Music for Sunday 9th December: Advent 2, Year C

Baruch 5:1-9 or Malachi 3:1-4
Canticle: Benedictus (Luke 1:68-79)
Philippians 1:3-11
Luke 3:1-6
.

Baruch 5:1-9: an exhortation to Jerusalem to leave off sorrow and affliction, because the Lord will come to save Israel

Malachi 3:1-4: a prophecy of the coming of the messenger who will prepare the way for the Lord — who will come to his Temple and purify his people.

Benedictus: careful with this one, it’s the song of Zechariah, not the bit of the Mass setting that comes after the Sanctus! The backstory here is that Zechariah didn’t believe the angel Gabriel about his wife bearing a son, and so he was made mute until the birth, and these words are the first thing he said after the birth of the child — who was John the Baptist.

Philippians 1:3-11: Paul’s prayer for the Philippians, that their love may overflow with knowledge and insight so that at the return of Christ they may be pure and blameless.

Luke 3:1-6: A brief description of John the Baptist proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins, and quoting Isaiah.

Kathryn Rose, COLWALL
SATB hymn tune, 87 87 887, to words “Lo in the wilderness a voice” by Percy Dearmer. Download from CPDL: http://www.cpdl.org/wiki/index.php/Colwall_(Kathryn_Rose)

Thea Musgrave, Hear the Voice of the Bard
English text by William Blake
TrATB a cappella, challenging, 3min.
Available from Music Room: https://www.musicroom.com/product-detail/product1097973/variant1097973/
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3mDUg8HQIDc beginning at 19:00

Music for Sunday 10th December: Advent 2 (Year B)

The readings for this Sunday are:


Isaiah 40:1-11
Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13
2 Peter 3:8-15a
Mark 1:1-8

Isaiah: Comfort ye my people. Make the way straight. The Lord is coming, and he will feed his flock like a shepherd.
Psalm: A prayer for God’s favour. Steadfast love and faithfulness will meet; righteousness and peace will kiss each other.
2 Peter: It’s all a bit wibbly-wobbly timey-wimey… The Lord is not slow, but patient; and then some stuff about what it will be like when God does turn up, new heavens and a new earth, where righteousness is at home. In the meantime we are to wait patiently and strive to be found at peace.
Gospel: good old John the Baptist, telling us who’s coming next. I have baptized you with water; but he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit.

I was expecting to run into a Sunday eventually where I couldn’t make many recommendations yet, but I wasn’t expecting it so soon.

There’s always Crimond, if you didn’t use it last week, given the feeding of flocks like a shepherd; but that isn’t particularly Advent-y.

So, I wrote a hymn tune myself, to some words by Percy Dearmer.