We remind the audience, through song and story, to seek a spiritual approach to the Advent season. Adventsingen directs our thoughts toward the message of "peace on earth."
Sister Anne Kathleen Duffy, Music Director
The audience has a few hours to forget the crowds in the stores, the rush to mail cards, and the traffic on the highways. Adventsingen helps prepare them for the feast of Christmas instead of the arrival of Santa Claus.
William C. Egan, Program Director
We drive over from Orlando for this concert, every year.
It starts off the Christmas season in a special way for the
entire family.
Mark Blackington
I came from Ireland more than fifty years ago and this is the first time that I have felt at home during Christmas time.
The program may come from Austria, but the entire feeling is very European. There's nothing else like it in this country.
Kathleen O'Brien
It's wonderful to see people from so many religious backgrounds taking part in this, not only in the chorus but in the
audience, too.
Marjorie Rhoads
I sat in the audience the first year and couldn't
believe that we had found an Advent program such as
this in the United States. It took me back to my
childhood in Salzburg.
Charlotte Erlmoser Mueller
Contemplation and car pooling
What comes to mind when you think of Advent?
Waiting ... joyful anticipation ... the coming of
Christ ... lighting Advent candles ...
What comes to mind when you hear "Only 27 shopping
days till Christmas?" Shopping ... baking ... decorating
... rushing around ... preparing for company ...
The list of pre-Christmas activities contrasts sharply
with the images of Advent and reveals how easily the focus
of Advent gets lost in the crush of holiday preparations.
In many nations there are certain rituals or traditions
that help "keep" Advent: lighting a candle for each Sunday
of Advent, waiting until the last week of Advent to get a
Christmas tree, illuminating the tree for the first time on Christmas Eve to mark the light of Christ coming into the world.
Here in the U.S., we find Advent gets lost
in the overwhelming demands of the season. We need to shift our focus from the secular countdown-to-Christmas, to look instead at the spiritual heart of the Advent season.
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