANTHEM Sung by the Choir Anthony Piccolo (b. 1953) Love is the key of life and death, of hidden, heavenly mystery; of all Christ is, of all he saith, Love is the key. As three times to his saint he saith, He said to me, he saith to thee, Breathing his grace-conferring breath: “Love’st thou me?” Ah, Lord, I have such feeble faith, Such feeble hope to comfort me; But love it is strong as death, And I love thee. —Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) 6 THE FOURTH LESSON Isaiah 50:4-11 Reader: John Ogletree, Senior Warden The Prophet Isaiah speaks of the Lord’s atoning Servant. HYMN 59 “Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding” Sung by all, standing Merton, arr. Alan Gray The people may be seated. ANTHEM John Abdenour (b. 1962) People look East, the time is near of the crowning of the year, make your house fair as you are able, trim the hearth and set the table. People look East and sing today: Love the Guest is on the way. Furrows be glad, though earth be bare, one more seed is planted there. Give of your strength, the seed to nourish, that in time the flower may flourish.