The music department is diving headlong into Advent this Sunday. We open with Bach's gorgeous ornamented chorale prelude on Nun komm, der Heiden Heiland (Savior of the Nations, Come), followed by a Swedish Advent triptych. The First Sunday of Advent is just about the biggest day of the church year in Sweden in terms of church attendance, and part of the draw (in addition to singing loud Hosannas, of course) is the chance to partake lustily in the annual singing of the traditional hymn Bereden väg för Herran. Tenor Bryan Wells will treat you to the folk song version of it, while his fellow choir members back him up in the Latin translation of the refrain, Benedictus qui venit, i.e. Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. After the lighting of the Advent wreath, we shall all join in the hymn version of the same text, now entitled Prepare the Way, O Zion - which you will already have heard at that point in Carson Cooman's organ setting as the second prelude.

The additional choral offerings are also based on Savior of the Nations, in a Mass setting by Fischer for Communion, and in an Advent Incantation by Christensen who throws in Let All Mortal Flesh and O Come, Emmanuel for good measure. The service closes with Bach's plenum setting of, you guessed it, Savior of the Nations, Come.