Yep

Lyric_Baritone is very religious. He even has his own church key.

Wedding bells

Sang and played a noon wedding today.

This is the dog that "accompanied" me from under the piano.

Grrr

It's people like this who make me embarrassed to be a Christian.

Notice

Merry Christmas! It's the Twelfth Day of Christmas. You now have permission to take down your Christmas tree!

The Tenth Day of Christmas

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols for Christmastide
St. Paul's Parish, K Street (Episcopal), Washington, D.C.
Sunday 3 January 2010

Organ prelude: Claude-Bénigne Balbastre, Noël "Votre bonté grand dieu"

Processional hymn: Irby, "Once in royal David's city"
Bidding prayer
Invitatory carol: Trad. English, arr. Philip Ledger, "Sussex Carol"

First Lesson: Genesis 3:8–15
Carol: Peter Warlock, "Adam lay y bounden"

Second Lesson: Isaiah 9:2, 6–7
Carol: Trad. English, arr. Henry Walford Davies, "The holly and the ivy"

Third Lesson: Micah 5:2–4
Congregational hymn: Forest Green, "O little town of Bethlehem"

Fourth Lesson: Luke 1:26–38
Carol: Trad. English, arr. Stephen Cleobury, "Joys Seven"

Fifth Lesson: Luke 2:1–7
Carol: Normandy Carol, arr. Reginald Jacques, "Away in the manger"

Sixth Lesson: Luke 2:8–10
Congregational hymn: Hampton, "While shepherds watched their flocks by night"
Anthem: John Rutter, "Candlelight Carol"

Seventh Lesson: Matthew 2:1–12
Carol: French carol, arr. Stephen Jackson, "Noël nouvelet"
Congregational hymn: Humility, "See amid the winter's snow"

Eighth Lesson: Hebrews 1:1–12
Offertory anthem: William Mathias, "A babe is morn all of a may"

Ninth Lesson: John 1:1–14
Congregational hymn: Adeste fideles, "O come all ye faithful"

Collect and Christmas Blessing
Recessional hymn: Mendelssohn, "Hark! The herald angels sing"

Organ voluntary: Keith Chapman, "Bring a torch, Jeanette, Isabella"

Solemn Benediction of the Most Blessed Sacrament

Exposition hymn: Hereford, "O saving victim"
Meditation

Hymn: Oriel, "Therefore we before him bending"
Versicle, Response, and Collect

Benediction

The Divine Praises
Psalm and Antiphon: Mode I, Ego sum panis vivus

Postlude: Robert McCormick, Improvisation on Mendelssohn

---

Had a nice evening of lessons and carols at St. Paul's K Street tonight (at least once I found a parking place!). They supplemented the usual Evensong men and boys choir with the girls choir and the women of the parish choir. The chancel was packed with singers, and they had to put the kids on benches on both sides in front of the choir stalls.

While some of the words and titles to tonight's hymns and choir carols might seem at first glance to be familiar, many of them were completely different tunes. For example, the "O little town of Bethlehem' was sung to Ralph Vaughn-Williams' hymn tune, not the familiar American tune, and "While shepherds watched their flocks by night" was sung to the contemporary tune Hampton. Similarly, the choir carol "Away in the manger" was the Normandy Carol tune, not either of the usual familiar hymn tunes.

Stephen Jackson's arrangement of "Noël nouvelet" was quite interesting and the organ part was very, very modern.

I always have to giggle a bit when I attend a church service and hear something like the "Candlelight Carol" by John Rutter, who, although he is a famous English church musician and composer, is an openly avowed atheist.

They have some adorable boys in the choir right now. I love watching the earnestness of their singing. I suppose the girls were adorable, too, but one of the girl soloists has been listening to too much Charlotte Church and has an unpleasant warble. However, I've spoken on many occasions about my strong preference for boys voices only in treble church choirs, and I need not repeat my arguments here.

I sat on the center aisle on the back row of pews in the nave so I could hear the choral blend from there. The service was standing room only, and many people were temporarily seated on folding chairs behind me in the narthex (the choir stands there before the processional and at the end of the recessional, so the people are moved away). I don't understand why so many people come in so incredibly late, as in 45 minutes after the service started. I was amused, though, when we got to the final Great Hymns of Christmas and John the organist engaged the tuba mirabilis pipes in the back of the church. It made all the late comers jump out of their seats! I guess they aren't regular parishioners. LOL

We seemed to have been invaded by out-of-town tourists. Why is it that tourists in D.C. always have to dress so abominably? I just can't imagine wearing a sweatshirt and blue jeans to church—especially an Episcopal church!—and I'm talking middle-aged adults, not teenagers. I did dress down a bit myself tonight because of the bitter cold winds out, but I still had on a tweed jacket, sweater vest, and bow tie.

After Benediction, Robert the choirmaster played a postlude that was his improvisation on "Hark! The herald angels." It was dark and in a minor key, only hinting at the Mendelssohn melody, and I thought it was absolutely smashing.

I just can't say how much I appreciate the commitment to high quality sacred music and liturgy at St. Paul's. That commitment comes down from the priests through the organists and the choristers, and even the congregation is so musical they are able to read music and sing harmony during the hymns. These people truly believe in giving their best to God.
As always, the parish hosted everyone upstairs in the parish hall afterwards for wine and food, and they are always gracious hosts. I noticed tonight (and also at Advent lessons and carols last month) that they are doing almost all sweets, cookies, bars, and gingerbread houses for the food, and that is quite unfortunate, since I don't really like to eat much of that. In the past, they have had lots of cheeses, pates, dips, finger sandwiches, and I even remember one Easter Vigil when I think they had several poached salmon and probably all the shrimp in the Gulf of Mexico. I suppose their hospitality gets expensive, though (I always try to remember to stick money in the freewill-contribution jars), and they are cutting corners with sweets and Trader Joe's wines. It's still a wonderfully nice gesture of the parish to entertain people after their special evening services. I meet and chat with lots of interesting people from all over the metropolitan area up there.

In classic Episcopalian style, you can see where the parishioners' priorities lie by seeing how they decorated the parish hall, most especially the message posted at the wine station.

Sunday in the snow

Finally got out and made it to church at St. Luke's this morning.  The snowdrift that blocked me in on Christmas Eve was still there on Christmas morning, so it wasn't until afternoon Christmas Day that my dad and I got out and shoveled off the driveway.  We had over half an inch of ice under the snow to try to break up and remove, too.  The streets are still a mess around here.  In the South, municipal governments aren't equipped with snow plows as they are up north, so we wait for the weather to warm up and the limited car traffic there is to wear away the snow.  My parents' house is near the local hospital, so their street usually gets enough traffic to make the road passable after a day or so, but my tires were still spinning on my way up the hill.

Church attendance was light this morning.  I walked in five minutes before Mass was to start, and they were putting everybody up in the choir.  By the time the processional was going, enough more people had wandered in to fill up the first several rows of pews on both sides.  I think a little over 50 ended up finally there (the deacon told me there were only 18 people in church Christmas Eve, mostly people who lived near the church who could walk there).

Hymns this morning were Regent Square (Angels from the realms of glory) for the processional, Puer nobis nascitur (Unto us a boy is born) for the sequence, Venite adoremus (The snow lay on the ground) for the offertory, Antioch (Joy to the world, v. 1) for the fraction anthem, Greensleeves (What child is this) during communion, and In dulci jubilo (Good Christian men rejoice) for the recessional.

The Mass setting included a Taizé setting called "Glory to God" in lieu of the Gloria and Proulx's A Community Mass setting of the Sanctus and Benedictus.

The rector was out on his post-Christmas vacation, so the assistant, a priestess, was the celebrant.  She wore an ungirdled alb with her stole hanging straight down on both sides bishop-style, but at least she put on a chasuble for the consecration and communion.  The deacon preached this morning.  He talked about how God didn't make change in a big "shazam" way, but provided a tiny spark to build up inside us, and analogized that to how scientists believe that during the "big bang" that began the creation of the universe, it all started with a singularity that had no dimension, and yet within a couple of seconds, 75% of the universe was formed.  In case you were wondering, this isn't exactly a parish of Creationists!  LOL  We can get very scientific and rational here, since ConocoPhillips has a research and development center in town, and there are lots of scientists and engineers out there with one or two Ph.D.s.

It's always nice to be back at St. Luke's, since this is the parish where I grew up, and I still know lots of people there.  Sitting in the choir is always fun, too, since that is where I learned to sing as a young choir boy many years ago.

Time to go figure out what to fix for lunch.  Maybe if things clear off tomorrow, we can start running around town, but for now, we're essentially at home in the snow.

Christmas Eve update

Well, it looks like I'm going to be observing midnight Mass in front of the television watching the tape of the Bishop of Rome prancing around St. Peter's and jabbering in Latin or Italian or something. I'm anxious to see the tape. The news reports that during the procession, a woman "who appeared to be mentally unstable" burst out of the crowd and tackled the pope and some miscellaneous cardinal. Will they show it on the tape? Anyway, that's what he gets for moving the start time of the Mass from midnight to 10 p.m. It's supposed to be *midnight* Mass, not "let's-do-it-sooner-so-I-can-get-to-sleep-early" Mass. No wonder he has crazy parishioners in the crowd today.

Why am I here? The Great Oklahoma Blizzard of 2009. This is an historic event. This is the first time in history that the National Weather Service has ever issued a blizzard warning for the Tulsa area. We're not really expecting that much snow, but we're getting 50 m.p.h. winds, so the snow is blowing horizontally and visibility is dismal. The Highway Patrol has closed down the turnpikes and the interstate highways, and the governor has had to call out the Oklahoma National Guard to rescue stranded motorists on the highways.

The prospect of snow and high winds didn't really bother me. I'd planned on going to midnight Mass at the little parish here in Bartlesville tonight. My parents were going to stay home, since we don't want to risk having them fall on the ice and breaking a hip or something, but I wanted to venture out alone. But, I just discovered a problem. Drifting snow. There's a big snowdrift all the way across the driveway, and I can't get the car out of the garage. So, I have to stay home.

Maybe in the morning, the drift will have blown away over night and I'll be able to get to the Christmas morning service. That will be weird, though.....we *always* go to midnight Mass.

Merry Christmas to everyone! Stay warm. Hope you get lots of presents. And, don't forget to go to church!

Candlelight

121st Candlelight Service
St. George's Episcopal Church, New York
December 20, 2009

Processional chant: Alden Ashforth, "Hodie Christus natus est"
Congregational hymn: "O come all ye faithful"

First Lesson: Genesis 3:9–15
Congregational hymn: "O come, O come Emmanuel"

Second Lesson: Isaiah 9:2, 6–7
Anthem: Matt Veligdan, "O magnum mysterium"
Third Lesson: Micah 5:2–4
Congregational hymn: "O little town of Bethlehem"

Fourth Lesson: Luke 1:26–33
Choir carol: Basque carol (arr. Robert Ross), "The Angel Gabriel"
Anthem: Benjamin Britten, "This little babe" from Ceremony of Carols

Fifth Lesson: Luke 2:1–7
Congregational hymn: "What child is this"
Choir carol: James R. Murray (arr. Jackson Berkey), "Away in a manger"

Sixth Lesson: Luke 2:8–14
Anthem: Kamel Boutros, "Magedooh!"
Anthem: William Mathias, "Alleluya! A new work is come on hand"
Choir carol: Harold Darke, "In the bleak mid-winter"
Congregational hymn: "Angels we have heard on high"
Congregational hymn: "The first nowell"
Choir carol: French trad., "Il es né le Divin enfant"
Choir carol: West Indian carol, "The Virgin Mary had a baby boy"
Anthem: Jester Hairston, "Mary's little boy child"

Offertory: Buddy Greene, "Mary did you know"

Congregational hymn: "Joy to the world"
Congregational hymn: "Hark, the herald angels sing"
Congregational hymn: "Silent night"

Seventh Lesson: John 1:1–12

Homily

Anthem: Adolphe Adam, "O holy night"

Closing prayer and benediction

Choir and congregational chorus: G. F. Handel, "Hallelujah" from Messiah

_______________

St. George's is paired with Calvary Church (where I went for morning Mass) into a single parish that shares a rector and an organist/music director. Ian had met one of the priests and the organist at the Gramercy Park Hanukah party a few days previous, so he decided that we should go to this service to check out the neighborhood Christians. I found it an interesting opportunity to observe the different congregations within a single joined parish, and the differences were quite distinct.

The church building itself at St. George's is much larger than Calvary, and the nave is a big barn of a place that reminds me more of 19th century Catholic architecture than Anglican architecture. The choir was a 32-voice amateur choir that looked very young; they were all dressed in all black, with some of the women wearing colorful mufflers. The organist (who ran back and forth between organ and piano) was supplemented by a dozen instrumentalists.

Much of the evening's music was contemporary. The opening processional chant, for example, was interestingly aggressive, and built from a capella chant to accompaniment including bongos. The congregation got to light and hold individual candles during the procession and opening hymn. All of the arrangements for the choir carols sounded very Christian contemporary. Some of the music was new, too. The music director wrote the "Magedooh!" anthem (which was sung in Arabic) and the choir director of the St. George's portion of the parish wrote the "O magnum mysterium" setting.

The congregational sing-along for the Hallelujah chorus caught me off guard. I've not sung it in several years and I never memorized it, so I really needed a score to sing all of my part correctly, but we all mucked through it successfully.

The service was a fun evening, and it seems the service is a big neighborhood tradition. The music was pretty good, though the traditional repertoire anthems (even the 20th century things like the Mathias and Britten) were, perhaps, a bit over-ambitious for the singers, but they made up for it with enthusiasm on the contemporary Christian things. I found it interesting, though, that this big contemporary congregation was not nearly as friendly as the more traditional congregation at Calvary.

Xmas in New York

Last weekend I went to New York for a Christmas shopping weekend with Ian as well as to escape the "blizzard" that was forecast for Washington that Saturday (as it turned out, D.C. got about 20-24" of snow and, predictably, the whole city shut down, including all buses and above-ground Metro trains, and even on Monday, the federal government closed all offices because of snow).  It was a fun weekend, even considering the 8-10" of snow that made its way to New York City on Saturday night (the original forecast had the snow curving out to sea and missing New York). 

Snow or not, New York is always fun in December.  


Sunday morning, while Ian worshipped at St. Mattress, I walked down the block to Calvary Episcopal Church, the old church on Gramercy Park, for Advent 4 Mass.  It's really a beautiful Victorian Gothic Revival building.  With the overnight snowfall, attendance was down, but they still had about fifty people at the service, and they had a choir of eight with about five or six instrumentalists.  It was also unusually friendly for an Episcopal church; I had several people talk to me as I came in the doors, and after the service, several more people came up to chat while I was walking around looking at the church.

Liturgically it seems like a fairly conservative Rite 2 parish (although they stood for the prayer of consecration), though the music was all over the map.  The priest only wore an alb and stole with no chasuble or cope.  The layreaders were vested in albs and the choir members wore red cassocks.

Hymns included Hyfrydol (Love divine all loves excelling) for the processional, Richmond (Hark! The glad sound) for the gradual, and St. Stephen (The King shall come) for the recessional.  I was surprised to hear an old style doxology to Old Hundredth for the presentation of alms after the offertory anthem.  At the beginning of the service, they lit the Advent wreath, after which they sang a hymn called "Awaken us, God" to the tune of "Away in the Manger" (The day of our hearts is near dawning at last).  Then, at the end of the service after the recessional and dismissal, they sang "The King shall come" to the tune of "Joy to the world" (O brighter than that glorious morn).

My choir used to think I played the hymns fast during Mass. They should come here; even I had to catch my breath and race!

Where things got interesting was with the other music.  For the Mass setting, they used Healy Willan's Rite 1 language Missa de Sancta Maria Magdalena, but the organist played the accompaniment on the piano and it was rather a jazzy interpretation.  For the offertory anthem, the choir sang "My soul doth magnify the Lord" by Ford Peace, a mildly contemporary piece.  During communion, the choir sang an absolutely dreadful contemporary Christian song called "Jesus Messiah" by Daniel Carson, Chris Tomlin, Ed Cash, and Jesse Reeves.  Now, we're not talking contemporary as in bad Catholic music/Hagen and Haas, but contemporary as in Michael W. Smith and prayer and praise music, and the accompaniment included electric piano, electric bass, and bongos, plus trumpets and strings.

The celebrant preached on the Annunciation and the Magnificat, and he was a very unusual combination of interesting, intellectual, and dynamic—a quality not many Episcopal or Catholic priests share.

This is the pulpit and half of the chancel organ pipes (there were also pipes in the organ loft in the back of the church).

After church, I went back to Ian's apartment to fetch him, then off we went to Central Park.  It was a fun weekend.

Via Facebook

Is it bad that I'm eating large quantities of shrimp on the first night of Hanukkah?