By Betsey Norgard<\/p>\n
![\"Augsburg](\"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/3\/2012\/10\/vespers.jpg\" "\\"vespers\\"")
In 1980, Augsburg Choir director Larry Fleming\u2019s vision for the first Advent Vespers was unlike any other. Among many holiday performances, Augsburg\u2019s program would offer a spiritual experience\u2014a service with both music and liturgy\u2014and the focus would be on Advent, preparing and waiting for Christ\u2019s presence.<\/p>\n
From this first service, Advent Vespers grew to four services. Last year, more than 10,000 people attended, making this Augsburg\u2019s largest event of the year.<\/p>\n
This year, as Advent Vespers celebrates its 30th anniversary, a fifth service has been added, at 2 p.m. on Saturday, offering a daytime service to more easily accommodate larger groups of visitors.<\/p>\n
Augsburg\u2019s partnership with Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis, with its majestic sanctuary and stained-glass windows, allows Advent Vespers to be unique.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe can create the essence of a Christmas concert and transform it into not just a concert but a spiritual experience,\u201d says Peter Hendrickson \u201976, Advent Vespers artistic director and director of choral activities. \u201cThe liturgical elements transform the music to a deeper level.\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the years the Advent Vespers services have stayed the same more than they have changed, says Pastor Dave Wold, campus pastor and director of ministries. \u201cMy fascination is with Advent Vespers as a service, and we work hard to keep it close to a theme and give a message of hope for the season.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the liturgical party that carry bells, banners, the cross, and the Gospel has grown in numbers, and four choirs now feature more than 250 singers, the experience has remained constant. The liturgical journey begins in darkness with \u201cO Come, O Come, Emmanuel,\u201d moves to recognition and joyful celebration of Christ\u2019s birth, and ends with quiet reflection in the warm candlelight of \u201cSilent Night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Music professor and organist Stephen Gabrielsen \u201963, who has played for all but one Advent Vespers service when he was on sabbatical, recalls that the weather has also been constant\u2014there has never been a service cancelled on this first weekend of December because of winter weather.<\/p>\n
In 2004, to mark Advent Vespers\u2019 25th anniversary, TPT-2 public television made a recording of the service, which continues to be shown each year on public television, and received a regional Emmy for its technical production. Recordings in both DVD and CD format are available through Augsburg\u2019s Music Department.<\/p>\n
Friday, December 4\u20145 and 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
Saturday, December 5\u20142, 5, and 8 p.m.<\/p>\n
Central Lutheran Church<\/p>\n
333 S. 12th Street, Minneapolis<\/p>\n