Just before a choral concert the other night at Chestnut Street Baptist Church in Camden, the minister stood near the altar and closed his eyes in prayer. "May the words and melodies sing into our hearts and bring us peace and comfort and send us on our way joyfully," he said. The lights dimmed, and, in the vestibule, the congregation of listeners heard the first notes of "Hodie, Christus Natus Est," a Gregorian chant performed by the Mount View Chamber Singers, a high-school ensemble.
As they chanted, each of the 16 vocalists carried two candles to music stands in a circle around the church. With each song, the singers rotated stations so that by the end of the hourlong concert, each teen had moved the full circle around the church.
Their director David Stevenson was just barely illuminated at his post in the back of the church, where he led this intent group of musicians in traditional holiday carols, hymns and melodies by composers as hefty as Hector Berlioz, Franz Gruber and Ralph Von Williams.
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