Sounds of the Season
I’ve heard many of you express your appreciation for the great music we’ve had during our services this Advent season. As I have said before, we are truly blessed by a number of great musicians. I’ve enjoyed the pre-service music and the preludes and offertories. So thanks to Charmaine, Brenda, Betty, Louise, and Josanne for those. They have been tremendous. Thanks to Martha for playing along on some numbers, we always enjoy hearing your mandolin. Thanks to Jan for playing along as well. Thanks to Darvin for his solo in yesterday’s service. Music certainly helps to make the season special, so we appreciate all that you do.
Yesterday during the worship service, I appreciated Brenda’s selections. One of them was the song that we often call “Carol of the Bells,” but was listed yesterday as the Ukrainian Bell Carol in our bulletin. I heard an interesting story on the radio about the origins of this familiar song. Without question, this song is a Christmas standard now. This time of year we hear it in commercials, and over the speakers in the stores, and on the radio. It’s everywhere, but it’s only been known in the US for 100 years. It was, in fact, composed by a Ukrainian composer, Mykola Leontovych, as a folk song. It was given English lyrics by another composer and it has become a well-known Christmas song. 100 years ago Ukraine was experiencing conflict with Russia when this song was introduced to the US, and it is poignant that we see them experiencing conflict again. You can read about and listen to the story I heard here.
Next week we’ll be considering God’s gift of love during our worship service, and then the week following it will be Christmas day! We’ll be singing some of your favorite songs, and I’ll be sharing just a short sermon on the God’s gift of his son to us.
I hope you enjoy the celebrations of these season. I’ll give you another reminder to look for ways to share God’s hope, peace, joy, and love with others during this special season.
God bless, Brian
Isaiah 55:1-5—How is God’s love for his people expressed in this passage?
John 3:16-21—How is God’s love shown through Jesus?
Zephaniah 3:14-17—How is God’s love connected to his promise for his people?
1 John 4:7-9—What’s the relationship of God’s love for us and our love for one another?