Epiphanytide

The streetwise Shepherds have returned to their flocks, and the Geeks from the East have arrived at Bethlehem via Jerusalem with their Gifts and had to modify their Theory of Everything somewhat. It’s that inbetween time – the world thinks Christmas is all over.

But it’s not all over until the waiting old man and the prophetess see Jesus in the Temple at Candlemas and the old man sings Nunc Dimittis. (Please note that this year we have transferred Candlemas to Sunday 1st February, with both Mass and Evensong sung.)

And not before we have also marked the Conversion of St Paul the previous Sunday, instead of Epiphany 3 or Septuagesima this year. The radical Paul, who may have played on his Roman citizenship and been a bit ambivalent about women, but put Gentile and Jew, slave and free, rich and poor, as equal in the Church, and lived with some sort of chronic illness or disability, his “thorn in the flesh”, from Stephen’s stoning through the Damascus Road to adventurous journeys spreading the Good News of that same Jesus.

The Faith, Hope and Love of St Paul’s famous Letter should be seen mirrored in our Church life as a Worshipping, Witnessing and Caring community, where, as at the Manger, all are welcome.

So our journey to Lent looks like:-
Friday 9th January at 7.30pm. Recitals@StMichael’s will feature Eleanor Little and Ralf Ayling-Miller, the winners of our Young Organists’ Competition. £5/£3.50

Sunday, 11th January, Epiphany I, 10.45am Sung Mass (Baptism of Jesus)
Setting: Missa Brevis, Wills. Anthem: Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes, Palestrina.

Sunday, 18th January, Epiphany II, 10.45am Sung Mass
Setting: Missa “L’Hora Passa”, Viadana. Anthem: Beati quorum via, Stanford.

Sunday, 25th January, Conversion of St Paul, 10.45am Sung Mass
Setting: Mass in F, Harold Darke. Anthem: The Lord is my shepherd, Schubert.

Wednesday 28th January at 7.30pm, St Michael’s “Heritage” Lecture exploring the effects of history and religion on church music in Devon, with West Gallery Singers and St Michael’s choir.

Sunday, 1st February, Candlemas, 10.45am Sung Mass

Sunday, 1st February 6pm Evensong & Benediction

Sunday, 8th February, Sexagesima, 2 before Lent, 10.45am Sung Mass

Friday 13th February at 7.30pm, Recitals@StMichael’s welcomes “The Frizzante Sopranos”, a Devon-based classical duo, Jane Anderson-Brown and Donna-Marie Hughes, to give a song recital.

Sunday, 15th February, Quinquagesima, 1 before Lent, 10.45am Sung Mass

Shrove Tuesday, 17th February, 6pm Vespers & Meditation, 7pm Choir Practice, 8.30pm Pancakes.

Ash Wednesday, 18th February, 7.30pm Mass with Imposition of Ashes

January 25th also marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – The Well is Deep – which has the following interesting commentary on its website:-

“This year’s theme comes to us from the churches of Brazil. Brazilians, who have traditionally been tolerant of their various social classes and ethnic groups, are now living through a time of growing intolerance made manifest in high levels of violence, especially against minorities and the vulnerable. The logic that undergirds this kind of behaviour is competition for the religious market. Increasingly, in Brazil, some Christian groups compete with one another for a place on the mass media, for new members and for public funds. The Brazilian churches have begun to recognise that intolerance should be dealt with in a positive way – respecting diversity and promoting dialogue as a permanent path of reconciliation and peace in fidelity to the gospel. We can share this recognition. Although the competition between churches is less obvious in our islands, we are well aware that competition and violent discrimination lie beneath the surface of our lives together. Jesus challenges us to acknowledge that diversity is part of God’s design, to approach one another in trust and to see the face of God in the face of all men and women.”

And finally…

The really useful Cross-Country train from Exeter to Edinburgh traverses a dozen Dioceses and affords glimpses of several Cathedrals, such as Durham reflecting the late December afternoon light and the elusive Orthogonal Cathedral of St Pythagoras (sorry, St Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Jesus, Tyne).

Over Hogmanay, I enjoyed two rather similar stories; the 2013 anti-slavery film “Belle” set in England around 1770, and the hit musical “Wicked” set in the not-so-wonderful world of Oz (now on tour and coming soon to Plymouth and then Bristol). Both revolve around a pair of contrasting girls, having to grow up together through force of circumstances, defying the conventions of their times, and their friendship changing each of them for good and hopefully for the better.

Both seemed to exemplify the Latin maxim used by Lord Mansfield in “Belle”. “Fiat justitia ruat coelum” – Let justice be done, though heaven may fall. And in the event, justice was done, and people coped. Could there be a parable for the Church of England in 2015 too?

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

A very Happy and Blessed Christmas season to you, from all at St Michael’s.

All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3.

As Sydney Carter (1915-2004) wrote in the 1960s, reflecting the flourishing of diversity and the interest in Time and Space:-

Every star shall sing a carol, Every creature high or low.
Come and praise the King of Heaven, By whatever name you know.

God above man below, Holy is the name I know.

When the king of all creation, Had a cradle on the earth.
Holy was the human body, Holy was the human birth.

Who can tell what other cradle, High above the Milky Way,
Still may rock the King of Heaven, On another Christmas day?

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14.

On Friday 26th, the Feast of St Stephen, and Saturday 27th, St John the Evangelist, Low Mass will be said at 10am, but those who sing 6pm Vespers will have a well-deserved rest until Tuesday 6th January Vespers for Epiphany.

Sunday 28th Dec, The Holy Innocents, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa L’Hora Passa, Viadana. Motet: The Coventry Carol, Trad. Whether the killing of infants in Bethlehem by King Herod is fact or myth, the Church and the World have continued to abuse and hurt the innocent and childlike for too long, and caused women to grieve. Only the just and gentle rule of Jesus Christ can give us hope.

That was the true Light, which lighteth everyone that cometh into the world. John 1:9.

Sunday 4th January 2015, Christmas II, 10.45am Sung Mass.

Sunday 4th Jan, 6pm, Choral Evensong and Benediction.

Tuesday 6th Jan, Epiphany, 6pm Plainsong Vespers, 6.30pm Choir Practice, 7.30pm Sung Mass. Motet: We Three Kings, Hopkins arr. Alex West.

The Recitals @ St Michael’s Series is re-launched in 2015 with a monthly Friday Evening slot. Friday 9th January at 7.30pm will feature Eleanor Little and Ralf Ayling-Miller, the winners of our Young Organists’ Competition, so that promises to be a splendid start to the New Year. Admission £5 (£3).

December Diary

“The bells of waiting Advent ring,” wrote Sir John Betjeman in his poem “Christmas”.

Fr David and the clergy, servers, choir and congregation extend a warm welcome each and all to come and join us at St Michael’s, Mount Dinham, for any or all of our Services over the Advent, Christmas and Epiphany seasons, as we celebrate the light of Jesus coming into the darkness of his world and ours.

And indeed, for those who might find Services at St Mike’s a little strange or too intense, there are also 3 pre-Xmas events where overt religion is kept to a minimum.

Wednesday 10th December sees the Choir in Concert at 7.30pm – Christmas by Candlelight will include the splendid Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and we’ll Ding dong merrily, In dulci jubilo, with Shepherds and Kings and wish you a Merry Christmas! Admission £5 (£3).

Then on Saturday 13th December from 3-5pm there’s an Open Invitation to an Afternoon of Festive Food, Drink and Song at St Mike’s for friends, neighbours, families and passers-by. Do Drop In.

And on Saturday 20th Dec at 7.30pm, Exeter Chorale visit with a Concert of Christmas Music from 17th Century Venice & Saxony. The exciting sound of 8-part singing, brass and strings will echo around St Michael’s. And the Christmas Story will be re-told to the music of Heinrich Schutz, with guest soloist, Tony Yates, from Topsham. Tickets £7.50 on the door, with fine refreshments.

Plus on Sunday 21st Dec, St Michael’s Choir is delighted to have the opportunity to go Carolling at Killerton House. We will be entertaining visitors to this National Trust property in the Music Room with Carols sacred and secular, old and new, from 2pm to 4pm. Supporters welcome.

Don’t forget the St Michael’s Lecture. On Wednesday 3rd December at 7.30pm, our own David Beadle, who is studying for a PhD on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) at the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, and has done so much to reinvigorate the Lecture Series over the past few years, will talk about “Attitudes to Death and Dying in the Bible and Contemporary Europe.”

As for Services, this year the First Sunday in December is Advent 2, so the 6pm Evening Service will be our beautiful Advent Procession (and not Evensong). Thus:-

Thursday 4th December at 6pm, in place of Thursday Vespers, CBS Mass in commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar (1637) of the Little Gidding Community.

Sunday 7th Dec, Advent II, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa de Angelis, Plainsong. Motet: E’en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come, Paul Manz.

Sun 7 Dec at 6pm. St Michael’s candlelit Advent Procession,, from Darkness into Light, with Readings, Hymns and Carols, followed by Refreshments.

As well as 5 rousing Advent congregational hymns, music will include Palestrina’s well-known Matin Responsory and the traditional plainsong Advent Antiphons. Also the motet by Ramsey – O Sapientia (O Wisdom), Handel’s chorus – And the Glory of the Lord (from Messiah) and Gibbons’ dancelike Magnificat.

Sunday 14th Dec, Advent III, 10.45am Mass. We get out the Rose vestments for Gaudete Sunday – Rejoice in the Lord always. Setting: Mass in E flat, Bairstow. Motet: This is the record of John, Gibbons.

Thursday 18th Dec, 7:30pm at St Michael’s. Advent 3.571428 as Alex put it! A traditional Service of Nine Lessons & Carols. Hymns, Carols, Bidding Prayer and Readings telling the great story from Adam & Eve to Mary, Joseph and Jesus, the Shepherds and the Magi.

Sunday 21st Dec, Advent IV, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa “Dixit Maria”, Hans Leo Hassler. Motet: Hymne a la Vierge, Villette.

Wednesday 24th December, Eve of Christmas, 11.30pm Mass. Preceded by Carols from the Gallery at 11pm. Setting: See website nearer the date. Motet: A babe is born, I wys, Anon.
If someone said on Christmas Eve, “Come; see the oxen kneel.” I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so. Thomas Hardy, The Oxen, Christmas Eve 1915.

Thursday 25th December, Christmas Day, N.B. 10.30am Mass. Setting: Missa “O magnum mysterium”, Victoria. Motet: O little one sweet, J S Bach.

Sunday 28th Dec, The Holy Innocents, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa L’Hora Passa, Viadana. Motet: The Coventry Carol, Trad. Whether the killing of infants in Bethlehem by King Herod is fact or myth, the Church and the World have abused and hurt the innocent and childlike for too long, and caused women to grieve. Only the just and gentle rule of Jesus Christ can give us hope to do better.

And for your new Diaries:-
Sunday 4th January 2015, Christmas II, 10.45am Mass.
Sunday 4th Jan, 6pm, Choral Evensong and Benediction.
Tuesday 6th Jan, Epiphany, 7.30pm Sung Mass.

The Recital Series is being re-launched in 2015 with a monthly Friday Evening slot. The January Recital on Friday 9th at 7.30pm will feature Eleanor Little and Ralf Ayling-Miller, the winners of our Young Organists’ Competition, so that promises to be a splendid start to the New Year. Admission £5 (£3).

Also, advanced notice that the St Michael’s Lectures for 2015 will commence on Wed 28th Jan with Dr Nigel Browne giving an Illustrated History of Church Music in Devon, helped by a diverse array of performers.

Wishing you a blessed Advent, a joyful Christmas and a peaceful New Year from all at St Michael’s.

November Highlights

Please Note: date of November St Michael’s Lecture has had to be changed again, for personal reasons, to Wed 19th Nov at 7.30pm.

Photograph by Jonathan Neale Photography
http://www.jnimages.co.uk/

“… there was always a November space after the leaves have fallen when … it was almost indecent to intrude on the woods … for their glory terrestrial had departed and their glory celestial of spirit and purity and whiteness had not yet come upon them.”
Anne of Windy Poplars ― L.M. Montgomery.

November is traditionally a time for Remembrance, but it’s also another busy month for us at St Michael’s. Please join us for some or all of these events; as ever see twitter for latest news.

Saturday 1st November, from 10am until 1.30pm, sees our Coffee Morning and stalls in St Stephen’s Church on the High Street, Exeter. Cakes wanted on the day. Please support this fund-raising and outreach event. Visit the recently restored St Stephen’s, browse and buy, or simply relax and enjoy the refreshments.

Sunday 2nd November, the Calendar this year means we mark All Saints at 10.45am and All Souls at 6pm, with beautiful music at both services.

The morning Mass setting was written when Alex West was Organ Scholar at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge, and the Motet is Bainton’s ravishing “And I saw a new heaven”. In place of “First Sunday Evensong” at 6pm, we will sing a Requiem Mass using the music of Gabriel Fauré, plus Justorum Animae by Byrd and the Russian Kontakion.

Remembrance Sunday, 9th November, will be marked with special music and sermon during our 10.45am Mass, and the Act of Remembrance at 11am. The Anglican Folk Mass was composed by Martin Shaw at St Mary’s Primrose Hill, London, in 1917. The music of our motet “For the Fallen” was written a couple of years ago by choir member, Graham Keitch.

Tuesday 11th November at 6pm, in place of Vespers, CBS Mass in commemoration of St Martin, Bishop of Tours (397), NOT the Patron Saint of Travel Agents, but as he was born in Hungary, spent much of his childhood in Italy, and lived most of his adult life in France, he is considered a spiritual bridge across Europe. This Roman soldier cut his cloak in half to share with a beggar and eventually renounced the military life to become a Bishop.

Wednesday 12th November at 7.30pm. Recitals @ St Michael’s. The Exeter Singers, directed by Tony Yates, present a varied programme of a cappella music, from Madrigals to Modern! Tickets on the door: £5 (£3 concessions).

Please Note, Wednesday 19th Nov at 7.30pm, the St Michael’s Remembrance Lecture (originally timed for 3rd/30th Nov) is given by Suzanne Steele (Official Canadian War Poet; Department of English, University of Exeter) – Bearing Witness to those who Bear Witness.

In St David’s Church at 2pm on Saturday 22nd November there is a Memorial Service for John Hughes. A service of words and music, remembering a dearly-loved former curate of this parish. It is an opportunity for John’s many friends from the congregations at St David’s & St Michael’s, and around the city and Diocese of Exeter to give thanks for John, priest, pastor, scholar and friend, and remember him with love and gratitude.

Stir-up Sunday, 23rd November, the last Sunday before Advent is also a celebration of Christ the King, Jesus as the just ruler over all the Universe. The Anthem by Sir John Stainer is “I saw the Lord, high and lifted up, and his train filled the Temple.”

Advent Sunday, 30th November, at 10.45am Mass, we sing The Litany published by Thomas Cranmer in 1544, the earliest officially authorized vernacular service in English. The 1st candle of the Advent wreath is lit.

So as not to clash with the Cathedral one on Advent Sunday, our own beautiful Advent Procession at St Michael’s is on Sunday 7th December at 6pm. Prayers, Readings, Hymns and Carols illuminate the 7 “Great O” Antiphons, which comprise the Advent Hymn “O come, O come Emmanuel”, and culminate in a choral setting of the Magnificat.

October Highlights

“I’m so glad I live in a world where there are Octobers. It would be terrible if we just skipped from September to November, wouldn’t it?” Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery.

So here are a few highlights from October at St Michael’s.

Sunday 5th October; new singers especially welcome. Music for Mass at 10.45am (practice at 10am) is 2 old favourites from our a cappella repertoire, Missa Aeterna Christi Munera (the eternal gifts of Christ) by Palestrina and Locus Iste (this place is made by God) by Bruckner.

The Come&Sing Choral Evensong at 6pm (practice at 4.45pm) on Sun 5th will be our Curate Fr Andy’s final Evensong at St Michael’s before he moves to Milton Abbot. We will sing many musical styles; plainsong, Anglican chant, 16th century Polyphony, Restoration Baroque and some Victorian Stanford romanticism. Check the new music list to work out which is which.

Sunday 12th October is Vision Day at St Michael’s. Bring some Lunch to share after Mass, or return at 1.30pm. Fr David writes, “This is an opportunity for the whole congregation of St Michael’s to come together, reflect and create an action plan for the church’s future.” The afternoon’s discussions will be facilitated by Sabrina Groeschel, experienced friend of St Michael’s.

Wednesday 15th October at 7.30pm. Ed Pawson, Head of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics at the King’s School, Ottery St Mary, asks in our St Michael’s Lecture, “What is the rationale for the teaching of RE in our schools today? Why does it continue to be a relevant subject within the school curriculum? What challenges do teachers of RE face in twenty-first century?” Please advertise this widely.

Owing perhaps to the height of Mount Dinham, Harvest comes a whole 4 weeks later at St Michael’s than at St David’s! Sunday 19th October sees our Harvest Thanksgiving Mass at 10.45am. Gifts suitable for the Food Bank collection would be especially welcome.

At 7.30pm on Wednesday 22nd October, Recitals @ St Michael’s continue with mezzo Margaret Thomson accompanied by John Draisey in a programme of Victorian & Edwardian Songs. Please support this. Tickets £5 (£3 concessions).

Good contemporary music also features at St Mike’s, as well as the best from the past. On Sunday 26th, Grayston Ives’ version of “O for a closer walk with God” is the Motet.

This month’s CBS Mass takes place on Tuesday 28th Ocober at 6pm, the Feast of Saints Simon & Jude Apostles.

Saturday 1st November from 10am onwards, sees our Coffee Morning and Sale in St Stephen’s Church on the High Street, in aid of St Michael’s. Visit St Stephens for a browse and a break, coffee & cake; open till 1.30pm.

Looking forward to Sunday 2nd November, the Calendar this year means we mark both All Saints at 10.45am and All Souls at 6pm. In place of Evensong we will give a full liturgical performance of the Requiem by Gabriel Faure. Any singers who would like to join us for this are invited to rehearse with us beforehand at 4.30pm, and if possible at the preceding choir practice on Tuesday 28 October.

Finally, October is also a month to remember William Barnes (22 Feb 1801 – 7 Oct 1886) the Dorset poet, priest and philologist. His Autumnal lines:-
“When leaves that leately wer a-springen
Now do feade ‘ithin the copse,
An’ painted birds do hush ther zingen
Up upon the timber’s tops;
An’ brown-leav’d fruit’s a-turnen red,
In cloudless zunsheen, auver head,
Wi’ fruit vor me the apple tree
Do lean down low in Linden Lea.”
made famous in the song Linden Lea by Ralph Vaughan Williams.