2nd Sunday of Lent

24 February 2013

Entrance	For God so loved the world (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Lenten (Bob Hurd)
Psalm 26	The Lord is my light (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Preparation of Gifts	O nata lux (Tallis)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Lamb of God	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion Antiphon	This is my beloved Son (mtgf)
Communion	Transfigure us, O Lord (Bob Hurd)
Final	Be thou my vision

At the Evening Mass - where we did Nick Baty's Attende Domine as the seasonal entrance song, Be still for the presence, There is one thing by Chris O'Hara as the Communion Psalm and Christ be our light - the preacher wondered why we had the Transfiguration in Lent - perhaps to cheer us up. He may not have considered the Collect and Preface in his reflections as he may have found they helped.

I suspect that we have not yet fully taken on board the idea that Lent is about Baptism and Reconciliation rather than it is a Penitential season. At the simplest it is a season leading somewhere not just penitential for the sake of it. To be fair I am not sure how this is accommodated musically except by marking it as a season and paying attention to the word rather than just choosing penitential music. In Year C reconciliation is one of the strands of the Lectionary and so, hopefully, you will see that reflected in the coming weeks.

1st Sunday of Lent

17 February 2013

Entrance	For God so loved the world (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Lenten (Bob Hurd)
Psalm 90	Be with me, Lord (Marty Haugen)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Preparation of Gifts	Thy mercy, O Lord God (Marcello)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Lamb of God	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion Antiphon	One does not live (mtgf)
Communion	Out into the wilderness (Bob Hurd)
Final	Guide me, O thou great Redeemer

Sometimes from season to season our change is gradual, with Lent it is abrupt with everything changing. This does relay on the idea that the congregation (as wells the singers) remember these things from year to year. The opening song, which will be used over the Sundays of Lent, was amend last year. Instead of a set of Sunday specific verses I wrote a different setting using verses from a psalm. For Year C and the theme of Reconciliation we are using Psalm 85 - and so a couple of verses are sung each week. As well as simplifying things it is I think a stronger melody.

This morning we had a textual change I am not sure we have had to do before: 'Jehovah' to 'O Lord God'. This following the notification of the Holy See a number of years ago about the use of Jehovah YHWH. In some translations this might have also affected the final hymn but it was the piece by Marcello. The English text was originally added soon after the composer's death. We were men only this morning but oddly the piece I had considered if the women had been present also included the name Jehovah.

Ash Wednesday

13 February 2013

Entrance	Return to God (Marty Haugen)
Psalm 50	Have mercy on us (Dean/Gelineau)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Blessing and Distribution of Ashes	Return to God (Marty Haugen)
	[Listen, Lord (Nick Baty)]
	[Be with me, Lord (Marty Haugen)]
Eucharistic Acclamations	Creation (Marty Haugen)
Communion Antiphon	He who ponders the law (mtgf)
Final	Guide me, O thou great Redeemer

A lunchtime Mass in which I tried to sow some of the seeds for Lenten Sunday Masses especially Sunday evening. We are using Nick Baty's Listen,Lord as an entrance song on the Sundays of Lent and Be with me, Lord will be our common psalm. In the event with 3 ministers Return to God by itself fitted perfectly and no more was needed.

5th Sunday in Ordinary Time

10 february 2013

Entrance	Holy, holy, holy
Penitential Rite	St Gabriel (mtgf)
Gloria	Newman (James MacMillan)
Psalm 137	Before the angels (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Beati (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Lord, you have come to the seashore (Gabarain)
Eucharistic Acclamations	St Annes (James MacMillan)
Lamb of God	Newman (James MacMillan)
Communion Antiphon	Let them thank the Lord (mtgf)
Communion	Awake, thou wintry earth (J S Bach)
Final	Will you come and follow me

As the last Sunday before Lent this was the last Sunday, this year, we will be using the MacMillan setting. My impression is that the congregation is engaging with them - i.e. showing an a willingness to participate I am not sure they are singing with confidence yet. That may sound faint but I think it's a good start.

Awake, thou wintry earth was chosen as pre-Lent fanfare - though the wintry earth was still very present.

An added note of the explanation for the Congregation - if they noticed - the choir were a little tired today due to having been part of the College Choir sing at 6 Graduations in the Chapel on Saturday!

4th Sunday in Ordinary Time

3 February 2013

Entrance	O the word of my Lord
Penitential Rite	St Gabriel (mtgf)
Gloria	Newman (James MacMillan)
Psalm 70	My lips will tell (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Beati (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	Faith, hope and love (Christopher Walker)
Eucharistic Acclamations	St Annes (James MacMillan)
Lamb of God	Newman (James MacMillan)
Communion Antiphon	Let your face shine on your servant (mtgf)
Communion	The Word of God (mtgf)
Final	He who would valiant be

The Lectionary is interesting this week. I think it is the only week where the first line is a repeat of the last line of the week before. Also the psalm is an interpretation of the first reading which shapes the reading of the Gospel - rather than being directly related to it.

I think there is a temptation this week to focus on the reading from 1 Corinthians - because it is a well known passage and there are a number of pieces that are related to it. A consequence of singing the Missal Communion Antiphons is that we have not used Psallite recently - and the setting of 1 Corinthins is I think a lovely piece.

3rd Sunday in Ordinary Time

27 January 2013

Entrance	God has spoken through his prophets
Penitential Rite	St Gabriel (mtgf)
Gloria	Newman (James MacMillan)
Psalm 18	Your words are spirit (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Beati (Christopher Walker)
Preparation of Gifts	God has chosen me (Bernadette Farrell)
Eucharistic Acclamations	St Annes (James MacMillan)
Lamb of God	Newman (James MacMillan)
Communion Antiphon	I am the light of the world (mtgf)
Communion	The spirit of the Lord (Elgar)
Final	The kingdom of God

In the past the ideal time for writing this blog has been Sunday afternoon, while thoughts from the experience have been fresh in my mind. As I have also been helping with music at our Sunday evening Mass as well this writing up time has been lost. Part of the purpose of this blog is to suggest that a strength of the our liturgy is that there is not one 'perfect' choice to be made but different response which are affected by a number of things including the resources available. A theme over the last few weeks has been the lack of good hymnody that seems to speak of what the Lectionary provides. But available resources demand different approaches: in the morning we can at least singGod has spoken to another hymn tune (Austria) than the one given in the hymnbook (Heil'ger Joseph) - a system of some flexibility; in the evening I am aware of, or suspect, a more limited repertoire (I have been surprised that older members of the music group have not know Spirit of the living God or Lord, make me a means of your peace) - I have to admit we do pieces that I would not consider in the morning (unless I was in 'retro' mood, for example, the last hymn in the evening was God's spirit is in my heart. We have been learning new hymns/songs in the evening but I have been concentrating on developing the Mass parts (i.e. a second setting of the new translation).

Using Elgar's The spirit of the Lord had been at the back of my mind for a number of weeks when thinking about this Sunday but I had dismissed it as too difficult. I was surpassed to see when I actually looked at the music that it was predominantly in unison - the hard graft is in the accompaniment. There was a time when I knew what all the various leitmotifs were and I wonder (a little bit) if it truly stands on its own or whether the passing incidence of motifs which will be played out in a whole evening's work make it a little incidental or bitty. It is a good sing and did pick up the gospel of course.