Hymn Festival Beckons ‘Savior of the Nations, Come’

Savior of the Nations, Come is free and open to the public. For more information, call 321-426-9378. 

Advent Lutheran Church in Suntree will welcome performer, conductor, educator and composer Michael Burkhardt for Savior of the Nations, Come, an Advent/Christmas hymn festival on Sunday, December 8 at 3:00 PM.  The free event at 7550 North Wickham Road in Melbourne will feature a massed choir of area churches and will encourage audience participation in the singing of favorite hymns dating back hundreds of years.

The hymn festival, Savior of the Nations, Come was arranged by Michael Burkhardt and includes a 4th century hymn of the same name.  Attendees will each receive a program booklet with the hymns to be sung, including “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming,” “Joy to the World” and more. The hymn festival will be under the joint direction of Advent Lutheran Church organist and choir director, Betty Jo Couch and Burkhardt; the two will trade off directing the combined choir of 45 singers and accompanying them on the church’s grand pipe organ.  A brass quartet and handbell choir will also lend their musical talents to the festival. Various narrators will read from the writings of Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a German pastor, theologian, and author, who was part of the Nazi Resistance movement.

Savior of the Nations, Come is free and open to the public. For more information, call 321-426-9378.