O Come, O Come Emmanuel

[Anne]

I have just had a look at the link given by sidvicius, the pictures of the advent candles show the pink candle lit on the 4th Sunday of Advent - I thought the Pink candle was for Gaudete sunday. Not that I have to worry because in a University Chaplaincy we only have two sundays of Advent to celebrate, and then everyone goes home for christmas and come back again for the 2nd week of Ordinary time. Perhaps another year we will start two weeks earlier so that we can get all four candles lit before the end of term - when would Advent start then? (I can't remember if I am on the thread about the start of Advent or about O Come, O Come emmanuel)

[musicus]

The candle song may be 'tosh' to your older sensibilities, but these are children and families geared up to 'The wheels on the bus,' and 'Humpty Dumpty.'

My objection to the song is not about the language in which it is couched, but rather about its lack of anything to do with the meaning of Advent as found in scripture or in the liturgy. (There are several hymns and songs for 'grown-ups' which are little better, of course.) I believe that children, no less than adults, deserve the best that we can give them to sing. Meaningless or misleading texts are not OK just because they are intended for children.

Those fine songs Humpty Dumpty and The wheels on the bus are neither meaningless nor misleading. The former is as simple an explanation of the Third Law of Thermodynamics as you could hope to offer to any enquiring infant puzzled by the frailty of life and the inevitability of entropy, while the latter's extravagant onomatopoeia elevates a mundane itinerary around Clapham to the realms of high art.

[sidvicius]

Yes (anne) I noticed that too about the candles, and it wasn't the only site that expressed some murkiness over what the sequence is. Apparently there is a feeling in certain churches that the penultimate sunday should be more significant, and with my simple brain active, I can see their point (I expect this would be a good point for someone using a liturgical brain to come and beat me to death with a heavy rubrick).

There again this instruction about Gaudete Sunday (advent 3) being pink not purple does seem to be a recent revival. I don't remember it from my youth. Actually I can't even remember purple candles from my youth! maybe white was all we could afford? eee we wuz poor.

[Dot]

Humpty Dumpty ... is as simple an explanation of the Third Law of Thermodynamics as you could hope to offer to any enquiring infant puzzled by the frailty of life and the inevitability of entropy

Being pedantic, isn't it an illustration of the Second Law (unless Humpty was exceedingly cold....)

I thought the silly season happened in high summer?

[oopsorganist]

Really? Clapham? I didn't know it was set in Clapham!

Could any of you settle an issue for me. Was

"Oh Come oh come etc."
"Love is His Way"
O Bread of Heaven"
and
"Tell out my soul"

a good choice for the second Sunday of Advent. Sung by five, one of them a semi tone out. The rest of the congregation just looked at their hymn books and got up to leave as they started the last hymn even though PP was about to process from the altar.

It is just the people who are "not a choir" seem to have got hold of the choice of hymns for one of our two Masses and it is worrying me. Perhaps I should just keep my nose out. But they will start again on me next as they feel stronger and have their own sympathetic and rather good organist! What do you think?

[docmattc]

There again this instruction about Gaudete Sunday (advent 3) being pink not purple does seem to be a recent revival. I don't remember it from my youth. Actually I can't even remember purple candles from my youth! maybe white was all we could afford?

I've only ever seen one priest wear 'rose' coloured vestments. They were definitely pink though and made him look indescribably camp!
given the price of vestments, seems extravagent to have some for only 2 days a year.

[docmattc]

Was

"Oh Come oh come etc."
"Love is His Way"
O Bread of Heaven"
and
"Tell out my soul"

a good choice for the second Sunday of Advent.

I don't think its easy to comment on musical choices in a community which we don't know. In my place we started with 'Hark a herald voice', my choice for prep of gifts escapes me now and had 'Wait for the Lord' during communion. In keeping with the guidelines in 'Celebrating the Mass' we don't have a recessional hymn (but that's a different topic). Naturally we also sang Kyrie, Alleluia, Euch Accs and Agnus Dei.
'O bread' I've always thought of more as an hymn for eucharistic adoration, what veil is it beneath when we receive it? (again topic for another thread)

[musicus]

Being pedantic, isn't it an illustration of the Second Law (unless Humpty was exceedingly cold....)

I stand corrected. Thank you, Dot.
And, Oops, the reference was to 'the man on the [proverbial and pre-PC] Clapham omnibus' - i.e. the man in the street.

Seriously, though, my point was that these two children's songs do have meaning.

[presbyter]

Some liturgical celebrations (often the late Sunday evening Mass) seem to operate according to the Third Law ....... tending towards absolute zero response from God's frozen people.