An Advent service of lessons and carols, “The Winter Rose” by Joseph M. Martin, will be offered at Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church at 3 p.m. Sunday. This is the 10th year that the church has offered an Advent cantata and service.

The cantata will be presented by members of the Trinity Sanctuary Choir and guest singers from area churches. They will perform with a full 19-piece orchestra, including strings, woodwinds and brass, percussion, timpani and harp.

“We do this for several reasons,” said Susan Lovejoy, the cantata’s director and the organist and choir director at Trinity. “We feel that it is a gift of our church and choir to the community. It’s also a great way to start the Advent and Christmas season. An important part of the Christmas season is to spend time in preparation. We do our part in spreading the Gospel.”

She said that by having a program the weekend after Thanksgiving each year, it helps the audience and choir to get into the Christmas mood and look forward to the spiritual and physical preparations that will take place over the next few weeks.

“When they leave every year, many audience members are saying that they’ll be back next year. When I am out in the community, people come up to me and ask about the cantata,” she added.

“They just think that it’s beautiful and exciting and they enjoy it every year. I’m always excited about it.”

This year’s cantata, “The Winter Rose” by Joseph M. Martin, uses music and narration to tell the story of Christ from prophecy to passion. The service will include 12 songs including both familiar carols and new compositions by Martin. Scripture and narration will be provided by Kathy Long.

The rose has been used as a symbol of divine love from earliest Christian time, and a powerful symbol of spring and beauty.

“In the Bible, there are some references to Jesus Christ and a rose. For example, that’s where the song ‘Lo, How a Rose is Blooming’ came from,” said Lovejoy.

“Roses are pretty sturdy. You can have a dry root and a rose will grow out of it. That was one comparison used in the Bible; the Messiah was coming from the line of David, and he was the rose that would grow out of the dry root of Jesse, the father of David.”

She noted that “The Winter Rose” is a different approach to the Christmas story, starting before His birth and featuring variations of some familiar carols such as “Every Valley” and “Lo, How a Rose.”

This is one of the few times each year that music lovers in our area can hear a live orchestra without traveling to the city, she added. Several instrumentalists in the orchestra are from Lehighton and nearby towns; others are from throughout the Lehigh Valley. There is also one performer coming from Staten Island.

“It’s a great way to see instrumentalists, especially for children, and it gives local performers a chance to perform in their community,” she said.

There is no admission charge. An offering will be taking during the service to benefit the Trinity Food Pantry.

“It seems that every year there are more and more people in need. It’s a terrible thing to go hungry, and the pantry has increased the number of people that it serves every year,” said Lovejoy.

She encouraged members of the community to come to enjoy the music and see a live orchestra in our area, noting that all are welcome.

Trinity Evangelical Lutheran Church is located at 175 S. Third St., Lehighton.