by FaithHouseManhattan
~ by Bowie Snodgrass
Yesterday we had a wonderful, meditative Living Room based on Advent, the season in the Christian calendar that precedes Christmas. In American consumer culture, the Christmas shopping season begins after Thanksgiving (or even before!), but in the Christian calendar, Christmas begins on December 25 and the feast continues for twelve days. The four weeks of Advent are a time of preparation, penitence, expectation, anticipation, pregnancy, darkness, quiet, silence, and listening…
You can go through the service we did yesterday by yourself at home. You just need a computer with internet, speakers or headphones, and a couple of candles to light. In this modified “Lessons and Carols”, you will read the first chapter of the gospel of Luke (the silence of Zacharia, the song of Mary, the birth of John the Baptist, etc.), selections from Isaiah (a prophetic vision of social justice), a psalm and the beginning of the gospel of Mark. Interspersed are verses of O Come O Come Emmanuel, which you can sing aloud or read along, and “anthems” you can watch or simply listen to on YouTube.
Enjoy!
Instrumental Prelude: Isaac Everett
[at home: listen to “Incarnation” at www.isaaceverett.com/listen]
Welcome [at home: think about what this time before Christmas means to you]
“O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer
Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night,
And death’s dark shadows put to flight.
Rejoice! Rejoice!
Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.”
Luke 1:1-25
Isaiah 11:1-10
* Note: we used the JPS translations for the Hebrew Scripture readings in the service, but this translation is not available online
Young@Heart Sing Coldplay
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