What is in Kelvin's Head?

Sermon – Christmas 2

06/01/2014

Here’s what I had to say in the pulpit yesterday:

Video first…

When I was young, Christmas was pretty much the same every year at our house. The morning would comprise of morning worship and after that there would be lots of driving to pick up older relatives so that the family might be together at Christmas.

Eventually gathered together around a specially prepared festive table we would eat and manage to get through vast quantities of food before listening to the Queen at three o’clock. And then and only then, unwrapping presents.

The thing that I want to remember today is one of my older maiden aunts. Actually a great aunt, who was always with us at Christmas.

The thing I remember was something that she used to say as we prepared to tuck into the food, glorious food, that my mother had prepared.

“Do you know,” said that maiden aunt each year, (more…)

Christmas 2, Sermon, word made flesh

6 responses to “Dialogue des Carmélites”

Moyra

25/06/2008

Mmmmm now you’re giving me ideas!

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Rev Ruth

26/06/2008

Oooh, I have that on CD and haven’t listened to it for ages. Love that chopping sound!

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kelvin

26/06/2008

I was told that some kind of scaffold had been rigged up offstage complete with block and tackle to provide the definitive thud as nun by nun, they fell to the floor.

The stage was littered with dead nuns by the end.

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david

26/06/2008

It is a real shocker at the end. Liked Poulenc’s music, and the singing was good (Monday performance).

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Jonathan Ensor

29/06/2008

Attended the performance on Thursday. Particularly liked the voices of Mere Marie(Elysia Leech) and the Father Confessor(L’Aumonier), James Geer.

Tim Dean led the performance admirably and there was hardly any poor casting although obviously with a student performance some were better suited to their roles than others.

James Geer is to be singing the Male Chorus in Britten’s “The Rape of Lucretia” at Aldeburgh-a favourite opera of mine with the Pagan story offset and contrasted with the choruses commenting from a Christian perpective.

It was good to see(at a distance) Donald Maxwell and Linda Ormiston in the foyer before the performance, both professional singers of some distinction. I remember them both from Good Shepherd Chorus performances at St Mary’s years ago.(Donald Maxwell sang the baritone part in a performance of Elgar’s “The Light of Life” and Linda Ormiston, who studied maths at Glasgow Uni and singing with the late Winifred Busfield who taught me, sang the alto part in Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody under Christopher Seaman.

The staging of Dialogue des Carmelites was very effective and succeeded in conveying most of the pathos of the final scene without gross exhibitionism, which would have made it unbearable to watch.

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John Woodhouse

29/06/2008

It’s a great work – saw it at ENO.

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