by Julie Durbin, with the help of many
Choosing good church music for Advent can be a challenge.
It’s not that there isn’t wonderful music for the season, but depending on the community you serve, those songs may be less well known than the favorite Christmas carols. Even the words to carols are fading from common memory.
I pick up the hymnals I know best, Hymns of Faith & Life and our “Sunday night hymnal,” Favorite Songs of Praise, and find rather few Advent hymns, and even fewer that our congregation would actually recognize.
And then there are musicians writing great new music for Advent, or new tunes and arrangements for old Advent hymns. But however perfect some of these songs are, my congregation does not know them yet, and we have only a few Sundays to learn them if we do choose something new.
And then there are the many at my church, both long-time members and new visitors whom we hope to make welcome, who start their Christmas before Thanksgiving and are hoping to sing as many Christmas carols as possible before December ends.
Those of you in higher-church liturgical settings may respond, “But we CAN and should do Advent during Advent and sing Christmas through Epiphany!” And I heartily agree. Please do that!
But not all of us are in that kind of setting. So as I introduce some of the wonderful Advent music that we’ve collected by crowd-sourcing, keep in mind the particular needs and constraints of your congregational setting. Some of us will choose music that supports the lectionary readings for Advent 1, 2, 3, and 4. Others will simply be trying to find one or two songs that keep the spirit of waiting, longing, and expectation through the season, even as Christmas programs, dinners, and worship themes make their early entry. After all, we really do live in the “now and not yet”!
As church musicians, we will always find some music that ends up being for our own edification more than it is for the whole church. It’s helpful to remember that it’s not just we music-makers who are in that conundrum. All members of our churches have songs they love, songs that move them in their spirits, that they don’t get to sing in church.
So let’s take a brief journey into the world of Advent music, seeking the discernment to find the songs that will make hearts yearn, minds understand, and spirits lean toward Christ and His coming.
A Few Traditional Hymns of Advent
Just for kicks, and because this is a Free Methodist network, let me tell you where these are in the Hymns of Faith & Life. Who knows; perhaps it’s on your shelf, too?
#107 “Of the Father’s Love Begotten”
I love this one. The text comes to us from the 4th or 5th century, the tune from 1582. Old music helps us remember how long the Church has loved worshipping Jesus and reflecting on the mystery of his becoming flesh. Practically speaking, it can be hard to sing in a “modern” church because it is basically a chant. We have used it by preparing a few soloists or a small ensemble to sing it, sometimes interspersing readings from John 1.
#109 “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus”
Probably one of the more well-known Charles Wesley hymns for Advent, with several possible tunes. We generally sing it with HYFRYDOL. Because it is short, it is easy to pair it with another hymn or popular contemporary worship song.
#114 “Savior of the Nations, Come”
“Savior of the Nations, Come” rivals “Of the Father’s Love Begotten” for earliest text in this list. My hymnal credits it to St. Ambrose, c. 397. The theology of the incarnation is richly outlined in this hymn, translated into the vernacular by Martin Luther in 1524. The tune is hauntingly beautiful, and there are some great recent adaptations, too, like this one from Cardiphonia.
#116 “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel”
“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” may be the best-known Advent hymn (except for “Joy to the World”). The lyrics are an adaptation of the “O Antiphons,” the names of Christ used in the liturgies for the last seven days of Advent. “O Come, O Come Emmanuel” is probably the traditional Advent hymn that gets recorded on popular Christmas albums the most, so it’s easy to find creative/modern arrangements.
#115 “Joy to the World”
Did you know “Joy to the World” is an Advent hymn? You probably did, if you are on this website in the first place, but tell a friend today! I love verse three: “No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground/He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found.” During the Advent season, we remember our need for the Savior, the dreadful curse that infects all created things—from our broken ecology to our broken souls. Christ comes, with truth and grace, to rule and reign, and cancel the dreadful curse!
Retuned Hymns and Folky-Liturgical
Sandra McCracken, and other musicians with Indelible Grace, have been working on fresh adaptations of hymns for quite a while now. Here is McCracken’s rousing, celebratory “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed.”
Cardiphonia has done great work in this vein as well, and they have a “Retuned Hymnal” site in the works. Their album, Songs for the Incarnation, has 23 different Advent and Christmas songs, mostly of the retuned hymn variety. One of my favorites is “Canticle of the Turning,” an earnest Magnificat written by Rory Cooney to a traditional Irish tune (“Star of the County Down”). Here is the version sung by Cooney and others.
Liturgical Folk, a music project that started when an Anglican priest sent a gorgeous poem to a musical director, has just released a great new Advent album that you must listen to. Bookmark their site, as they already have albums for several church seasons.
Rain for Roots is another great project, focused particularly on writing quality music for children. One of our favorites from the album, Waiting Songs, is “Come Light Our Hearts,” a beautiful, singable tune that works well as a call to worship.
Jason and Abigail Palmer of Hope Free Methodist Church in Emporia, Kansas, also gave a shout out to Rain for Roots. They used “Mary Consoles Eve” during Advent:
Eve, it’s Mary
Now I’m a mother, too
The child I carry
A promise coming true
This baby comes to save us from our sin
A servant King, His kingdom without end
Wesleyan “Deep Cuts”
John and Charles Wesley wrote hundreds of hymns, many more than most of us know. Just as “Hymns on the Lord’s Supper” can be a great resource for celebrating the Eucharist, “Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord” is another worth investigating for this season.
Here are a few that came up when I surveyed our FMLN community:
“Lo, He Comes on Clouds Descending,” is a vivid picture of Christ’s second coming. Jaymes and Erin Lackey, of The Table Church in Thermalito, California, recorded their own version, which includes the mystery of faith (Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again). Check it out here.
Topher Noyes, of Iglesia Nueva Vida in Cleveland, Ohio, is working on a set of Advent hymns from the Wesley songbook and has his own retuned versions you may want to ask him about: “Glory Be to God on High,” “Light of Those Whose Dreary Dwelling,” “Come Thou Long Expected Jesus,” and “Away with Our Fears.”
Calvin Smith, of the Belfast Free Methodist Church in Belfast, New York, suggested “Head of Thy Church, Whose Spirit Fills,” which heralds the second coming with a fervent longing for the nations and the filling of the Spirit in the church.
Come, Lord, Thy glorious Spirit cries,
And souls beneath the altar groan;
Come, Lord, the bride on earth replies,
And perfect all our souls in one.
Pour out the promised gift on all,
Answer the universal Come!..
…To Thee let all the nations flow,
Let all obey the Gospel word;
…O for Thy truth and mercy’s sake
The purchase of Thy passion claim!
Thine heritage the Gentiles take,
And cause the world to know Thy name.
It’s in a simple meter (8.8.8.8) and can be sung to “Old 100th,” so it could be an easy one to teach your church.
If you are reading this article and you are working on a retuned Wesley hymn, give us a shout!
Other Great Options—from Folk Tunes to Taizé to Christian Radio Hits
Even if your church doesn’t really “do” Advent, there’s always a use for songs that celebrate the annunciation. Many of our churches take a Sunday in December to reflect on Mary’s willingness to embark on the adventure of costly servanthood.
Mary’s song, known as The Magnificat, is a natural choice for Advent. A favorite version we sang at the evening prayer service at GC’19 this summer is by David Haas to the tune, “Wild Mountain Thyme.” “Holy is Your Name” works well with soloists or a cantor on the verses and the congregation on the chorus. Here is a beautifully orchestrated version and a great male quartet version.
Speaking of Mary’s story, do you know “Gabriel’s Message”? I was first introduced to this beautiful old hymn by my friends, who organize a caroling party every year. Matt Maher recently released a version you can listen to here.
If you are looking for beautiful, lyrical, simple pieces, take some time to listen to the music of Taize (www.taize.fr/en), an ecumenical worship movement from Europe. “Wait for the Lord” is a wonderful advent song from that community. Another song with a similar “feel” is “Christ Be Our Light,” by Bernadette Farrell.
Finally, here are some songs that may fit well into your services, especially if have a worship band or your usual set includes music heard on K-Love:
“Even So Come,” by Chris Tomlin, Jason Ingram, and Jess Cates, fits well among other Advent songs that announce the return of Jesus. It has the additional perk of being written in the collective “we” so often missing from contemporary worship music!
A similar song, less well-known but no less fitting and beautiful, is “Jesus Come,” by Evan Wickham.
Josh Garrels’ album, The Light Came Down, is a great album to listen to throughout the season. “May You Find a Light” evokes the hopeful longing of Advent, a great start to the season, while “The Light Came Down” offers the bookend, the fulfillment of that longing. (Thanks for the tip, Jason & Abigail!)
An Ongoing Search
This piece on Advent music is already much longer than I had anticipated, and I still sit here, worrying about suggestions I didn’t include. Thank you to all who responded to posts on Facebook or wrote emails sharing the music that has inspired you during this rich season.
I hope this will push us all out again into the world of good music. May God direct us both to the songs our churches need and the songs our own hearts need.
I leave you with one of my favorite humorous YouTube videos, created by LutheranSatire, poking good-natured fun at popular English carols.
END. AT LAST.