Advent 2024: Tue 24 Dec
Hark!
I cannot cover all the carols I’d like to share in this short space.
I have hinted through this Advent season that not all carols are of the highest quality. In candle-lit services that we may have attended and enjoyed over the years there may have been a few that really didn’t cut the mustard. I would uphold the Nine Lessons and Carols model as a suitable service of worship (I might shorten it a little). We know that the readings carry truth and wonder. The carols should do the same. While we sang a range of carols in the Moon and Mushroom to a festive full house recently, I would be hesitant to include some of them in a service of worship of Father God for the gift of His Son.
Christmas is loaded with traditions, emotions, expectations of all sorts. We get it in the shops and on the telly way before. Carols are part of the tradition, and the best carols enhance our true Christmas experience. It may be that we need to tune our hearts as well as our ears to the carols we sing.
It may be that by now you are carolled out, and we’re still in Advent! The Christmas season has not yet started, so would you resolve, over the next Twelve Days at least, to sing some of the hymns and carols that shed light on the glorious mystery of the Incarnation?
Hear it differently:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4ghbqm-3Po
https://youtu.be/SPCEdM3BA7k?si=Kw4U3AttzasEaDcM
Glory to God in the highest heaven!
Paul