Ele's Music Notes
by Ele Nash
December 2002
Meditation on Advent Lessons and Carols
The hushed, the holy, our spirits converge in a darkened sanctuary at December
eventide in the mystery of candlelight, anticipating the drama of movement and
sound. Our theatre of expectation and hope, the church opens its invisible
curtains to reveal the choreography of musicians and readers silently moving
into appointed places to then fill the room, the ear, the heart with symbols
of meaning for the listener, the learner, the observer, we who come to sit
quietly in the dimmed stillness and dare open up to The Spirit.
The spoken words, the scriptures, read in English, are familiar to the
English-speaking crowd, the Lessons recited first by a red-robed blond girl
child, then a dimpled boy, eventually by the Robed one; from the setting a
foreigner can fathom the sanctity and specialness of the text if not its literal
meaning: The prophesy and preparation, the annunciation, the hope. Christ come
to our darkened world.
The Advent Story
Candlelight chases night into corners and draws our eyes to its brightness. We sit, spellbound by the spectacle of so many lit candles: tall pew candelabra
framing aisle; short votives carried by children up the aisle and then
positioned along the communion rail; tapers grouped to aid bell choristers and
readers. Like wild creatures we are transfixed by the fire's primeval power. We
experience reverence for the living Light and comprehend the metaphor: Christ
come to our darkened heart.
The Advent Candle
Even in the dark, beyond eye and language-discerning ear, beyond child murmur
and paper rustle, beyond candle flicker and hard pews, come sounds that bathe
the stillness and reach into the human soul, defying Babel. We consciously
offer our quietude in exchange for the food we are about to receive: small
round mouths of the red-robed cherub choir giving to our shared air their
well-drilled carol; a palpable sense of community in congregational singing;
the resonance of precisely struck bell chords; the tone tapestry of massed
choir voices, with harp plucking and flute bubbling; the lullaby of a lone
clarinet; triumphant thunder from the Brombaugh organ.
Minor melodies of Advent dance through time in preparation for its major
celebration: Christ come to our darkened soul. Our Advent song.
Written by Ele Nash, 6 December 1992
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