November 27: Introduction to the 2021 Advent Project
THE INCARNATION CANTICLES: THE FIRST SONGS OF CHRISTMAS
Welcome to Biola University’s 2021 Advent Project. This season we’ll be focusing on a collection of scriptural songs that played a significant role in the life of the early church and are still being used in some congregations today. These compositions are referred to as canticles—“little songs” or poetic, psalm-like prayers that pepper scripture but are all found outside the actual book of Psalms. Canticles are nestled within biblical dramas and represent profound moments when heaven and earth meet and human participants acknowledge God’s divine interventions. Dr. Naaman Wood writes in Canticles: A Field Guide to the Songs of Scripture, “The canticles serve as exemplars of human longing appropriate to God’s word and work so that the church may learn to rightfully respond to who God is and what God does in its daily life.”
According to Wood, the first collection of canticles appeared in a fifth-century biblical manuscript. This collection included the Song of Moses, the Song of Hannah, Isaiah’s Hymn of Victory, the Psalms of Jonah and Habbakuk, the Prayer of Azariah, as well as the Christmas Canticles found in Luke’s Gospel. In fact, the most famous canticles are the Christmas or Incarnation Canticles that occur in the first two chapters of Luke, where one miraculous event follows another. These “new” canticles are the answer to two thousand years of prophetic utterances regarding the coming Messiah. Luke (who some scholars suggest was an artist as well as a doctor) relies on these poetic moments of song to focus the reader’s attention on some of the most significant narratives in Scripture.
During the six weeks of the Advent Project, we will examine the five Incarnation Canticles recorded in Luke’s Gospel, and then in week six, we focus on the Canticle of Moses and the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) found in Revelation 15:3–4. During week one, we’ll look at Elizabeth’s Song or Ave Maria (Hail Mary), Luke 1:42; week two, at the Song of Zechariah or Benedictus (“Blessed be the God of Israel”) in Luke 1:67–79; week three, at the Canticle of Mary or the Magnificat (“My soul proclaims the greatness of the Lord”) in Luke 1:46–55; week four, at the Angel’s Song or Gloria in Excelsis Deo (“Glory to God in the highest”) in Luke 2:14; and week five, at the Song of Simeon or Nunc Dimittis (“Now depart in peace”) in Luke 2:28–32.
Reverend William Phillip wrote a wonderful little Advent volume which has, in part, served as inspiration for this year’s devotional series. Songs for a Saviour’s Birth takes an in-depth look at the Christmas Canticles and how they might inform our adoration of Christ. He writes, “It is when God is at work, and when his powerful message of salvation is being understood and being received by people, that they break forth in songs of joy. Salvation leads to song.” May these beautiful “little songs” surround and overwhelm as Christ is formed in us anew. We are invited to join Elizabeth, Mary, Zechariah, the shepherds, Simeon and Anna, and finally the martyrs and heavenly hosts as together they respond to God’s divine invitation to participate in the grand story of redemption. Worship depends upon each of us lifting our voices with them and with the church triumphant in endless hallelujahs to the one true God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, whose coming to earth as a babe changed everything!
We warmly invite you to join us over the next six weeks as we delve into artistic contemplation, prayer, and the spiritual truths found in each day’s entry. We are most grateful for all of the illustrators, artisans, fine artists, poets, authors, composers, and musicians who have contributed their talents to this project. We have attempted to include a multiplicity of styles, diversity of cultures, and a wide range of denominations to create a rich tapestry of expression. Our team has spent dozens of hours culling through hundreds of musical compositions, works of art, and poetry in an attempt to bring a heartfelt meditative and worship experience to our subscribers.
A special thank-you to our curators: Chris Davidson, who selected poetry, and Steven Homestead, who selected the music for this year’s project. Also a special thank-you to Dean of the School of Fine Arts and Communication (SoFAC) Todd Guy, CCCA Director Luke Aleckson, and Jessica Snell.
Additionally, we encourage you to take advantage of the additional resource under the “About” tab located next to the “Devotional” tab, which will give you biographical information on the artists, poets, composers, and musicians, as well as lyrics, song/composition titles, and the artwork used in this project.
Finally, we are most grateful to those readers who have contributed financially to this wonderful endeavor. It is your continued support that makes these projects possible.
Thank you.
Script from the 2021 Advent Project Introduction
by Shawna Stewart
In just a few weeks, many around the world will celebrate the dawn of redeeming grace….Jesus Christ who came to save us from our sins…to free us….Jesus Christ through whom all things will be made new one day……all will be well.
For me, the last 22 months have certainly had their share of laughter, and joy, of meaningful moments with my family, seeing my children every day, nurturing interests that I never had time for, but they’ve also been laden with frustration, grief, anger, angst…sorrow. There have been plenty of moments when it’s been hard for me to read the Bible….hard for me to pray…but it has been music and the texts…as it has been throughout my whole life…that have helped me to “rightfully respond and commune with God.”
Advent is a season in which we look forward to the coming of Christ… yes, in the manger….but also as the King of Kings, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace. The canticles chosen for this Advent Project, come from the mouths of those who had profound encounters with God’s handiwork. These texts, in song, have been sung by the Christian church for hundreds of years. It is the way that church has learned and memorized the Scriptures, engaged in the story and celebrated God’s works. In many of the same ways, it is how I’ve learned and memorized the scriptures…how I have learned to pray…to respond…to commune with God. Often, songs and their texts speak the words and feelings that I don’t know how to utter.
And I feel thankful to be in a job I have as a choral director at Biola. Daily opportunities through my preparation….through our rehearsals and through our performances where I join with others in learning God’s truths and proclaiming them in song…just as Zechariah, in his canticle, burst forth with what he had been learning about God. And this Advent season, I think it is Zechariah’s Song-the Benedictus-that I find myself most connected to, because he gives us a glimpse of the greatness of the coming redeemer, the horn of salvation.
It is our hope that the canticles, songs, art and devotions in this year’s Advent Project, help us grow in our knowledge of Christ, increase our memory of the Scriptures and deepen our emotional engagement with God’s work And as we prepare our hearts to celebrate Christ’s birth, may there be great joy in the hopeful waiting for the day when all things are ultimately redeemed…when all things are made new. He is our redeeming grace…the one “born to give light to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death…to guide our feet into the way of peace.”