Most of the songs on this album are based on texts and tunes that are personal favorites, hymns I looked forward to playing each year for congregational worship. With the exception of the final song, all were written in the past year, then set aside as a collection of Advent and Christmas music to be the final release of 2021. Here are a few thoughts to accompany your listening.
Organized chronologically, the album begins with “Thanksgiving Medley,” an unexpected bonus track written in November. This arrangement interweaves three familiar hymn texts and tunes in a victorious declaration and prayer for a friend who is bravely battling cancer. When I read about her potential Thanksgiving Day finish line for the challenges she was facing, I wanted to write a song of encouragement and celebration. Set to an original tune, the words of “We Gather Together” describe the 16th-century Dutch liberation from oppression forbidding Christians from gathering publicly, while the more prayerful text of “We Praise Thee, O God” (the school hymn of my high school, Blair Academy) is divided between two tunes: “Let All Things Now Living” and a melodic variation of “Now Thank We All Our God.” The chorale’s final benediction verse concludes the medley.
In the liturgical Church year, the following four weeks comprise the season of Advent (meaning “coming”), a time of preparation to reflect on the promised Savior born to us, the One we need now for daily life, and the One awaiting us in heaven Who will come again. While I took the liberty of writing an original tune for three of the pleading verses in “O Come, Immanuel,” I wanted to preserve the beautiful and welcome moment of light in the traditional refrain. Accompanied sparsely by harp and oboes and retaining the mournful character of the familiar chant, the words “has come to you, O Israel” were added to acknowledge God’s merciful response to our longing.
“Comfort, My People,” another traditional Advent text, is set in a laid-back blues/gospel style with a rhythmic pattern inspired by the commuter train constantly passing through the village where we lived in 2020 (who knew it would also be an “instrument” on our keyboard?!). Don’t miss the precious promises about Jesus in the middle section, musically lifting us up a step higher for a reprise of the first verse.
One of my favorite seasonal hymn tunes, “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus,” appears slightly disguised in response to the initial minor key cry for deliverance from captivity, something we can all hopefully relate to in some way. I wrote the final two verses of the text myself, something I rarely do, to declare the victories won through Jesus’ coming; the powerful hymn tune (“Stuttgart”) is heard on the last verse in the brass.
Moving into the Christmas season, “Two Songs of Praise” combines the song of Mary (the "Magnificat") from the second chapter of the gospel of Luke with verses from Psalm 34. I am so happy to share these scriptural testimonies with my wife, reflecting both a mother and father’s perspective and dedicated to some friends expecting their first child after years of praying and waiting. As the scripture says, “Nothing is impossible with God,” a wonderful word of hope for all of us as we end one year and begin the next.
In “Hark! the Herald Angels Sing,” the most involved orchestration I have attempted up to this point, I envision Jesus’ birth from an angelic heavenly perspective. Hopefully, any sense of disappointment you might feel by the “loss” of the familiar tune being replaced by a more chant-like melody is offset by a little hint of the hymn’s refrain and the inclusion of two other surprises from Handel’s “Messiah.”
To complete the Christmas celebration, a lighter version of “O Come, All Ye Faithful” recalls both the original opening melody and hymn refrain with organ accompaniment. Playing this hymn was always one of my favorite moments of the season.
Finally, you will hear the touching and simple Polish carol, “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly,” rearranged from my own setting for children’s choir, women’s choir, handbells, and piano (2006), and echoing the album’s title with the words, “Christ the babe was born for you.”
May the message of Jesus’ coming speak to you in a deeply personal way this Christmas. Blessings to you!
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