[Magdalen] That Lutheran music!

[Jay Weigel]

So today I went to church expecting the Advent music I'm more or less
familiar with in both Episcopal and Lutheran churches of my acquaintance.
Boy, was I in for a shock! Opening hymn: Awake, Awake, and Greet the New
Morn; sermon hymn: My Lord, What a Morning, done with a real gospel sound
to it; closing hymn: Soon and Very Soon, really rocking the house. This
church continues to surprise me. I did get a bit of a giggle at communion,
though. The choir usually sings two or three hymns while all that is going
on, and I tend to follow along, sometimes singing and sometimes meditating
on the words. The first two of these today were familiar to me and I didn't
need to look for them in the hymnal, but the number of the third was wrong
in the bulletin and when I looked at it, not only was the music not what I
was hearing, neither were the words. I realized the words were "Rejoice,
Rejoice, Believers", but the tune was sure one I'd never heard...very
Scandinavian and if I may say so, a wee bit bouncy. I liked it, though. (I
looked it up and it's a Swedish folk tune) I think it may be an interesting
Advent!