February 8: The Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany

After several Sundays in a row of major feast days (January 11, 18 and 25, and February 1), the liturgical calendar on Sunday, February 8 allows us to experience a bit of what has been called “ordinary time,” the time after the Feast of the Epiphany and before Ash Wednesday that isn’t otherwise occupied by feasts. You’ll notice therefore that the vestments and altar frontal on February 8 are green, the liturgical color for this season.

Nevertheless, our choral service at 11am on February 8 is hardly ordinary, because it is one of three Sundays a year in which we offer Choral Mattins along with Choral Eucharist. Mattins is the sung version of Morning Prayer, which we say (as opposed to sing) each weekday at Saint Thomas. We offer Mattins three times a year on Sunday mornings because there is rich repertoire of music to which the canticles of Morning Prayer have been set; it would be a shame for the choir to never sing it, and for the congregation to never hear it. This Sunday the choir will sing Benjamin Britten’s Festival Te Deum in E and William Walton’s Jubilate in B-flat.

We invite you to worship with us February 8, whether at our typical Sunday services at 8am, 9am and 4pm, and/or for Choral Mattins at 11am. Please note that Holy Communion is offered at the morning services, but not at the 4pm service.