Notes on the Notes – December 17, 2023
Advent 3
This week’s music:
“Good Christian Friends, Rejoice” (VU #35)
“Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice!
Give ye heed to what we say: News! News! Jesus Christ is born today.
Ox and ass before him bow, and he is in the manger now.
Christ is born today! Christ is born today!
Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice!
Now ye hear of endless bliss: Joy! Joy! Jesus Christ was born for this!
He hath opened heaven’s door, and we are blest forevermore.
Christ was born for this! Christ was born for this!
Good Christian friends, rejoice with heart and soul and voice!
Now ye need not fear the grave: Peace! Peace! Jesus Christ was born to save!
Calls you one and calls you all to gain his everlasting hall.
Christ was born to save! Christ was born to save!”
This hymn was translated by John Mason Neale from a 14th-century carol, written in German and Latin, and was included in his Carols for Christmas-tide (1853). The text has been revised to make it more inclusive and thus more useable in contemporary worship, although the original translation remains more popular outside of the church.
Check out this blog post on Beyond Common Sense about the carol by Wanda MacAvoy at: https://wandamacavoy.com/2012/11/27/523/
“We Light This Candle”
“We light this candle for Joy.
Await the new life within.
May our hearts now live each day,
So Joy can find a way,
So Joy can find a way.”
Our Advent candle-lighting song was written by Pat Mayberry (2016) and arranged by David Kai (2016).
“I am Walking a Path” (MV #221)
“I am walking a path of joy,
I am walking a path of joy,
I am walking a path of joy,
Lead me home,
Lead me home.
This simple refrain was written by Janet Bauman Tissandier. We will be using it weekly as a sung response to the Words of Assurance.
“When God Restored Our Common Life”
“When God restored our common life, our hope, our liberty,
at first it seemed a passing dream, a waking fantasy.
A shock of joy swept over us, for we had wept so long;
the seeds we watered once with tears sprang up into a song.
We went forth weeping, sowing seeds in hard, unyielding soil;
with laughing hearts we carry home the fruit of all our toil.
We praise the One who gave the growth, with voices full and strong.
The seeds we watered once with tears sprang up into a song.
Great liberating God, we pray for all who are oppressed.
May those who long for what is right with justice now be blest.
We pray for those who mourn this day, and all who suffer wrong;
may seeds they water now with tears spring up into a song.”
This hymn, based on Psalm 126 has words by Ruth Duck. The tune we will be using is FOREST GREEN (VU #530).
“He Will Be the Love”
“To the world, a Child will come.
To the world, a Son will be given,
And a great light will shine in the darkness.
To the world, a Child will come.
To the world a Son will be given, And our hearts will never be the same.
He will be the love we have longed for.
He will be the love we have needed.
To a world that has no hope,
To a world that has no peace,
He will be the face of the Father,
He will be the hands of God above.
To a world that’s lost in night,
He will be the Light;
He will be the Love.
When we know the Child, the Christ,
When our hearts are open to Jesus,
Then His great light will shine through our spirits.
We will show the world His love.
We will give the world a taste of heaven,
And the world will never be the same.
He will be the love…”
This week’s anthem was written by Ruth Elaine Scram in 2011.
“May the Spirit of the Christ Child”
“May the Spirit of the Christ Child show us how in love to live
For the joy and peace of Christmas is for us to share and give.
May the story of God’s coming, God with us – Emmanuel,
Fill the world with light of Christmas as in awe we do God’s will.”
Our offering response for the season of Advent uses the familiar melody of ODE TO JOY. Through the words, we are reminded that it is our response and action that brings about God’s kingdom in the world.
“Christmas Lord’s Prayer”
“Our Father in heaven, all praise to your name.
Your kingdom in heaven, on earth be the same.
By mortals and angels, come, Lord reign alone;
Oh, hear us and bless us, from heaven’s high throne.
The bread that we yearn for provide us each day;
As we forgive others, our sins take away;
In times of temptation, to lead us be near;
From evil deliver your children most dear.
For yours is the kingdom, o’er all things you reign,
And yours is the power, all things you maintain.
To you be the glory, resounding again
From all of creation, forever. Amen.”
Our Christmas Lord’s Prayer uses one of the melodies for “Away in a Manger” (VU #6). The author of the lyrics is unknown.
Hear the melody on acoustic guitar at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H61T9VvBdVE
“Tomorrow Christ is Coming” (VU #27)
“Tomorrow Christ is coming, as yesterday he came;
A Child is born this moment, we do not know its name.
The world is full of darkness, again there is no room;
The symbols of existence are stable, cross and tomb.
Tomorrow will be Christmas, the feast of love divine,
But for the nameless millions the star will never shine.
Still is the census taken with people on the move;
New infants born in stables are crying out for love.
There will be no tomorrows for many a baby born;
Good Friday falls on Christmas when life is sown as corn.
But Jesus Christ is risen and comes again in bread
To still our deepest hunger and raise us from the dead.
Our God becomes incarnate in every human birth.
Created in God’s image, we must make peace on earth.
God will fulfil Love’s purpose and this shall be the sign:
We shall find Christ among us as woman, child, or man.”
Fred Kaan wrote this hymn for Advent worship with his congregation at Pilgrim Church in Plymouth, Devon, and submitted it to a hymn competition sponsored by a British television network in 1966. The melody, LITTLE BADDOW, was composed by Cecil Armstrong Gibbs in 1929 for use at Charterhouse School.
In the context of the conflicts around the world among people of all religious backgrounds, as well as the millions of refugees on the move, the lyrics take on an added depth of meaning in 2023.
Hear the hymn sung by musicians at Trinity United Church in Port Coquitlam at: https://youtu.be/dRWNKZFb8HA
