I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light

 I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light

This version is sweet in its simplicity though a little static vocally. The text is included with the video so one can sing along.

The author and composer, Kathleen Armstrong Thomerson, is an accomplished American organist born in 1934. I think she will be best remembered for this song which does not lend itself to virtuoso organ playing. It pulls my spirit in a good direction when I sing it, whether it is with a congregation or just humming around the house. 

If you want to learn more about the song and the composer, there is some interesting information here.

This song can be used for Advent, Epiphany, or general use. I am reminded of Revelation 21:23, referring to the New Jerusalem, “And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of the Lord is its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it.”

O Come, Divine Messiah

 O Come, Divine Messiah

There has never been a time in my life that I have seen so much suffering in families due to children struggling with mental or physical illness. The precious little girl who has had repeated surgeries for brain cancer. The families with teenagers hell-bent to do self-harm. The adult son who prefers living on the streets to taking his head meds. The unborn baby with a frightening growth showing up on sonograms. When I listen to this song, I think of them and long for the day when “hope shall sing its triumph, and sadness flee away.”

I love the version linked above and love that the nuns sing “Sweet Savior, haste!” But most versions have the text pasted below.

O come, divine Messiah;

The world in silence waits the day

When hope shall sing its triumph

And sadness flee away.

Dear Savior, haste!

Come, come to earth.

Dispel the night and show your face,

and bid us hail the dawn of grace.

O come, divine Messiah;

the world in silence awaits

the day when hope shall sing its triumph

and sadness flee away.

O Christ, whom nations sigh for,

Whom priest and prophet long foretold,

Come, break the captive's fetters,

Redeem the long-lost fold.

You come in peace and meekness

And lowly will your cradle be;

All clothed in human weakness

Shall we your God-head see.

Pellegrin, M. l'abbé (Simon-Joseph). (1663-1745)

People, Look East

People, Look East

 This Advent song is an antidote to the melancholy that is sometimes encouraged among Christians during this season. It is a time to look up in anticipation, to remind ourselves that Christ has come and will come again. Examining ourselves, asking forgiveness for our sins, longing for God to move in our lives and throughout the world, praying for His kingdom come, His will be done…these are ongoing disciplines that know no season. 

Advent should vibrate with the energy of expectation. Slip some Christmas carols in among the Advent ones - He has come! He will come again! Prepare ye the way of the Lord! 

Advent 2022

 “Sometimes you need to sing your way into the truth.” Sara Hagerty, quoted in Adore.

Advent is a time to show up and sing your way into the truth whether you feel like it or not. The words of Isaiah 40 are a perfect way to begin:

“Comfort ye, my people…” from Handel’s Messiah

Do you feel comforted? Encouraged to look up and anticipate God working? I tend to when I hear the beginning of this. I know the entire Messiah was composed to be performed at Easter, but this bit is a perfect beginning to Advent, don’t you think?