Festival of Lessons � Lutheran church in Jackson aspires to bring special music to congregation

The start of the Christmas season may be subject to debate -- after Thanksgiving? Halloween? -- but for Matt Palisch and the St. Paul's Kantorei, Christmas starts in the summer.

That's when they, as the choral complement at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Jackson begin rehearsing for the Festival of Lessons and Carols, an annual service that, for Palisch, represents more than seasonal songs.

"This is it as far as church music at its greatest support of the word of God," said Palisch, the St. Paul's director of music and organist of the service, which was held Wednesday, Dec. 19. "This is the crown jewel. The pinnacle."

The service is celebrated worldwide, he said, modeled after a tradition started at King's College in Cambridge, England.

Pat Palisch, assistant choral conductor and Matt Palisch's mother, noted that close listeners may pick up on the service's roots.

Weston Edwards, 10, sits at the organ while waiting to perform as a featured soloist during the Festival of Lessons and Carols service at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Jackson Wednesday.

"Some of the wording is a little bit different," she said. "It has sort of an English bent."

The lessons, or scripture readings, stay the same, including passages from Genesis, Isaiah and the Gospels, and the service always opens with "Carol of the Bells" and closes with "Oh Come, All Ye Faithful," but not everything about the service is bound by tradition, Matt Palisch explained.

"About a third to a half (of the program) is different each year," he said. At the traditional home of the service, King's College, for example, Palisch said special arrangements are composed on commission. From there, each choral group around the world that celebrates the service does so with subtle differences, making the music theirs. It's an opportunity to pull out all the stops.

"It's something for our group to aspire to and we get to do some neat stuff," Palisch said.

Part of the celebration at St. Paul's, for example, includes the Joyful Sound Ringers, a handbell choir.

Benjamin Spiecker, center, Pat Palisch, right, and other members of the Joyful Sound Ringers hand bell ensemble wait in a hallway before performing during the Festival of Lessons and Carols service at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Jackson.

Pat Palisch said the Festival of Lessons and Carols is, from a devotional perspective, just about on par with Christmas itself.

"This is Christmas right here," she said. "So with the arrangements and everything, we try really hard to make sure it all fits."

Matt Palisch, who grew up attending St. Paul's and has now directed the music for more than a decade, said that being part of such a large tradition helps get in the right mindset.

"Music is so international," he said. "We can live in Jackson and have a connection to someone far away and make music even though you're an ocean away."

But while most music adheres to a performer-audience model, Palisch said the Festival of Lessons and Carols is a communal undertaking.

TYLER GRAEF ~ tgraef@semissourian.com A sign reserving the choir loft is seen with poinsettias during the Festival of Lessons and Carols service at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Jackson Wednesday, Dec. 19, 2018.

"It's not a concert. It's a worship service that's participatory," he said. "Everything we do hinges on [the congregants] joining in. If they don't sing, it goes south pretty quick, so it really encourages people to really be a part of the choir."

And ideally, by joining in, the congregants can draw something from the music. That's what 10-year-old Weston Edwards, who performed as a featured soloist during the service, said was the best part about singing with the choir: it's heartening.

"If I'm sad or anything, it just takes out all my sadness," Edwards said of singing the devotional music. "It gives you a moment to get everything out and just praise God."

tgraef@semissourian.com

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Joyce Kuntze holds her binder of sheet music on the ledge of the choir loft between hymns during the Festival of Lessons and Carols service at St. Paul Lutheran Church and School in Jackson.