November 27, 2016 + The First Sunday of Advent

Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir, sermon by the Rev’d Susan Pinkerton.

Worship at Home:

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Service Music:

Voluntary    Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Processional Hymn 57    Lo! He comes, with clouds descending    Helmsley

Kyrie Eleison   from Litany of the Saints    adapt. Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Sequence Hymn 61   “Sleepers, wake!” A voice astounds us    Wachet auf

Offertory Anthem    Let all mortal flesh keep silence    Gustav Holst (1874-1934)
Text: Liturgy of St. James, found at Hymn 324

Gustav Holst is best known for his 1919 orchestral suite The Planets. But church musicians know that Holst wrote a large body of very effective music for choirs. He grew up idolizing Wagner, and in 1895 while a student at the Royal College of Music met Ralph Vaughan Williams where the two became good friends. His choral works are supremely crafted miniature masterworks with a profound sense of harmony and finely planned dramaticism. (Notes courtesy John W. Ehrlich)

Sanctus    from Missa Emmanuel    Richard Proulx

Fraction Anthem    Agnus Dei   from Missa Emmanuel    Richard Proulx

Communion Anthem    The blessed son of God     Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Text: Miles Coverdale, after Martin Luther

The blessed Son of God only in a crib full poor did lie;
With our poor flesh and our poor blood was clothed that everlasting good. Kyrie eleison.

The Lord Christ Jesu, God’s son dear, was a guest and a stranger here;
Us for to bring from misery, that we might live eternally. Kyrie eleison.

All this did he for us freely, for to declare his great mercy;
All Christendom be merry therefore, and give him thanks for evermore. Kyrie eleison.

The Communion Anthem is an a capella choral hymn from Vaughan Williams’ Oratorio, Hodie. Late in life, the composer had always wanted to write a large-scale Christmas work, and here he fused the religious spirit of the festival with British overtones, with associations to English countryside carols. Vaughan Williams used no specific folk tunes in this work, but by this point in his career he had so synthesized their character that his folk tune-like themes sound fully authentic.

Closing Hymn 68    Rejoice! rejoice, believers    Llangloffan

Voluntary    Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme    Paul Manz, 1987

 

Full Sermon Text:

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