Ship of Fools: Christ Church Anglican, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

The Mystery Worshipper

Ship of Fools: Christ Church Anglican, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

An inspiring Christmas Eve service of music, liturgy and preaching

Read the full Mystery Worshipper report here

Portola

Thank you for your interesting and detailed report. The aspect which spoke to me most was the inability of the preacher to bring the sermon to a close because of rambling. I listen to a lot of sermons, which means that I suffer a lot, because too many sermons lack structure and focus. It is my impression that rambling occurs when a preacher does not do a careful study of the Biblical sermon text, but instead uses it as a springboard to jump into his/her favorite themes. In your report I got the impression that there was no specific sermon text, which would explain a lack of focus.

Amanda B Reckondwyth

True -- it was more of a sermon than a homily (i.e., a talk on the meaning of Christmas rather than the scriptural events surrounding what we call Christmas). But I did enjoy it, mind you -- although I would have enjoyed it more had he taken the first exit path. I will definitely pay this church another visit.

Nick Tamen

Thanks for the report, Miss Amanda! Very interesting and enjoyable!

And I love Richard Proulx’s adaption of Schubert’s Deutsche Messe/German Mass to the Ordinary of the English Mass, especially the Sanctus. (So much so that I have made note that I want it to be used at my funeral.)

But as much as I share your opinion that too many organists take it much too fast, I doubt any congregation needs to take it as slowly as Schubert intended. He specified the tempo as sehr langsam—very slowly, typically in the neighborhood or 35–45 beats per minute. That works with a choir, but my experience is that the typical congregation would find it painfully slow to sing.

I actually have a recording of Proulx conducting it, and he takes it at about 90+ beats per minute—andante or moderato (or maßig in German), which is an easy walking tempo, but not a “jump rope” tempo.

Amanda B Reckondwyth

I think I would prefer it at 85.

Nick Tamen

Amanda B Reckondwyth wrote: »

I think I would prefer it at 85.

I’d probably lean that way too, actually.