26th Sunday in Ordinary Time

25 September 2011

Entrance	Lord Jesus Christ, you have come to us ()
Penitential Rite	St Gabriel's (mtgf)
Gloria	St Gabriel's (mtgf)
Psalm 24	Remember your mercy, O Lord (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	May we have the mind of Christ (Marty Haugen)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	St Gabriel's (mtgf)
Communion	Jesus, Saviour (mtgf)
Final	At the name of Jesus

This time of year I am trying to keep things a little simple so that anyone new whether in the choir or congregation will not feel too out of place. Hence the hymns are chosen from a list of ones I think most people should know (whilst also picking up themes in the liturgy) — it might not be a bad exercise to write down this mental list.

As the Phillipians Canticle was part of the 2nd reading it was hard to ignore it (it's the final hymn too). Marty Haugen's setting which we have done once before I think, and so gave a new view on the text, includes the previous verse 'May we have the mind of Christ'. 'Jesus, Saviour' is an alternative refrain for an Advent Song I wrote in Cantate. I think the text is in part editorial to complement the verses from Psalm 24 which were in the original. I don't think I have used it before. I thought the end of the first line needed a longer text phrase to run across two musical phrases otherwise it sounds a bit bitty.

In Roman Missal news we sang the (first) Memorial Acclamation straight through today, rather than cantor first. I am aware that we need to get all three acclamations sung as I suspect it is easier to do now than next time. That is much a comment on my planing as the congregation's engagement.

25th Sunday in Ordinary Time

18 September 2011

Entrance	Praise to the holiest ()
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Psalm 144	The Lord is close (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	God beyond all names (Bernadette Farrell)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Communion	I am your Saviour (Collegeville Composers Group)
Final	Tell out my soul ( )

This is delayed posting because I had to get to another Mass on Sunday afternoon and the rest of the week seems to have been quite busy too. Praise to the holiest seemed both appropriate to the Sunday and a way of marking the Papal anniversary.

24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

11 September 2011

Entrance	Love is his word
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Psalm 102	The Lord is compassion (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Not for tongues (Michael Joncas)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Communion	Now we remain (David Haas)
Final	Sing of the Lord's Goodness

As the new term begins I am aware that in year A, and I think Year C, we get a series of readings about sin and repentance. It is interesting to stay faithful to the readings and yet provide music which is attractive and welcoming. As there are a number of visitors today and on the same principal as last week that new translation is enough to worry about the hymns war chosen from among the familiar. My impression was that we spoke the text well. The revised Gloria is slightly throwing people as part of the way I have dealt with longer text is to make the initial refrain cover the first paragraph rather than just repeating the first line. I suspect we will get there. In a similar way we have repeated the Memorial Acclamation for last week and this but I think we shall just go straight in. I am aware that I would like people to know more than just one acclamation.

23rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

4 September 2011

Entrance	Brother, sister let me serve you
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Psalm 94	O that today (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(A G Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Ubi caritas (Bob Hurd)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Communion	Where two or three (Collegeville Composers Group)
Final	God is love

And so we begin. We went again for the total with new (revised) Mass settings as well as the new translation for the Order of Mass. People were reminded before Mass that they needed an extra booklet and there was an introduction to the translation after the Gospel (though the Deacon gave a 'short' homily as well because he he had prepared one).

We sang a revised version of the St Gabriel's Gloria using the new translation, once people had got past the awkwardness of the first refrain and were onto more familiar terrain it seemed OK. The revised Mass of Creation was introduced briefly before Mass. We sang the first acclamation as cantor repeated by all, and will do so for a couple of week to introduce it. Though some are concerned that there is a danger with rewritten settings that it will be easy to lapse into 'old ways' I think with strong leadership from the musicians there should not be a problem (of course, if the musicians slip…). More interestingly when we used one practice to review new settings there was a general feeling that the rewritten settings may tied us over but we may continue looking for new ones.

In general people's responses seemed OK; nobody expects perfection in week one. What I was aware of was that I come to the text knowing what has changed and what has not whereas I got the impression this morning that people could be thrown by the familiar because you do not know what to expect, so the response 'For the kingdom' was a little subdued (actually as this is said by people alone rather than priest and people together it has often been subdued).

I particularly wanted that the choices for other texts would be familiar, hence opening and closing hymn. I think they were at one remove from the scripture texts but still appropriate. Ubi caritas linked the command of love in the 2nd reading with the idea of coming together in Christ's name. It was good to have a setting of the words 'Where 2 or 3' as that had been a link between the Gospel and the reflection on the Introductory Rites.