These eight singable selections from some of your favorite arrangers are brilliantly woven together with scripture and insightful narrations focusing on Jesus as the Lamb. Stylistically appropriate for blended to light contemporary worship settings, this 37-minute work includes five familiar carols plus one medium difficulty a cappella piece. If you're looking for easy Christmas musicals for small church choirs, please consider Lamb of Bethlehem.
Here’s an overview:
You can choose between starting with a solo (“O Come, O Come Emmanuel” arranged by Jason Webb) that sets an anticipatory tone for the whole program or proceeding directly to the full choral opener.
The opening narration chronicles the theme of the sacrificial lamb from Israel’s bondage in Egypt to Israel’s occupation by the Romans in Palestine. That first Christmas night, their prayers for a new deliverer would be answered as shepherds gazed upon the Lamb of Bethlehem. Dave Williamson’s mid-tempo “Bethlehem” mixes minor and major melodies to paint the picture of that simple Judean village.
The narration continues with Luke’s familiar passage about angels announcing the good news to shepherds abiding in the fields, watching over their sheep. Your choir echoes the song of the heavenly hosts with Kyle Hill’s middle eastern-flavored “Gloria in Excelsis Deo.”
The narrator tells of shepherds hurrying off to find Mary, Joseph, and the baby, lying in the manger. The choir transitions into a tender lullaby medley of “Infant Holy, Infant Lowly and O Little Town of Bethlehem” arranged by Kris Krunk.
These familiar carols are immediately followed by Tom Fettke’s breathtaking a cappella arrangement of “Lamb of Christmas.”
The narration then recounts some compelling New Testament passages about God’s Son, the Lamb, from the Gospel of John, 1 Corinthians, and Revelation. The narrator concludes:
Like a spotless, blameless lamb,
Jesus would sacrifice himself for you and me—
Not only ransoming us,
But restoring us to his family
As sons and daughters of the most high God.
The centerpiece of this musical is Russell Mauldin’s powerful ballad for soloist and choir, “Where Else Would A Lamb Be Born?” This song is immediately followed by another Russell Mauldin masterpiece, the jubilant “He Is the Light of the World.”
In closing, your narrator invites everyone to join shepherds, angels, wise men, and Mary and Joseph in turning our hearts to the object of their affection: The Lamb of Bethlehem!
In conclusion, your congregation can join your choir in the finale, Dave Williamson’s “Christmas Medley featuring O Come All Ye Faithful and The First Noel.”
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