January 2016 at St Michael’s

From New Year to Candlemas, we hope activities at St Michael’s will help you to continue to celebrate the Incarnation of Jesus Christ, Joy to the World.

The group of mainly students, led by Br Michael, who prayed and sang Matins most mornings from ~8.15-9am last Autumn are planning to resume this regular practice from mid-January on Mon, Tues, Thurs & Fridays; we are grateful to them for this strengthening of our prayer life and mission.

Click “Events” for more details of some of the following:-

Sunday 3rd January 2016, Christmas II, 10.45am. Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd. Motet: Lullay my Liking, by Gustav Holst. N.B. No Evensong today, but please come to…

Wednesday 6th January, Epiphany, 7.30pm. Mass in C & F by Stanford. Motet: Three Kings from Persian lands afar, by Cornelius. Please make this Event a priority in your diary. We shall be formally thanking Fr David Hastings for the gifts of his ministry among us at St Michael’s over several years, as he retires from his position as Honorary Assistant Priest.

Sunday 10th January, Baptism of Christ, 10.45am. Mass in F by William Harris. Motet: O for a Closer Walk with God, by C V Stanford. Thereafter we go a cappella for 3 Sundays.

Sunday 17th January, Epiphany II, 10.45am Sung Mass. Missa L’Hora Passa by Viadana and O Sacrum Convivium by Croce.

Sunday 24th January, Epiphany III, 10.45am. Mass for Five Voices and Sing Joyfully, by William Byrd.

Monday 25th January is the Feast of the Conversion of St Paul and end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity. It is also the Year’s Mind, anniversary of death, of Canon John Thurmer.

Sunday 31st January, Epiphany IV, 10.45am. Missa “Lauda Sion” by Palestrina. Motet: If Ye Love Me, by Tallis.

We complete the Nativity narrative with the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, Candlemas, on Tuesday 2nd February at 7.30pm. Singing the Missa Brevis “Laetatus Sum” by Dr Nigel Browne, based on themes from Parry’s “I was Glad”, and a contemporary Motet, “Lux Aurumque” by Eric Whitacre.

The story of the old man Simeon & prophetess Anna recognising the light of the world in the Infant Jesus when Mary & Joseph brought him to the Temple contrasts with the scene in Holy Week. There Pilate’s wife is concerned, but the High Priest and the Roman Governor are trapped by the system; and the most just Man is condemned and deprived of dignity.

Candlemas is also perhaps the time when our thoughts move on to the spiritual meanings of the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. And there through it all is Mary, Mother of God, pondering these things in her heart and representing our humanity, in its joys and sorrows.

Wishing you all the love, joy and peace that we so need this New Year.
Richard Barnes.

September at St Michael’s

With the new academic year, activities are resuming at St Michael’s too; do come and visit us if you can. A special mention for Sunday 13th Sept, when Deacons are ordained at the Cathedral in the morning and we will welcome Chris Durrant as our new Curate in the evening. Also Michaelmas at the end of the month; Feast Day or ordinary, in person or on-line, you are always welcome.

Tuesday 1st September at 6pm. CBS Mass for the Feast of St Giles of Provence (710), Hermit, with Hymns and Plainsong Propers. All welcome. N.B. No Choir Practice this Tuesday; please be prompt on Sunday.

Each Wednesday morning there is Prayer Book Matins at 9.30 and Low Mass is said at 10am.
Tuesday & Thursday Vespers & Meditation at 6pm resume on Thursday 3rd September.

Sunday 6th September, Trinity XIV, 10.45am Sung Mass. Setting: Mass for Three Voices, Byrd. Motet: Sicut Cervus, Palestrina. Some beautiful a cappella Byrd and a motet from Psalm 42; Like as the deer desires springs of water.

Sun 6 Sept, 6pm, Evensong and Benediction.
Responses: Reading. Psalm: 119 vv 41-56. Office Hymn: 241. Canticles: Noble in B minor.
Anthem: Verleih Uns Frieden, Mendelssohn. O salutaris: Elgar. Tantum Ergo: Fauré (G flat).
A Romantic Choral Evensong pretty much all the way. The German text is Luther’s translation of a Latin Response which Cranmer renders as “Give peace in our time, O Lord: because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only Thou, O God.”

Wed 9 Sept, remember Father Charles Fuge Lowder (1820-80), Founder of the Society of the Holy Cross and pioneering Anglo-Catholic priest in Wapping & London Docks.

Saturday 12th September, Heritage Open Day 8am-6pm, and Devon Historic Churches Trust Ride & Stride. Also, Installation of Rt Revd Sarah Mullally as our new Bishop of Crediton in Exeter Cathedral at 4pm.

Sunday 13th September, Eve of Exultation of the Holy Cross.
Heritage Open Day 10am-6pm, Guided Tour of Mount Dinham & our Church at 2.30pm with Richard Parker.
10am in Exeter Cathedral, Ordination of Deacons, including Chris Durrant and Stephen Martin.
No choir for 10.45am Low Mass.
6pm Parish Sung Mass and Bring & Share Party at St Michael’s to Welcome Chris Durrant (and his wife Jenny) as our newly Ordained Deacon and Curate. All welcome, from St David’s, St James’ and further afield.
Hymns include Lift High the Cross. Setting: Missa Super Dixit Maria, Hans Leo Hassler.
Motet: Salvator Mundi, Thomas Tallis. O Saviour of the world, save us, who by thy cross and blood hast redeemed us, help us, we pray thee, our God.

Tuesday 15th September at 7pm. Open Choir Practice, for anyone wanting to sing a wide variety of sacred choral music in a relaxed and friendly atmosphere with the rather good choir at St Mike’s. We hope to appoint three Junior Choral Scholars following an audition. This could be of particular interest to anyone considering applying for a University or College Choral Scholarship and looking to gain experience. Please contact Erika Borley, Director of Music, if you know of anyone interested in this.

Wed 16 Sept, remember Ninian, Bishop of Galloway (432) and Edward Bouverie Pusey, one of the founders of the Oxford Movement (1882).

Thur 17 Sept, remember Hildegard, Abbess of Bingen, Visionary and Musician (1179).

Sunday 20th September, Trinity XVI, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Mass in A minor, Casciolini. Motet: Ubi Caritas, Duruflé. Where Care and Love are, there God is. Gregorian chant beautifully re-imagined in 1960 Paris.

Tuesday 22nd September at 7pm. Another Open Choir Practice at St Mike’s. We hope to appoint an Ouseley Trust Scholar and two Senior Choral Scholars from Exeter University students following auditions.

Sunday 27th September, Trinity XVII, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Mass in the Phrygian Mode, Wood. Motet: View Me Lord, Lloyd. Two 20th century composers looking back to medieval sacred music and an Elizabethan poem by Thomas Campion.

Tuesday 29th September, Michaelmas is celebrated with 7.30pm Sung Mass, followed by a Bring & Share Party – please join us. Our Guest Preacher is Ven David Gunn-Johnson.
Setting: Mass in F, Josef Rheinberger – Liechtenstein’s famous contemporary of Queen Victoria. Motet: Faire is the Heaven, Sir William Harris – A high point of 20th century Anglican music from an Organist of Sr George’s Chapel, Windsor, setting a 16th century poem by Edmund Spenser.

While we often shorten our church’s title to St Michael’s, it’s good also to let the “and All” Angels remind us that God values us all as his children, wherever we are on the pilgrimage of faith; and all are welcome here, quiet, confident or questioning.

Wednesday 30th September, 7.30pm, St Michael’s Lecture. The Venerable David Gunn-Johnson considers Crusader Spirituality, 11th Century Radicalisation, and whether there be any lessons for or parallels with our times.

South Aisle Window commemorating Rev John Inckson Woollcott who died in Rangoon 1931

Sunday 4th October, we will celebrate St Francis of Assisi, 10.45am Mass. Hymns include Make Me a Channel of Your Peace. Setting: Missa L’Hora Passa, Viadana. Motet: Laudans Exsultet Gaudio, Croce. A double choir celebration of Beati Sancti Francisci.

Sun 4 Oct, 6pm, Choral Evensong and Benediction.
Responses: Smith. Psalm: 125, 126. Office Hymn: 242. Canticles: Walmisley in D minor. Anthem: O Lord the Maker of All Thing, Mundy. O salutaris: 269, Tantum Ergo: 268.

Richard Barnes.

August at St Michael’s

Whether you’re a Summer visitor or a Devon resident, we would love to welcome you to worship with us at St Michael’s – traditional services, fine music, a diverse fellowship. It’s a fairly quiet month – activities will resume in September. A reminder that Tuesday & Thursday Plainsong Vespers have a break during August. Please check the website/twitter for updates.

Our Choir Tour to Germany was a joyful farewell celebration with Alex West of our Anglican Choral tradition from 16th to 21st century, and a time to hand-over to Erika Borley as our Choir Director. We also thank Sabrina for organising the Tour and the host families in her home town of Wolfenbuettel for their hospitality. See http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/choir-tour-blog/ for pictures and a write-up from the Tour.

Other farewells were to Rebecca and Vicki as they graduated in Maths and move away to jobs – come back and visit, and keep singing. We’re glad that Saffron will be returning, but that leaves us looking for several new scholars to join us in September. We are grateful to the Ouseley Trust for funding one of our Scholarships, and to Julian and Sabrina for their work securing such funding.

As well as auditioning for new Choral Scholars from the University in September, Erika is also looking to appoint 2 or 3 Junior Scholars, 16-18 year olds who might want experience before applying for University or College Choral Scholarships, or who just love singing church music – if you know of anyone who may be interested, see http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/music/scholarships/ and contact Erika.

So, here’s a summary of Music for August, and a few saints to remember. Firstly an all 16th century Sunday, and just a sprinkling of Bruckner, Darke & Sumsion later in the month.

Sun 2 August, Trinity IX, Sung Mass, 10.45am. Missa O Quam Gloriosum by Victoria. Ave Verum Corpus by Byrd.

Sun 2 Aug, 6pm, Choral Evensong & Benediction. Byrd Responses, Morley Fauxbourdon Canticles, Te Lucis Ante Terminum by Tallis.

Fri 7 Aug. John Mason Neale, Priest, Hymn Writer, 1866, best known for enriching our worship with many ancient and medieval hymns translated from Greek and Latin.

Sun 9 August, Trinity X, Sung Mass, 10.45am. Mass in F Darke. Verily, verily I say unto you, Tallis.

Fulda Cathedral High Altar – Assumption of Mary
Dom zu Fulda Hochaltar – Mariä Himmelfahrt

Sun 16 August, Solemn Mass for the Feast of the Assumption of BVM (transferred), 10.45am. Mass for Four Voices Byrd. Ave Maria Arcadelt.

Sun 23 August, Trinity XII, Mass, 10.45am. Mass in the Dorian Mode and If Ye Love Me, both by Thomas Tallis.

Mon 24 Aug. Bartholomew the Apostle, worth a mention for the street and cemetery named after him across the valley from St Michael’s.

Thurs 27 and Fri 28 Aug. Monica, 387, and her son Augustine of Hippo, 420, a great thinker and teacher of the faith.

Sun 30 August, Trinity XIII, Mass, 10.45am. Mass in F Sumsion. Locus Iste Bruckner.

Tues 1 September, at 6pm, CBS Mass for St Giles of Provence, Hermit, c.710, with Hymns and Plainsong Propers.

Richard Barnes.

Lent at St Michael’s

is perhaps the busiest time of the Christian year, but, as Fr David Walford said in a recent Sermon, it is activity that should lead us deeper into prayer, love of Jesus, and the silence and restraint that were our Lord’s strength in his Passion. As Fr David Hastings preached, in our secular world we need to reclaim time and space for the sacred and holy, and that is what St Michael’s offers.

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

Ash Wednesday, 18th February, is marked with Matins at 9.30am and Low Mass with Ashes at 10am, and in the evening at 7.30pm by Sung Mass with Imposition of Ashes.
Setting: Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd and Anthem: Versa est in luctum by Alonso Lobo, My harp is tuned for lamentation, and my flute to the voice of weeping. Spare me, O Lord, for my days are as nothing.

Sunday 22nd February, Lent 1, 10.45am. Mass features Cranmer’s Litany of 1544 sung in procession, Plainsong Sarum Mass and Farrant’s Hide not thou thy face from me O Lord.

Tuesday 24th February at 6pm, in place of Vespers, Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass for St Matthias’ Day sung with Plainsong Propers and Hymns. All welcome.

A reminder that Stations of the Cross are prayed on Wednesdays in Lent at 6pm (except 25 Mar, Annunciation), and Vespers continue to be sung on other Tuesdays & Thursdays at 6pm.

Wednesday 25th Feb at 7.30pm, the St Michael’s Lectures welcome Dr Clare Bryden (Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter) to talk about Particulart: Or the art of knitting, chemistry, meditation and gentle protest.

Sunday 1st March, Lent 2, 10.45am. Mass. The full Anglican Folk Mass by Martin Shaw and O Nata Lux by Thomas Tallis.

Sunday 1st March, 6pm. Evensong and Benediction will be more penitential, with Tallis Responses & Canticles, Allegri’s sublime Miserere and Plainsong Benediction Hymns.

The nest box camera should also be back online on the Peregrine Falcons page of the website at the beginning of March, hoping for egg laying around the Spring equinox.

Sunday 8th March, Lent 3, 10.45am. Plainsong Missa de Angelis and Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, by Henry Purcell.

Friday 13th March at 7.30pm, the Recital@StMichael’s is a Schools’ Recital. A programme of chamber music performed by young musicians from Exeter School and the Maynard School. Tickets: £5/£3.50, please support.

Sunday 15th March, Lent 4 is Laetare or Mothering Sunday using the Rose Vestments, 10.45am. Missa “O quam gloriosum” by Victoria and Ave Maria by Parsons.

Tuesday 17th March at 6pm, in place of Vespers, Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass for St Patrick’s Day sung with Plainsong Propers and Hymns. All Welcome.

Wednesday 18th March at 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture by Dr Morwenna Ludlow (Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter). On Theological Writing as Art & Craft; Is Writing a Theology Book a bit like Making a Pot?

Sunday 22nd March, Passion Sunday when the Crosses and Statues are covered. 10.45am. Mass in A minor, by Casciolini and the Anthem, Crucifixus etiam pro nobis, by Lotti.

Annunciation Window – St Michael’s Mount Dinham

Wednesday 25th March please try and come to the Feast of the Annunciation. Sung Mass at 7.30pm. Missa “Dixit Maria” by Hans Leo Hassler. Anthem: Hymn to the Virgin, by Benjamin Britten.

Sunday 29th March, Palm Sunday, 10.30am (N.B. earlier start and the clocks will have gone forward an hour overnight!) Sung Mass with Blessing and Procession of Palms. Sung Passion Gospel. Mass in D by Leighton. Anthem: Pueri Hebraeorum, by Victoria.

As Canon John Thurmer often said, homo sapiens is primarily a story-telling species, so it is always good for us to re-tell and re-enact the story of salvation in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Mirrored here may our lives tell your story, one might say.

The website already has details of services for Holy Week and Easter at the start of April.
RB

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.

August Weekend – September Services

It was an excellent mid-August weekend, with three dozen communicants at the Feast of the Assumption on Friday 15th, about 40 for Sunday Mass, and a congregation and choir totalling 40 for our extra Evensong at St Martin’s Church on Cathedral Yard. All the music was sung well and with enjoyment.

I particularly liked our Sunday morning motet “O Lord increase our faith” by Henry Loosemore (brother of John Loosemore, builder of the 1665 post-Restoration Exeter Organ), a youthful little piece written in 1627 when he was about 25.

St Michael’s Choir at St Martin’s Exeter

Our singing of the Gibbons Short Service Canticles at Evensong was “cheeky”, as requested by Alex. The congregation joined in the unaccompanied hymns strongly, and passing tourists were attracted in too. Thanks to Revd Sheila Swarbrick for the music-themed Readings and moving Sermon and Prayers. Evensong – over 450 years old and going strong.

Now that the new Website at  www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk  has been launched, with a Blog integral to it, this old WordPress blog may become a bit superfluous going forward. We will try to keep the 2 in step for a few weeks, but thereafter this old blog will remain as an archive of our HLF Project activities over the 18 months or so since February 2013. Please try our new website and consider moving over to it.

St Martin’s, Exeter – C17 Monument

We now look forward to September’s Music List, and hopefully to some new voices and faces joining us, in the choir or in the congregation, in enjoyment of the great church music which enlivens our worship.

Sunday, 7 September Trinity XII, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 390: 449: 366, Setting: Mass in F, Sumsion, Motet: Cantate Domino, Pitoni

Sunday, 7 September, 6pm Evensong and Benediction
Responses: Reading, Psalm: 105 1-15, Office Hymn: 248ii
Canticles: Noble in B minor, Anthem: O Lorde the maker of al thing, Joubert, Tantum Ergo & O Salutaris: Liszt

Sunday, 14 September Holy Cross Day, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 338: 439: 79, Setting: Missa “L’hora passa” Viadana, Motet: Wie lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Brahms (from Ein deutsches Requiem)

Sunday, 21 September St Matthew Apostle & Evangelist, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 224t178: 189: 374, Setting: Missa “Lauda Sion” Palestrina, Motet: Almighty and everlasting God, Gibbons

Sunday, 28 September Trinity XV, 10.45am Mass
Hymns: 335: 74: 443, Setting: Wood in F, Motet: O thou the central orb, Wood

Monday, 29 September St Michael & All Angels, 7:30pm Mass
Hymns: 205: 296: 206, Setting: Missa “O quam gloriosum” Victoria, Motet: And I saw another angel, Stanford.

Question: Where would you find the above depiction of St Michael? Answer next post.

Thankyou

As the @StMikes_Exeter tweet said after the Requiem for John Hughes, “Even on the saddest occasions it is lovely to see old friends. Thank you to all who came tonight, whether from near or far.”

Flowers by Stephanie

Thank you to well over 100 in the congregation at St Michael’s representing also St David’s, former clergy colleagues, and John’s family and many friends. Welcome visitors augmented the choir to 30, with Jason, Emily and Fiona as soloists, Neil working the large new pipe organ to great effect and Erika returning to conduct fine performances of the Fauré Requiem and Bainton’s anthem “And I saw a new heaven … And I John saw the holy city”. (We wish Erika well and every blessing as she takes up a teaching post in Cheltenham in September.)

The bell was tolled 35 times by Olive. The beautiful and moving service was presided over by Fr David Hastings with Fr David Walford and our Servers. Fr John Henton’s excellent and personal address will be printed in the September Parish Magazine. But there is space here for Canon John Thurmer’s insightful tribute which was printed in the Service booklet.

“John Mark David Hughes was a Devonian, from Kenton where he is buried. But he rejoiced in his Welsh ancestry and in the dedication of the parish church to St David, his own third name.

This Requiem at St Michael’s recalls not only his memorable ministry here, but also those rather eccentric weekday evening masses of the 1990s, to one of which he came as a schoolboy and reckoned it a turning point in his life.

At his death he was Fellow, Dean and Chaplain of Jesus College Cambridge, where Thomas Cranmer was a Fellow when he was called in 1533 to be Archbishop of Canterbury with momentous results.

John’s chaplaincy at Jesus embraced the whole College, Fellows, undergraduates, college servants and their families, and he had heavy teaching commitments in the Faculty of Divinity. His doctorate thesis on the theology of work was the basis of his book with the teasing title “The End of Work”.

He combined with unforgettable grace the work of the scholar and the loving kindness of the pastor. To each and every one according to need he was son, friend, father and teacher.

Give rest, O Christ, to thy servant with thy Saints where sorrows are no more, neither sighing, but life everlasting.”

It seems that the love of God first touched John, not through a book or an evangelist, but through the warm welcome of those cleaning and arranging flowers when a curious schoolboy made a detour into Kenton Church on his way home.

We now look forward to Friday 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, celebrated at St Michael’s with a Sung Mass at 7.30pm. Music will include the Setting Missa “Dixit Maria” by Hans Leo Hassler (1564-1612) and the Motet Ave Maria by Jacques Arcadelt (1505-1568).

Please join us; whatever your view on the theology of this Feast, the unique place of Mary in the Christian story of salvation is a cause for celebration.

Also Sunday 17th August, 6.30pm Evensong at St Martin’s in the Cathedral Close, EX1 1EZ.
Canticles: Gibbons Short Service. Anthem: Ave Maria, by Arcadelt.

Requiem – August Services

A warm invitation to all, and especially those who knew John Hughes, to come to St Michael’s for a Memorial Requiem Mass on Wednesday 6th August at 7.30pm.

The Preacher will be Fr John Henton, who was John’s training priest for his curacy at St David’s & St Michael’s here in Exeter. The Service will include the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré sung in its liturgical context.

There will be drinks and time for conversation afterwards.

St Michael’s other Services and Music for August are listed below.
N.B. No Tuesday or Thursday Vespers during August, but Wednesday Morning Prayer & Said Mass continue.

Last Sunday, there was strong congregational singing, while the holiday-depleted choir of 9, with Alex doubling as conductor and organist, enjoyed singing William Byrd’s sublime 4-part Mass from 1592, and William Sterndale Bennett’s best known anthem, God is a Spirit, from his 1867 Cantata, The Woman of Samaria.

Sunday 3rd August, Trinity VII, 10.45am Mass. NEH:436:295:368
Setting: Anglican Folk Mass, Shaw. Motet: O taste and see, Vaughan-Williams.

Sunday 3rd August. NO Evensong.

Wednesday 6th August, 7.30pm, Requiem Mass in memory of Fr John Hughes. Music will include the Requiem by Gabriel Fauré and the Preacher will be Fr John Henton.

Sunday 10th August, Trinity VIII, 10.45am Mass. NEH:338:353:464
Setting: Mass in the Dorian mode, Tallis. Motet: How beauteous are their feet, Stanford.

Fulda Cathedral – Assumption of Mary
Dom zu Fulda – Mariä Himmelfahrt

Friday 15th August, Feast of the Assumption, 7:30pm Mass. NEH:188ii:161t385:185
Setting: Missa “Dixit Maria”, Hassler. Motet: Ave Maria, Arcadelt.

Sunday 17th August, Trinity IX, 10.45am Mass. NEH:332:324:480
Setting: Mass in F, Sumsion. Motet: O Lord, increase our faith, Loosemore.

Also Sunday 17th August, 6.30pm Evensong at St Martin’s in the Cathedral Close, EX1 1EZ.
Canticles: Stanford in B flat or Gibbons Short Service, depending on organ availability. Anthem: Ave Maria, by Arcadelt.

Sunday 24th August, St Bartholomew the Apostle, 10.45am Mass. NEH:333:216t433:179t357
Setting: Sarum Mass, Plainsong. Motet: Give us the wings of faith, Bullock.

Sunday 31st August, Trinity XI, 10.45am Mass. NEH:452:408:449
Setting: Mass in A minor, Casciolini. Motet: Christus factus est, Bruckner.