Worship Calendar
Litany & Choral Eucharist
Sunday February 26, 2012
11:00 am - Saint Thomas Church
On the first Sunday in Lent, we ask God to save us in the time of trial -- to think on his mercy and not our many offenses. Always timely.
As you prepare your heart and mind for Lent, you might find these sermons by the Rector helpful:
Life in Eden and the Wilderness (2011)
Tried and Tested (2010)
Jesus: Tried and True (2009)
On Trial for Life (2008)
Passing through Trials (2007)
Do these sermons seem repetitive? Well, yes, they seem so because they are so. Perhaps that's because temptation and trial are regular parts of our lives. The Rector would say that repetition is good; the handing ourselves over to the mercy and goodness of Christ is done well when well-rehearsed.
Collect:
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted of Satan: Make speed to help thy servants who are assaulted by manifold temptations; and, as thou knowest their several infirmities, let each one find thee mighty to save; through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
The First Sunday in Lent begins, as it does every year, with the clergy and choir entering in silence, going to their respective places in the chancel. The Litany then begins with the words "O God the Father, Creator of heaven and earth" and the clergy and choir walk a long Procession through the nave, moving down the center aisle and through the side aisles among the congregation. By the time the Rector chants "Son of God: we beseech thee to hear us," the choir and clergy have returned to their places in the chancel.
If you listen to this service via the webcast, you will notice the movements of clergy and choir throughout the Litany Procession as they as they go farther and come nearer.
After the Litany Procession, the Rector chants the Collect of the Day, and the lessons and psalm proceed as usual, leading up to a sermon by Fr Austin.
The Holy Eucharist is given at the High Altar and, for convenience, at the Chantry rail as well.
Music notes: Published in 1566, Guerrero’s Missa Inter Vestibulum is scored for four voices and based on a motet by Morales of the same name. Guerrero took Morales’ opening motif (a descending scale of a fourth) and adapted it widely in his Mass, most notably at the beginning of each movement. The second Agnus Dei richly expands into six voices and like many of Guerrero’s other Masses, employs “trinitas in unitate,” or exact triple canonic imitation. This technique was studied and adopted by many other composers, including Guerrero’s younger contemporary Tomás Luis da Victoria.
►In his weekly audio message, the Rector this week talks about baptisms, which occur at Saint Thomas far more frequently than most people realize. This is an especially appropriate topic for this week, given that the season of Lent was originally formulated as a time of preparation and penitence for candidates for baptism. This aspect of Lent remains with us; the last thing we do as a congregation in the season of Lent is renew our baptismal vows together, and welcome in the newly baptized at the Great Vigil on Easter Eve. After the baptism at the Vigil, the priests and choir process to the altar during the chanting of the Litany of the Saints and then, suddenly and with great fanfare, it is Easter. Lent is over and the Lord is Risen.
| Celebrant: | Fr Mead |
| Preacher: | Fr Austin |
| Deacon: | Fr Spurlock |
| Subdeacon: | Fr Daniels |
| Sung by: | The Gentlemen of The Choir |
| Prelude: | Prelude & Fugue in F minor, BWV 534, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) |
| Service: | Missa Inter vestibulum et altare, Francisco Guerrero (1528-1599) |
| Psalm: | 25:1-9, Plainsong (Tone I A9) |
| Anthem: | In ieiunio et fletu, Thomas Tallis (c. 1505-1585) |
| Anthem 2: | Super flumina Babylonis, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina (c. 1525-1594) |
| Voluntary: | Fantasy and Fugue in C minor, BWV 537, Johann Sebastian Bach |
| Hymn: |
143 The glory of these forty days ERHALT UNS, HERR |
| Hymn 2: |
448 O love, how deep, how broad, how high DEUS TUORUM MILITUM |
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