Advent In Song

"Here I am, Lord. Is it I, Lord? I have heard you calling in the night. I will go, Lord, if you lead me. I will hold your people in my heart." -- Daniel L. Schutte and New Dawn Music.


It is Advent, once again.

I used to believe, in my innocent childhood, that Advent comes at the end of the Christian calendar. Advent DOES come at the end of the secular calendar. But it marks the beginning of a new year in the Christian calendar.

All during Advent, as a little girl, I would mark the season, by sitting at my grandmother's piano and picking out the tunes to old-fashioned Christmas hymns. I could not get these songs out of my head!

On the walk to school each December morning, I would sing one song, maybe, "The First Noel." Riding in the car around town, with my mother at the wheel, I would urge her to sing another song with me, often "Silent Night".

I always believed that all Christian hymns were written hundreds of years ago. Not so. Take a look through your hymnal the next time you are in church. Many, many hymns were written by a man named Daniel Schutte.

I recently had the privilege of attending "An Evening of Music and Reflection" hosted by Daniel Schutte. And it was a magical evening, as darkness fell upon a late fall night.

Mr. Schutte began by reflecting on Advent as a new beginning. The word "advent" is defined in the dictionary as "the arrival of something extremely important."

Despite this being the coldest and darkest time of the year, Advent is a time of new beginning and hope. This sense of waiting, Mr. Schutte emphasized, came from the Jewish peoples' sense of a Promised Land, which was God's promise to His beloved people. And so, we owe our Jewish friends and ancestors a huge debt of gratitude for that sense of hopeful expectation of God in our lives.

Mr. Schutte's point was, that God made us to long for Him in hopeful anticipation. I think this must be why the whole season of Advent, with its shivering anticipation of the mysticism of Christmas, is worth far more to me than the one day of Christmas itself.  Advent is about the hope, the excitement, the anticipation, the prospect of God's only Son, coming for us!

Mr. Schutte said, Advent is about "the wonder of God who loved us literally to death." He referred to the "love story between us and God." And he reminded us that we don't have to wait until Advent to seek the presence of God.

Interspersed with Mr. Schutte's commentary, he sang many of his songs, and invited us to sing along. The whole church resounded as one big, heavenly choir! At this point in the program, we sang, "Sing A New Song". I saw with new eyes the absolute joy of Christ's coming-- "Shout for gladness! Dance for joy! O come before the Lord!" [1972.]

Mr. Schutte spoke of the moments of happiness that we have in this life, as "but glimpses of Heaven".      If those moments of pure joy are so beautiful, imagine how amazing Heaven must be! But to experience God's presence, we need to be open to Him all around us, during Advent and all year. Mr. Schutte asked a provocative question: "Are you afraid of God's unconditional Love?"

Sometimes, God's Love seems too huge to imagine, as big as the entire Universe. Mr. Schutte sang with us "Beyond The Moon and Stars" --  "Beyond the moon and stars, as deep as night, so great our hunger, Lord, to see your light." [1970].  This song reminds me of the story of St. Ignatius, the founder of the Jesuit order, who one night climbed up on the roof. And when he saw the billions of stars, he wept. It is probably no accident that Mr. Schutte was a Jesuit seminarian; the Jesuits emphasize the continued discernment of God in your life.

 The next hymn we sang was "Though The Mountains May Fall" --"Though the mountains may fall and the hills turn to dust, yet the love of the Lord will stand as a shelter for who will call on His name." [1975]. He wrote this hymn to remind us of the great love story between us and God, His Love that is truly a covenant of His care and shepherding of us.

Mr. Schutte told us that "Though The Mountains May Fall" is based on Isaiah 54;6-10 and 40:31-32. I have to say, that I have sung his hymns for decades, and never noticed the Biblical references at the bottom of the page, next to the copyright. These hymns are borne of Scripture, and they capture the emotion and the "God-sense" of his meditation on The Word.

Towards the end of the evening, Mr. Schutte quietly mused that, "God's Love is greater than any heartache, pain or broken trust. Even the darkness is holy because God's presence, His Grace are there." He spoke of what Mary must have felt, a young peasant girl; and how suddenly, this angel came to her, and changed her life forever. Mr. Schutte said, " God messes up our plans, all the time. He comes in unexpected ways. He doesn't just show Himself through Jesus, but through us!" We then sang, "Holy Darkness" -"Holy darkness, blessed night, heaven's answer hidden from sight, As we await you, O God of silence, we embrace your holy night."

We ended the evening by singing Mr. Schutte's most well-known work, "Here I am, Lord." As always, tears came to my eyes as I sang this beautiful ode to our own commitment to our Lord.

I pray that, in this Advent season, you hold in your heart, all of God's silence, His Hope, His promise,  His call and His eternal Love.

[Related Posting: "Advent Rituals", Dec. 1, 2011; "Advent Defies Death", Dec. 6, 2012.]

[For more information about Dan Schutte's worldwide tour of music and reflection, go to www.danschutte.com.]

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