FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (11/05)
Contact: Lynn Stewart or Kelsey Johnson, Centenary News Service, 318-841-7265

Centenary's Annual Christmas Candlelight Service Scheduled for Dec. 2 in Brown Chapel

	Hundreds from the community gather each year for the Christmas Candlight Service in Brown Chapel (File Photo).

SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary College will share an annual Christmas tradition with the public on Friday, Dec. 2, when it presents its Christmas Candlelight Service, a program of readings, prayer, music, song and candlelighting in Brown Memorial Chapel. The program is free and open to the public. Pre-service music of selected carols by the Centenary String Ensemble will begin at 5:30 p.m., with the service beginning at 6 p.m.

Music will be provided by the Centenary Camerata, Cantare and Chorale singers, conducted by Dr. Julia B. Thorn and accompanied by Cathy DeRousse; the Centenary College Choir, directed by Dr. Will K. Andress with student conductor Adam Philley and accompanied by Mandy Bourgeois and Daniel Ley; the Centenary String Ensemble, directed by Laura Crawford; and Dr. Hollice Watson, organist.

The Centenary Choir will present This Little Babe, Haan’s Welcome, Holy Child with soloist Nolan Budgewater and Gabriel's Message, an old Basque Noel with soloist Elizabeth Sweetman.

Camerata will sing Young’s There is No Rose of Such Virtue and Whitacre's Lux Aurumque. The Centenary Chorale will sing Spencer's Nova, Nova, Ave Fit Ex Eva and the Centenary Cantare, consisting of all-female voices, will present Brunner’s Christmastide.

The Centenary String Ensemble will perform the prelude with several selections of gathering music for Christmas. The ensemble performers are Robert Schaumburg, Tim Nicholson and Alicia Lidell, violins; Carrie Collins and Sarah Black, violas; and David Pennywell, cello.

Scripture readers are Centenary students Debbie Elsen, William Fell, Holly Richardson and Tiffanie Jones. Student Tyler Moore will give the concluding prayer. The Rev. Betsy B. Eaves, Centenary chaplain and director of the Church Careers Institute, will deliver the message, “Just a Baby.” Dr. Peter Huff, who holds the T.L. James Chair of Religious Studies, will present the invocation, and Mimi McDowell, director of church relations, will lead the advent litany. The Rev. Donald Meeks, director of the Center for Theological Studies, will give the blessing at the conclusion of the service.

The congregation will be invited to sing several familiar Christmas hymns, including O Come, O Come, Emmanuel; O Come All Ye Faithful; Silent Night; and Joy to the World. Dr. Watson will accompany the hymns and will play the postlude, Bach’s From Heaven Above to Earth I Come.

Members of the Maroon Jackets honor organization will distribute programs and candles. Organizers will encourage people to enter the chapel in silence to allow for a period of quiet and meditation and to hear the pre-service music.

After the service, the congregation is invited to attend a reception with refreshments and visit with Santa in Magale Library. For further information, contact the Centenary Chaplain’s Office at 318-869-5156.

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