SERMON
This Sunday: The Rev. Dr. Mike Harbert

“The Lord’s Blessing”

Bible Passages:

Isaiah 61:10-62:3; Psalm 147:12-20; John 1:1-18

Lector: Dave Nee

Crucifer: Peggy Pfeifer
Ushers:Kathy Gray and Carol Williams
Fellowship:Maxine Kallenberger

Flowers:Cheryl Rogers and Dave Fahey

Jubal Joslyn, tenor
Nicholas Mourlam, organist

Carol Sing
Angels We Have Heard on High……….Traditional French
Away in A Manger……….Anonymous, v. 1 & 2, v. 3, John T. McFarland
Joy to the World……….Isaac Watts
O Little Town of Bethlehem……….Phillips Brooks
O Come, All You Faithful……….John Francis Wade
Offertory
Born Is The Light of the World……….Sally DeFord
Organ Postlude
Fanfare……….Jacques Lemmens

Welcome to Nicholas Mourlam, guest organist. Nicholas is the Director of Music for the Catholic Community At Stanford University. He has a Masters of Sacred Music degree from the University of Notre Dame and received his undergraduate degree in Organ Performance and Church Music from the University of Kansas. He studied abroad at Folkwang Universität der Künste in Essen, Germany, gave concerts throughout Europe, and holds the Service Playing Certificate for both the American Guild of Organists and the National Association of Pastoral Musicians. He maintains an active studio of piano and organ students.

Story of A Carol

“It Came Upon A Midnight Clear” is a Christmas hymn with the angel’s song that we could sing all year long. Edmund H. Sears, the poet, was a Unitarian minister in Massachusetts. He published this hymn at Christmas in 1849, a decade before the American Civil War, when strife and division was on the rise across the country. The prayer for “Peace on the earth, good will toward men” is shared among faiths across the world. This song also became popular in England, but with a different tune, NOEL by Sir Arthur Sullivan of Gilbert & Sullivan fame. CAROL by Richard Willis was originally published in Boston as the tune for the Christmas text “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks.” The favorite tune we sing today, CAROL was first paired with “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear” in 1878.