PARKERSBURG - An Advent Celebration will be held at First United Methodist Church at 4 p.m. Dec. 16.
The candlelight concert will include a 60 member choir under the direction of Jean Singer and Amy Sinclair, accompanied by a chamber orchestra, The Mid-Ohio Valley Handbell Ensemble, and pipe organ.
The event will begin with the singing of the hymn "Once in a Royal David's City" as a processional. This processional has been used for nearly a century at Kings College in Cambridge, England, at its Christmas Eve service. The first verse is always sung at Kings College by an unaccompanied young chorister with the congregation and choir joining in on the succeeding stanzas. This year, at First United Methodist Church, the soloist will be Yli Yli Ocasio.
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Janet Ray, with First United Methodist Church, prepares for the church’s Advent Celebration candlelight concert on Dec. 16.
The choir and orchestra will perform a varied program of sacred seasonal music including "Shepard's Pipe Carol", "Away in a Manger", "This Christmastide", the Norwegian Carol "O Yule Full of Gladness", "Tomorrow Shall Be My Dancing Day", the Spanish Carol "A La Nanita Nana" and the spiritual "Go Where I Send Thee."
The audience will join the choir in the traditional "Hark the Herald Angles Sing" and "O Come All Ye Faithful".
Following the concert, their will be a live nativity scene in the church garden. There is no admission charge.
