Tuesday, November 11, 2025

Musings at St. Andrew's

Ann-Marie MacDairmid | Director of Music

Fall continues and the Advent season will arrive very soon.

St. Andrew's continues to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Noon Hour Concert Series! On November 12th the “Venturi Winds” will be performing. A couple of selections include the Little Fugue in G minor by J.S. Bach and Three Shanties by Malcolm Arnold.

Then on November 19th, a first time group “New Tricks” will be singing in barbershop style; songs include Bridge Over Troubled Water and Orange Coloured Sky. This year, November 26th is the annual date for the “Waterloo County Carollers”. December 6th will feature Debra Lacoste on trumpet and Ann-Marie MacDairmid on organ. The program will be jazz and swing arrangements of Christmas Carols. Upcoming concerts and information about the artists is available on the church website.

Mark your calendar to attend these amazing performances!

The handbell ringers will be playing on Sunday, November 16th. Music includes two hymn tunes; Holy God, We Praise Thy Name and There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy. During the offertory, the music will be Festivity on ‘Westminster Chimes’. There is always room for more handbell ringers. Rehearsals are on Thursdays from 6 to 7 pm.

The sanctuary choir continue to meet and rehearse the weekly service music.

On November 16th, the anthem is The Peace of |Christ. November 23rd is Christ the King Sunday and the music will be How Can I Keep From Singing? November 30th marks the first Sunday of Advent. This year, the choir will be sharing a new anthem called Prepare Ye by Marc A. Robinson. It will feature Morgan Ballantyne as the soloist.

December 7th is the second Sunday in Advent. Communion will celebrated and the anthem will be Come Taste the Goodness of the Lord. If you are interested in singing in the sanctuary choir; now is your chance. The Christmas season is a wonderful time to sing and share favourite carols.

Our Christmas service is titled “Signs of Promise”. There are nine elements, each comprising a reading and an anthem. These tell of the signs and portents of the appearance of the Messiah, the events leading up to the conception and birth of Jesus and the promises of Jesus’ ministry. The phrase “Signs of Promise” is taken from the hymn, “Watchman, Tell Us of the Night”, the lead hymn for the Christmas Service. The hymn takes the form of a series of questions and answers. A traveler asks, the watchman answers:

Watchman, tell us of the night, / what its signs of promise are?

Traveler, what a wondrous sight: / see that glory-beaming star.

Watchman, does its beauteous ray / news of joy or hope foretell?

Traveler, yes; it brings the day, / promised day of Israel.

The text was written by Sir John Bowring (1792-1872), a British career civil servant, political economist, traveler, writer, literary translator, polyglot and the fourth Governor of Hong Kong.

His literary work included poems and hymns, books or pamphlets on political and economic subjects, and translations of folk songs. Bowring's published hymns include "God is Love: His Mercy Brightens", "In the Cross of Christ I Glory", and "Watchman, Tell Us of the Night".

The music for the tune of “Watchman Tell Us of the Night was written by the American composer Lowell Mason (1792-1872). (Note that Bowring and Mason both were born in 1792 and both died in 1872).

Mason had an impressive body of work, over 1,600 hymn tunes, many of which are still sung regularly, including “Nearer, My God, to Thee”, “Aaronic Blessing”, “When I Survey” and of course “Joy to the World”.

Mason was a controversial music director. In this capacity he was a strong proponent of congregational singing. He disliked the use of orchestras and choirs in church because he believed that they made the congregants reluctant to sing. When he accepted the position as music director for the prestigious Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York, he immediately disbanded its choir and orchestra and soon established Fifth Avenue Presbyterian as having the finest congregational singing in New York.

Signs of Promise will be on Sunday, December 14th at 4:00 pm followed by a spaghetti supper in Iona Hall. The service will feature the Sanctuary Choir, readers and handbells. Guest players will be Wendy Wagler (flute) and Easton Page (percussion). Ann-Marie will be playing the piano and organ.

Here are two prominent quotes about Christ the King: "For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet" (1 Corinthians 15:25) and "he is Lord of lords, and King of kings" (Revelation 17:14).

An Advent quote to focus on anticipation and waiting, "It is the beautiful task of Advent to awaken in all of us memories of goodness and thus to open doors of hope" - Pope Benedict XVI (1927-2022).

Ann-Marie MacDairmid
Director of Music
St. Andrew's Presbyterian Church, Kitchener