How I like to start the Christmas Season

I started a new Christmas tradition three years ago that gets the Christmas holiday off to a great start every time. My wife sings with the Ephrata Cloister Chorus and every Christmas the Chorus puts on a short Christmas program in early December.

The program follows the traditional Lessons in Carols order of worship with the Cloister Chorus singing some of the carols along with frequent audience participation. If you haven't heard the music of the Cloister, they sing a cappela in hushed, almost whisper voices, so the music is very soft. Some of the carols are in English and a few are in German, which adds to the ambiance. (Silent Night has a powerful affect when sung in German and it makes all those years of high school German worthwhile).

The program is great, but the setting makes it even better. The program is held in the Cloister meeting room, the Zahl. The sidewalks throughout the Cloister are lit with candle lanterns and all the buildings have candles in the windows. Because the program is popular you have to wait in line in the crisp December air. Of course, it's not much warmer when you get in the Zahl since it's not heated, but that just adds to the atmosphere.

I appreciate the program for it's simplicity. In the midst of the craziness and commercialism that overshadows Christmas, to worship the babe in the manger in the most simplistic setting is just the way I like to get the holiday season started.

Check out Christmas at the Cloister December 12 and 13; tickets are required.

Cloister Christmas Concerts - December 10 & 11

The Ephrata Cloister Christmas Concerts are scheduled for December 10 & 11 with services at 6:30, 7:45 and 9 both nights. Tickets are $4. If you aren't familiar with these unique Christmas events, I've written about them in previous years.

Christmas at the Cloister

As December is now upon us, I just wanted to remind everyone that the Cloister Christmas program is coming up on December 11 and 12. Performances are at 6:30, 7:45, and 9:00 pm and tickets can be purchased through the Ephrata Cloister by mail only. I find it to be one of the best ways to start the Christmas season.

The Christmas Season has Officially begun

Well, it's officially started for me at least... I made it to Monday night's Christmast at the Cloister program. In talking with friends about the program in advance, I kept getting quisical looks when I'd say, "it's a Lesson in Carols", so I decided to record the program.

You can listen to recording through these links:
Streaming audio / Downloadable audio in mp3

Not wanting to be conspicuous, I recorded it on my Sony CLIE holding it as steadily as possible between my knees for the full 43 minutes. The quality is sub-standard, but it should give you an idea of the content of a Lessons in Carols service (apparently a full service has 9 lessons). I think I was pretty effective at keeping the noise interference down except for in between songs. I was afraid my hand would go numb, so I would move around after each piece. It's hardest to hear the Reverend read the scripture passages and his prayers. Here are the passages he's reading from:

First Lesson - Isaiah 11:1-5
Second Lesson - Micah 2:1-5
Third Lesson - Luke 2:1-7
Fourth Lesson - Luke 2:8-16
Fifth Lesson - Matthew 2:1-11

I purposely didn't sing hardly at all so my voice didn't wreck the recording. I did catch the final service at 9pm Tuesday night and sang to my heart's content. Let the Christmas Season begin!