O Night Divine: Christmas Concert 2011

Welcome to O Night Divine, the 2011 Twin Lakes Church Christmas concert. My name's Rene, I'm one of the pastors here, and Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! Let's try that one more time. Merry Christmas! Merry Christmas! It is so good to have you here tonight for our tenth and final concert of the year. We are joined tonight by all kinds of very special musical guests, including the guitarist you saw right up here on stage. He is a legend in the field. He has played with people like Roy Orbison, Barry Manilow, John Denver, Carrie Underwood, and it seems like everybody in between.

You see him live on American Idol playing with their band. Jay Leach is here with us tonight. You'll see him all throughout the show. We also have another great guitarist with us. He is internationally known blues guitarist, Kid Anderson is here with us as well. Put your hands together for Kid. Now, Kid happens to be the husband of Twin Lakes Church's own, and American Idol semi-finalist I might add, Lisa Luechner, and tonight for the first time ever in a Christmas concert, they are going to sing a song on stage.

Lisa will sing and Kid will play. It's a beautiful, intimate moment talking about Jesus Christ and his birth. That will come up later on in the concert tonight. I can't wait. And then also joining us tonight, Emmy Award winning composer. He's played with luminaries like Aretha Franklin and many more. He's going to play keyboards for us on stage right now. He's in the orchestra on viola. John Wineglass is here with us tonight. Great to have him here.

And many, many more special guests that you'll be needing as the night goes on. And of course we have our own Twin Lakes Church Choir and Kid's Choir. Amazing soloists. And how about the Concert Orchestra? Let's welcome these amazing musicians too. Well, tonight we have two halves of the concert. Let me explain this. The first half of the concert tonight is going to be a little bit like, how many of you have ever heard of Cirque du Soleil? Ever heard of Cirque du Soleil? Okay, this is going to be like Cirque du Christmas.

It is just going to be variety like you've never seen before in a Christmas concert. And then in the second half of the concert tonight, it will be a musical meditation on the phrase "God with us." It's just 20 beautiful minutes. I think you'll really enjoy that. But first, we want to help you rediscover Christmas through a child's eyes. And to help you bring back, kind of get back to that spot, we have some beautiful selections from the beloved Christmas ballet, The Nutcracker, performed by dancers who are students at the International Academy of Dance here in Santa Cruz. Let's welcome them to the stage tonight.

Ooh, someday. Yeah, go ahead. Ooh, someday, now. Ooh, someday. Good, baby. Ooh, ooh. Well, I'll pray on Christmas. I'll pray on Christmas. That the sick will soon be strong. I'll pray on Christmas. I'll pray on Christmas. I said, Lord, hear my song. I'll pray on Christmas. I'll pray on Christmas. That my God will lead the way. And I'll pray on Christmas. Another day. He's gonna get me through another day. Lord, you're gonna get me through. Get me through another day. Yeah. He's gonna get me through, get me through. Really, really get me through. Yeah. I'll pray. He'll get me through another day.

Well, I'll pray. Ah. Lord, have mercy on my soul. I'll be your God. Ooh, ooh. O Canada, sweet silver bells. In to save the cast away. Christmas is here. Bringing good cheer to young and old, meek and the bold. O how they've done. Raising the sound. O giving their. Telling their tale. Giv'n their ring. While they all sing songs of good cheer. Christmas is here. Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. On on they spend. On to that end. Their jumble-jumble to evermore.

Up came the sweet sort of bells, all sing to say, pro-carrel make of me. This is me seer, bring English here to you. Here's a big and a bold ole halle-pondoms, more in detail. Hailing and reading while we all sing songs, let me cheer, Christmas is-- Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas, Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas, on our necks and on. But that in their jubble time to every hum. Ding dong, ding dong, ding dong, ding dong. Giddy, giddy, now people sing songs of good cheer, Christmas is here. Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas, merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas, merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas. Merry, merry, merry, merry Christmas.

See that baby in the manger, stars shining up above, the angels in the heavens. They're singing of God's love, love's here to stay, love's here to stay. Ah, ah, praise the Lord, Jesus' child is born today. He's born today. He's born today. He's born today. Sing. Life has made me weary as long as I could be. The baby in the manger, he can set me free. Show me the way. Ah, show me, Lord, Jesus' child is born today. Ah, show me, Lord, Jesus' child is born today. Oh, we need your help. Come on. Sing. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Jesus' child is born today.

Sing. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Jesus' child is born today. Hey! Come on. Go left. All right. Listen. This testimony is true. Tied on the cross and rose again. He's coming back for me and you. Oh, come what may. Oh, come what may. Come what may. I serve the Lord. Jesus' child is born today. I serve the Lord. Jesus' child is born today. Sing. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Jesus' child is born today. Come on. Sing it with us. Sing how? Sing hallelujah. Hallelujah. Praise the Lord. Jesus' child is born today. He's born today.

Gloria, follow the clearing path. Gloria, lead us to the new world. Gloria, God be faithful love. Who is this child? The king of peace and the lord of love. Is he the one? The prophets have been telling of him. How do we find him? Follow the brilliant storm and follow the angel choir and the trumpet turn. Gloria, the angel choir and the trumpet turn. Gloria, follow the clearing path. Gloria, lead us to the new world. Gloria, God be faithful love. God be faithful love.

O come, O come, O come Emmanuel. O come, O come, Emmanuel. That ransom captive in Israel. That mourns in lonely exile here. Until the Son of God appear. O come, O come, O come, O come, O come, Emmanuel. You will. Fear not, O Israel, for there is peace still to come. O word to break the silence, our promise yet to bloom. Our promise to redeem us, one to free us. Break the silence and the violence in our hearts. Emmanuel is sure to find us soon.

The mighty root of Jesse, star of truth. And bring our sons to glory, tell his story. He'll go broken and restore thee to his name. The star will guide us to the home of the Lamb, where Christ the King reveals his earthly face. And we will sing, "Emmanuel, God is in us. God is for us. God is in us." We will sing. We'll sing, "Emmanuel, Emmanuel, our God is great and kind." We're singing, "Alleluia, we're singing, "Alleluia, Emmanuel, our God is with us." We're singing, "Alleluia, we're singing, "Alleluia, Emmanuel, our God is with us." We're singing, "Alleluia, we're singing, "Alleluia, Emmanuel, our God is with us." Emmanuel, our God is with us.

Thank you, Lisa. Thank you, Cyd. You know, I was talking with Lisa backstage and she said, "I love that song, but it's hard to sing." And I said, "There's a song that's hard for you to sing?" And she said, "Yeah, because of the lyrics." She said, "I always get choked up when I think about what that song means." And I said, "You know what? So do I." But I love that song, because really that's what the core message of Christmas all boils down to, doesn't it? A three-word sentence, just three words, "God with us."

As a wise man once said, "Consider God the creator of the cosmos, the one who spun the galaxies and the planets into place, God with us." This is the wonder of Christmas. The holy God wrapped Himself warmly in humanity and is crying real tears in a real stable with real parents who are doing their best just to take it all in. He came to our world, to one of our hillsides, to one of our stables, into one of our mangers, Emmanuel, God with us.

But now fast forward 2,000 years, and that same truth that transformed history can change your life and mine tonight. To the child worried that mom or dad might lose their jobs, God is with you tonight. To the elderly man who is no longer living independently and must now rely on others for his needs, God is with you. To the man wracked with guilt over a behavior he can't seem to control and who wonders if God still loves him, God is with you. To the woman feeling anxious and isolated and lonely, God is with you.

To the person seeking truth and considering Christ as a possibility, God is with you. You are not alone in the universe. You never have been and you never have to be because God in Christ wrapped Himself in human flesh and chose a cave in Bethlehem and a cross in Jerusalem to communicate one simple abiding truth. God is with us. That sentence has the power and the beauty to change every waking moment. This is why we're here tonight. This is our testimony. God is with us.

He took a journey of an infinite number of steps and now leaves the final step up to you and me. Will you take it? It's as simple as falling in love with someone already desperately in love with you. This is really the invitation of Christmas. You've probably sung it dozens of times without realizing it's an invitation. O come all ye faithful and all ye longing for faith. O come and let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him. Christ the Lord. O come let us adore Him. Christ the Lord.

Sing choirs of angels. Sing in exultation. O sing all ye citizens of heaven above. Glory to God. Glory in the highest. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him. Christ the Lord. Yes Lord, praise be for this happy morning. We adore Him. Lord of the Father, how we bear the land. O come let us adore Him. O come let us adore Him. Christ the Lord.

Ali Paul, Christian Purcell, and the Twin Lakes Church Choir, would you join me in thanking them? And let's thank all the wonderful artists who made tonight's concert so special. Lisa Luechner, Kit Anderson, John Weinglass, Rebecca Jackson, James Murray, Heather Bruce. Our puppeteers. Karen Stebbins and everybody in the women's quartet and trio. Our aerialists and our dancers. Melanie Usseldinger for choreographing all of our dancing tonight. Thank you, Melanie. Let's thank our concert orchestra as well for doing an amazing job.

How about our light and sound design crew up there in the booth? Amazing. The Two Berries, Kelly Welty, Valerie Webb, so many more. Our worship pastor, Dan Baker. So many other names I'm probably forgetting to mention. How about our special guest guitarist, Jay Leach? An amazing guitarist. Our musical director, Tim Beverly. One more time for our whole crew tonight. You guys did an amazing job. It was so fun being part of this with you. We hope that we have helped to make this a more joyous and meaningful season for you. Thank you so much for coming tonight. Good night and Merry Christmas.