The fourth Sunday in Lent is sometimes referred to as Refreshment Sunday – a day when the strictures of Lent are relaxed a bit. (It is also Mothering Sunday for those who keep that festival).
At St Mary’s tomorrow, our refreshment is coming in the form of some of the most lovely choral must that we sing here. Fr Vice Provost will be preaching on the Prodigal Child. And we’re adding one or two guest choristers into the mix.
Expect something special.
One of the interesting things about choral evensong is that in some places it can seem like a living tradition that can speak to anyone, whereas in others it can appear to be dry as dust, pompous and irrelevant. What do you think the “method” is that produces a living choral evensong as opposed to an antiquarian one?
That’s a good question, Martin and I agree, it can be miserable.
I think that worship tends to take off when those planning it and organising and leading it care more about what we are doing when we worship than in the form in which we worship.
I suspect that Choral Evensong is not best led by liturgical, musical or prayer book fundamentalists or by those who happen to find this a way of encountering the holy.
A culture of offering the best we can be to God helps. Good relationships between musicians and clergy help. As usual, clear liturgical books in the hands of the faithful help. And whoever is leading needs not to be frightened of a bit of silence now and then amidst the music.
I spent part of yesterday in the company of someone who believed that she is called to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic church. All eyes were on Rome yesterday. Today, most of my Catholic friends are lifting their eyes and looking into the future.
I arrive back from my brief post-Easter break to a pile of mail. One of the first I open is unsolicited mail sent from America. It is from a “healing and renewal community” who do not give a return address. Amongst much encouragement to praise God, I find that I am compared to sewage water.…
I’m having a week off from blogging. Normal service will be resumed by 6 April 2005
Still reeling a bit from Holy Week and Easter, which were fantastic. Holy Week makes muscles hurt which never hurt in the same way at any other time of the year. There is nothing finer in the world than singing the Easter Exsultet and the gospel alleluias within a congregation that has journied to the…
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