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.

22nd Sunday in Ordinary Time

28 August 2011

Entrance	All that is hidden (Bernadette Farrell)
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 62	For you my soul (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(A G Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Ours were the griefs (Stephen Dean)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Communion	O God, you search me (Bernadette Farrell)
Final	He who would valiant be

And so farewell, our final 'And also with you' — our at least as common, intentional response as opposed forgotten out of kilter mumbling that I am sure there will be over the last few weeks. In terms of what we sing we have now been singing the new translations of the Gloria, Sanctus and Memorial Acclamation for 8 weeks and as far as I am aware this has worked well.

As mentioned last week this is the turning point of the Gospel Narrative — the prophecy of the Passion and taking the road for Jerusalem. Again nothing quite right seems to come to mind. Hymns about the Cross, such as 'When I survey' do not seem right. I had thought that 'All that is hidden' made explicit mention of taking up the cross, but apparently not, though I think it was still appropriate. 'Ours were the griefs' was a response to the image that Christ was to suffer.

21st Sunday in Ordinary Time

21 August 2011

Entrance	Christ is made the sure foundation
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 137	Your love, O Lord (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(A G Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	He became poor (John Bell)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Communion	All things are from the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Final	All my hope on God is founded

I was at a meeting earlier this week where the Revised Common Lectionary was discussed and how its adoption in Reformed Churches in the US had led to hymn writers identifying readings for which there were not hymn texts and then to create them. Though I am sure I said before here that I am not sure that a hymn text should be too exact not be a retelling or paraphrase particularly I am surprised that today's Gospel has not led to more texts — or perhaps I am missing something obvious, suggestions welcome.

I think I am correct that Peter's recognition and next week's prophecy of the Passion are heard in all three Lectionary years and are the whole common events in Ordinary Time marking the turning point in the Gospel narrative. This suggests that lack of sung texts is more surprising. Another comment from the meeting is that we should think of being in the Year of John and Matthew (etc.) rather than just Matthew as in each year John is read on a significant number of Sundays (and usually significant Sundays as well).

Therefore the first hymn was in part acclamation to Christ but also shift to Christ rather Peter being the foundation; the final hymn took a similar line of foundations. I did wonder about a verse of 'O come, O come Emmanuel' to link to the first reading but that may have been a little obscure.

The Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary

14 August 2011

Entrance	Hail Queen of heaven
Penitential Rite	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Gloria	At the Table of the Lord (Collegeville Composers Group)
Psalm 44	On your right stands the Queen (mtgf)
Gospel Acclamation	(A G Murray)
Preparation of Gifts	Magnificat (Bernadette Farrell)
Eucharistic Acclamations	Missal (ICEL)
Lamb of God	St Gabriels (mtgf)
Communion	O holy Mary (Owen Alstott)
Final	Tell out my soul

This week we down in numbers as both I and our accompanist were away. There was a pre-Olympic Cycle race which closed local streets. So a choir member reports:

Congregation were a little tentative at first but were clearly singing the Gloria and the Acclamations. We used two versions of the Magnificat (Farrell and Tell out my soul), but this seemed to be an appropriate response to the Gospel. It was something we knew and could sing unaccompanied, and somehow, 'Tell out my Soul' never quite feels like a Magnificat to me...

Meanwhile I was at the parish of Saint Jacques in Reims where Sunday Mass was for 20th Sunday. (Today, Monday, was the Assumption and a bank Holiday with large Mass in the Cathedral.) We had a cantor and an organist as well as congregation and priest who sang. Leaving aside a version of 'Make me a channel of your peace' with 'A new commandment' words. The two main things to note were a brief organ interlude after the Homily, which was effective (and also done at the Cathedral today) and there were baptisms after Mass and the infants with parents and god parents were brought to the Sanctuary after Communion and welcomed and the infants signed with the Cross. We then sang once through the Taizé Magnificat as both an acclamation and preparation for tomorrow. Otherwise it was done simply and well, in particular the disposition of ministers.