Here is an Advent Song for piano I composed last year and on my album, Songs For The Refugee Christ At Christmas (available for download at CDBaby.com). It is entitled, Come Lord Of Counsel. The text is based on Advent readings from the prophet Isaiah.
“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse,
and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the Lord shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the Lord.
His delight shall be in the fear of the Lord.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked. Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den. They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the Lord
as the waters cover the sea.” (Isaiah 11: 1-9, NRSV)
“In days to come the mountain of the Lord’s house shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and shall be raised above the hills; all the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth instruction, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruning hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. O house of Jacob, come, let us walk in the light of the Lord!” (Isaiah 2: 2-5, NRSV)
Isaiah 11: 1-10 is the first reading on the Second Sunday of Advent, and Isaiah 2: 2-5 is the first reading on the First Sunday of Advent. There is an underlayment of hope and joy in these two scriptural readings from Isaiah. Humanity is not doomed to an eternity of chaos, violence, and brokenness, for God will come and save us and teach us how to walk in the light of the Lord.
The music reflects the excitement that Isaiah is imparting to the listener. As opposed to the normal Advent chants, stoic and rather dismal, the music is imbued with anticipatory joy. The musical form of the song is three part, ABA form. It is composed in the key of G major.
