Tuscaloosa Church Plans Special Advent Music Service

A church in Tuscaloosa will hold a special holiday event featuring music and vocalists this December.

December 7, the second week of Advent, the Christ Church Adult Choir and soloists will celebrate the Advent season by presenting the Festival Service of Nine Lessons and
Carols at 5:00 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church in downtown Tuscaloosa.

The service is free and open to the public. Childcare will be provided.
“Our adult choir members and soloists will sing a selection of carols and anthems to
celebrate the season of Advent,” said Doff Procter, Christ Church Director of
Music. Advent in a press release sent to Townsquare Media.

A time of prayer and preparation looking forward to the birth of Christ,
begins four weeks before the Festival of Christmas.

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After Bach’s “Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme” as organ voluntary by Christ Church
organist, Dr. Steven Taranto, the program will open with the tolling of the church bell to
summon the people to prayer. Then the choir and soloists will sing the beautiful “Matin
Responsory” by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina from the back of the church, with
words translated from the First Responsory of Advent Sunday in the Office of Matins.

For almost 100 years, the service of Lessons and Carols has been sung on Christmas Eve
at King’s College, Cambridge. This English tradition is marked by the decoration of the
church with winter greenery and the Advent wreath.
Members of the congregation and choir will read scripture lessons from both the Old and
New Testaments about the coming of the Messiah between musical selections.