On this fourth Sunday in Advent, we will light the third blue candle, the Angels' Candle. The aspect of our spiritual preparation for the coming of our Lord that it represents is peace. The peace that the angels proclaim is not that of tranquility and quiet; it is God's peace, the coming of His kingdom in its fullness-bringing justice, mercy, and plenteous provision for all creation.

In our gospel lesson, the angel Gabriel announces to Mary that she will give birth to Jesus, the Son of the Most High God. The angel's message could not have been clear or easy or even especially good news at the time for this young woman. Yet her response to Gabriel is "Here I am, the servant of the Lord; let it be with me according to your word." God's peace and God's Good News are met with rejoicing and trust, but also with willingness to accept challenge and risk.

The events leading up to Jesus's birth will be enacted for us in The Liturgy of the Word this Sunday in our annual children's Christmas Pagaent. Although the format and most of the music remain the same each year (and, of course, the story is the same), this worship experience is new each year because our children make it so. New faces join us, and familiar faces grow up. Perspectives and observations change and grow. We expect the unexpected. The one absolute constant is the joy our children bring to our preparation for the coming of the Christ Child among us. As we note every year, our children show us the way to Bethlehem.

Following the Eucharist, our children will again lead us-this time in procession to our new nursery space. We will offer a blessing prayer for its use, and then during the hospitality time we will move toys and prepare the new space for use beginning on Christmas Eve. Everyone is invited, as you are able, to bring an offering for the space: a check to help defray the costs of renovation, a new toy, or a picture or decorative item.

We will also begin the Greening of the Cathedral on Sunday after worship-moving poinsettias, wreaths, and greenery into the church to help the Flower Guild prepare for their work on Monday.

In all of these ways, this Sunday will begin our final stage of getting ready for the celebration of Christ's birth on Christmas Eve. Our traditional Festival Eucharist will be preceded by 45 minutes of musical prelude, beginning at 4:15 p.m. This year this will also include some congregational hymn singing! Our service will begin at 5:00 p.m. This is always a wonderful timeless time of gathered families, beginning a season of new birth together in our Christ Church home.

I would also commend to you the 10:00 a.m. service on Christmas Day. This is a quiet and powerful way to greet the day and ground ourselves in Christ's presence in the midst of activities with family and friends. There will be music: we will sing hymns, and Christopher and Katie Powell will offer their musical gifts.

   

 

On Sunday, we celebrate many different things all in one service. Our children will lead us in the annual Christmas Pageant, we hear in the Gospel of the Annunciation to Mary, and we rejoice that Advent is coming to a close as we hurry toward Christmas. Yet, although Advent is a time of gladness, it also has a quieter, more pensive side. Last week, we lit the pink candle and celebrated Gaudete Sunday, but this week, instead of having an even more festive service, we take a step back to ponder what and where our Advent journey has brought us. This week, we light the candle of the Angels, a candle that represents peace.

 

Musically, our service on Sunday will be very eclectic. During the pageant, we will sing hymns that allude to Christmas as we hear the story of the Nativity. However, at the offertory, we step back from that as the choir sings Wait for the Lord by Jacques Berthier (1923-1994). Berthier wrote nearly all the music used in the Taizé Community in France. Some of you may be familiar with Taizé music, as it has become very popular in many liturgical churches. The Taizé Community is a non-denominational religious community, founded after the Second World War, that has become one of the best examples of ecumenism in the world. Catholics and Protestants alike worship there, and the monks who make the community their home come from many different faith backgrounds. There is something powerful in the music Berthier composed for Taizé. In the many repetitions of the refrain as soloists sing verses of scripture over it, we are drawn into a prayerful spirit of waiting - a spirit that is at the heart of Advent. The experience is much like a litany in that it repeats a phrase over and over until it becomes part of an unbroken prayer.

 

During Communion, we will sing another Communion Antiphon and Psalm. The refrain this week, "A virgin shall conceive and bear a son", ties in perfectly with the Gospel of the Annunciation. I invite you to think on the mystery of the Annunciation as the cantor sings verses of Psalm 19 between the refrains. "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament proclaims the work of his hands."

 

Finally, as we process to the new nursery after the service, we will sing Savior of the nations, come!. Both the text and tune of this hymn are very old and filled with history. The text was penned by Martin Luther (1483-1546) after an older writing by St. Ambrose of Milan (340-397). In this text, we implore God to come to us. Then, we sing of the entire story of Christ's earthly life and ask that we be brought into everlasting life. The tune, Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland, is from the Erfurt Enchiridia of 1524, one of the first Lutheran hymnals, but its roots stretch back ever farther into the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

 

So, as we wait for God on this fourth Sunday of Advent, I hope we will reflect on Christ's journey to dwell with us and how we have journeyed together to dwell in the moment of Christmas. In the words of our last hymn: "Come, O Father's saving Son, who o'er sin the victory won. Boundless shall your kingdom be; grant that we its glories see."

 

 

Christopher W. Powell

Organist and Choir Master
CPowell@christchurchcathedralmobile.org

Nursery care will begin at 4:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve in the New Nursery.

CHRISTMAS DAY

HOLY EUCHARIST

Thursday, December 25
10:00 am

 

WE PRAY FOR:  

Members:

Brink Brinkley, John Wade Thurber, Nick Nichols, Butch Trawick, Billie van der Giessen, Peter van der Giessen, Patti Biel, Alice Carwie, Raymond Fields, Lisa Williams, Fairley Morton

Friends & Family:
Leland Moore, Sr., Deborah Beverley, Peggy Naughton, Gary Davis, Harrison Leff, Michael Cameron, Nancy & Don Cameron, Rob & Amy Archer Ellis, Dottie McCord, Joyce Lee, Davis Nelson, Michael Sumrall, Gwen Cook, Alfred Showers, Michael Daves, Michael Sumrall, Jim Elia, Anne Brown, Mark Brown, Harriett Lillich, Bonnie Orillion, Dave Carlyn Block, Rachel McClanahan, Beverly Schubert, Tom Cunningham, Francis Grace Hirs, Norma Beazley, Curtis Bullock, Valerie Boatman, Ann Jones, Hank Wozniek, Lisa Thompson, Stella Phillips, James Thomas, Ted Fraiche, Mark Miles, Susan Guilian, Tot Swanson, Art Swanson, Hayden Jenkins, Maggie Jenkins, Betty Ruth Patek, Carolyn Pryor, Merle Findley, Louise Douglas, Shirley & Dunlap Peeples, Steve Harris, Sandy Fortner, Johnny McLeod, Marian Macpherson Currie, Jim & Dianne McCall, Mary Lou Peake, Bill Goodloe, Kit & Roger Geil and the Geil family, Angel & Larry Torres, Kathy Boucvalt, Bill Stevens, Mancil Lee, Ginger Simpson, Karen
Sentilles, Melody Williams, Lila Fisk, Kendall Stanton, Tracey Johnson, Joe Lowrey, Temple Webber, Celeste Hall, Joel Hopper, Betty Browder, David Lannie, The Rev. Mark Wilson, Allan Tucker, Wyatt Ison, Sallie Jackson, Curt Kennington, Kathy Sanders, Davis Sarrett, Willie Stanton, Clarise Waters, Glenn Hill, Leslie Ellis Sharbel, Cora Lemmon, Dewey Hardeman, Humphrey Godfroy, Marian Hall, Homer Kemp, Jane Behlen, Katie Sippel, Dan Jones, Florence Tucker, Betty Larison, Chuck Norman, Kathy Brook Palefsky, Mike Barnett, Bill Miles, Frankie Garner, Eleanor Taylor, Bill Hamilton, Carrier Yankie, Carolyn Graham

For Those Serving in the Military:
Darrien Gibson, Kelley Hood, Evan Sizemore, Robert McNeil, The Rev. Bowen Woodruff, Daniel White-Spunner Reed, Jonathan Duralde, Ron Lansong, Sam Garcia, Chris Marslender, Jerry Olin, Abby Hutchins, Tyler Gamble, Jean-Michael Lemieux, Albert Robinson IV, Michael Nassar, Josh Power, Ryan Anthony Thomas, Randy Johnson, Susan Reniewicz, Brian Caselton, Brian Hudson, Keith Moss, Ryan Walker, Tyler Oubre, Brian Pennell, John Snyder, Louis Coggin, Jason Norris, Conner Thigpen, Zack Miller, Parker Hollinghead, Todd & Jordana Mouthaan

Birth:
Carter Harrison Drane, Jr., son of Megan and Carter Drane

Repose of the Souls:
William Carroll Neel, father of Yvonne Holladay;
Herndon Inge, Jr., father of George Inge

Anglican Cycle of Prayer:
The Anglican Church of Nigeria

Cathedral Cycle of Prayer:  
Church of the Epiphany, Enterprise, Alabama ; the ministry of Sara Phillips, Pastoral Leader of St. Mary's, Coden

Ecumenical Cycle of Prayer:
The Church in Ghana and Nigeria, and Saint James Missionary Baptist Church, Mobile

Prison Ministry Cycle of Prayer:
Gulf County Sheriff, Port St. Joe, Florida

 

Cathedral Prayers will be updated weekly on our new website here:

http://www.christchurchcathedralmobile.org/cathedral-prayers.html