You are invited to join us for a Choral Service for Advent, at Salinas Church on Saturday 30th November, led by the choir, La Vid y La Vida.

Advent is the name the church gives to the 4 weeks before Christmas. Often overlooked in the pre-Christmas rush, Advent is a time of preparation and a time of waiting.

So this is not yet Christmas and this service is not to be confused with our Festival of Carols, which will happen 2 weeks later on Friday 13th December - with Jesus, Mary, Joseph, the Angels and the Shepherds and many of much-loved carols of Christmas. Advent in our preparation for all of that.

The complexity of Advent is reflected in the liturgy and music. It is partly about anticipating Christmas but much more about Israel’s longing for the promised Messiah.

At the beginning of the service the Palestrina Responsory strikes notes of mystery and doubt: ‘art thou he that should come?’ In the Advent Prose, Isaiah begins with the devastation of Jerusalem and ends with the promise of salvation and peace, which is taken up in How beautiful upon the mountains and the Micah reading.

Structurally, the service is built around the O Antiphons, each of which speaks an aspect of God’s nature. In some cases, this is developed in another piece of music, as in O Root of Jesse and The Rose in Winter.

Zekariah’s ‘Benedictus’ introduces On Jordan’s Bank and John as the Forerunner of Jesus, and we enter the New Testament with the Annunciation and the Magnificat. O Come, O Come, Emmanuel sums up the themes of the O Antiphons and Jesus the Daystar brings in the theme of Messiah’s meaning for the Gentiles.

Come and join us. Refreshments after the service.

Click More Info below to hear Rowan Williams´poem, Advent Calendar, which will be read at the service.