Music

Music at the Christmas Eve Service

Prelude:
(1) “In Dulci Jubilo”, Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
(2) Siciliana (The Holly and the Ivy) from Christmas Suite, Alec Rowley (1892-1958)
(3) Pastoral Symphony from Messiah, Georg Friedrich Handel (1685-1759)

Music during Communion:
(1) Prelude on “From Heaven Above”, Gordon Young (1919-1998)
(2) Prelude on “This Endris Nyght”, Healey Willan (1880-1968)
(3) Berceuse on “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear”, Mary Gifford (b. 1951)

Postlude: Fantasy on “He is Born”, Richard Hudson (b. 1924)

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Prayers and liturgy

Christmas Eve

The collect for today, Christmas Eve (source):

Almighty God,
who makest us glad with the yearly remembrance
of the birth of thy only Son Jesus Christ:
grant that, as we joyfully receive him as our redeemer,
so we may with sure confidence behold him
when he shall come to be our judge;
who liveth and reigneth with thee
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Epistle: Titus 2:11-15
The Gospel: St Luke 2:1-14

Lochner, Nativity

Artwork: Stefan Lochner, Nativity, 1445. Oil on panel, Alte Pinakothek, Munich.

“Christmas Eve”
(a poem by Christina Georgina Rossetti)

Christmas hath darkness
Brighter than the blazing noon,
Christmas hath a chillness
Warmer than the heat of June,
Christmas hath a beauty
Lovelier than the world can show:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

Earth, strike up your music,
Birds that sing and bells that ring;
Heaven hath answering music
For all Angels soon to sing:
Earth, put on your whitest
Bridal robe of spotless snow:
For Christmas bringeth Jesus,
Brought for us so low.

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Thomas the Apostle

Leandro Bassano, Incredulity of St ThomasThe collect for today, the Feast of St Thomas the Apostle, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

ALMIGHTY and everliving God, who for the more confirmation of the faith didst suffer thy holy Apostle Thomas to be doubtful in thy Son’s resurrection: Grant us so perfectly, and without all doubt, to believe in thy Son Jesus Christ, that our faith in thy sight may never be reproved. Hear us, O Lord, through the same Jesus Christ, to whom, with thee and the Holy Spirit, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.

The Epistle: Ephesians 2:19-22
The Gospel: St John 20:24-29

Click here to read more about St Thomas.

Artwork: Leandro Bassano, Incredulity of St Thomas, c. 1595. Oil on canvas, Chapel of the Holy Trinity, Basilica di Santi Giovanni e Paolo (San Zanipolo), Venice.  Photograph taken by admin, 12 May 2010.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent

“The Lord is at hand. In nothing be anxious”

Are we ready, really ready, for Christmas? Do we really know what it means to be ready? Ready, exactly, for what? Perhaps that is why we are often so anxious.

Therein lies the problem and the necessity of the Advent season. The problem is that in so many ways, Advent is anticipatory of Christmas. There is the sense of impending fulfillment such that the celebrations already seem to have begun. Yet Advent is the season of expectancy, a season of hope in the realization of what has come to pass, “this thing that has happened,” the holy birth of Christ.

Advent looks to Christmas and so it seems that Christmas has already come. We find it hard to remain in that mode of holy waiting, of holy expectancy. We rush on to what we think is the celebration. We forget the message sounded so profoundly and so importantly in the scripture readings for this day.

“The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Jesus Christ.” What powerful words, words, too, which have shaped our liturgy, words which inform the blessing at every service of the Holy Eucharist. “The Peace of God which passeth understanding, keep your hearts and minds in the knowledge and love of God and of his Son Jesus Christ our Lord.”

The Peace of God! This seems so diametrically opposed to the mad rush and busyness of this season, a holy season that threatens to become anything but holy, anything but peaceful and calm. (more…)

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Events

Christmas at Christ Church, 2010

Friday, December 24th, Christmas Eve
7:00pm Children’s Crêche Service
9:30pm Christmas Eve Communion Service

Saturday, December 25th, Christmas Day
10:00am Christmas Morning Communion Service

Sunday, December 26th, St. Stephen/Sunday After Christmas
10:30am Holy Communion

Monday, December 27th, St. John the Evangelist
10:00am Holy Communion

Tuesday, December 28th, Holy Innocents
10:00am Holy Communion

Thursday, December 30th
10:30am ‘Prayers & Praises’ at Dykeland Lodge

Saturday, January 1st, 2011, Circumcision of Christ/New Years’ Day
10:00am Holy Communion, followed by Levée in the Hall

Sunday, January 2nd, Second Sunday after Christmas
8:00am Holy Communion
10:30am Christmas Lessons & Carols

Thursday, January 6th, Epiphany
7:00pm Holy Communion (in the Hall)

O God, who makest glad with the yearly remembrance of the birth of thy only Son Jesus Christ: Grant that as we joyfully receive him as our Redeemer, we may with sure confidence behold him when he shall come again to be our Judge; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and ever. Amen.

When Mary the Mother kissed the Child

When Mary the Mother kissed the Child
And night on the wintry hills grew mild,
And the strange star swung from the courts of air
To serve at a manger with kings in prayer,
Then did the day of the simple kin
And the unregarded folk begin.

When Mary the Mother forgot the pain,
In the stable of rock began love’s reign.
When that new light on their grave eyes broke
The oxen were glad and forgot their yoke;
And the huddled sheep in the far hill fold
Stirred in their sleep and felt no cold.

When Mary the Mother gave of her breast
To the poor inn’s latest and lowliest guest,–
The God born out of the woman’s side,–
The Babe of Heaven by Earth denied,–
Then did the hurt ones cease to moan,
And the long-supplanted came to their own.

When Mary the Mother felt faint hands
Beat at her bosom with life’s demands,
And nought to her were the kneeling kings,
The serving star and the half-seen wings,
Then there was the little of earth made great,
And the man came back to the God’s estate.

From The Book of the Rose,
Charles G.D. Roberts, 1903

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Events, Month at a Glance

Week at a Glance, 20-26 December

Tuesday, December 21st, St Thomas
3:30pm Holy Communion – The Elms
6:00pm ‘Prayers & Praises’ – Haliburton Place
6:30-7:30pm Brownies/Sparks Mtg.
7:00pm Holy Communion
7:30pm Parish Council Meeting

Friday, December 24th, Christmas Eve
7:00pm Children’s Crêche Service
9:30pm Christmas Communion

Saturday, December 25th, Christmas Day
10:00am Christmas Communion

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Prayers and liturgy

The Fourth Sunday in Advent

Guillaume de Périers, St John the BaptistThe collect for today, the Fourth Sunday in Advent, from The Book of Common Prayer (Canadian, 1962):

RAISE up, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy power, and come among us, and with great might succour us; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness, we are sore let and hindered in running the race that is set before us, thy bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, one God, world without end. Amen.

The Epistle: Philippians 4:4-7
The Gospel: St John 1:19-29

Artwork: Guillaume de Périers, St John the Baptist, 1492. Basilica di San Giovanni Laterano, Rome.  Photograph taken by admin, 29 April 2010.

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Mission

Photographs of St Matthew’s, Tisdale, Sask.

The Rev’d Gethin Edward, Rector of our prayer partner parish, St Matthew’s, Tisdale, Diocese of Saskatchewan, has sent us some photographs taken at his church. They have been uploaded to our new St Matthew’s photo album and can seen by clicking here. (Click on thumbnail photos to view larger versions.)

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Prayers and liturgy

Saint Ignatius of Antioch

The collect for today, the Feast of Saint Ignatius (d. c. 107), Bishop of Antioch, Martyr (source):

St John the Baptist Cirencester, St IgnatiusFeed us, O Lord, with the living bread
and make us drink deep of the cup of salvation
that, following the teaching of thy bishop Ignatius,
and rejoicing in the faith
with which he embraced the death of a martyr,
we may be nourished for that eternal life
which he ever desired;
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: Romans 8:35-39
The Gospel: St John 12:23-26

Click here to read more about Saint Ignatius.

Artwork: St Ignatius, stained glass, Parish Church of St John the Baptist, Cirencester, Gloucestershire. Photograph taken by admin, 18 August 2004.

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Sermons

Sermon for the Christmas service for Atlantic Ministry of the Deaf

“Of his fullness have we all received, grace upon grace”

The Advent and Christmas season is a busy time with all manner of expectations, all manner of anxieties, all manner of fears and worries. There is a rich fullness, to be sure, to Christmas itself.

It is something which one day cannot presume to capture nor that even twelve days with all the festivities of our social, family and communal gatherings can ever hope to exhaust. Such things belong, to be sure, to the rich fullness of this season, but only as attendant events. They circle about the central scene of Christmas. In a way, the businesses of the Advent and Christmas season are really only our poor attempt to capture something of the rich fullness of the Mystery of Christmas.

In truth, there is but one poor, humble scene of Christmas. It is the stable of Bethlehem. Therein lies all the rich fullness of Christmas. That poor, humble scene contains a great crowd of scenes, a great gathering of Christmasses; in short, it opens to view a rich fullness of grace, even “grace upon grace,” to use John’s arresting phrase. There is more here, we may say, than meets the eye. It is altogether something for the soul. We are bidden to ponder the Mystery of the Word made flesh. The attitude of the Church is an essentially Marian attitude. “Mary kept all these things” – all these wondrous things that were said about the Child Christ by Shepherds and Angels – “and pondered them in her heart.” And only so can they come to birth and live in us.

(more…)

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