Hello and welcome to Augustana University's annual Christmas Vespers!

I'm Stephanie Herseth Sandlin, President of Augustana.

Vespers is a cherished tradition at our university.

Every year our talented musical ensembles share their very best to honor not only the season, but the sacred story of the birth of baby Jesus that centers our holiday celebrations.

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have found safe and creative ways to modify important traditions like Christmas Vespers.

Our faculty have been innovative.

Our students have been resilient.

All have been extraordinary.

This year we are pleased to bring you a televised version of our holiday program.

Though it feels different than our usual in-person experience, we're delighted to be able to share this special gift of music with an even wider audience, trusting God's spirit to unite us through song and prayer.

These days it seems more important than ever to gather around sacred promises of hope and healing, born for us over 2000 years ago and yet again today.

We hope you enjoy this special broadcast of Christmas Vespers by the Augustana University School of Music, and we wish you and yours a healthy, happy, and blessed holiday season.

The theme of this year's Christmas Vespers, "Risen With Healing in His Wings," is taken from a line in a carol so familiar we almost miss it.

And yet this year the lyric lingers with us.

Risen with healing in his wings.

In a year when the brokenness of the world has taken center stage, our most frequent and fervent prayers have been for healing...of every kind.

Healing from a virus that has stricken our loved ones and robbed us of normalcy and predictability.

Healing from a pandemic of racism and systemic injustice that has plagued generation after generation.

Healing from polarization and discord in the midst of an election season more heated than most of us have seen in our lifetimes.

It was into a world just as hurting and just as sick that the Messiah came.. as a brown-skinned baby born in a backyard barn to parents from a little known town called Nazareth.

Shepherds and Wise Men came to visit the babe in the manger wondering how it could be that a child so small and humble could save a world so broken.

That very first Christmas in Bethlehem the infant Christ brought the sort of surprising healing that only a baby can bring.

A newborn promise of hope that life still springs forth in spite of pain.

That God persists with God's people and makes each generation more healthy and more whole.

Now we hear the promises of God echoed again in sacred song.

Christ was born that we no more may die.

And Christ died to be risen...for us...with healing in his wings.

Of one who is so fair and bright Velut maris stella [Like a star of the sea] Brighter than the day is light, Parens et puella: [Both mother and maiden] I cry to thee, thou see to me Lady, pray thy Son for me, Tam pia [so pure] That I may come to thee, Maria!

[Mary] All this world was forlorn, Eva peccatrice, [because of Eve, a sinner] Till our Lord was yborn, De te genetrice.

[through you, his mother] With ave it went away, Darkest night, and comes the day Salutis; [of salvation] The well springeth out of thee.

Virtutis.

[of virtue] Lady, flower of everything, Rosa sine spina, [Rose without thorn] Thou bare Jesus, heaven's king, Gratia divina: [by divine grace] Of all thou bearest the prize, Lady, queen of paradise Electa: [chosen] Maid mild, mother es effecta.

[you are made] es effecta.

[you are made] O hearken ye who would believe, the gracious tidings now receive: Gloria!

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

The mighty Lord of heav'n and earth Today is come to human birth!

Gloria!

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

O hearken ye who long for peace, Your troubled searching now may cease!

Gloria!

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

For at His cradle you shall find God's healing grace for all mankind.

Gloria!

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

O hearken ye who long for love, And turn your hearts to God above.

Gloria!

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

The angel's song the wonder tells: Now love incarnate with us dwells!

Gloria!

Gloria in excelsis Deo!

A reading from Isaiah 53: 1-5 Who has believed what we have heard?

And to whom has the arm of the Lord been revealed?

For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.

He was despised and rejected by others; a man of suffering and acquainted with infirmity; and as one from whom others hide their faces he was despised, and we held him of no account.

Surely he has borne our infirmities and carried our diseases; yet we accounted him stricken, struck down by God, and afflicted.

But he was wounded for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the punishment that made us whole, and by his bruises we are healed.

Let us pray... Stir up your power, Lord Christ, and come.

Bring to us your healing touch.

Take away our sin and sickness.

Mend our brokenness.

Restore relationships.

Make your hurting world whole again.

hank you, God, for those who do the hard work of healing.

For earthly angels who remind us not to be afraid.

Who help us to hope in your coming.

And now this season, make us to be bearers of one another burdens, tending to each others needs, and everyday doing the healing work of Christmas.

Amen.

When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and the princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flocks, The work of Christmas begins: To find the lost, To heal the broken, To feed the hungry, To release the prisoner, To rebuild the nations, To bring peace among brothers, To make music... make music make music from the heart.

When the song of the angels is stilled, When the star in the sky is gone, When the kings and the princes are home, When the shepherds are back with their flocks, The work of Christmas begins: This year's Augustana Christmas Vespers is like nothing we have done before as our University adapts to stay healthy and safe during the coronavirus pandemic.

As we bring you this socially distanced broadcast, we are missing the opportunity to connect with our audiences personally, and share the joy of the season with you.

We, like all artists this year, are operating without the support we normally receive through ticket sales and live concerts.

So this year, we would like to ask you to join us in supporting this year's Augustana Christmas Vespers production.

Your gifts will help our students continue to perform, to innovate, and to share their gifts with the world.

If you have a cell phone handy, simply text the word "GIFT" to 605-202-3062 and follow the prompts from there.

Thank you for your support and have a blessed holiday season.

One of the great joys of Christmas is singing together.

We invite you to join all of our Augustana music ensembles in this medley of Christmas carols.

Follow along with the subtitles on the bottom of your screen and help us celebrate the season through song!

Joy to the world, the Lord is come Let earth receive her King Let every heart prepare Him room And Heaven and nature sing And Heaven and nature sing And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing Deck the halls with boughs of holly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la 'Tis the season to be jolly Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la Don we now our gay apparel Fa-la-la, la-la-la, la-la-la Troll the ancient Yule-tide carol Fa-la-la-la-la, la-la-la-la God rest ye merry gentlemen Let nothing you dismay Remember Christ our Savior Was born on Christmas Day To save us all from Satan's pow'r When we were gone astray Oh tidings of comfort and joy Comfort and joy Hark!

the herald angels sing: "Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled" Joyful, all ye nations rise Join the triumph of the skies With angelic hosts proclaim: "Christ is born in Bethlehem" Hark!

the herald angels sing: "Glory to the newborn King!"

Silent night, holy night All is calm, all is bright 'Round yon virgin Mother and Child Holy infant so tender and mild Sleep in heavenly peace Sleep in heavenly peace Glory to God, glory in the highest: O come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord.

A reading from Luke 2: 1-20 In those days a decree went out from Emperor Augustus that all the world should be registered This was the first registration and was taken while Quirinius was governor of Syria.

All went to their own towns to be registered.

Joseph also went from the town of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to the city of David called Bethlehem, because he was descended from the house and family of David.

He went to be registered with Mary, to whom he was engaged and who was expecting a child.

While they were there, the time came for her to deliver her child.

And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in bands of cloth, and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.

In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night.

Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.

But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for see-I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord.

This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger."

And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, "Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!"

When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, "Let us go now to Bethlehem and see this thing that has taken place, which the Lord has made known to us."

So they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the child lying in the manger.

When they saw this, they made known what had been told them about this child; and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds told them.

But Mary treasured all these words and pondered them in her heart.

The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!

All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near.

Join me in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!

All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near.

Join me in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!

O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!

All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near.

Join me in glad adoration.

Praise to the Lord, who o'er all things is wondrously reigning and, as on wings of an eagle, uplifting, sustaining.

Hast thou not seen all that is needful hath been sent by his gracious ordaining?

Praise to the Lord!

O let all that is in me adore Him!

All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him!

Let the Amen sound from His people again; Gladly for aye we adore Him!

Alleluia!

Let the Amen sound from His people again; Gladly for aye we adore Him!

Alleluia!

Alleluia!

Vespers is the Augustana University's sacred Christmas music concert.

It is presented every December; u sually the first weekend of December over at Our Savior Luthern Church.

It's one of our greatest alumni traditions and it's something that the Sioux Falls community expects from us.

Vespers at Augustana has a rich and treasured history.

It started as a small program and has grown into a elaborate vital Christmas tradition for not only Augustana, but also the community of Sioux Falls.

In 1938, Dr.

Carl Reynold Youngdahl directed the first Christmas Vespers for 1,800 community members in the campus gym.

As the audience grew reach year the venue became too small and more performances were needed.

By the 1980s, Vespers moved to St.

Joseph's Cathedral and Our Savior's Luthern Church to proclaim the Christmas story to more than 4,500 people during five performances Vespers evolved into a full weekend of performances, expanding to include; all three choirs, orchestra, chamber groups, and the brass choir.

Throughout its' vibrant history, it's become a gift to Sioux Falls that features talented ensembles and inspring themes that often bring the audience to tears.

However, in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the live performances that had become such a key part of our community Christmas celebration.

What we see today is a reimagined Christmas Vespers of epic proportions.

OUr musicians gather in new ways to celebrate the message of Christmas; carefully produced to uplift Augustana students, alumni, and friends at the end of a long difficult year.

If we were to quantify the immense scope of this project, I'm just gonna give you some numbers; we're talking over 200 students and faculty, 26 microphones, 48 individual in-ear monitors, 17 days of recording and here's all the ensembles; three different choirs, one orchestra of 53 people, a band of 54 people, and also our organist over in the chapel.

and 4 different spaces that we recorded in with the fifth being the Mary W. Sommervold hall here at the Washington Pavilion.

It's been bananas but we're so proud of how it's come together.

With "click tracks" for timing and reference tracks for tuning, hours of planning, and weeks of faithful practice, Vespers came together like magic and gave many students their first-ever professional studio recording experience.

Singing with others in a room was something that I really didn't think would happen this year and I'm really glad that it is.

It's a big part of my college experience and a big part of every musician's life.

The band, orchestra and choirs were recorded separately, and divided into even smaller sections, spread across several different rooms.

With safety at the forefront, we adopted best practices with each musician performing with a custom designed mask, an instrument cover, and limited amount of time in each space.

Spaces like hamre hall, the band room, the choir room have the ability to turn into state-of-the-art recording facilities.

Usually they're just spacees that we rehearse in or perform in one in a while but with the new studio 47 and all the technology that we have; we can turn these spaces into a recording studio that feeds live sound down to a studio where our producer on-faculty here can make professional recordings that we can produce to the world.

Students each wore their own set of headphones that connected them instantly to the recording studio located on the floor below, where Dr.

Peter Folliard engineered and produced each session.

Folliard and student production assistants captured the sounds from the different recording rooms simultaneously - seamlessly creating the effect of a synchronous ensemble.

As practice ended last week and we were sitting and waiting, Dr.

Folliard called us up and said, "Oh hey, did you want to hear what that sounded like?"

and then we got to take our recording and overlay it over the choir.

And I think for everyone hearing that, kind of made us realize what we were working with here and especially being able to give that real-time feedback of This is what we really sound like and this is what the choir really sounds like.

It was very different than what we've ever done for Vespers.

Each note, each vowel, and each release needed to be precise to result in a final broadcast at an exceptional level.

Adapting to making the recording sound good has been a big deal for all of our ensembles.

We're apart so much that it's really hard to hear across the ensemble and using those listening skills we've been taught for years and years is really important.

It's also really difficult because not everyone is in the same room so trying to listen to a brass player who you can't hear is pretty much impossible.

So just learning to imagine different parts are playing is... been an experience.

It's definitely been a tradition is that every year you have that big Vespers concert at the end of the semester.

And so I think when we initially had to cancel that it definitely took a little bit out of me to say, "Oh it's your last year but we're not doing that in-person concert."

But talking with a lot of my friends from other schools; we're kind of the only ones who are trying to do something still without having to cancel all of our concerts.

And it's neat how quickly we've adapted and especially with all the word from Dr.

Folliard saying, "we're still gonna make this a Vespers concert."

Through embracing the traditions of Vespers with a forward thinking mindset, and the integration of technology, Augustana has created a Christmas celebration like never before.

Augustana has five core values and you're gonna see and hear all of them this performance.

So number one: excellence We're really proud of the great work our students do.

Christian faith, the liberal arts, service, and community.

And you're gonna see all five of those pop off your screen, right to home to make this Christmas season a little bit brighter.

Hallelujah!

unto God's Almighty Son.

Hallelujah!

unto God's Almighty Son.

Praise the Lord, ye bright angelic choirs, In holy songs of joy.

Praise the Lord in holy songs of joy.

ye bright angelic choirs, In holy songs of joy.

Praise the Lord, ye bright angelic choirs, In holy songs of joy.

Praise the Lord in holy songs of joy.

Man, proclaim His grace and glory!

Hallelujah!

unto God's Almighty Son.

Praise the Lord in holy songs of joy.

Man, proclaim His grace and glory!

Hallelujah!

unto God's Almighty Son.

Hallelujah!

unto God's Almighty Son.

Praise the Lord Praise the Lord Praise the Lord In holy songs of joy.

Praise the Lord In holy songs of joy.

Praise the Lord in holy songs of joy.

Praise the Lord In holy songs of joy.

Let us pray.

Holy Christ, Light of the World, you promise this Christmas not only to illumine our darkness with your light but to bring the warmth of your very presence... to be with us when the night lingers longer than it should, to keep us company when loneliness and isolation get to be too much, to melt the chill and soothe the ache of all that ails us.

May we lean into the warmth of your light, remembering that the life we so yearn for has not left us but is, in fact, just beginning...trusting that the world is not ending, but the small flame that flickers is preparing to set the world ablaze with love, hope, peace, and joy.

Turn us again, O God, to be the glow that the world needs so desperately.

May we be a healing hearth for the weary, the lost, the sick, the oppressed.

May we envelope with care the lonely and estranged, the grieving and the afraid.

Make us to shine as a brilliant witness to your story... to be your angel messengers singing in chorus and risen with your healing in our wings.

In the name of Jesus our light, our warmth, and our salvation we pray.

Amen.

Hark!

the herald angels sing: "Glory to the newborn King!

Peace on earth and mercy mild God and sinners reconciled" Joyful, all ye nations rise Join the triumph of the skies With angelic hosts proclaim: "Christ is born in Bethlehem" Hark!

the herald angels sing: "Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest Heav'n adored Christ the everlasting Lord!

Late in time behold Him come Offspring of a Virgin's womb Veiled in flesh the Godhead see; Hail the incarnate Deity Pleased as man with man to dwell Jesus, our Emmanuel Hark!

the herald angels sing: "Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the Heav'n-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Son of Righteousness!

Light and life to all He brings Ris'n with healing in His wings Mild He lays His glory by Born that man no more may die Born to raise the sons of earth Born to give them second birth Hark!

the herald angels sing: "Glory to the newborn King!"

Thank you for joining us for Augustana Christmas Vespers!

We pray the music and message that you heard tonight helps you know the nearness of Immanuel, God with us.

We hope you have a safe and happy holiday celebration, and that the new year brings with it new hope for healing of every kind.

And from our Augustana family to yours, we're wishing you a very merry Christmas!

¡Feliz Navidad!

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

Augustana Christmas Vespers is presented by Thrivent financial.

For over 100 years, Thrivent has been helping Christians build their financial futures and live more generous lives.

Brought to you in part by: the Washington Pavilion, Sioux Falls First Assembly of God, Sweetwater Sound, and viewers like you.