Chaos and Logos
Are you afraid of 2025, as I confess I am, sometimes? The prolog to the Gospel of John has an antidote.
Intro and Song: All Shall Be Well, Noël
Here’s a quartet in church, singing my song “All Shall Be Well, Noël”.
Sermon and Song: Beacon of Bethlehem
For the fourth Sunday in Advent, a new hymn about the Star of Bethlehem, and how God continues to show us the way.
Sermon and Song: Rejoice! Rejoice!
Gaudete Sunday, the third Sunday of Advent, is all about rejoicing. We practiced some things that can bring a little more happiness into our lives: cheerful greetings, peaceful contemplation, and a new Christmas hymn.
Christmas Song: Rejoice! Rejoice!
Hello, Merry Mystics! Here’s my new hymn for Gaudete Sunday: “Rejoice! Rejoice!” (Unlike “Joy to the World!” which was intended to be about the Second Coming, this one is actually about Christmas.) I hope it will give you a smile. Sheet music is here:
Rejoice! Rejoice! (letter size, with piano accompaniment)
Rejoice! Rejoice! (legal size, for folding, voice only)
There’s also a video of it here.
Sermon and Song: The Animals’ Christmas
Here’s a different take on the legend of the talking animals at the birth of Jesus: what if the animals were all just waiting for us humans to finally get a clue?
Sermon and Song: Be Born in Us Tonight
For the First Sunday in Advent, I introduced a new hymn, “Be Born in Us Tonight.” It treats the presence of Christ, not as something that happened in the past, nor as something that might happen in the future, but as something that can happen in us right now.
Christmas Song: All Shall Be Well, Noël
Hello, friends!
Here’s the fifth and final in my series of new songs/carols/hymns for Advent and Christmas. This one draws on a phrase from the writings of Julian of Norwich, an English woman who lived from 1342 to 1416. Julian was an anchoress—that is to say, she was a sort of hermit who lived in a cell built into the wall of a church. She had many visions, and she wrote them in her book Showings, which might be the first book written by a woman in the English language. In chapter 27 of the long text of Showings, she wrote:
But Jesus, who in this vision informed me about everything needful to me, answered with these words and said: Sin is necessary, but all will be well, and all will be well, and every kind of thing will be well. … These words were revealed most tenderly, showing no kind of blame to me or to anyone who will be saved.
Julian accepted that “all will be well,” and trusted in God to know better than she how this is to be accomplished. I think there’s something very beautiful, and rather Christmas-like, in that moment of enlightenment and acceptance.
I wrote a slightly more flowery harmony and accompaniment for this one, because I planned for it to be sung by a quartet on Christmas Eve.
All Shall Be Well, Noël (full score) (letter size)
All Shall Be Well, Noël (voice) (legal size, for folding)
Crown Him (or Not)
We have a lot of rousing hymns about crowning Jesus king. They’re fun to sing, but Jesus always preferred more humble metaphors.
Christmas Song: Beacon of Bethlehem
Hello, friends!
Here’s the fourth in my series of five new songs/carols/hymns for Advent and Christmas. This one is about the way God leads us, starting (but not ending) with the Star of Bethlehem. The sheet music with hymn parts is here:
Beacon of Bethlehem (legal size, for folding)
Beacon of Bethlehem (letter size)
There’s also a video of it here.