We've just returned from the Cathedral Church of Saints Peter and Paul in the City of Washington (the National Cathedral), where my friend Joel and I went to Midnight Mass. The service was unusally entertaining tonight because after the sermon, some man up in the south transept starting yelling about something (we couldn't really understand him), and he had to be bodily escorted out of the cathedral by a herd of ushers, yammering all the way. Don't know if he was a political activist of some kind or just mentally ill. The bishop, who was the principal celebrant, continued on with the Nicene Creed as the man was yelling his way out the door.
Since the cathedral doors opened at 9 for the 10 p.m. service, we wanted to be nearby to be able to get a good seat, so we sought out a neighborhood restaurant for a leisurely pre-church dinner. The only thing we could find open was Cactus Cantina, but that worked out just fine, since Cactus Cantina gave us a chance to have tamales, a big Christmas Eve tradition in Mexico (not that either of us are Mexican, but you know how I like to have an excuse for eating something). The tamales were very interesting, as they had jalapeño peppers mixed in with the corn meal masa that surrounded the pork filling.
Altar boys lining up for the processional
Our tickets got us in to the "general admission" section of the nave, which was the side aisles (no direct view of the altar other than via the flat panel tv screens on each of the pillars) and the back half of the nave (clear but distant view). We ended up about three-quarters of the way back in the nave; had I known we've be so far away, I'd have brought my opera glasses. The lady next to us, who got the aisle chair, said they'd been waiting in line outside the cathedral for over an hour before the doors opened to be able to get their seat. I really do need to find out how the people in the "reserved" section in the front half of the nave and in the transepts got their tickets so I'll know for next year; this is a very big church which is quite long and narrow—they say you can lay the Washington Monument down the center aisle—and I do prefer to sit much closer to the front. Must be all those decades of sitting in the choir where I was in the middle of the action.
Fashions were limited tonight. A lot of the men were in just regular church-going suits (no formal wear as one sees on the television at the Vatican midnight mass) and the women kept on their overcoats so it was hard to see what they wore. Probably half of the congregation was rather unfortunately very casually attired, though, and not only did I see a lot of blue jeans in church, but there were people in t-shirts and sports team jackets. Appalling.
The prelude from 9:00 to 9:30 was rung on the carillon up in the west tower. From 9:30 to 10:00, the cathedral organists played all French repertoire on the great organ. After a brief welcome from the dean, the Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys sang "Ding dong! merrily on high," arranged by Charles Wood, from the back of the nave as an introit, and then the huge procession of official participants (probably over 100) began as the congregation sang "O come, all ye faithful." The procession was quite a production with all the altar boys, the thurifer and boat girl, four sets of crucifers and torchbearers, half a dozen banner carriers, about twenty assisting clergy, a couple of dozen chalicers, all the men and boys of the choir with the choirmaster, the concelebrants, and the bishop in his pointy hat had his own phalanx of four torchbearers boxed around him.
Other choral anthems included the "Sans Day Carol" (Now the holly bears a berry) arranged by John Rutter for the offertory and during communion they did "Tomorrow shall be my dancing day" arranged by David Willcocks and "Sing lullaby" by Herbert Howells. Other congregational hymns included "O little town of Bethlehem" (sung to Forest Green) as the sequence, "Angels from the realms of glory" at the presentation, "The first nowell" and "Away in a manger" during communion, "Silent Night" during the ablutions, and "Hark! the herald angels sing" for the recessional. The mass setting was by William Mathias and definitely not one known by the congregation; the Sursum Corda and other parts of the eucharistic prayer were not sung. The Anglican chant for the Psalm was by Thalben-Ball. Instead of placing the choir in their usual places in the choir stalls, they'd set up risers and chairs on the chancel steps behind the altar, on either side of the aisle leading to the chancel.
Everyone was provided with a souvenir program with the text of the entire Rite 2 service (except for the sermon and the yelling man), anthem words, and music for the hymns; the cover was printed in gold metallic ink. I noticed on many occasions that the printed text did not match the spoken text; it appeared that the female liturgist of the cathedral had written a number of things in "inclusive language" (avoiding referring to God with the masculine pronoun, substituting the word "God" for "Lord," and other such silliness) but none of the speakers (or the choir for that matter) used the inclusive language versions. The Prayers of the People especially had little resemblance to the printed version, and instead of having the congregation sing the standard "Lord, hear our prayer" response to each prayer, she included a rather long and unwieldy substitute—"Come now, O God of love, Reconcile your people and make us one body"—which got tiresome after the third or fourth petition. I also noticed that while there was incense in the processional and recessional, the bishop did not incense the altar during the Gloria or the Elements and the people during the offertory.
The altar and pulpit after the service
After the service, the organist did a thrilling improvisation on Antioch (Joy to the world) that was wonderfully dark and loud at the conclusion. Ah, the things one can do with a 186-rank pipe organ! During the postlude we fought our way up stream to get to the crossing so we could take some pictures. It was a lovely service and a lovely, "balmy," warm night outside. The service, which had started at 10 p.m., was over unexpectedly quickly; we were out of the cathedral by 11:30, even after all of our picture taking.
Joel and me after the service
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