Gettys’ ‘Sing! An Irish Christmas’ returned to Seminary Hill for first concert tour stop

MacGorman Chapel and Performing Arts Center was transformed into a winter spectacle as Irish singer-songwriters Keith and Kristyn Getty returned to the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary for their Christ-centered concert “Sing! An Irish Christmas” on Dec. 2. The Gettys were joined by Matt Boswell and Southwestern A Cappella on the first stop of their 15-stop concert tour.

President David S. Dockery welcomed the crowd of over 1,800 people for the “very special and worshipful event.”

“We’ve looked forward for many months to Keith and Kristyn Getty returning to Southwestern Seminary,” Dockery said. “They blessed us with the Irish Christmas last December and now they have returned to be with us once again and for that we are deeply grateful.”

More than 1,800 people attended “Sing! An Irish Christmas,” featuring Keith and Kristyn Getty during the Dec. 2 concert on the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. The Fort Worth concert was the first of a 15-stop tour of the Irish singer-songwriters Christmas show.

The concert was divided into two parts with part one’s theme being “Christmas Carol Festival.” The couple included a newer song in their repertoire called “Scarlet Thread” which they said after the concert is a “new song” that they have “started in the last few months.” Classic Christmas carols included “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen,” “Silent Night,” and “Joy to the World.” Other songs were an instrumental version of “Sleigh Ride,” “Come Ye Sinners/Sinnerman,” and “Wexford Carol.”

The program book explained that part two of the concert, titled “Christmas Carol Service,” was “inspired by the tradition of the King’s College Cambridge Service of Lessons and Carols” which consisted of nine Scripture passages, spanning from Genesis to the Gospel of John related to the coming of Christ. Part two opened with a new song by the Gettys and J.J. Heller, “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.” Other songs featured in part two were “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” “Come, Thou Long Expected Jesus,” “In the Bleak Midwinter,” “O Come All Ye Faithful,” “In Christ Alone,” and “Go Tell It on the Mountain.”

Matt Boswell, singer-songwriter and lead pastor at The Trails Church in Prosper, Texas, performed “In the Fullness of Time,” a hymn he co-wrote with Matt Papa, artist-in-residence at Marco Presbyterian Church in Marco Island, Florida. The hymn includes a verse of the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy,” that focuses on the incarnation of Christ.

In a video posted to social media by Kristyn and Keith after the concert, they called the night “amazing,” with Keith deeming it the “best ever first night” of their Christmas concert tours. They pointed to several new songs introduced for this year’s tour that were particularly meaningful to them, including “Scarlet Thread,” “Wayfaring Stranger,” and “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence.” Keith also referenced his opportunity to try new food like elk, antelope, and bison while visiting Fort Worth, Texas, so that he could be a “true Texan.”

Throughout the concert, attendees were entertained with Irish step dancing by one of the violinists as well as traditional Irish sounds of music that rang through the night.

After the intermission, Southwestern A Cappella, a 17-member vocal ensemble comprised of graduate students at Southwestern Seminary, performed three songs for the crowd.

Southwestern A Cappella, a select 17-member ensemble from the School of Church Music and Worship at Southwestern Seminary, performed as guests of the Gettys during “Sing! An Irish Christmas” during the Dec. 2 concert on the Fort Worth campus.

Matt Boswell, singer-songwriter and lead pastor at The Trails Church in Prosper, Texas, performed a new Christmas hymn he co-wrote with Matt Papa, artist-in-residence at Marco Presbyterian Church in Marco Island, Florida. The hymn, “In the Fullness of Time,” provides a comprehensive view of Christ’s first coming, and looks toward His second coming. The song also incorporated a Christmas rendition of the hymn “Holy, Holy, Holy.”

Following the concert, members of the Getty band hosted a “lobby jam” in the lobby of MacGorman Chapel where Keith Getty told the audience that “Texans will become Irish for the night” by singing Irish folk songs together.

Many churches and groups attended the concert together and some churches even used the event as a way to bless their worship team members. For Alan Yarbrough, worship pastor at First Baptist Church in Justin, Texas, he used the time to give back to those who “sacrifice their own worship time with their families” on a weekly basis.

“This concert gave us the opportunity to sing and worship together,” Yarbrough said. “We were all blown away by the musicianship of the Getty’s and most importantly, our affections were stirred for Jesus as we enter into this Advent season.”

Before the concert, Joseph R. Crider, dean of the School of Church Music and Worship at Southwestern, said that it is a “joy to engage with the Gettys.”

“Keith and Kristyn Getty have been such an encouragement to local churches all over the world with music that is theologically rich and congregationally accessible,” Crider said.