Month: December 2012

Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 10 – 16 December

Monday, December 10th
6:00-7:00pm Brownies/Sparks – Parish Hall

Tuesday, December 11th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
7:30pm Parish Council Meeting

Thursday, December 13th
6:30-7:30pm Girl Guides – Parish Hall

Sunday, December 16th, Third Sunday in Advent
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Morning Prayer
4:00pm Evening Prayer – Christ Church

Upcoming Events:

Friday, December 21st
7:00pm Christ Church Concert Series: “To Bethlehem With Kings”, Capella Regalis, Men and Boys Choir, directed by Nick Halley. Cost: $10.00.

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Prayers and liturgy

The Second Sunday in Advent

The collect for today, the Second Sunday in Advent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

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 Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 15:4-13
The Gospel: St. Luke 21:25-33

Giusto de'Menabuoi, Christ on the white horseArtwork: Giusto de’ Menabuoi, Christ on the white horse, 1376-78. Fresco, Baptistery, Padua.

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Uncategorized

The Advent in Isaiah: Part 1

This is the first of a two-part series on “The Advent in Isaiah”. The second part is posted here. A pdf document containing the full text of both parts can be downloaded here.

The Advent in Isaiah: Part I

Isaiah is “the most evangelical of the prophets,” a seventeenth century Anglican Divine, Anthony Sparrow, observes. And, certainly, of all the prophets it is safe to say that Isaiah is, perhaps, the best known and, perhaps, even the most read of all of the Books of the Prophets, at least in the liturgies of the Church, and the one prophet, too, whose words have inspired some of the greatest music of all times. One has only to think of Handel’s Messiah or many of the Bach cantatas.

In the Advent season particularly, readings from The Book of the Prophet Isaiah stand out and compel our attention. Readings from Isaiah, for instance, are prominent in the wonderful service of Advent Lessons and Carols. In the season of the preparation for the celebration of Christ’s holy birth, images and phrases from Isaiah help to shape our understanding of the mystery and the wonder of the Incarnation. For that reason The Book of Isaiah is read at the Daily Offices of Morning and Evening Prayer and in the Sunday Offices throughout the Advent and Christmas seasons and into Epiphany. There is, it seems, a prophetic conjunction between Isaiah and the central themes of the Christian Gospel.

The Book of the Prophet Isaiah spans at least two centuries and while it is all collectively The Book of Isaiah, it is probably the work of several writers over several centuries from the latter half of the 8th century to the latter half of the 6th century BC. The scholarly consensus, more or less, is that The Book of Isaiah is best appreciated as three books or one book having three distinct sections: First Isaiah, chapters 1-39; Deutero-Isaiah, chapters 40-55; and, Trito-Isaiah, chapters 56-66. Readings from each of these three divisions of the book figure prominently in the Christian Church’s understanding of the mystery of the Incarnation.

We may take four passages as examples of ‘the Advent in Isaiah’: Isaiah 11.1-9; Isaiah 60.1-6; Isaiah 7.10-15; and Isaiah 40.1-11. The first two will be the focus for this session; the last two at the next.

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Prayers and liturgy

Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary

The collect for today, the Feast of the Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary (source):

Almighty and everlasting God,
who stooped to raise fallen humanity
through the child-bearing of blessed Mary:
grant that we, who have seen thy glory
revealed in our human nature
and thy love made perfect in our weakness,
may daily be renewed in thine image
and conformed to the pattern of thy Son
Jesus Christ our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

For the Epistle: Proverbs 8:22-35
The Gospel: St. Luke 1:26-28

Raphael, Madonna della SiggiolaArtwork: Raphael, Madonna & Child with St. John the Baptist (“Madonna della Seggiola”), c. 1516. Oil on panel, Pitti Palace, Florence.

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Prayers and liturgy

St. Nicholas, Bishop

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Nicholas (d. c. 326), Bishop of Myra (source):

Almighty Father, lover of souls,
who didst choose thy servant Nicholas
to be a bishop in the Church,
that he might give freely out of the treasures of thy grace:
make us mindful of the needs of others
and, as we have received, so teach us also to give;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: 1 St. John 4:7-14
The Gospel: St. Mark 10:13-16

Tamas Kolozsvari, Wheat Miracle of St. NicholasArtwork: Tamás Kolozsvári, Wheat Miracle of St. Nicholas of Myra, 1427. Tempera on wood, Christian Museum, Esztergom, Hungary.

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Events, Music

Capella Regalis Christmas Concert

Christ Church is very pleased to announce that Capella Regalis Men & Boys Choir will perform a Christmas concert on Friday, December 21st, at 7pm. Tickets cost $10 and may be purchased at the door or in advance at Windsor Home Hardware.

Capella Regalis Christmas Concert

Capella Regalis Men and Boys Choir, directed by Nick Halley, celebrates its third annual To Bethlehem With Kings concert with three Christmas performances, in Windsor, Lunenburg, and Halifax.  A traditional and heart-warming evening of beautiful carols for Christmas, ancient and modern, performed by a choir of 12 boys (ages 7-14) and 12 men.  The concert will also include hymns for audience participation, Paul Halley playing pipe organ, and the Maritime Brass Quintet joining the ensemble for the final, Halifax performance.

Capella Regalis Men and Boys Choir was founded in Halifax by Director Nick Halley in 2010 and is modeled on the great Anglican tradition of men and boys church choirs.  While Canada was once rich with such choirs, Capella Regalis is one of only a handful of men and boys choirs in Canada today.  It aims to help rejuvenate the tradition in Canada.  The choir sings Choral Evensong every Tuesday of the academic term at 5:00 p.m. in the University of King’s College Chapel, 6350 Coburg Road, Halifax.  The choir also performs concerts around Nova Scotia throughout its September – June season.  Please visit www.capellaregalis.com for more information.

Click here for a larger poster suitable for downloading and printing.

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Prayers and liturgy

Clement of Alexandria, Doctor

St Clement of AlexandriaThe collect for today, the Feast of Saint Clement of Alexandria (c. 155-c. 215), Priest, Apologist, Doctor (source);

O Lord, who didst call thy servant Clement of Alexandria from the errors of ancient philosophy that he might learn and teach the saving Gospel of Christ: Turn thy Church from the conceits of worldly wisdom and, by the Spirit of truth, guide it into all truth; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

The Epistle: Colossians 1:11-20
The Gospel: St. John 6:57-63

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Sermons

Sermon for the First Sunday in Advent

“The night is far spent, the day is at hand; let us therefore cast off
the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light”

There is something quite wonderful about Advent. It signals the motions of God’s Word towards us in ways that are quite stirring and comforting, and, at the same time, quite challenging and really rather frightening. The image of the far spent night stops us in our tracks and bids us reflect. In the darkness of nature’s year we are bidden to consider the darknesses that are within and not just without.

The themes of light and life all dance and swirl around the idea of the divine Word, the Word of God which convicts and convinces us, the Word which confronts and comforts in equal measure. The season and doctrine of Advent, for it is more than a season, it is equally and profoundly a teaching, are almost eclipsed in the shallow sentimentalities of all of the hub-bub about Christmas. The meaning of Advent gets lost and with it the meaning of Christmas, too. For none of the festivities of Christmas make any sense at all apart from the doctrine of Advent. And nowhere, perhaps, are the central themes of Advent more compellingly before us than on The First Sunday in Advent.

“Give us grace,” the Collect implores Almighty God, “that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life.” Christianity makes no sense and Christmas becomes a lot of nonsense without this awareness, the awareness of the darkness and of “the light which shineth in darkness and the darkness overcame it not.” What kind of darkness? The darkness of ‘the far spent night’ is the darkness of sin and folly, the darkness of sadness and despair, the darkness which is entirely and primarily within each of us, the darkness to which we so easily succumb. We forget how profound this naming of the darkness within us really is. We forget that to be able to name the darkness is because of the light of the divine Word. “Thy word is a light and a lantern,” as the psalmist says.

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 3 – 9 December

Monday, December 3rd
4:45-5:15pm World Religions/Inquirer’s Class – Room 206, King’s-Edgehill School
6:00-7:00pm Brownies/Sparks – Parish Hall

Tuesday, December 4th
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
7:00pm Holy Communion & Advent Programme I: The Advent in Isaiah

Thursday, December 6th
3:00pm Service at Windsor Elms
6:30-7:30pm Brownies – Parish Hall

Sunday, December 9th, Second Sunday in Advent
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Holy Communion
2:00pm AMD Christmas Service of the Deaf
4:00pm Evening Prayer – Christ Church

Upcoming Events:

Friday, December 21st
7:00pm Christ Church Concert Series: “To Bethlehem With Kings”, Capella Regalis, Men and Boys Choir, directed by Nick Halley. Cost: $10.00.

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Prayers and liturgy

The First Sunday in Advent

The collect for today, the First Sunday in Advent, being the Fourth Sunday before Christmas Day, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

Durer, Entry into JerusalemALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour 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 Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

The Epistle: Romans 13:8-14
The Gospel: St. Matthew 21:1-13

Artwork: Albrecht Dürer, Christ’s Entry into Jerusalem, 1511. Woodcut, British Museum, London.

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