BELFAST – Singer Amy Robbins believes that underlying the Christmas story is a central message: We are all meant to bring great love into the world.

From Mary’s encounter with the angels to her journey to Bethlehem, to the three kings’ gifts carried to the infant Jesus, the Christmas story lets us leave our worldly work and once a year appreciate this great love so everywhere can be Bethlehem, says the 32-year-old Belfast resident.

Robbins, who recently earned a degree in ritual song and chant from the University of Limerick in Ireland, will present her one-woman show, “Holy Journey, Holy Night,” in four churches during this Advent season.

Her a cappella performance will include chant, traditional Irish religious songs and Christian hymns, as well as folk songs and storytelling.

“When I decided to go to Ireland, I thought I’d be more interested in traditional songs and ballads,” she said in an interview. “But I took a couple [of] classes in chant and was fascinated by it,” said Robbins, who is a reiki master. “It is like learning an entire new language. You have to go back to the original neumes, which look like squiggles over the Latin verses. They tell you what the note is, if it is sung quickly, slowly or shaken, which is a sound you make by vibrating the vocal chords. It took a lot of training to figure out how to make those sounds.”

Robbins recorded a CD of her work. “From the Heart of the Sea and Stone Angels” is an eclectic collection of chants, songs and “improvisioning,” which she describes as her own spiritual practice and a form of musical improvisation.

Also on the CD are “Ave,” a combination of chants to Jesus’ mother, Mary, “Qui biberit aquam,” a chant for Communion, and the story of the good Samaritan and traditional folk songs.

Robbins plans a singing pilgrimage to northern Spain in 2004 after she has transcribed more chants from the original.

Robbins will perform “Holy Journey, Holy Night” on Thursday, Dec. 19, at the Searsmont United Methodist Church; Friday, Dec. 20, at the First Universalist Church in Rockland; Saturday, Dec. 21, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Belfast; and Monday, Dec. 23, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Bangor. All performances are at 7 p.m. For information, call 338-3829.