... Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending (Helmsley)
The theme was "Ascension".
Well, make your mind up ...
Acts 1:
9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
All Creatures Of Our God And King (Lasst Uns Erfreuen)
Jesus Is King and I will extol Him (Churchill)
I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Say (Vox Dilecti)
There is a Redeemer (Kendrick)
Spread The Reign of God The Lord (Gott Sei Dank)
Choral Evensong yesterday in St John's Kirk, Perth, with Scottish Voices:
Introit: O for a closer walk - Stanford
Versicles & Responses: Sumsion
Psalm 57
Mag & Nunc: Stanford in B flat
Anthem: Blessed be the God and Father - S S Wesley
Hymns: The day of resurrection - Ellacombe Ye choirs of new Jerusalem - St Fulbert
Today at St Pete's, not quite as elevated a selection, but at least there were no silly hymns:
This joyful Eastertide - This Joyful Eastertide Author of life divine - Croft's 136th Rejoice, the Lord is King - Gopsal Dear Lord and Father of mankind - Repton Ye choirs of new Jerusalem - St Fulbert (again)
Plain Easter 3 at Our Place, with the final post-Mass *Visit To The Easter Garden* (which is probably looking a bit wilted by now...).
Hymns were:
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds (St Peter) Christ the Lord is risen again (Wurttemberg) All for Jesus (All for Jesus) Good Christians all, rejoice and sing (Vulpius)
Gather us in - Haugen
All heaven declares
Bread of life, word eternal
Christ be our light.
Numbers were low with lots of regulars away on jaunts, so it was a bit like stirring concrete with a straw!
My Spy tells me that quite a few of our regulars are still Away (this is the last weekend of the school holidays hereabouts), but there were a fair few of our South Asian students in church.
This is a Good Thing, of course, but the downside is that (a) they tend to trickle in at any time up to the Gospel, and (b) they're not familiar with our traditional hymns...
On a tangential note, I tuned in to the service at the Martinikerk, Franeker, The Netherlands - a Reformed Church - and was pleasantly surprised to be able to sing along (in Dutch) to Morning has broken and Be still, for the presence of the Lord. I was stirred, but not shaken...
Living Hope - Phil Wickham & Brian Johnson
City on a Hill - Nick & Becky Drake
God I Look to You - Ian McIntosh & Jenn Johnson
Be Thou My Vision - SLANE
At the Name of Jesus - CAMBERWELL
After a low attendance last Sunday, we were back up today. Our schools went back last week (and we had a delightful visit on Friday afternoon by 50 Y5/6 pupils, learning about baptism).
"Open our eyes, Lord" (Bob Cull).
“Stand up and bless the Lord” (Carlisle).
“Easter jubilation” (Out of the Ark Music).
“Speak, Lord, in the stillness” (Quietude).
“Come to us, beloved Stranger” (Arwelfa).
“Christ is alive!” (Truro).
Today, Easter 3, was Youth Sunday at our place, meaning the youth planned and led the service. For hymns, they chose:
“Will You Come and Follow Me” (“The Summons”)/KELVINGROVE
“Be Thou My Vision”/SLANE
“Lord, I Want to Be a Christian” (African American Spiritual)
“My Life Flows On in Endless Song” (“How Can I Keep from Singing”)
A change to have no morning services to play for and a quiet 8am hit the spot?
2nd Sunday after Easter
Evensong
He is risen, he is risen (All Saints)
Shoving leopard of thy sheep (Buckland)
The Lord my pasture shall prepare (Surrey)
The day is past and over (St Anatolius)
A nice way to end the day despite rather restrained singing.
He is risen, he is risen! (Unser Herrscher)
Awake, arise, lift up your voice (Richmond)
The whole bright world rejoices now (Hilariter)
Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (Finnian)
Choral:
Henry Ley: Nine-fold Kyrie
James MacMillan: A New Song (1997)
Stanford: Communion Service in B-flat (1879) (Sanctus/Benedictus, Agnus Dei)
Easter III at a smallish, Episcopal (of the American variety) parish
Praise, My Soul (LAUDA ANIMA)
Alleluia, Alleluia Give Thanks (ALLELUIA #1)
There's a Wideness in God's Mercy (BEECHER)
Thine is the Glory (JUDAS MACCABEUS)
And, the Sanctus was from the Richard Proulx Community Mass that's one of the '82 hymnal standards.
Love's redeeming work is done - Savannah A man there lived in Galilee - Tyrol The King of love my shepherd is - Dominus Regit Me Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father - Faithfulness The Spirit lives to set us free - Walk in the Light*
* luckily I was on coffee duty, so I didn't have to sing that one ...
The King of love my shepherd is (Dominus regit me) At the Lamb's high feast we sing (Salzburg) Love's redeeming work is done (Savannah) I cannot tell (Londonderry Air)
Had I been there, I would have fled as precipitately as possible before that final abomination was struck up...had I been at @Piglet's Place, I'd have cheerfully joined in with The Spirit lives to set us free...
BTW, we're celebrating St George and all things English on Tuesday at the 10am Mass, with (so FatherInCharge promises) a couple of suitable hymns. I have no idea what those hymns might be, given that *George* (if he actually existed) probably wasn't English. I've tried to persuade FInC to keep the Feast of St Edmund King and Martyr - our original, and true, patron saint - on November 20th, but without success...
We had:
Approach, my soul, the mercy seat
The King of love my shepherd is
A new commandment
To the name of our salvation
Christ is made the sure foundation
The double dose of J M Neale was unintentional but none the worse for that.
Jesus, our mighty Lord (Monk's Gate)
The King of love my shepherd is (St Columba)
Praise the Lord, rise up rejoicing (Alles ist an Gottes Segen)
Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing (Sicilian Mariners)
Choral:
Francesco Feroci (1673-1750): Messa in Gisolreut
Tchaikovsky: The Lord is my shepherd (arr. Maxwell and Feibel)
Come people of the Risen King (Townend)
How Sweet The Name Of Jesus Sounds (St. Peter)
God Has Spoken-By His Prophets (Hyfrydol)
Join All The Glorious Names (Darwall)
Didn't realise it was meant to be all things shepherdy today - hence prophets - with the Risen King a nod to the fact that it's still Easter.
What an excellent illustration of the benefits of a common lectionary this thread is!
We use the Lectionary mostly but not always. This week and next we're looking at Jesus' post-resurrection words "As the Father has sent me ..." and "Receive the Holy Spirit".
One of Our Place's neighbours - formerly MOTR to High (think Sarum Use) - has dispensed with the lectionary, and concentrates on those interminable *Sermon Series* which bear little or no relation to the liturgical year.
They did manage to celebrate Easter on 31st March, I think...
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached on the book of Romans at Westminster Chapel every Friday evening (excluding Christmas and Easter) between October and May from October 1955 to March 1968. There were 386 sermons in all - and he only got part way through the penultimate chapter!
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached on the book of Romans at Westminster Chapel every Friday evening (excluding Christmas and Easter) between October and May from October 1955 to March 1968. There were 386 sermons in all - and he only got part way through the penultimate chapter!
Because apparently he didn't have enough joy in the Spirit to cope with 14:7. But what about his audience?
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached on the book of Romans at Westminster Chapel every Friday evening (excluding Christmas and Easter) between October and May from October 1955 to March 1968. There were 386 sermons in all - and he only got part way through the penultimate chapter!
Because apparently he didn't have enough joy in the Spirit to cope with 14:7. But what about his audience?
He got as far as the first few verses of ch.15 (Romans has 16). Can't speak for the audience, but one does suspect that the "broad thrusts" of Paul's arguments got lost in the detail.
Quite a marathon on Dr ML-J's part, audience or not! He was popular with the curates of the Church Of My Youth back in the 60s and 70s.
Back to hymns, and I mentioned earlier that Our Place is celebrating the probably mythical *St George* on Tuesday.
A couple of hymns suggested online for that auspicious occasion (excluding the National Dirge Anthem) are I vow to thee, my country and Jerusalem - there may be about a dozen people present at Mass (they're off on pilgrimage to Walsingham immediately after the service), so they might well have a bash at one or both of these aberrations. My Spy is going on the pilgrimage, so I won't find out what happened until she returns later in the week!
Quite a marathon on Dr ML-J's part, audience or not! He was popular with the curates of the Church Of My Youth back in the 60s and 70s.
I remember reading Michael Saward's autobiography. When he was a Curate, his Vicar loved to do lengthy sermon series on one book of the Bible. Saward was given the task of giving each sermon a snappy title. One day he was pinning up a notice of the next month's themes. A parishioner came by, scanned the titles, and said, "He call them what he likes, they're bl**dy 1 Peter!" As Saward stated, there is a difference between a city centre church selected by a congregation from far and wide, and a suburban parish church - which the Vicar refused to realise.
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached on the book of Romans at Westminster Chapel every Friday evening (excluding Christmas and Easter) between October and May from October 1955 to March 1968. There were 386 sermons in all - and he only got part way through the penultimate chapter!
I went to a Christmas day service at one place that just continued their way through Job. Not even a single carol.
Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones preached on the book of Romans at Westminster Chapel every Friday evening (excluding Christmas and Easter) between October and May from October 1955 to March 1968. There were 386 sermons in all - and he only got part way through the penultimate chapter!
I went to a Christmas day service at one place that just continued their way through Job. Not even a single carol.
Presumably the Calendar, along with the lectionary, is a Romish Abomination.
The King of love (Dominus regit me)
Because the Lord is my shepherd
At the Lamb's high feast (Salzburg)
Faithful shepherd feed me
Hail Redeemer King divine
This place has an ultra high church Vicar who is trying to make them "higher than the Pope" as someone told me to my great amusement. The gardual hymn (which was really rather nice) I had never seen or heard before, and the grand finale which was very lustily sung received a comment from one man that the Vicar is introducing RC hymns 😂 The words seem very acceptable to all by my reckoning and have played it in several places, but rural parishes can harbour prejudices for ever and a day! At least we were spared "Crimond" but on St George's day I am supplying in a church of that name and will report back next week.
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds (St Peter)
We ha)ve a gospel to proclaim (Fulda)
I will sing the wondrous story (Hyfrodol)
The Lord's my shepard (Townend)
Ye choirs of new Jerusalem (St Fulbert) with Alleluia, Amen. (Previous organist often didn't include that, and my lot like it and tell me they are pleased I do too.)
It's probably about time I used Crimond in a service other than a funeral again, maybe next year.
Same here. Today, for Reasons (appropriate ones, I should add), we departed from Good Shepherd Sunday and instead went with an Earth Day/Creation focus. We sang:
“God, You Spind the Whirling Planets”/PLEADING SAVIOR
“Earth and All Stars”/EARTH AND ALL STARS
“In a Deep, Unbounded Darkness”/DIVINUM MYSTERIUM
“God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens”/HOLY MANNA
To round it out, the anthem was Haydn’s “The Heavens Are Telling.” We did have one slight nod to Good Shepherd Sunday with Handel’s (or Ochs’, more likely) Dank sei dir, Herr during Communion.
Comments
Acts 1:
9 And when he had spoken these things, while they beheld, he was taken up; and a cloud received him out of their sight.
10 And while they looked stedfastly toward heaven as he went up, behold, two men stood by them in white apparel;
11 Which also said, Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye gazing up into heaven? this same Jesus, which is taken up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye have seen him go into heaven.
The strife is o'er (VICTORY)
There's a wideness in God's mercy (IN BABILONE)
At the Lamb's high feast we sing (SALZBURG)
Our Psalm and Gospel Acclamation were from Source and Summit,
and our Mass setting was "Missa Simplex."
LOL, our Psalm and Gospel Acclamation were from Respond & Acclaim! OOF!!!
The Lamb's high banquet called to share (Puer nobis)
Good Christians all, rejoice and sing! (Gelobt sei Gott)
Choral:
Fauré: Cantique de Jean Racine
Willan: Magnificat and Nunc dimittis, Tones VIII and III (pub. 1948)
All Creatures Of Our God And King (Lasst Uns Erfreuen)
Jesus Is King and I will extol Him (Churchill)
I Heard The Voice Of Jesus Say (Vox Dilecti)
There is a Redeemer (Kendrick)
Spread The Reign of God The Lord (Gott Sei Dank)
Introit: O for a closer walk - Stanford
Versicles & Responses: Sumsion
Psalm 57
Mag & Nunc: Stanford in B flat
Anthem: Blessed be the God and Father - S S Wesley
Hymns:
The day of resurrection - Ellacombe
Ye choirs of new Jerusalem - St Fulbert
Today at St Pete's, not quite as elevated a selection, but at least there were no silly hymns:
This joyful Eastertide - This Joyful Eastertide
Author of life divine - Croft's 136th
Rejoice, the Lord is King - Gopsal
Dear Lord and Father of mankind - Repton
Ye choirs of new Jerusalem - St Fulbert (again)
Hymns were:
How sweet the name of Jesus sounds (St Peter)
Christ the Lord is risen again (Wurttemberg)
All for Jesus (All for Jesus)
Good Christians all, rejoice and sing (Vulpius)
All heaven declares
Bread of life, word eternal
Christ be our light.
Numbers were low with lots of regulars away on jaunts, so it was a bit like stirring concrete with a straw!
My Spy tells me that quite a few of our regulars are still Away (this is the last weekend of the school holidays hereabouts), but there were a fair few of our South Asian students in church.
This is a Good Thing, of course, but the downside is that (a) they tend to trickle in at any time up to the Gospel, and (b) they're not familiar with our traditional hymns...
On a tangential note, I tuned in to the service at the Martinikerk, Franeker, The Netherlands - a Reformed Church - and was pleasantly surprised to be able to sing along (in Dutch) to Morning has broken and Be still, for the presence of the Lord. I was stirred, but not shaken...
City on a Hill - Nick & Becky Drake
God I Look to You - Ian McIntosh & Jenn Johnson
Be Thou My Vision - SLANE
At the Name of Jesus - CAMBERWELL
"Open our eyes, Lord" (Bob Cull).
“Stand up and bless the Lord” (Carlisle).
“Easter jubilation” (Out of the Ark Music).
“Speak, Lord, in the stillness” (Quietude).
“Come to us, beloved Stranger” (Arwelfa).
“Christ is alive!” (Truro).
I Love You Lord (I will sing of the goodness of God)
Your Grace is Enough, More than I Need
This is my Desire - another new one to me.
“Will You Come and Follow Me” (“The Summons”)/KELVINGROVE
“Be Thou My Vision”/SLANE
“Lord, I Want to Be a Christian” (African American Spiritual)
“My Life Flows On in Endless Song” (“How Can I Keep from Singing”)
2nd Sunday after Easter
Evensong
He is risen, he is risen (All Saints)
Shoving leopard of thy sheep (Buckland)
The Lord my pasture shall prepare (Surrey)
The day is past and over (St Anatolius)
A nice way to end the day despite rather restrained singing.
He is risen, he is risen! (Unser Herrscher)
Awake, arise, lift up your voice (Richmond)
The whole bright world rejoices now (Hilariter)
Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (Finnian)
Choral:
Henry Ley: Nine-fold Kyrie
James MacMillan: A New Song (1997)
Stanford: Communion Service in B-flat (1879) (Sanctus/Benedictus, Agnus Dei)
Life has its ups and downs.
Praise, My Soul (LAUDA ANIMA)
Alleluia, Alleluia Give Thanks (ALLELUIA #1)
There's a Wideness in God's Mercy (BEECHER)
Thine is the Glory (JUDAS MACCABEUS)
And, the Sanctus was from the Richard Proulx Community Mass that's one of the '82 hymnal standards.
This Joyful Eastertide (VRUCHTEN)
That Easter Day With Joy Was Bright (PUER NOBIS)
To Christ the Prince of Peace (ST. THOMAS)
Mass parts were from Missa Simplex, and our Responsorial Psalm was from Respond & Acclaim.
The Gospel Acclamation was James Chepponis' "Festival Alleluia."
Love's redeeming work is done - Savannah
A man there lived in Galilee - Tyrol
The King of love my shepherd is - Dominus Regit Me
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father - Faithfulness
The Spirit lives to set us free - Walk in the Light*
* luckily I was on coffee duty, so I didn't have to sing that one ...
The King of love my shepherd is (Dominus regit me)
At the Lamb's high feast we sing (Salzburg)
Love's redeeming work is done (Savannah)
I cannot tell (Londonderry Air)
Had I been there, I would have fled as precipitately as possible before that final abomination was struck up...had I been at @Piglet's Place, I'd have cheerfully joined in with The Spirit lives to set us free...
BTW, we're celebrating St George and all things English on Tuesday at the 10am Mass, with (so FatherInCharge promises) a couple of suitable hymns. I have no idea what those hymns might be, given that *George* (if he actually existed) probably wasn't English. I've tried to persuade FInC to keep the Feast of St Edmund King and Martyr - our original, and true, patron saint - on November 20th, but without success...
Christ be our light
In bread we bring you Lord
Because the Lord is my shepherd
Majesty
Did nobody sing Crimond? I don't blame people for dodging it!
I don't much like it, either - it reminds me of Funerals...
“From heaven you came” - The Servant King.
“Jesus, stand among us” - Quietude.
“When fear and grief had barred the door” - Almsgiving.
“O Jesus, I have promised” - Hatherop Castle.
We did this morning at Chichester Cathedral and hackneyed though it may be we had it at our wedding and it will always mean something to me!
Be thou my guardian and my guide ABRIDGE
How great thou art / HOW GREAT THOU ART
Holy For Ever - a new one to me and really rather lovely
How Marvellous, How Wonderful
When the Music Fades
King of Kings, Majesty
Approach, my soul, the mercy seat
The King of love my shepherd is
A new commandment
To the name of our salvation
Christ is made the sure foundation
The double dose of J M Neale was unintentional but none the worse for that.
Jesus, our mighty Lord (Monk's Gate)
The King of love my shepherd is (St Columba)
Praise the Lord, rise up rejoicing (Alles ist an Gottes Segen)
Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing (Sicilian Mariners)
Choral:
Francesco Feroci (1673-1750): Messa in Gisolreut
Tchaikovsky: The Lord is my shepherd (arr. Maxwell and Feibel)
How Sweet The Name Of Jesus Sounds (St. Peter)
God Has Spoken-By His Prophets (Hyfrydol)
Join All The Glorious Names (Darwall)
Didn't realise it was meant to be all things shepherdy today - hence prophets - with the Risen King a nod to the fact that it's still Easter.
Edited to add: Glad to still be learning
We use the Lectionary mostly but not always. This week and next we're looking at Jesus' post-resurrection words "As the Father has sent me ..." and "Receive the Holy Spirit".
They did manage to celebrate Easter on 31st March, I think...
Because apparently he didn't have enough joy in the Spirit to cope with 14:7. But what about his audience?
Who says he had an audience?
Back to hymns, and I mentioned earlier that Our Place is celebrating the probably mythical *St George* on Tuesday.
A couple of hymns suggested online for that auspicious occasion (excluding the National Dirge Anthem) are I vow to thee, my country and Jerusalem - there may be about a dozen people present at Mass (they're off on pilgrimage to Walsingham immediately after the service), so they might well have a bash at one or both of these aberrations. My Spy is going on the pilgrimage, so I won't find out what happened until she returns later in the week!
I went to a Christmas day service at one place that just continued their way through Job. Not even a single carol.
Presumably the Calendar, along with the lectionary, is a Romish Abomination.
Parish Eucharist (Common Worship)
The King of love (Dominus regit me)
Because the Lord is my shepherd
At the Lamb's high feast (Salzburg)
Faithful shepherd feed me
Hail Redeemer King divine
This place has an ultra high church Vicar who is trying to make them "higher than the Pope" as someone told me to my great amusement. The gardual hymn (which was really rather nice) I had never seen or heard before, and the grand finale which was very lustily sung received a comment from one man that the Vicar is introducing RC hymns 😂 The words seem very acceptable to all by my reckoning and have played it in several places, but rural parishes can harbour prejudices for ever and a day! At least we were spared "Crimond" but on St George's day I am supplying in a church of that name and will report back next week.
We ha)ve a gospel to proclaim (Fulda)
I will sing the wondrous story (Hyfrodol)
The Lord's my shepard (Townend)
Ye choirs of new Jerusalem (St Fulbert) with Alleluia, Amen. (Previous organist often didn't include that, and my lot like it and tell me they are pleased I do too.)
It's probably about time I used Crimond in a service other than a funeral again, maybe next year.
“God, You Spind the Whirling Planets”/PLEADING SAVIOR
“Earth and All Stars”/EARTH AND ALL STARS
“In a Deep, Unbounded Darkness”/DIVINUM MYSTERIUM
“God, Who Stretched the Spangled Heavens”/HOLY MANNA
To round it out, the anthem was Haydn’s “The Heavens Are Telling.” We did have one slight nod to Good Shepherd Sunday with Handel’s (or Ochs’, more likely) Dank sei dir, Herr during Communion.
Oh well.
Here's a lovely rendition of The Heavens Are Telling:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmPlG5cOWcw