4th Sunday of Lent

15 March 2015

Entrance	For God so loved the world (mtgf)
Penitential Rite	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Psalm 136	O let my tongue (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	Lenten (mtgf)
Preparation of Gifts	As Moses lifted up the serpent (Bairstow)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Lamb of God	Missa Ubi Caritas (Bob Hurd)
Communion Antiphon	Jerusalem is built as a city (mtgf)
Communion	When I am lifted up (Bob Hurd)
Final	Out of darkness

I had not realised until I was looking at this week and next that the phrase about being lifted up occurred in both gospels - I had joined the two in my head. It does show how the Gospels of year B are about the Johannine theme of the glory of the Cross from which Christ reigns. I had come across the Barstow a couple of years ago when looking for settings of this text. This was the first time we had sung it. It is an odd piece which sounds/works more effectively than it looks. The first page is TB quasi recitative with SA suspensions which looks a bit sparse on paper. It then becomes a flowing setting of 'God so loved the world' - a text heard 4 times this morning including the gospel.

Another theme was darkness and light and though I thought about doing 'Awake, awake' at the end (it has been a while since we have) as we will be singing Out of Darkness at the end of the Vigil it was agood idea to remind ourselves of it.