Archives for March 2016

Mar 27 2016

Lessons & Carols 2015 Roundup (3 of 3 – The Music)

THE MUSIC

Finally, here are the songs we played and sang. Please follow these links and support these artists! Most of them are independent of any sort of mainstream label and rely heavily on individual music sales. You can listen to and download for free our live album below.

Cheer Us By Thy Drawing Nigh (This was my own arrangement based off of Abigail Washburn and Bela Fleck’s recording of And Am I Born To Die. Links are for that song.)
Listen | Info | Purchase

Once In Royal David’s City – Sufjan Stevens
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God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen – Traditional
Info

I Wonder As I Wonder – Jeremy Goodwyne
Info

Joy to the World – A Jesus Church
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The Trumpet Child – Over the Rhine
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Gabriel’s Message – Traditional
Info

What Child Is This? – Eric Moore (Yes! OUR Eric Moore!)
Info

The First Noel – Lady Antebellum
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King of Kings – Ordinary Time
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Of the Father’s Love Begotten – Traditional
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May You Find a Light & A Light (Reprise) – The Brilliance
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Hark the Herald Angels Sing – Rend Collective
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Here’s to the next Lessons & Carols!

Mar 27 2016

Lessons & Carols 2015 Roundup (2 of 3 – The Art)

(Part 2 of 3)

THE ART

We took a different approach to the art this year. The last two years I simply asked one person who I knew was a competent artist to create three pieces. (Cate Miller in 2014; Tyler Dirks in 2013). But I knew we had untapped artistic talent in the church, so I put out a general call to the congregation for artists to create works for L&C. We had seven people sign up to create nine pieces of art; one piece for each lesson. The results were better than I could have imagined and I am so, so proud of these folks! Most of them aren’t regularly making a lot of art, so part of this is a desire I have to see artists in our midst be driven to create. My hope is that they find more reasons to keep creating. As in previous years, each piece was auctioned off in the annual silent auction held by JWU RUF. If you would like to commission work, leave a comment and I’ll put you in touch.

Artist: Dave Kulp
Title: All Creation Groans
Acrylic Paint and Oil Stick on Canvas
36 in x 28 in

Artist: Rebecca Olson
Title: Abraham’s Choice
Pen & Ink on Paper
22 in x 28 in

Artist: Ryan Bowen
Title: Heaven and Nature Sing
Gold Spray Paint & Acrylic on Canvas
36 in x 12 in

Artist: Brittany Ford
Title: They Shall Not Hurt or Destroy
Acrylic & Gold Leaf on Canvas
20 in x 24 in

Artist: Nicole Perri
Title: The Messenger
Oil on Canvas
18 in x 24 in

Artist: Reebok Brown
Title: Immeasurable Hope
Watercolor on Paper
11 in x 15 in

Artist: Nicole Perri
Title: The Glory of the Lord
Oil on Canvas
18 in x 24 in

Artist: Ryan Bowen
Title: Hallelujah
Gold Spray Paint & Acrylic on Canvas
20 in x 24 in

Artist: Cate Miller
Title: Beget
Acrylic Mixed Media on Canvas
24 in x 48 in

Mar 27 2016

Lessons & Carols 2015 Roundup (1 of 3 – Theme & Publicity)

(Part 1 of 3. Better late than never!)

On December 12, 2015, we had our annual Festival of Lessons & Carols at Uptown Church. If you are not familiar with this service, it comes out of the Anglican tradition, specifically King’s College in Cambridge. More on that here and here. Following the 2014 L&C service, I posted a Roundup which was well received, so here is the next one.

Note: All of the musical selections are in the third part this post. I put them last because I want to draw recognition to all of the other amazing talent that is so important to this event. But if that’s what you are looking for, just click here.

THE THEME

This year, we themed our service “In the Fullness of Time,” a reference to Galatians 4:4-5:

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

This is such a compelling image to me. I imagine the brokenness of all of creation waiting, groaning in anguish, impatient for the day when she would be redeemed from the curse. Then, at just the right time, salvation came in the person of Christ. Not a moment too soon or late.

THE PUBLICITY

This year Uptowner Mandie Spear collaborated with Tyler LaCross to develop an invitation and poster that well captured the spirit and ethos of the night:

I love everything about this design. The intertwining holly and thorns is a sobering reminder of the reason Christ came which was to suffer and to die the death we deserved to die. But this is good news worth celebrating because we know that death could not hold the maker of life, and defeating death he bought us life. Mandie did the beautiful hand lettering. The black and white image on the left was for these beautiful letter-pressed invitations by Emory Cash. The color image on the right was for posters printed by Mom & Pops Printshop here in Charlotte.

THE PHOTOGRAPHY

Photography this year was provided by Rebecca Lynn Olson and it spectacularly captures the atmosphere:

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