1st Sunday of Advent

28 November 2010

Entrance	Longing, trusting (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Orbis Factor
Psalm 121	I rejoiced when I heard them say (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	In the day of the Lord (M D Ridge)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Mass of Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Advent (mtgf)
Communion	Bread of Life (Bernadette Farrell)
Final	Hark a herald voice is calling

Back to the beginning of the Lectionary and Year A. The psalm provides a bridge from one year to the next but now in response to the first reading its focus is eschatological. The song by M D Ridge is a paraphrase of Isaiah reading and is a reminder that we wait in joyful hope for the day of the Lord.
Last year we sang the Orbis Factor Kyrie and just repeated the third Kyrie; this year the congregation were invited to sing the final Kyrie as given. One of the assumptions we may have fallen into is that congregations are only capable of repeating what is sung to them rather respond with an answering phrase. I did consider what I think of as the 'Ainslie' solution which is for the congregation to repeat the cantor's Kyrie and then for the choir to sing the last Kyrie as a coda. As we usually have the 3rd form of Penitential Rite my guess is that would seem an intrusion before the absolution.
A new 'Advent Lamb of God' — as we look towards the new translation of the Missal it seems an opportunity to review what we sing. So a recognition that John Bell's charming Behold the Lamb of God is not a Lamb of God however nicely it bridges the seasons until the beginning of Ordinary Time in the new year. The new setting may not be perfect either. It echoes (read 'copies') Rorate caeli and O come, O come Emmanuel and alternative invocations are offered taken from the O Antiphons.