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Until Justice and Peace Embrace: A Service of Lessons and Carols

In a world filled with violence, injustice, and despair, the Advent and Christmas gospel comes, wondrously, with two strands of promise: one that touches neighborhoods racked in violence, one that is as intimate as our own interior lives, so often hidden from everyone but God. Both strands of promise are conveyed in a single common word with breathtaking scope: “Peace.”

Tags:: advent season, lessons and carols
Video: posted on October 30, 2023

Download the service outline.

Livestream of the 3:00 pm (EST) service on Dec. 3, 2023 (watch on YouTube if you want to join the chat):

Livestream of the 6:00 pm EST service on Dec. 3, 2023 (watch on YouTube if you want to join the chat):

The biblical prophets announced the advent of the Prince of Peace, envisioning a kingdom where swords are converted into farming instruments, and inner turmoil is transformed into tranquility. Poignantly pairing words we often separate, their poetry depicts a shalom completely aligned with justice, righteousness, faithfulness, truth, grace, and love. In a fallen world, justice and peace, grace and truth, righteousness and love live in tension. In Jesus Christ, they seamlessly embrace.

In this year’s Lesson and Carols service, the Calvin University choirs will sing about both stands of God’s promise of peace. Join them at either 3:00 PM or 6:00 PM either in-person or online. Both services are free and open to the public.

Until Peace and Justice Embrace

Prelude:

“Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” Op. 122, no. 8, by Johannes Brahms

Music: Johannes Brahms, 1902, P.D.

“Picardy,” by Leo Sowerby

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” by John Ferguson

Processional Carol:

"Comfort, Comfort Now My People"

Text: Psalter Hymnal, 1987 © 1987 Faith Alive Christian Resources; Johannes G. Olearius, tr. Catherine Winkworth, P.D. Music (FREU DICH SEHR/GENEVAN 42): Louis Bourgeois, harm. Johann Cruger, P.D.; arr. David M. Cherwien © 2023 David M. Cherwien. All rights reserved. Used by permission of Westminster John Knox Press and David M. Cherwien.

Greeting and Bidding Prayer:

Pastor: Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

All: To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen. (Revelation 1:5–6)

Pastor: Beloved in Christ, in this season of Advent, we prepare ourselves so that we may be shown its true meaning. We have gathered to hear, in readings from the holy scriptures, how the prophets of Israel foretold that God would visit and redeem his waiting people and bring healing to the world God so loves. In carols and anthems, we rejoice that the good purpose of God is being mightily fulfilled, encourage each other in Christian hope, and unite our hearts to pray for the nations of the world, for the care of earth, for those who have not heard the good news of God or who do not believe it, for those who live today in the valley of the shadow of death, and for the church, in this place and everywhere, that it may be freed from all evil and fear as it bears witness to the coming of the Lord. We do so remembering with gratitude those who rejoice with us, but on another shore—that multitude from every nation that no one can number, whose hope was in the Word made flesh, the one who taught us to pray:

All: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. Forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. Lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen!

First Lesson

Scripture: Genesis 3:8–15 and Psalm 12:1–2

Carol:

“The Hills are Bare,” arr. Sara Boss

Text: Royce J. Scherf, alt. © 1978 Lutheran Book of Worship
Music (PROSPECT): W. Walker, Southern Harmony, P.D.; arr. Sara Boss © 2007 Concordia Publishing House
All rights reserved. Used by permission under OneLicense.net A-703303.

Carol:

“In the Depth of Winter’s Darkness,” arr. Diane McAninch

Text: Joy F. Patterson © 1994 Hope Publishing Company
Music (BRYN CALFARIA): William Owen, P.D.; arr. Diane McAninch © 2004 Diane McAninch
All rights reserved. Used by permission under OneLicense.net A-703303.

Second Lesson

Scripture: Psalm 85:8–10 and Isaiah 32:16–20

Carol:

“How Lovely Are the Messengers,” by Felix Mendelssohn

Text: Julius Schubring, tr. Karl Klingermann, P.D.
Music: Felix Mendelssohn, P.D.

Congregational Carol:

“Psalm 85: The Lord Has Long with Favor Looked,” arr. David Cherwien

Text: Michael Morgan © 2010 Michael Morgan
Music (FORREST GREEN): English folk tune, adap. and harm. Ralph Vaughan Williams, P.D.; arr. David M. Cherwien © 2023 David M. Cherwien
All rights reserved. Used by permission, Westminster John Knox Press and David M. Cherwien.

Third Lesson

Scripture: Isaiah 9:6–7 and 52:7–10

Carol:

“Amuworo ayi otu nwa (For Unto Us a Child Is Born),” by Christian Onyeji

Text: Igbo translation of Isaiah 9:6, P.D.
Music: Nigerian composer Christian Onyeji © 2005 and 2006, Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. Used by permission of David M. Cherwien and under OneLicense.net A-703303.

Carol:

“Jesus Cristo, esperança do undo (Jesus Christ, Hope of the World),” arr. Greg Scheer

Text: Portuguese text by Silvio Meincke © 1982 Silvio Meicke; Spanish and English translations by Pablo D. Sosa © 1988 GIA Publications, Inc.
Music (ESPERANZA DEL MUNDO): Edmundo Reinhardt and João Gottinari © 1982 Edmundo Reinhardt and João Gottinari; arr. Greg Scheer © 2022 GIA Publications, Inc.
All rights reserved. Used by permission under OneLicense.net A-703303.

Fourth Lesson

Scripture: Isaiah 2:1–4

Carol:

“O Holy Night,” arr. Roy Ringwald

Text: Placide Cappeau, tr. John S. Dwight, P.D.; 2nd vs. rev. Roy Ringwald © 1954 Shawnee Press
Music (CANTIQUE DE NOEL): Adolphe Adam, P.D.; arr. Roy Ringwald © 1954 Shawnee Press
All rights reserved. Used by permission under OneLicense.net A-703303.

Congregational Carol:

“Come Now, O Prince of Peace,” by Geonyong Lee

Text: Korean by Geonyong Lee © 1988 Geonyong Lee; English paraphrase Marion Pope © 2012 Geonyong Lee
Music (O-SO-SO): Korean composer Geonyong Lee © 1988
All rights reserved. Used by permission under OneLicense.net A-703303.

Fifth Lesson

Scripture: Micah 5:1–5

Carol:

“Lift Up Your Heads,” by John L. Bell

Text: George Weissel, trans. Catherine Winkworth, P.D.; adap. John L. Bell © 2001 Wild Goose Resource Group
Music (C.H. THREE): John L. Bell © Wild Goose Resource Group
All rights reserved. Used by permission under OneLicense.net A-703303.

Congregational Carol:

“O Little Town of Bethlehem”

Text: Phillips Brooks, P.D.
Music (ST LOUIS): Lewis H. Redner, P.D.; desc. John Ross © 2017 John Ross
All rights reserved Used by permission.

Sixth Lesson

Scripture: Luke 2:8–15

Carol:

“Before the Marvel of this Night,” by Carl Schalk

Carol:

“Gloria in excelsis Deo (Glory to God in the Highest),” by Ambrož Čopi

Text: Latin Mass, P.D.
Music: Slovenian composer Ambrož Čopi © 2022 ASTRUM Music Publications
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Congregational Carol:

“Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”

Text: Charles Wesley, P.D.
Music (MENDELSSOHN): Felix Mendelssohn, P.D.; arr. John Ferguson © 1992 GIA Publications
All rights reserved. Used by permission under OneLicense.net A-703303

Seventh Lesson

Scripture: John 1:1–4, 14 and John 14:25–27

Carol:

“Hope for Resolution,” by Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory

Text: Marcus Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, tr. composite, P.D.; South African freedom song in Zulu, P.D.
Music: Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory © 1998 earthsongs
All rights reserved. Used by permission.

Reflection:

“The Work of Christmas,” by Howard Thurman

Pastor: When the song of the angels is stilled,

when the star in the sky is gone,

when the kings and princes are home,

when the shepherds are back with their flocks,

the work of Christmas begins:

to find the lost,

to heal the broken,

to feed the hungry,

to release the prisoner,

to rebuild the nations,

to bring peace among people,

to make music in the heart.

Carol:

“Peace Prayer of St. Francis,” by Peter Latona

Benediction

Pastor: May the God of peace sanctify you entirely; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do this.

All: Alleluia! Amen.

Recessional

Congregational Carol:

“O Come, All Ye Faithful”

Text: attr. John F. Wade, 1743, P.D.; tr. Frederick Oakeley, 1841, and others, P.D.; verse 2 by Debra Rienstra © 2023 Debra Rienstra
Music (ADESTE FIDELES): John F. Wade, 1743, P.D.; arr. John Ferguson © 1992 GIA Publications; desc. David Wilcocks © 1961 Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. Used by permission under OneLicense.net A-703303.

Postlude:

“Noel Suisse”

Music: Louis-Claude Daquin, 1757, P.D.

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