Want to hear and sing along to some Christmas music? Look no further than St. Mark’s Anglican Church this December.

The church is hosting a Christmas concert Dec. 22, called “A Christmas Homecoming: A Festive Celebration of Story and Song.”

It will be just over an hour of songs and humorous spoken-word that aims to evoke an emotional connection between church and community, says the parish’s music director Michael Bloss.

The goal is to invoke a feeling of being at home for the holidays.

“Because I think everybody has a warm spot, a warm story somewhere inside them from childhood or adolescence, or when they were away at university or whatever, which becomes a touchstone at this time of the year.” said Bloss.

“What we’re trying to do is provide some of those places in the music, in the carols and in some of the stories that we’re reading, to afford that kind of connection,” he added.

Bloss will serve as conductor of the concert, standing before the St. Mark’s Singers, their accompaniment which will be a trumpet, trombone and tuba quintet called Trillium Brass and around 180 attendees.

All attendees will be encouraged to sing along.

“If they think they are coming to sit and stare — no way,” said Bloss.

“We are going to cover all of the favorite and tried and true carols.”

Bloss hopes the concert provides everyone who attends with the joy and friendship that is the church’s goal, but he also hopes it helps to serve as a launchpad for a wider musical foray.

“We’ve started a bit of a choral program here at St. Mark’s,” he said, referring to the St. Mark’s Singers.

“COVID decimated a lot of music programs in churches, and so we are in the process of trying to rebuild a foundation for that.”

The singers — all-woman ensemble of two part soprano and two part alto — will be perform recognizable favourites and a few other tunes.

The final piece of the evening will come with the spoken word — stories delivered by rector Leighton Lee, who, according to Bloss, has a sharp sense of humour.

The stories that will be read will consist of things such as fictitious thank you letters for each of the 12 days of Christmas.

“So imagine somebody actually getting a partridge and then getting five gold rings and then getting, you know, 10 lords a-leaping,” he mused.

The concert begins at 4:30 p.m. on Dec. 22 at St. Mark’s.

Tickets are priced at $25 with $5 from each being donated to Newark Neighbours.