This year for advent we decided to do a series of paintings on the standard topics of Love, Joy, Peace, & Hope.  This is the painting we used for the second week of advent – Peace.  If you’d like to download this video and use it for your Christmas worship service, feel free, just leave me a note in the comments.  Thanks!

Download Here

Lyrics

The waters are raging, the storm clouds are near
How long till this chaos will cease
Come silence the waves of our worry and fear
Will you come, will you come, bring us peace

Come O Come Emmanuel
Come O Come Emmanuel

The waves would obey you
If you just speak the word
So we wait in the silence
For your peace here on earth

Credits

Painting by Daniel Giesbrecht
Song ‘Come O Come Emmanuel’ written and recorded by Dan Loewen
Video production by Dan Loewen Creative

A Few Notes

  • The a capella version of this song was really difficult to record.  Since I had to record it this past week in preparation for Sunday, you can tell some parts of it aren’t as polished as s they could be, both in the harmonies and the mix.
  • One thing I like about the chord progression in the chorus of this songs is the mix of tension and resolution.  Especially paired with the imagery of water in the painting; it’s almost like waves coming and going.
  • I wrote the second verse part on Friday.  Yup in prep for Sunday, it was a last minute addition.  On thursday I had finished recording all five vocal parts and listened to it with a co-worker and decided it was lacking something.  So Friday I layered the tracks a bit slower, added this second verse part.  I think the final product is much better than what the original was.  A good example of the creative process and sometimes it’s worth saying… I’m not quite happy with this and pushing to find the missing ingredient.