Here is one small thing I miss from my Protestant childhood: I never quite reach CSP (Carol Saturation Point) these days. For most of December it's all O Come O Come Emmanuel at church and all Little Drummer Boy in public spaces and in consequence there is just not quite enough Hark the Herald Angels Sing in my world. HtHA = the best best best Christmas carol. And there's no HtHA on the radio once the calendar turns over on December 26.
But! If you volunteer to sing with the choir, you can belt out Christmas carols when it is still Advent because you have to rehearse them. You can belt them out in three-part harmony, even! Those HtHA words are balm to my soul: mild he lays his glory by, ris'n with healing in his wings, veiled in flesh the godhead see. My soul needed some balm this evening.
A-MEN with a descant!
Posted by: el-e-e | December 09, 2016 at 07:53 AM
I agree. I get jealous of my singing husband for these things. But also (a little) mad at my Protestant family for jumping the gun.
Posted by: Kathy | December 09, 2016 at 04:36 PM
I, too, miss this from my Protestant days. And right now, choir singing isn't possible for me. The day will come and I will delight!
Posted by: Jennie B | December 10, 2016 at 09:27 AM
HtHAS is one of those that I didn't GET until I was older, and then it socked me between the eyes:
"Mild, he lays his glory by..." and "born to raise the sons of earth..." and "ris'n with healing in his wings..." and "pleased as man with men to dwell..."
For all its power (and it is powerful), it's also a very tender and comforting song, and I think I didn't realize that until I was older.
Church choir rehearsals and Christmas pageant rehearsals are definitely a bonus. So is singing a holiday concert with a chorus, where I relished in Hark, but also in several iterations of the Ave Maria, and a Magnificat (in which I have trouble staying un-choked at "ecce enim ex hoc beata me dicent omnes generationes" and "quia fecit mihi magna, qui potens est, et sanctum nomen eius").
And then there was a lovely solo on "Oh Holy Night," in which our guest also delivered this one (which I have a hard time getting through on Christmas Eve) :
"Truly He taught us to love one another;
His law is love, and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall he break, for the slave is our brother..."
We're doing Lessons and Carols in my church tonight: it's very quiet, and we do lots of little solo and small-group things. It's a nice chance to sing something gentle with people we don't normally get to sing with (folks who do other Masses). I look forward to it every year, and it really is balm to the spirit.
Posted by: Kristin | December 12, 2016 at 08:50 AM
Oops -- that's our guest ALTO, on "Oh Holy Night." (And OH, did she deliver those lines. She gave us all a gift, you know?)
Posted by: Kristin | December 12, 2016 at 08:52 AM