Join us as we celebrate the Advent season with a Christmas Concert from our choir!

"Blue Christmas" services, which take place to support people struggling emotionally during the holiday season, are becoming more common. This song was written for such services. Ken Janzen sings and plays the instruments.

4 Advent Video Hymns written for the Worship Design Studio, which created its own separate videos. Recordings and videos by Ken Janzen

Blessed Christmas-tide even in a particularly bleak mid-winter. One carol includes a metaphorical rose blooming in darkest winter.

This recording features Alice Wildermuth O'Sullivan playing her own arrangements of Christmas Carols on piano, augmented by bell instruments. As an organist and church musician in Lutheran churches for years, Alice developed these arrangements, some dating back to her first Christmas as a church organist when she was five.

Christmas is quiet and intimate and I get to sing the carols I love with my beautiful bowls. The other night James and I decided to make a little video of one of my favorites -- an old carol from Ireland -- The Wexford Carol. Here it is, just for you. I have loved this song for years, from the moment I first heard its arching melody. I hope these sounds fill your heart with peace and pray you continue to shine your Light all through this magical season and in the year to come. Enjoy! And if you love the video, post a comment and share with family and friends to pass along the light. I read every single one and I so much appreciate hearing from you.

Silent night, holy night is a perennial favourite! T’is the season for nostalgia. But what if we are serious about providing more than nostalgia in our worship? Can we, or do we even dare to offer worshippers new images that endeavour to engage our reality? Can we touch the spiritual but not religious crowds that wander into our sanctuaries seeking an encounter with the Mystery we call God, with a hint of our unknowing. Or are we content to address only the nostalgia seekers with safe images designed only to warm and not excite the imagination? Dare we beckon the nostalgia seekers beyond their memories toward the future? I wonder? Maybe we can summon up the courage to compromise by simply adding a few new verses? The challenge belongs to all of us to write new words to enable us to sing our praise with integrity.

THIS VIDEO BELONGS TO MAX LUCADO, RANDY FRANZEE, AND FRANCESCA BATTISTELLI To purchase or download this video: http://www.olivebranchcreative.com/the-story-downloads Lyrics: Everything inside me cries