blog.sinden.org

Sinden.org maintains two carol service spreadsheets, one for the famous Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols at Christmas at King's College, Cambridge, and one for the slightly less famous Advent Carol Service at St. John's College, Cambridge.

The spreadsheet the St. John's Advent Carol Service has just been updated with the music and lessons for this year's service.

After a couple years with rather radical changes, it was nice to see the service settle back to a more familiar rhythm. In the last two years, the first and final hymns have been changed from their usual pattern ("O come, O come, Emmanuel" and "Lo! he comes with clouds descending").

The traditional four pairs of lessons (Hebrew Bible and New Testament in each section) were mostly changed in 2023, but were restored the following year and remain in place for this year's service.

Many of us will be familiar with "Zion, at thy shining gates" arranged by George Guest, as found in the Oxford Advent for Choirs book. It has not previously been sung at this service, but this year, it makes an appearance before the first lesson.

Also new to this service this year: "I waited for the Lord" by Felix Mendelssohn, and A hymn of St. Columba by Edward Picton-Turbervill (a former organ scholar at St. John's). The commissioned carol, sung at the end of the service, is Nolo mortem peccatoris by Errollyn Wallen.

Two pieces that have made a long-expected (see what I did there?) return to this service are Benjamin Britten's A hymn to the Virgin (last sung in 2004) and the Magnificat from the Herbert Howells "St. John's" Service (last sung in 2006).

Now, the only question is how to actually listen to the service. Listeners outside the UK will be very unhappy with this link from the BBC.

Labels: Advent, Britten, Guest, Howells, Picton-Turbervill, Wallen

I am beginning to hear the O Antiphons differently this year.

We can, of course, go into their meaning, their scriptural references, the associations with specific dates, the monastic tradition of who they were sung by, and that nifty reverse acrostic. That's usually where my mind goes! But this year I'm just hearing the music.

The O Antiphons are all sung to a relatively simple chant that easily adapts to each. Hearing this same chant scattered throughout a carol service has a unifying effect.

St. John's, Cambridge, whose famous Advent service is in four sections, groups the antiphons into pairs of two. Other services distribute them evenly throughout the service. St. Mark's, Seattle, uses them as the basis for the form of the service itself. However they are used, many Advent Carol Services tend to incorporate the O Antiphons.

I used to think their use at St. John's Advent service was simply too much. The service has so much rich choral music that I found it difficult to also take in the simplicity of the O Antiphons.

But perhaps that's not the point. Iin listening to many Advent Carol Services this year, where they are so often included, it seems to me that they are serving a different function.

Ironically, musicians often get so obsessed with specific textual content and meaning, sometimes at the expense of the music itself. I'm grateful for conversations with clergy where so often I think we are able to reinforce each other's ministries from both sides of the table: a musician's perspective on the rhetoric of preaching and the drama of liturgy; a clergyperson's perspective on sound itself.

And with these antiphons, especially in a large resonant space, perhaps its the sound itself that matters more. The simplicity of the unadorned chant being sung out at regular intervals punctuates the liturgy with its unmistakable aroma of Advent longing. The gentle rise in the chant mirrors the incense of our prayer.

Maybe this year, I've finally heard them enough that I no longer need to attend to every word, every image. Don't get me wrong; I still appreciate those gifts of the tradition. But now I can hear the O Antiphons in a more relaxed way and let them do their potent work.

As Marva Dawn so aptly said about liturgy, it's a case of "when you know the steps you can dance."

This is the great gift of a repeated tradition like this. It has taken me many years, but I feel now as if I am greeting these antiphons as an old friend. And, quite frankly, I'm a bit concerned by their absence from the service I lead annually.

I'm not making any last-minute changes this year, but I will be pondering this with an ear to Advent 2023. In a desire to make the service less cluttered, perhaps I've taken away some of what can anchor a community to the Advent service.

Like the familiar wreath that appears on Advent Sunday, these O Antiphons, heard again and again throughout a service, again and again from year to year, again and again throughout a lifetime—this too can signal Advent.

Labels: Advent, O Antiphons

For better or worse, one of the changes brought about by the pandemic is the increased prevalance of video webcasting of liturgical services.

This week, in the wake of Advent Sunday, this change is decidedly for the better for those who, like myself, enjoy dropping in on Advent Carol Services around the world.

For instance, St. Thomas Church in New York is one that I have listened to for many years, since the early days of audio webcasting. Their move to video webcasting during the pandemic has been very informative. Last year, for instance, who could know just by listening the cumulateive affect that Leo Nestor's haunting and liquid Advent Prose would have when accompanied by the lighting of the cognregation's candles? See here: "Hark! A Thrilling Voice is Sounding" A Service for Advent (Nov. 28, 2021)

Even though St. Thomas has re-ordered their liturgy this year, the service still speaks of Advent in the same way. In fact, amidst all the variety of approaches among the services here, the common themes of Advent still ring out loud and clear.

Here are some of the other services you might want to view in these early days of the Advent season:

• St. Thomas, New York - An Advent Procession - The Director of Music, Jeremy Filsell, like me, seems to have been quite taken with the O Antiphons Service we got to hear during the Convention of the American Guild of Organists Convention in Seattle this summer, and has brought back a number of elements from this service for this year's liturgy.
• The "O" Antiphons: Advent Procession from St. Mark's Cathedral, Seattle - This one-of-a-kind Advent service has much to commend it. Video adds the opportunity to appreciate the visual dimension brought in by the incense, and the O Antiphon banners.
• Trinity College, Cambridge: Advent Carol Service - This entered my regular rotation a few years ago, and I have been very glad to hear it again every year since!
• Canterbury Cathedral: Advent Carol Service - was hoping to be able to enjoy viewing this service, but the incessant interruption by loud advertisements on YouTube really ruins the experience. Even the middle of the Byrd Vigilate was interrupted! Your mileage may vary.

Then of course, is the service that would be fun to view, but is still a real joy to listen to: A Service for Advent with Carols from St. John's College, Cambridge.

Finally, an honorable mention to the Choir of Gonville and Caius for their Advent Carol Service. I was able to catch part of it live which is the only way to view their services. After the service, they disappear from YouTube and are not available for viewing later. A notable, and worthy approach, I think.

But I would be remiss if I did not end by saying that Advent Sunday (yes, this term is in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer!) is widely observed with Carol Services in the UK more than in the US. Since it so often falls on the same weekend as the Thanksgiving Holiday, we have more stateside Carol services to look forward to in the weeks to come!

Labels: Advent, Jeremy Filsell, O Antiphons, St Mark's Cathedral (Seattle), St Thomas (New York)

I've always been quite taken with Stephen Cleobury's arrangement of "The Cherry Tree Carol".

It's a traditional English carol about a pregnant Mary and her husband Joseph walking through an orchard. Mary wants a cherry and the cherry tree itself, recognizing who Mary is, bows down to her so that she can easily pluck cherries.

I find the idea compelling. Nature itself recognizing the Queen of Heaven.

And because Mary is still pregnant throughout this carol, it works at Advent or Christmas carol services.

But as I compared two slightly different versions of Cleobury's arrangement recently, I noticed a profound difference in the role Joseph plays in the carol.

In Cleobury's first version of this arrangement from 1985, he sets a seven stanza version of the carol. (This version is available in a publication called A Trio of Carols from Oxford.) Joseph doesn't really do or say much here.

"Old" version from 1985

Joseph was an old man
And an old man was he,
When he wedded Mary,
In the land of Galilee.

And as they were walking
Through an orchard so good,
Where were cherries and berries
As red as any blood.

O then bespoke Mary,
With words both meek and mild,
‘Pluck me one cherry, Joseph,
For that I am with child.’

‘Go to the tree then, Mary,
And it shall bow to thee;
And you shall gather cherries
By one, by two, by three.’

Then bowed down the highest tree
Unto our Lady's hand;
‘See,’ Mary cried, ‘See Joseph,
I have cherries at command.’

‘O eat your cherries, Mary
O eat your cherries now;
O eat your cherries, Mary, 
That grow upon the bough.’

Then Mary plucked a cherry,
As red as any blood;
Then Mary went she homewards
All with her heavy load.

In this carol, Joseph seems to know that the tree is ready to bow down to Mary. He encourages her to go to the tree. In the penultimate stanza, Joseph rejoices with Mary, if the lines "O eat your cherries, Mary" can be considered rejoicing. Maybe it's just some encouragement? This is odd. Perhaps Mary is skeptical about the tree's intentions. Anyway, Joseph comes off as a supportive husband in this one.

In the version that is more familiar to us now, however, the carol is rather dramatically reworded. There is an additional stanza, and Joseph doesn't come off well at all. This "new" version is published in Advent for Choirs from Oxford and is published separately. It was in the King's College Choir's hands as early as 1996.

"New" version

Joseph was an old man
and an old man was he,
When he wedded Mary,
in the land of Galilee.

Joseph and Mary walked
through an orchard good,
Where was cherries and berries,
so red as any blood.

O then bespoke Mary,
so meek and oh, so mild:
‘Pluck me one cherry, Joseph,
for I am with child.’

O then bespoke Joseph,
with words most unkind:
‘Let him pluck thee a cherry
that brought thee with child.’

O then bespoke the baby,
within his mother’s womb:
‘Bow down then the tallest tree,
for my mother to have some.’

Then bowed down the highest tree
unto his mother’s hand;
Then she cried, ‘See, Joseph
I have cherries at command.’

O then bespoke Joseph:
‘I have done Mary wrong;
But cheer up, my dearest,
and be ye not cast down.’

Then Mary plucked a cherry,
as red as any blood;
Then Mary went she homewards
all with her heavy load.

Things take a severe turn in that fourth stanza. In this "new" version, he is not exactly a supportive husband.

In the "old" version, Joseph was happy to tell Mary how to get the cherries. In fact, he was privy to the knowledge that the cherry tree was willing to bow down. Here, however, he seems to have some unresolved issues with Mary's pregnancy.

Furthermore, the in utero Christ gets a voice in this carol, which is perhaps unique in the carol repertoire(?).

But the inherent conflict in this carol gives the narrative more texture. From within the womb, Christ instructs the "tallest tree" to bow down.

The connection we are meant to draw, I think, is that "him…that brought thee with child" is depicted here with nature itself operating at Mary's command.

In the "old" version you could describe Joseph as lazy, at worst. In the "new" version Joseph is mean, but his momentary cruelty allows for Mary's command of nature to stand more clearly as a symbol.

What I find utterly awkward in this "new" version, is the egg-on-his-face Joseph of the penultimate stanza.

O then bespoke Joseph:
‘I have done Mary wrong;
But cheer up, my dearest,
and be ye not cast down.’

There is a brief apology in there, which is nice. It's addressed to us, the audience, but I wish we could just sit Joseph down and be like, "look, dude, apologize to your wife directly."

It would be the catharsis this carol needs.

The feeling of things being unresolved persists for me, not only with Joseph's weak, saccharine apology but also with the way Cleobury masterfully arranges the last line of this carol: "all with her heavy load."

Not only is she bearing the infant Christ, but she's burdened with this mean "old man" as her husband.

The heaviness of the organ part, especially as performed in King's College, Cambridge, is marvelously evocative of these burdens. (You really need to be listening on proper speakers/headphones, or with a subwoofer, to get the full effect.)

"New" version

Labels: Advent, Christmas, Cleobury, St. Joseph, the Blessed Virgin Mary

Still not quite sure what is going on with the liturgical timing of Star Wars films these days, but we are here to document it anyway.

Film and year	US Release Date	O Antiphon
Episode VII (2015)	18 December	O Adonai
Episode VIII (2017)	15 December	two days prior to O Sapientia (Dec. 17)

Labels: Advent, film, O Antiphons, Star Wars

We argue a lot about Advent, don't we?

Let's settle one question this year: what's the best Advent hymn of all time?

Vote for your favourite(s) or add your own.

Labels: Advent, hymns

The idea of Lessons and Carols really has its genesis with Christmas services at the end of the 19th century. Then in the early 20th century Eric Milner-White started the very famous Christmas service at King's College, Cambridge. And this annual service, more than any other, is what many people think of when they hear "Lessons and Carols".

But there's more to its origin than meets the eye.

Milner-White had become convinced "that the Church of England needed more imaginative worship", but I think it helps to remember the context in which he was working. At the centuries-old choral foundation of King's there was no lack of opportunity for worship. There was Choral Matins (Morning Prayer), Holy Communion, and Choral Evensong.

And Milner-White also sought "more imaginative worship" through new music. He used a friendly wager to entice Herbert Howells to write the Collegium Regale Morning Canticles (Te Deum & Jubilate). And if these pieces aren't "more imaginative" I don't know what qualifies.

But I think Milner-White saw something else that a few others (like Bishop Benson in Truro) did. The specific possibilities for liturgy suggested by the genre of music specific to the Advent-Christmas season.

Here the music (carols) must have suggested its own liturgy. Rather than music being the "hand-maid" of the liturgy, a dubious phrase one often hears in regard to Church Music, Milner-White saw it as the other way around. Here was a cleric who was perceptive enough to realize that the established liturgical forms didn't allow for this music speak well or speak fully.

At Matins or Evensong maybe you could do a carol or two, but carols are so short. You would have to do a number of them for them to really add up to something substantial. And in this case they would needed their own service. So Milner-White designed it.

Not just two or three lessons, but more. No need for a psalm or canticles. No need for much of anything, really, except hymns, lessons, and carols.

After inaugurating the Christmas Lessons and Carols service in 1918, Milner-White added an Advent Carol Service to King's liturgical life in 1934.

Most Advent Carol Services take place in the evening and are therefore often substitutes for Choral Evensong. But the traditional canticles at Evensong (the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis) also have value in a Carol Service.

One place to connect Evensong to Lessons and Carols is St. John's College, Cambridge, just a short boatride away from King's. St. John's began a tradition of an Advent Carol Service a couple decades after King's.

The first Advent Carol Service was held on 2 December 1956. From the outset it had been decided to make this an 'admission by ticket only' event, and close on 1100 people attended what has now become an annual service. Since 1981 it has been broadcast, and is now relayed to many radio stations in the United States and Canada, as well as to other countries throughout the world.

Guest, George. (1998) A Guest at Cambridge. Brewster, Mass.: Paraclete Press. p. 28.

At the traditional carol services at St. John's the two Evensong canticles take pride of place toward the end: the Magnificat at the Advent Carol Service; the Nunc dimittis at the Epiphany Carol Service. There's a wonderful logic to this. (There is no Christmas Carol Service at St. John's because 1) the college is not in session 2) there's a pretty famous one just down the road.)

St. John's has served as an inspiration for St. Peter's, St. Louis in the past: the installation of a Mander organ at St. Peter's was inspired by the very successful Mander installation in that college chapel.

And the Advent Carol Service from St. John's is not exactly a well-kept secret. It has been broadcast annually on the BBC since the 1980s. It's order has been printed in at least one past issue of The Episcopal Musicians Handbook. And another order of service from St. John's has been used at St. Peter's in the past.

Here's an explanatory note from the former Dean of St. John's.

"Introduction to the Advent Carol Service"
by The Rev. Andrew MacIntosh, Dean of St. John's College

In the past quarter of the century, the colleges of Cambridge, and St. John's in particular, have developed special forms of service to mark the beginning of Advent; and these are widely called Advent Carol Services. Since Christmas falls in University vacation, there was a natural desire to anticipate Christmas by singing carols. At the same time, the instinct for good liturgy meant that we wanted to keep the specifically Advent themes of solemn preparation for the coming of Christ. In St. John's College, since 1956, these two elements have been combined to effect a successful liturgical experiment. This success derives, perhaps, from the tension between the two elements. Thus the form of the service is essentially linked to Advent. The Collects for the four Sundays in Advent suggest the main themes which are explored and illuminated in the scriptural lessons. The plainsong settings of the Advent Prose and "O" Antiphons, dating from the eighth century, express most poignantly in words from the prophesies of Isaiah man's deep yearning for salvation and redemption. The carols, in a joyful and earthy way, look forward to the mode of that redemption in the circumstances of the incarnation and the person of Jesus. Finally, the service reaches its climax in the words of the Christmas collect and in the singing of "Adeste Fideles.""

source

The service is rich. You can view this year's service booklet for yourself. You can also listen to this year's service for the next 26 days after this article's publication.

There's so much to love about this liturgy beyond the lessons and the music: the sentences; the versicles and responses at the head of each section (my favorite being "Prepare ye the way of the Lord / Make his paths straight."); the collects.

The service is in four sections:

1. The Message of Advent
2. The Word of God (which includes the wonderful passage from Luke of Jesus reading from Isaiah in the synagogue)
3. The Prophetic Call (which features a hefty dose of John the Baptist)
4. The Christ-Bearer (including Mary and her Magnificat)

But one thing that I chose not to incorporate at St. Peter's for our service is the seven O Antiphons. Don't get me wrong; I love the O Antiphons. But their inclusion in this already rich service seems like an "everything but the kitchen sink approach". (Besides, St. Peter's has already offered a simple service focusing on the O Antiphons this year).

The collects in the service provide a nice bridge to the historic collects found in the 1662 Book of Common Prayer.

The collect for section two, the Word of God, is the collect for the Second Sunday in Advent (note that in the 1662 book the preposition is different than it is in the 1979 book). This prayer finds a place in the 1979 book as the collect for Proper 28 (the Sunday closest to November 16).

Blessed Lord, who hast caused all holy Scriptures to be written for our learning: Grant that we may in such wise hear them, read, mark, learn, and inwardly digest them, that, by patience and comfort of thy holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life, which thou hast given us in our Savior Jesus Christ; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

The collect for section three, which does not appear in the 1979 book at all, is specific to John the Baptist.

O Lord Jesu Christ, who at thy first coming didst send thy messenger to prepare thy way before thee: Grant that the ministers and stewards of thy mysteries may likewise so prepare and make ready thy way, by turning the hearts of the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, that at thy second coming to judge the world we may be found an acceptable people in thy sight, who livest and reignest with the Father and the Holy Spirit, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

The collect for section four, at least in the present service, is not the collect for the Fourth Sunday in Advent, but can be traced to an Anglican Altar Services (1941) collect for the Feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary (August 15). Using a Marian collect here is congruent with the focus on Mary in the Gospel lessons for the Fourth Sunday of Advent in the Revised Common Lectionary.

Almighty and everlasting God, who didst stoop to raise our fallen race by the child-bearing of blessed Mary: Grant that we, who have seen thy glory manifested in our manhood [St. John's substitutes "flesh"], and thy love perfected in our weakness, may daily be renewed in thine image, and conformed to the likeness of thy Son; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.

source: see No. 588

Finally, a note about the music itself. It should be noted while the informal name of this service is the "Advent Carol Service", the title page actually reads "A Service for Advent with Carols". I believe that this name is deliberately chosen to not limit the music solely to "carols" but to allow for all kinds of liturgical music (including hymns and canticles, which were part of the original design).

As with the Christmas Lessons and Carols service at King's College, the Advent service at St. John's includes a heavy dose of new music, especially new music written for carol texts.

But with the doors thrown open to all types of music (assuming at least two carols, to stay true to the plural in the service's title) we see the full flowering of Lessons and Carols as one of the great liturgies of the Anglican church.

What started as music begetting it's own liturgy has now come full circle. This elegant liturgy is now inspiring new commissions and compositions.

I find Lessons and Carols so fascinating because the realm of creative possibilities within its fixed structure is so immense.

This is Church Music at it's finest: not as a hand-maid of the liturgy, but a full partner with it.

Of course there are always other Advent Carol Services to consider, too!

• New College, Oxford added 7 December 2016
• St. Thomas, New York
• Trinity College, Cambridge

Labels: Advent, Andrew MacIntosh, BCP, church music, Collect, Eric Milner-White, Guest, Howells, King's College (Cambridge), Lessons and Carols, St John's (Cambridge), St Peter's (St Louis), the Blessed Virgin Mary

"Have you done this service before?" someone asked me at coffee hour on Sunday. We were talking about our upcoming Service of Lessons and Carols for Advent on Sunday, December 11, 2016 at 5:30 p.m..

Of course I had, hadn't I?

But really the answer is no, I haven't. Not exactly.

So I explained that while I had done similar services, I have never actually done the specific liturgy that we will use this Advent.

But I couldn't give her the longer answer. So, here it is.

I'm sort of obsessed with Carol Services (can you tell?). Why? Well, if it came right down to it I'd have to say that the innovation of Lessons and Carols is the apotheosis of the "low church" tradition.

“Lessons and Carols is the apotheosis of the ‘low church’ tradition”

Let's define the terms. Here "Lesson" means a short reading of scripture, though "Short" is relative. A "Carol" can be many things, but historically these are strophic songs (often with a refrain) of a popular or "dance" character on subjects related to Christmas (or Easter, or some other sesason). We will consider the development of carols in relation to these services in part 2.

There's something about the juxtaposition of the familiar and the new that speaks to our spiritual selves. This is especially true if the tradition truly takes hold and you get to hear the same lessons year after year the music offers new commentary, new insight alongside the biblical text. The carols and hymns themselves serve a homiletical function and reinforce each other. Without Sermon or Eucharist, the congregation is allowed to hear in word and music the message of the season and respond with vigorous hymn singing.

I suppose my very first memory of a Carol Service for Advent would have been an order from the Episcopal Church's official Book of Occasional Services (BOS).

There are plenty of lessons to choose from. But if you follow that order literally you have to include the lesson from Gen. 3 about Adam and Eve. And isn't that same lesson typically used at a Christmas Lessons and Carols service? Kind of an odd choice, but okay.

And the Bidding Prayer in that book is ... well ... it's really lousy. It's just the Christmas Bidding Prayer slightly warmed over. It really misses the mark and doesn't speak to Advent at all.

Don't get me wrong, I think I was involved in some lovely services that used the BOS scheme, but I wanted to look elsewhere.

Anyone who has spent any time planning carols for Christmas has stumbled upon the Advent Lessons and Carols information in the back of Carols for Choirs 2 (CfC2) from Oxford University Press.

I've always assumed that the order in CfC2 to be somehow connected to the service in use at King's College, Cambridge. After all, one of the editors of CfC2 was David Willcocks. But information about any of the "Procession for Advent" services, past or present, in that place have not been forthcoming online. (Add to the list of things to research when I take a sabbatical to Cambridge in 2022).

The Bidding Prayer of the CfC2 Advent Carol Service, at least, is substantially better than the one found in BOS. It actually speaks to Advent itself, and is not just a warmed-over Christmas prayer.

Beloved in Christ, as we await the great festival of Christmas let us prepare ourselves so that we may be shown its true meaning. Let us hear, in lessons from Holy Scripture, how the prophets of Israel foretold that God would visit and redeem his waiting people. Let us rejoice, in our carols and hymns, that the good purpose of God is being mightily fulfilled. Let us celebrate the promise that our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, will bring all people and all things into the glory of God's eternal kingdom. The blind receive their sight, and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the Gospel preached to them.

But first, let us pray for the world which God so loves, for those who have not heard the good news of God, or who do not believe it; for those who walk in darkness and the shadow of death; and for the Church in this place and everywhere, that it may be freed from all evil and fear, and may in pure joy lift up the light and love of God. These prayers and praises let us humbly offer to God, in the words which Christ himself taught us:

Our Father...

And at this point I thought that I had found a Bidding Prayer and lessons that worked well for the season of Advent.

And then, stupidly, I got in the car at the end of Thanksgiving weekend (the trip from Richmond took about four hours) and attended the Procession with Advent Lessons and Carols at St. Paul's, K Street in Washington, D.C.

This service was transformative. It was exquisite. And it didn't come from BOS or CfC2. It spoke authentically to the season and left nothing out. Furthermore, it incorporated the idea of a Procession (note that the service at King's to this day is called a "Procession for Advent").

Video: The national Episcopal Church very wisely decided to record a video of this service last year which provides a very good documentation of that service, but, like any recording of liturgy, it is truly no substitute for being present and taking part. If you ever have the opportunity to attend, I strongly encourage you to do so!

So I had to go back to the drawing board. I went through every single resource I could find and lay everything out on the table at once. Every possible lesson was examined and considered. Different structures were weighed.

Ultimately I thought that the notion of a Procession was too compelling to discard. If the Lessons and Carols is a "low church" idea (reading, music, repeat) adding the teleology of a liturgical Procession into the proceedings seemed to incorporate some "high church" gravitas without otherwise compromising what is compelling about Lessons and Carols.

It was about this same time that I attended the American Sarum conference in Bronxville, N.Y. which helped clarify my thinking about liturgical processions. Naturally, Salisbury Cathedral figured prominently into the conversation, and that place has their own wonderful Advent Carol Service.

For the new "Advent Procession" service at St. Paul's, Richmond the following year, I wrote the following:

For hundreds of years liturgical processions have marked boundaries – the physical boundaries of the parish, the church – and in so doing invoke the very boundaries between heaven and earth. Such a procession is particularly resonant in the Advent season when we look expectantly toward the celebration of God’s crossing of this very boundary through the Incarnation of Jesus Christ.

For the pattern of the service I tried to read the Greek Revival architecture of St. Paul's, Richmond and determine what route in the building would best tell the Advent story. The service at the English Gothic St. Paul's, K Street with it's divided choir stalls simply wouldn't work in the spacious, 800-seat church in Richmond, with it's Gallery Organ.

Here was the order of service at St. Paul's, Richmond in 2011:

1. Matin Responsory - Palestrina (sung from the Narthex)
2. Hymn: "Come, thou redeemer of the earth" (during this hymn the Choir moved into the back pews of the Nave, while the rest of the procession proceeded to their places in the Chancel)
3. Bidding Prayer
4. Carol: "Come, thou long-expected Jesus" - Steven Rickards
5. Isa. 25:6-9 (read by a Chorister)
6. Motet: E'en so, Lord Jesus, Quickly Come - Paul Manz
7. Hymn: "O come, O come, Emmanuel" (during this hymn the Choir moved to the Chancel steps)
8. Isaiah 35:1-10 (read by a parishioner)
9. Anthem: A New Song - James MacMillan (during the thrilling conclusion to this anthem, the Choir moved to the Baptismal Font at the head of the Liturgical North aisle)
10. Malachi 3:1-6 (read by a warden)
11. Choral Hymn: "On Jordan's bank" - arr. Malcolm Archer sung near the Baptismal Font
12. Hymn: "Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding" (during this hymn the Choir moved in procession to the Gallery to their customary place near the organ)
13. I Corinthians 15:42-50 (read by a church musician from the Diocese)
14. Carol: "Remember, O thou man" - Thomas Ravenscroft
15. Hag. 2:6-9 (read by the director of a local ministry)
16. Carol: "Zion at thy shining gates" - George Guest
17. Hymn: "Lord Christ, when first thou cam'st to earth" (words by a former rector of the parish sung to the Herbert Howells tune NEWNHAM)
18. Luke 1:26-38 (read by the Very Rev. the Dean of the Region in the Diocese)
19. Carol: Nova! Nova! Ave fit ex eva (Hymn 266, with congregation joining on the burden) sung, with handbells and percussion, from the Annunciation window by Louis Comfort Tiffany
20. Revelation 21:5-7, 22:12-13, 20 (read by the Rev. the Rector)
21. Hymn 61: "'Sleepers, wake!' a voice astounds us" (with the Choir behind the pews at the back of the Nave)
22. Collect
23. Vesper Responsory
24. Blessing
25. Hymn 57: "Lo! he comes with clouds descending" (with the Choir surrounding the congregation in the side aisles)

I liked this service, and I think it was the right fit for St. Paul's at the right time. St. Paul's seemed to be a place on the cusp. It had been steadily moving away from it's "low church" heritage and more in line with the liturgical practice put forth in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. Eucharistic vestments had appeared a decade or so before, Morning Prayer had greatly lessened in prominence, and I understand at the present time incense and a sung Sursum Corda (both rarities in the Diocese of Virginia!) are regular features.

For the next few years the St. Paul's Choir and I were able to explore this order a bit and make it our own.

Now I find myself in a different parish, and I feel the need to "crack this nut" once again. For reasons of space and churchmanship I do not think that another "Procession" is the right answer. So it was back to the drawing board – again.

Continued in "Carol Service - exploring the Advent, part 2"

Labels: Advent, American Sarum, King's College (Cambridge), Lessons and Carols, Salisbury Cathedral, St John's (Cambridge), St Paul's (Richmond), Willcocks

One word keeps cropping up: fear.

This is an anxious time. It has been this way for a while, and it's not getting any better.

To hear the Rev. Fleming Rutledge tell it, "We are all battling fear in a way that has not been true in America since World War II, and perhaps not even then, since that war was fought far away."

Advent speaks to this fear. The Rev. Canon Scott Gunn puts it this way:

Jesus told his disciples to “be not afraid” about as much as he said anything to them. To be seduced by fear is not new to our time, though perhaps our culture is uniquely equipped to create a deafening cacophony of fear-inducing noise. Might this “armor of light” help us to reject captivity to fear, which is surely one of the great works of darkness? I think so.

"Cast away the works of darkness". Seven Whole Days 13 December 2014.

"Do not be afraid" is one of the great refrains of scripture. And it is the first thing the Angel Gabriel says to Mary.

Almost a year ago the Rev. Fleming Rutledge offered a two-part rumination on Advent (one that mentioned Donald Trump, of all people).

From "What is happening to Advent?" Part 1:

"We will be saved through judgment; but we will not be saved without judgment."

Those two great Anglican poets of the 20th century, T. S. Eliot (in Murder in the Cathedral) and W. H. Auden (in For the Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio) evoked a sense of Advent as a time of foreboding. The ultimate hope-beyond-hope is always there, beyond and through the foreboding, but when the essence of the season is diluted by cheery, upbeat, inferior forms of hope, the Advent power of the ultimate promise of God scarcely registers.

From "What is happening to Advent?" Part 2:

Advent is meant to be portentous, which is a very different thing from our standard assumptions that everything is going to work out for the best. Who can believe that any more, anyway? In this season of the year 2015, a front-page feature article in the New York Times 12/4/15 tells us of our fears, fears that we never expected to have. (The article is by N. R. Kleinfeld, who wrote the chief feature article for September 12, 2001--first sentence: "It kept getting worse." First sentences in the recent article: "The killings are happening too often. Bunched too close together. At places you would never imagine.") There is a profound theological message here. Advent is the very opposite of the "countdown to Christmas," because it tells us of our status in the world as it is. When Jesus spoke of "the ruler of this world" he meant Sin and Death, also called Satan. We have no right to expect anything from God. Advent requires of us an unblinking assessment of the real situation we find ourselves in.

And later on she writes: "We will be saved through judgment; but we will not be saved without judgment."

To that I would only add two stanzas of this great Advent hymn.

Lo! the Lamb, so long expected,
comes with pardon down from heaven;
let us all, with tears of sorrow,
pray that we may be forgiven;

that when next he comes with glory,
and the world is wrapped in fear,
with his mercy he may shield us,
and with words of love draw near.

Hymn 59. "Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding." st. 3, 4.

Labels: Advent, Auden, Donald J Trump, Eliot, Fleming Rutledge, Hymn 59

There were some silly arguments over the season of Advent on everyone's favorite social networking site over the past few days.

Whether the Great Litany is appropriate (it is), what colors are appropriate for the Advent Wreath (purple? blue? a pink candle too?), which direction one should light the Advent Wreath (clockwise?), what kinds of gummi candies to include in one's traditional Advent Jello Salad, etc.

Let's not argue about Advent – what it is, what it isn't – let's cherish it.

Let's cherish that the first day of the church's year begins with the prayer:

Almighty God, give us grace that we may cast away the 
works of darkness, and put upon us the armor of light, now 
in the time of this mortal life in which thy Son Jesus Christ 
came to visit us in great humility; that in the last day, when 
he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the 
quick and the dead, we may rise to the life immortal; through 
him who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, 
one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Let's relish those dual actions, the casting away of "the works of darkness", the putting upon ourselves "the armor of light".

Let's let Diana Butler Bass have her blue candles.

Advent should not be a mini-Lent; it is not a time to examine sins, engage in self-denial, and confession. It is not about penance. Rather, Advent is of a different spiritual hue: It is a time of waiting, of expectation, of hope in the darkness. The blue candles symbolize the color of the sky right before dawn, that time when the deepest dark is just infused with hints of light.

But let us not be too quick to deny the penitential aspects of the Lent of St. Martin let's also celebrate with rich, dark purple candles if we want to.

Let's think carefully about acknowledging our sins in this season, and at Christmas too.

By acknowledging our own incompleteness and the inadequacy of our own efforts and even our best intentions, we make ready a place for God within us. If we listen to the hymns we sing in Advent, we know this to be the real task set before us:

Then cleansed be every breast from sin;
Make straight the way for God within;
And let each heart prepare a home
Where such a mighty guest may come.

The great hymn text prefigures and prepares us for the prayer that we sing at Christmas:

O holy Child of Bethlehem,
Descend to us, we pray;
Cast out our sin and enter in,
Be born in us today.

It is prideful of us to think, because we heard about John the Baptist for two Sundays in Advent, that we have adequately made ready that home within us. If all it took were two Sundays, wouldn’t everything be just hunky-dory? Only the most daft among us, looking within himself and around at his immediate community and the wider world, could imagine that a couple of Sundays of introspection are all that we need to be cured of our various delusions, our thoughtlessness, and our self-absorption.

"Confession and Grace". Sed Angli. 1 January 2015.

Whatever your perspective on the minutiae of Advent, let's remember to cherish the season. I think it's possible for me to love this time of the Church's year, to recommit myself to prayer and worship, and not feel like I need to convince everyone else to do it the way I prefer.

There's something peculiar about the intensity of opinion that people hold for this season.

Maybe it's the sticky-icky residue of our intensity of sentimental feeling around Christmas itself, and it's wrapped up with all that secular/sacred baggage.

But I sort of suspect not. I suspect that it's a short (only four Sundays' worth) season overflowing with rich imagery, tradition, and meaning.

There's so much to cram in to Advent! Twenty-four hymns in the Hymnal 1982. In many years Advent is only about 24 days long. That's about a hymn a day! And don't forget the O Antiphons, too!

But there's more.

Consider, as I heard in a sermon recently, the two arcs of the liturgical year.

The first follows the life of Christ, from Advent to Easter and Ascension. It goes "beyond" the life of Christ, as it must, with Pentecost, and Trinity Sunday.

The second arc, which grows out of Trinity Sunday (or Pentecost, if you must, but remember that Trinity Sunday is one of the seven principal feast days of the Episcopal Church), is all about the life of the Church.

And the meeting place between the two? Advent.

Read forward, Advent foretells the birth of Christ that we celebrate at Christmas.

But read backward, Advent heralds the second coming of Christ the King for which the Church awaits.

This is the audacity of the Advent Sunday alarm clock for the Church! Wake up! Keep watch!

Finally, the weekly letter from Anglicans Online seems to have put this much better than I have.

Thankfully, the problem contains its own solution. The church communities arguing about the meaning and practice of Advent are trying in a feeble, feeble way to begin to declare the coming of the Lord to Standing Rock and Aleppo, Flint and Lampedusa. We're just not always very good at it.

Advent in whatever colour and whatever register is our annual reorientation to the Crib: to the weak, the cold, the margin, the poor, the exile, the pregnant woman, the perplexed father, the traveling strangers possessed of uncommon wisdom, the angels singing in the dark and silent sky. Advent invites us to remember our own first weakness and reliance on the strength of parents, the welcome of our families when we were infants, the provision in our social circles for a stable arrival of a child. In the awareness of these things, it invites us to extend them in the name of the Christchild to others on his behalf.

It is good for us to argue about what Advent means and how to keep it. It means our hearts are in the best place they can be, if we order them aright: attentive, caring, waiting, watching, thinking, hoping, open, gentle, strong. Whatever the colour we see each week in church, we pray our minds will be true to the invitations of the season and its successors.

Labels: Advent, Hymn 76, Hymn 78/79

Two years ago, I enjoyed listening to the recording of the Salisbury Cathedral Advent Service called "From Darkness to Light".

Images from this candlelit service are always stunning. See this combination of two long exposures by Matt Cardy, for instance.

Now the entire recording can be heard in a number of places online, including YouTube -- though I hasten to add that if you have a way to listen to this without advertising interruptions I strongly advise you to do so.

Here are my reflections from two years ago after my initial hearing:

At first it sounded a bit slow. But as I listened more, I realized that it was all of a piece. The music, the liturgy, and the prayer is all so incredibly intentional, deliberately paced, and rich with meaning. I was particularly struck with the loud introduction of the organ in the service for the appearance of John the Baptist and his infamous cry. And to my listening ear Jeremy Davies's inimitably gracious precenting cannot help but draw one deeply into the liturgy. I found the closing blessing particularly beautiful.

I'm struck by the power of this remarkable service -- and I've only listened to it. I can only imagine what the sheer drama of this liturgy would be like in person.

This is the kind of experience that makes me so very grateful for the rich heritage of organ and choral music in the Anglican tradition.

This is the kind of thing that makes me very glad to be a Christian.

Labels: Advent, church music

Here are the Lessons for the Saturday after the Sunday next before Advent from the 1928 BCP Lectionary, 1945 revision (introduction here).

This final day of the series marks the end of this "Lent of St. Martin". I'd be curious to know your thoughts about these lessons and this way of preparing for Advent.

Psalms

Psalms 148, 150

PSALM 148.

Laudate Dominum

O PRAISE the Lord of heaven : praise him in the height.

2 Praise him, all ye angels of his : praise him, all his host.

3 Praise him, sun and moon : praise him, all ye stars and light.

4 Praise him, all ye heavens : and ye waters that are above the heavens.

5 Let them praise the Name of the Lord : for he spake the word, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created.

6 He hath made them fast for ever and ever : he hath given them a law which shall not be broken.

7 Praise the Lord upon earth : ye dragons, and all deeps;

8 Fire and hail, snow and vapours : wind and storm, fulfilling his word;

9 Mountains and all hills : fruitful trees and all cedars;

10 Beasts and all cattle : worms and feathered fowls;

11 Kings of the earth and all people : princes and all judges of the world;

12 Young men and maidens, old men and children, praise the Name of the Lord : for his Name only is excellent, and his praise above heaven and earth.

13 He shall exalt the horn of his people; all his saints shall praise him : even the children of Israel, even the people that serveth him.

PSALM 150.

Laudate Dominum

O PRAISE God in his holiness : praise him in the firmament of his power.

2 Praise him in his noble acts : praise him according to his excellent greatness.

3 Praise him in the sound of the trumpet : praise him upon the lute and harp.

4 Praise him in the cymbals and dances : praise him upon the strings and pipe.

5 Praise him upon the well-tuned cymbals : praise him upon the loud cymbals.

6 Let every thing that hath breath : praise the Lord.

First Lesson

Wisdom 13:1–9

For all people who were ignorant of God were foolish by nature;
and they were unable from the good things that are seen to know the one who exists,
nor did they recognize the artisan while paying heed to his works; 
but they supposed that either fire or wind or swift air,
or the circle of the stars, or turbulent water,
or the luminaries of heaven were the gods that rule the world. 
If through delight in the beauty of these things people assumed them to be gods,
let them know how much better than these is their Lord,
for the author of beauty created them. 
And if people were amazed at their power and working,
let them perceive from them
how much more powerful is the one who formed them. 
For from the greatness and beauty of created things
comes a corresponding perception of their Creator. 
Yet these people are little to be blamed,
for perhaps they go astray
while seeking God and desiring to find him. 
For while they live among his works, they keep searching,
and they trust in what they see, because the things that are seen are beautiful. 
Yet again, not even they are to be excused; 
for if they had the power to know so much
that they could investigate the world,
how did they fail to find sooner the Lord of these things? 

Second Lesson

Rev. 3:7–13

 ‘And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write:
These are the words of the holy one, the true one,
   who has the key of David,
   who opens and no one will shut,
     who shuts and no one opens:

 ‘I know your works. Look, I have set before you an open door, which no one is able to shut. I know that you have but little power, and yet you have kept my word and have not denied my name. I will make those of the synagogue of Satan who say that they are Jews and are not, but are lying—I will make them come and bow down before your feet, and they will learn that I have loved you. Because you have kept my word of patient endurance, I will keep you from the hour of trial that is coming on the whole world to test the inhabitants of the earth. I am coming soon; hold fast to what you have, so that no one may seize your crown. If you conquer, I will make you a pillar in the temple of my God; you will never go out of it. I will write on you the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem that comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. 

Labels: Advent, Bible, lectionary, Lent of St. Martin

Here are the Lessons for the Friday after the Sunday next before Advent from the 1928 BCP Lectionary, 1945 revision (introduction here)

Psalm

Psalm 144

Benedictus Dominus

BLESSED be the Lord my strength : who teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight;

2 My hope and my fortress, my castle and deliverer, my defender in whom I trust : who subdueth my people that is under me.

3 Lord, what is man, that thou hast such respect unto him : or the son of man, that thou so regardest him?

4 Man is like a thing of nought : his time passeth away like a shadow.

5 Bow thy heavens, O Lord, and come down : touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.

6 Cast forth thy lightning, and tear them : shoot out thine arrows, and consume them.

7 Send down thine hand from above : deliver me, and take me out of the great waters, from the hand of strange children;

8 Whose mouth talketh of vanity : and their right hand is a right hand of wickedness.

9 I will sing a new song unto thee, O God : and sing praises unto thee upon a ten-stringed lute.

10 Thou hast given victory unto kings : and hast delivered David thy servant from the peril of the sword.

11 Save me, and deliver me from the hand of strange children : whose mouth talketh of vanity, and their right hand is a right hand of iniquity.

12 That our sons may grow up as the young plants : and that our daughters may be as the polished corners of the temple.

13 That our garners may be full and plenteous with all manner of store : that our sheep may bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our streets.

14 That our oxen may be strong to labour, that there be no decay : no leading into captivity, and no complaining in our streets.

15 Happy are the people that are in such a case : yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God.

First Lesson

Wisdom 12:12–19

For who will say, ‘What have you done?’
or will resist your judgement?
Who will accuse you for the destruction of nations that you made?
Or who will come before you to plead as an advocate for the unrighteous?
For neither is there any god besides you, whose care is for all people,
to whom you should prove that you have not judged unjustly; 
nor can any king or monarch confront you about those whom you have punished. 
You are righteous and you rule all things righteously,
deeming it alien to your power
to condemn anyone who does not deserve to be punished. 
For your strength is the source of righteousness,
and your sovereignty over all causes you to spare all. 
For you show your strength when people doubt the completeness of your power,
and you rebuke any insolence among those who know it. 
Although you are sovereign in strength, you judge with mildness,
and with great forbearance you govern us;
for you have power to act whenever you choose. 


Through such works you have taught your people
that the righteous must be kind,
and you have filled your children with good hope,
because you give repentance for sins.

Second Lesson

Rev. 3:1–6

‘And to the angel of the church in Sardis write: These are the words of him who has the seven spirits of God and the seven stars:

‘I know your works; you have a name for being alive, but you are dead. Wake up, and strengthen what remains and is at the point of death, for I have not found your works perfect in the sight of my God. Remember then what you received and heard; obey it, and repent. If you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what hour I will come to you. Yet you have still a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes; they will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. If you conquer, you will be clothed like them in white robes, and I will not blot your name out of the book of life; I will confess your name before my Father and before his angels. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches.

Labels: Advent, Bible, lectionary, Lent of St. Martin

Here are the Lessons for the Thursday after the Sunday next before Advent from the 1928 BCP Lectionary, 1945 revision (introduction here)

Psalm

Psalm 140, 141:1–4

PSALM 140.

Eripe me, Domine

DELIVER me, O Lord, from the evil man : and preserve me from the wicked man.

2 Who imagine mischief in their hearts : and stir up strife all the day long.

3 They have sharpened their tongues like a serpent : adders' poison is under their lips.

4 Keep me, O Lord, from the hands of the ungodly : preserve me from the wicked men, who are purposed to overthrow my goings.

5 The proud have laid a snare for me, and spread a net abroad with cords : yea, and set traps in my way.

6 I said unto the Lord, Thou art my God : hear the voice of my prayers, O Lord.

7 O Lord God, thou strength of my health : thou hast covered my head in the day of battle.

8 Let not the ungodly have his desire, O Lord : let not his mischievous imagination prosper, lest they be too proud.

9 Let the mischief of their own lips fall upon the head of them : that compass me about.

10 Let hot burning coals fall upon them : let them be cast into the fire and into the pit, that they never rise up again.

11 A man full of words shall not prosper upon the earth : evil shall hunt the wicked person to overthrow him.

12 Sure I am that the Lord will avenge the poor : and maintain the cause of the helpless.

13 The righteous also shall give thanks unto thy Name : and the just shall continue in thy sight.

PSALM 141.

Domine, clamavi

LORD, I call upon thee, haste thee unto me :   and consider my voice when I cry unto thee.

2 Let my prayer be set forth in thy sight as the incense : and let the lifting up of my hands be an evening sacrifice.

3 Set a watch, O Lord, before my mouth : and keep the door of my lips.

4 O let not mine heart be inclined to any evil thing : let me not be occupied in ungodly works with the men that work wickedness, lest I eat of such things as please them.

First Lesson

Wisdom 11:21–12:2

For it is always in your power to show great strength,
and who can withstand the might of your arm? 
Because the whole world before you is like a speck that tips the scales,
and like a drop of morning dew that falls on the ground. 
But you are merciful to all, for you can do all things,
and you overlook people’s sins, so that they may repent. 
For you love all things that exist,
and detest none of the things that you have made,
for you would not have made anything if you had hated it. 
How would anything have endured if you had not willed it?
Or how would anything not called forth by you have been preserved? 
You spare all things, for they are yours, O Lord, you who love the living.

For your immortal spirit is in all things. 
Therefore you correct little by little those who trespass,
and you remind and warn them of the things through which they sin,
so that they may be freed from wickedness and put their trust in you, O Lord. 

Second Lesson

Rev. 2:12–17

 ‘And to the angel of the church in Pergamum write: These are the words of him who has the sharp two-edged sword:

 ‘I know where you are living, where Satan’s throne is. Yet you are holding fast to my name, and you did not deny your faith in me even in the days of Antipas my witness, my faithful one, who was killed among you, where Satan lives. But I have a few things against you: you have some there who hold to the teaching of Balaam, who taught Balak to put a stumbling-block before the people of Israel, so that they would eat food sacrificed to idols and practise fornication. So you also have some who hold to the teaching of the Nicolaitans. Repent then. If not, I will come to you soon and make war against them with the sword of my mouth. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers I will give some of the hidden manna, and I will give a white stone, and on the white stone is written a new name that no one knows except the one who receives it. 

Labels: Advent, Bible, lectionary, Lent of St. Martin

Here are the Lessons for the Wednesday after the Sunday next before Advent from the 1928 BCP Lectionary, 1945 revision (introduction here)

Psalm

Psalm 139

Domine, probasti

O LORD, thou hast searched me out and known me : thou knowest my down-sitting and mine up-rising, thou understandest my thoughts long before.

2 Thou art about my path, and about my bed : and spiest out all my ways.

3 For lo, there is not a word in my tongue : but thou, O Lord, knowest it altogether.

4 Thou hast fashioned me behind and before : and laid thine hand upon me.

5 Such knowledge is too wonderful and excellent for me : I cannot attain unto it.

6 Whither shall I go then from thy Spirit : or whither shall I go then from thy presence?

7 If I climb up into heaven, thou art there : if I go down to hell, thou art there also.

8 If I take the wings of the morning : and remain in the uttermost parts of the sea;

9 Even there also shall thy hand lead me : and thy right hand shall hold me.

10 If I say, Peradventure the darkness shall cover me : then shall my night be turned to day.

11 Yea, the darkness is no darkness with thee, but the night is as clear as the day : the darkness and light to thee are both alike.

12 For my reins are thine : thou hast covered me in my mother's womb.

13 I will give thanks unto thee, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made : marvellous are thy works, and that my soul knoweth right well.

14 My bones are not hid from thee : though I be made secretly, and fashioned beneath in the earth.

15 Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect : and in thy book were all my members written;

16 Which day by day were fashioned : when as yet there was none of them.

17 How dear are thy counsels unto me, O God : O how great is the sum of them!

18 If I tell them, they are more in number than the sand : when I wake up I am present with thee.

19 Wilt thou not slay the wicked, O God : depart from me, ye blood-thirsty men.

20 For they speak unrighteously against thee : and thine enemies take thy Name in vain.

21 Do not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee : and am not I grieved with those that rise up against thee?

22 Yea, I hate them right sore : even as though they were mine enemies.

23 Try me, O God, and seek the ground of my heart : prove me, and examine my thoughts.

24 Look well if there be any way of wickedness in me : and lead me in the way everlasting.

First Lesson

Wisdom 10:1–4, 15–21

Wisdom protected the first-formed father of the world, when he alone had been created;
she delivered him from his transgression, 
and gave him strength to rule all things. 
But when an unrighteous man departed from her in his anger,
he perished because in rage he killed his brother. 
When the earth was flooded because of him, wisdom again saved it,
steering the righteous man by a paltry piece of wood. 


A holy people and blameless race
wisdom delivered from a nation of oppressors. 
She entered the soul of a servant of the Lord,
and withstood dread kings with wonders and signs. 
She gave to holy people the reward of their labours;
she guided them along a marvellous way,
and became a shelter to them by day,
and a starry flame through the night. 
She brought them over the Red Sea,
and led them through deep waters; 
but she drowned their enemies,
and cast them up from the depths of the sea. 
Therefore the righteous plundered the ungodly;
they sang hymns, O Lord, to your holy name,
and praised with one accord your defending hand; 
for wisdom opened the mouths of those who were mute,
and made the tongues of infants speak clearly. 

Second Lesson

Rev. 2:1–11

‘To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand, who walks among the seven golden lampstands:

 ‘I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance. I know that you cannot tolerate evildoers; you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them to be false. I also know that you are enduring patiently and bearing up for the sake of my name, and that you have not grown weary. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember then from what you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. Yet this is to your credit: you hate the works of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. To everyone who conquers, I will give permission to eat from the tree of life that is in the paradise of God. 

 ‘And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: These are the words of the first and the last, who was dead and came to life:

 ‘I know your affliction and your poverty, even though you are rich. I know the slander on the part of those who say that they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Beware, the devil is about to throw some of you into prison so that you may be tested, and for ten days you will have affliction. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. Let anyone who has an ear listen to what the Spirit is saying to the churches. Whoever conquers will not be harmed by the second death. 

Labels: Advent, Bible, lectionary, Lent of St. Martin

Here are the Lessons for the Tuesday after the Sunday next before Advent from the 1928 BCP Lectionary, 1945 revision (introduction here)

Psalm

Psalm 132

Memento, Domine

LORD, remember David : and all his trouble;

2 How he sware unto the Lord : and vowed a vow unto the Almighty God of Jacob;

3 I will not come within the tabernacle of mine house : nor climb up into my bed;

4 I will not suffer mine eyes to sleep, nor mine eye-lids to slumber : neither the temples of my head to take any rest;

5 Until I find out a place for the temple of the Lord : an habitation for the mighty God of Jacob.

6 Lo, we heard of the same at Ephrata : and found it in the wood.

7 We will go into his tabernacle : and fall low on our knees before his footstool.

8 Arise, O Lord, into thy resting-place : thou, and the ark of thy strength.

9 Let thy priests be clothed with righteousness : and let thy saints sing with joyfulness.

10 For thy servant David's sake : turn not away the presence of thine Anointed.

11 The Lord hath made a faithful oath unto David : and he shall not shrink from it;

12 Of the fruit of thy body : shall I set upon thy seat.

13 If thy children will keep my covenant, and my testimonies that I shall learn them : their children also shall sit upon thy seat for evermore.

14 For the Lord hath chosen Sion to be an habitation for himself : he hath longed for her.

15 This shall be my rest for ever : here will I dwell, for I have a delight therein.

16 I will bless her victuals with increase : and will satisfy her poor with bread.

17 I will deck her priests with health : and her saints shall rejoice and sing.

18 There shall I make the horn of David to flourish : I have ordained a lantern for mine Anointed.

19 As for his enemies, I shall clothe them with shame : but upon himself shall his crown flourish.

First Lesson

Wisdom 9:13

For who can learn the counsel of God?
Or who can discern what the Lord wills? 
For the reasoning of mortals is worthless,
and our designs are likely to fail; 
for a perishable body weighs down the soul,
and this earthy tent burdens the thoughtful mind. 
We can hardly guess at what is on earth,
and what is at hand we find with labour;
but who has traced out what is in the heavens? 
Who has learned your counsel,
unless you have given wisdom
and sent your holy spirit from on high? 
And thus the paths of those on earth were set right,
and people were taught what pleases you,
and were saved by wisdom.’ 

Second Lesson

Rev. 1:9

 I, John, your brother who share with you in Jesus the persecution and the kingdom and the patient endurance, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, ‘Write in a book what you see and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus, to Smyrna, to Pergamum, to Thyatira, to Sardis, to Philadelphia, and to Laodicea.’

 Then I turned to see whose voice it was that spoke to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands I saw one like the Son of Man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash across his chest. His head and his hair were white as white wool, white as snow; his eyes were like a flame of fire, his feet were like burnished bronze, refined as in a furnace, and his voice was like the sound of many waters. In his right hand he held seven stars, and from his mouth came a sharp, two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining with full force.

 When I saw him, I fell at his feet as though dead. But he placed his right hand on me, saying, ‘Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last, and the living one. I was dead, and see, I am alive for ever and ever; and I have the keys of Death and of Hades. Now write what you have seen, what is, and what is to take place after this. As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches. 

Labels: Advent, Bible, lectionary, Lent of St. Martin

Here are the Lessons for the Monday after the Sunday next before Advent from the 1928 BCP Lectionary, 1945 revision (introduction here)

Psalms

Psalms 131, 133, 134

PSALM 131.

Domine, non est

LORD, I am not high-minded : I have no proud  looks.

2 I do not exercise myself in great matters : which are too high for me.

3 But I refrain my soul, and keep it low, like as a child that is weaned from his mother : yea, my soul is even as a weaned child.

4 O Israel, trust in the Lord : from this time forth for evermore.

PSALM 133.

Ecce, quam bonum!

BEHOLD, how good and joyful a thing it is : brethren, to dwell together in unity!

2 It is like the precious ointment upon the head, that ran down unto the beard : even unto Aaron's beard, and went down to the skirts of his clothing.

3 Like as the dew of Hermon : which fell upon the hill of Sion.

4 For there the Lord promised his blessing : and life for evermore.

PSALM 134.

Ecce nunc

BEHOLD now, praise the Lord : all ye servants of the Lord;

2 Ye that by night stand in the house of the Lord: even in the courts of the house of our God.

3 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary : and praise the Lord.

4 The Lord that made heaven and earth : give thee blessing out of Sion.

First Lesson

Wisdom 9:1–4, 9-11

‘O God of my ancestors and Lord of mercy,
who have made all things by your word, 
and by your wisdom have formed humankind
to have dominion over the creatures you have made, 
and rule the world in holiness and righteousness,
and pronounce judgement in uprightness of soul, 
give me the wisdom that sits by your throne,
and do not reject me from among your servants. 
With you is wisdom, she who knows your works
and was present when you made the world;
she understands what is pleasing in your sight
and what is right according to your commandments. 
Send her forth from the holy heavens,
and from the throne of your glory send her,
that she may labour at my side,
and that I may learn what is pleasing to you. 
For she knows and understands all things,
and she will guide me wisely in my actions
and guard me with her glory.

Second Lesson

Rev. 1:1–8

The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place; he made it known by sending his angel to his servant John, who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw.

 Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of the prophecy, and blessed are those who hear and who keep what is written in it; for the time is near. 

 John to the seven churches that are in Asia:

Grace to you and peace from him who is and who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits who are before his throne, and from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness, the firstborn of the dead, and the ruler of the kings of the earth.

To him who loves us and freed us from our sins by his blood, and made us to be a kingdom, priests serving his God and Father, to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen. 
Look! He is coming with the clouds;
   every eye will see him,
even those who pierced him;
   and on his account all the tribes of the earth will wail.
So it is to be. Amen.

 ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega’, says the Lord God, who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty. 

Labels: Advent, Bible, lectionary, Lent of St. Martin

Here are the Lessons for the Saturday after the Second Sunday before Advent from the 1928 BCP Lectionary, 1945 revision (introduction here)

Psalm

Psalm 99, 100

PSALM 99.

Dominus regnavit

THE Lord is King, be the people never so unpatient : he sitteth between the cherubims, be the earth never so unquiet.

2 The Lord is great in Sion : and high above all people.

3 They shall give thanks unto thy Name : which is great, wonderful, and holy.

4 The King's power loveth judgement; thou hast prepared equity : thou hast executed judgement and righteousness in Jacob.

5 O magnify the Lord our God : and fall down before his footstool, for he is holy.

6 Moses and Aaron among his priests, and Samuel among such as call upon his Name : these called upon the Lord, and he heard them.

7 He spake unto them out of the cloudy pillar : for they kept his testimonies, and the law that he gave them.

8 Thou heardest them, O Lord our God : thou forgavest them, O God, and punishedst their own inventions.

9 O magnify the Lord our God, and worship him upon his holy hill : for the Lord our God is holy.

PSALM 100.

Jubilate Deo

O BE joyful in the Lord, all ye lands : serve the Lord with gladness, and come before his presence with a song.

2 Be ye sure that the Lord he is God : it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

3 O go your way into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise : be thankful unto him, and speak good of his Name.

4 For the Lord is gracious, his mercy is everlasting : and his truth endureth from generation to generation.

First Lesson

Wisdom 7:22–8:1

There is in her a spirit that is intelligent, holy,
unique, manifold, subtle,
mobile, clear, unpolluted,
distinct, invulnerable, loving the good, keen,
irresistible, beneficent, humane,
steadfast, sure, free from anxiety,
all-powerful, overseeing all,
and penetrating through all spirits
that are intelligent, pure, and altogether subtle. 
For wisdom is more mobile than any motion;
because of her pureness she pervades and penetrates all things. 
For she is a breath of the power of God,
and a pure emanation of the glory of the Almighty;
therefore nothing defiled gains entrance into her. 
For she is a reflection of eternal light,
a spotless mirror of the working of God,
and an image of his goodness. 
Although she is but one, she can do all things,
and while remaining in herself, she renews all things;
in every generation she passes into holy souls
and makes them friends of God, and prophets; 
for God loves nothing so much as the person who lives with wisdom. 
She is more beautiful than the sun,
and excels every constellation of the stars.
Compared with the light she is found to be superior, 
for it is succeeded by the night,
but against wisdom evil does not prevail.

She reaches mightily from one end of the earth to the other,
and she orders all things well.

Second Lesson

Jude

Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,

To those who are called, who are beloved in God the Father and kept safe for Jesus Christ:

 May mercy, peace, and love be yours in abundance.
 Beloved, while eagerly preparing to write to you about the salvation we share, I find it necessary to write and appeal to you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain intruders have stolen in among you, people who long ago were designated for this condemnation as ungodly, who pervert the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
 Now I desire to remind you, though you are fully informed, that the Lord, who once for all saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterwards destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their own position, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains in deepest darkness for the judgement of the great day. Likewise, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which, in the same manner as they, indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural lust, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.

 Yet in the same way these dreamers also defile the flesh, reject authority, and slander the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael contended with the devil and disputed about the body of Moses, he did not dare to bring a condemnation of slander against him, but said, ‘The Lord rebuke you!’ But these people slander whatever they do not understand, and they are destroyed by those things that, like irrational animals, they know by instinct. Woe to them! For they go the way of Cain, and abandon themselves to Balaam’s error for the sake of gain, and perish in Korah’s rebellion. These are blemishes on your love-feasts, while they feast with you without fear, feeding themselves. They are waterless clouds carried along by the winds; autumn trees without fruit, twice dead, uprooted; wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the deepest darkness has been reserved for ever.

 It was also about these that Enoch, in the seventh generation from Adam, prophesied, saying, ‘See, the Lord is coming with tens of thousands of his holy ones, to execute judgement on all, and to convict everyone of all the deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.’ These are grumblers and malcontents; they indulge their own lusts; they are bombastic in speech, flattering people to their own advantage.
 But you, beloved, must remember the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ; for they said to you, ‘In the last time there will be scoffers, indulging their own ungodly lusts.’ It is these worldly people, devoid of the Spirit, who are causing divisions. But you, beloved, build yourselves up on your most holy faith; pray in the Holy Spirit; keep yourselves in the love of God; look forward to the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are wavering; save others by snatching them out of the fire; and have mercy on still others with fear, hating even the tunic defiled by their bodies.
 Now to him who is able to keep you from falling, and to make you stand without blemish in the presence of his glory with rejoicing, to the only God our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, power, and authority, before all time and now and for ever. Amen.

Labels: Advent, Bible, lectionary, Lent of St. Martin

Here are the Lessons for the Friday after the Second Sunday before Advent from the 1928 BCP Lectionary, 1945 revision (introduction here)

Psalm

Psalms 125, 126, 127

PSALM 125.

Qui confidunt

THEY that put their trust in the Lord shall be even as the mount Sion : which may not be removed, but standeth fast for ever.

2 The hills stand about Jerusalem : even so standeth the Lord round about his people, from this time forth for evermore.

3 For the rod of the ungodly cometh not into the lot of the righteous : lest the righteous put their hand unto wickedness.

4 Do well, O Lord : unto those that are good and true of heart.

5 As for such as turn back unto their own wickedness : the Lord shall lead them forth with the evil-doers; but peace shall be upon Israel.

PSALM 126.

In convertendo

WHEN the Lord turned again the captivity of Sion : then were we like unto them that dream.

2 Then was our mouth filled with laughter : and our tongue with joy.

3 Then said they among the heathen : The Lord hath done great things for them.

4 Yea, the Lord hath done great things for us already : whereof we rejoice.

5 Turn our captivity, O Lord : as the rivers in the south.

6 They that sow in tears : shall reap in joy.

7 He that now goeth on his way weeping, and beareth forth good seed : shall doubtless come again with joy, and bring his sheaves with him.

PSALM 127.

Nisi Dominus

EXCEPT the Lord build the house : their labour is but lost that build it.

2 Except the Lord keep the city : the watchman waketh but in vain.

3 It is but lost labour that ye haste to rise up early, and so late take rest, and eat the bread of carefulness : for so he giveth his beloved sleep.

4 Lo, children and the fruit of the womb : are an heritage and gift that cometh of the Lord.

5 Like as the arrows in the hand of the giant : even so are the young children.

6 Happy is the man that hath his quiver full of them : they shall not be ashamed when they speak with their enemies in the gate.

First Lesson

Wisdom 7:15–22a

May God grant me to speak with judgement,
and to have thoughts worthy of what I have received;
for he is the guide even of wisdom
and the corrector of the wise. 
For both we and our words are in his hand,
as are all understanding and skill in crafts. 
For it is he who gave me unerring knowledge of what exists,
to know the structure of the world and the activity of the elements; 
the beginning and end and middle of times,
the alternations of the solstices and the changes of the seasons, 
the cycles of the year and the constellations of the stars, 
the natures of animals and the tempers of wild animals,
the powers of spirits and the thoughts of human beings,
the varieties of plants and the virtues of roots; 
I learned both what is secret and what is manifest, 
for wisdom, the fashioner of all things, taught me. 

Second Lesson

2 Thess. 3:6

 Now we command you, beloved, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, to keep away from believers who are living in idleness and not according to the tradition that they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us; we were not idle when we were with you, and we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it; but with toil and labour we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you. This was not because we do not have that right, but in order to give you an example to imitate. For even when we were with you, we gave you this command: Anyone unwilling to work should not eat. For we hear that some of you are living in idleness, mere busybodies, not doing any work. Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work quietly and to earn their own living. Brothers and sisters, do not be weary in doing what is right.

 Take note of those who do not obey what we say in this letter; have nothing to do with them, so that they may be ashamed. Do not regard them as enemies, but warn them as believers.
 Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in all ways. The Lord be with all of you.

 I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. This is the mark in every letter of mine; it is the way I write. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with all of you.

Labels: Advent, Bible, lectionary, Lent of St. Martin

Here are the Lessons for the Thursday after the Second Sunday before Advent from the 1928 BCP Lectionary, 1945 revision (introduction here)

Psalms

Psalms 121, 122

PSALM 121.

Levavi oculos

I WILL lift up mine eyes unto the hills : from whence cometh my help.

2 My help cometh even from the Lord : who hath made heaven and earth.

3 He will not suffer thy foot to be moved : and he that keepeth thee will not sleep.

4 Behold, he that keepeth Israel : shall neither slumber nor sleep.

5 The Lord himself is thy keeper : the Lord is thy defence upon thy right hand;

6 So that the sun shall not burn thee by day : neither the moon by night.

7 The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil : yea, it is even he that shall keep thy soul.

8 The Lord shall preserve thy going out, and thy coming in : from this time forth for evermore.

PSALM 122.

Laetatus sum

I WAS glad when they said unto me : We will go into the house of the Lord.

2 Our feet shall stand in thy gates : O Jerusalem.

3 Jerusalem is built as a city : that is at unity in itself.

4 For thither the tribes go up, even the tribes of the Lord : to testify unto Israel, to give thanks unto the Name of the Lord.

5 For there is the seat of judgement : even the seat of the house of David.

6 O pray for the peace of Jerusalem : they shall prosper that love thee.

7 Peace be within thy walls : and plenteousness within thy palaces.

8 For my brethren and companions' sakes : I will wish thee prosperity.

9 Yea, because of the house of the Lord our God : I will seek to do thee good.

First Lesson

Wisdom 7:7–14

Therefore I prayed, and understanding was given me;
I called on God, and the spirit of wisdom came to me. 
I preferred her to sceptres and thrones,
and I accounted wealth as nothing in comparison with her. 
Neither did I liken to her any priceless gem,
because all gold is but a little sand in her sight,
and silver will be accounted as clay before her. 
I loved her more than health and beauty,
and I chose to have her rather than light,
because her radiance never ceases. 
All good things came to me along with her,
and in her hands uncounted wealth. 
I rejoiced in them all, because wisdom leads them;
but I did not know that she was their mother. 
I learned without guile and I impart without grudging;
I do not hide her wealth, 
for it is an unfailing treasure for mortals;
those who get it obtain friendship with God,
commended for the gifts that come from instruction. 

Second Lesson

2 Thess. 2:13–3:5

 But we must always give thanks to God for you, brothers and sisters beloved by the Lord, because God chose you as the first fruits for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and through belief in the truth. For this purpose he called you through our proclamation of the good news, so that you may obtain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the traditions that you were taught by us, either by word of mouth or by our letter.

 Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and through grace gave us eternal comfort and good hope, comfort your hearts and strengthen them in every good work and word.

Finally, brothers and sisters, pray for us, so that the word of the Lord may spread rapidly and be glorified everywhere, just as it is among you, and that we may be rescued from wicked and evil people; for not all have faith. But the Lord is faithful; he will strengthen you and guard you from the evil one. And we have confidence in the Lord concerning you, that you are doing and will go on doing the things that we command. May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.

Labels: Advent, Bible, lectionary, Lent of St. Martin