Advent Gratitude and Glimpses of Heaven

The beauty, richness, and diversity of our liturgical and musical life at St. Mary's right now has my heart and soul so full of gratitude and almost overwhelmed by all of the beauty and loveliness in so many ways.Our liturgies this Advent season have, while being grounded in the Anglican/Episcopal tradition, included a variety of resources to help us get to the heart of what I like to call a "spirituality of Advent." Our Rector, Patrick's, preaching has, I believe, helped us to see how our lives, especially in these seemingly dark days, are Advent-ful if we but take the time to pay attention. Advent, I thnk, is more relevant now than ever.These liturgies, this preaching, and the music we have made together in the midst of it all, have really been working on me this Advent. During a time when I have often felt overwhelmed and dismayed by everything going on in the church and the world I am thankful that I haven't been able to get away from Advent. The relentless Advent refrain of hope and expectation is, I think, one of the things that has most helped me keep going.Today I feel like I got a splendid glimpse of the hope and expectation of Advent - the waiting and yearning for a time when God will be all in all, in the culmination of some of our Advent activities and preparations for Christmas. This Advent we've be singing as the Fraction Anthem, "God of promise, you have prepared a banquet for us. Happy are those who are called to the supper of the Lamb." This is one of those times when, in the midst of the daily grind of being a church musician, I feel like I've been graced with a little glimpse of heaven.Today: A Taize Eucharist with our Parish Choir and an intergenerational group of nearly 10 instrumentalists leading us in worship followed by assembling 200 or so sack lunches to help feed hungry people, and, in just over an hour from now, our children's Christmas pageant.Next Sunday the Parish Choir sings Herbert Sumsion's Magnificat in A Major and our section leaders will sing Hans Leo Hassler's Dixit Maria. In the midst of all of that we'll chant the Magnificat to the gorgeous Tonus peregrinus and sing Rory Cooney's powerful paraphrase of the Magnificat, Canticle of the Turning, set to the rollicking Irish tune Star of the County Down.On Christmas Eve, in addition to tons of carols, the Gospel Choir and friends will sing at the 4:30pm liturgy and offer Andre Thomas' Here's a Pretty Little Baby and Lynn Trapp's setting of The Virgin Mary Had a Baby Boy. At the 10pm Prelude/10:30pm Liturgy the Handbell Choir will ring and the Parish Choir will sing. The Parish Choir will offer Charles Wood's Ding Dong Merrily on High, Harold Darke's In the Bleak Midwinter and Bob Chilcott's ravishingly beautiful The Shepherds Sing. Also, I'm super excited that our soprano section leader will sing Herbert Howells' Come Sing and Dance.I am always humbled by the generous offering of time that our music leaders bring especially with everything else they have going on during this hectic season. The music in which all of our musicians lead us, volunteers and staff singers alike, is one of the greatest Christmas gifts I am blessed to receive.

Wait, was I supposed to be singing???

This week's submission for the eNewsletter of St. Mary's Episcopal ChurchChances are the answer is an enthusiastic "Yes!"Our liturgy/worship at St. Mary's and in the Episcopal/Anglican tradition is quite participatory. In any given service we experience what is almost like a cosmic drama with God, us, and, as the liturgy we'll be using this Sunday from the Iona Community puts it, "the whole realm of nature around us...and with our loved ones, separate from us now, who yet in this mystery are close to us..." Within our local "production" of this cosmic drama we engage in a dialogue that includes Assembly (all of us gathered), Presider, Deacon, Readers, and Prayer Leader, as well as the Choir and other musical leaders. Each of us has an integral part to contribute to this conversation or dialogue that is liturgy.When it comes to music in the context of our liturgy, the most important voice is that of the Assembly's song- the song of all of us together. A cantor (leader of song) or choir might sing the verses of a Psalm, introduce a new song to us, sing alone a verse of a hymn in order to highlight something in the text, or one of our choirs may have spent many hours rehearsing beautiful offertory and communion anthems to offer in worship, and in these cases it is the voice of the Cantor or Choir that sounds while the rest of the Assembly remains silent. These cases are the exception and not the rule. Whenever there is any music indicated in the bulletin to be sung, please understand it as an enthusiastic invitation for all of us to sing with our whole heart, mind, and voice. When it is time for a solo voice or a choir to introduce some music to us or to offer music on our behalf, I will try my absolute best to make sure to indicate that clearly in the bulletin.

Question of the week:What's the one song that, whenever you hear it, you feel compelled to sing along, no matter where you are?Email me at beausurratt@stmaryspr.org with your answer or leave it in the comments!

All this having been said, here's a saying by which I try to live and encourage you to try it out in your life, and especially when you are in the midst of the St. Mary's community: When in doubt, sing!