24th Sunday in Ordinary Time

16 September 2012

Entrance	Praise to the holiest
Penitential Rite	St Gabriel (mtgf)
Gloria	Angels and Saints (Steven Janco)
Psalm 114	I will walk in the presence (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Salisbury (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	He became poor (John Bell)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Lamb of God	Lamb of God 9 (mtgf)
Communion Antiphon	The chalice of blessing (mtgf)
Communion	How can I repay (mtgf)
Final	At the name of Jesus

The moment of recognition and the turning point of the Gospel. A suitable response seemed to be the canticle from Philippians and this was the source text not only for the final hymn but also for the verses between the John Bell chant He became poor.

I find it odd that Praise to the holiest is a hymn I find difficult to shorten whereas At the name of Jesus can be happily chopped to 1, 3, 5, 7 and still make sense. As i mentioned a couple of weeks ago I am interested about people's expectations of meaning - whether that it is in the text itself or in its function. I expect the two to interelate - that is part of what liturgy does interpret or add meaning through function. I suspect that for many who do not have this interest surface level function is enough - we sing something at the opening and we have sung something and so the function is fulfilled. The same may apply to prayers. I think there are levels of nuance. To come at the question from another direction my guess is that many people in a similar position to me that hymn x would work well as an opening but not closing - something about function and flow. With these two hymns my what, instinct, knowledge, skill? says this way round - though I can conceive of Praise to the holiest at the end of Mass. I think this way round was partly musical, Camberwell is slightly more rousing and outward facing, similarly the text of At the name of Jesus has something of a response to the question 'who do you say that I am?' and follows the gospel (even reminds us) and send us out for the week.

Behind this is the question 'my what, instinct, knowledge, skill?' or a situation which I am sure familiar to many when face why can't we just sing x or y how do you communicate craft when it is not seemingly apparent to the other person nor be the liturgical terrorist either - you may need people's skills as well! I suppose part of the raison for this blog is to say this is not random, there may be method in the perceived madness.