Choral Mattins & Choral Eucharist

Above: Isaiah in the Incarnation Window of Saint Thomas Church. Isaiah, of course, prophesied the coming of the Christ. Today’s lessons involve two individuals who begin reading in the sight of the people from Holy Scripture. In today’s first lesson (Nehemiah 8:1-3,5-6,8-10) at Mattins, Ezra reads from the law of Moses. In today’s second lesson (Luke 4:14-21), we hear of Jesus who enters the synagogue in Nazareth and begins reading from the Book of the Prophet Isaiah: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” And he closed the book, and he gave it again to the minister, and sat down. And the eyes of all them that were in the synagogue were fastened on him. And he began to say unto them, “This day is this scripture fulfilled in your ears.”

Included in worship this morning are hymns sung by the congregation and choir, additional music sung exclusively by the choir, lessons, prayers, a sermon, and a Rite I Mass. All baptized Christians are welcome to receive Holy Communion.

This week the service begins with Choral Mattins, which occurs three times a year at the 11am service. Mattins allows us to offer some extraordinary works of the Anglican choral tradition that our choir normally does not have the opportunity to sing. If you are unfamiliar with Mattins, you are encourged to look at the leaflet and service card posted at the bottom of this page a few days before the service begins.

‚ñ∫The Rector speaks about the new sermon series which begins at today’s Choral Evensong in his weekly audio message.

Music notes: Although Lennox Berkeley, born near Oxford on May 12, 1903, had begun composing as a child, he did not initially plan a career in music. He studied at Gresham’s School, Holt (which his colleague and sometime collaborator Benjamin Britten was to attend a decade later), then read French and Philology at Merton College, Oxford. After encouragement from Ravel he moved to Paris in 1926 to study with Nadia Boulanger. His Missa Brevis was composed for Westminster Cathedral Choir in 1960; the writing is marked by elegance, charm, wit and masterly craftsmanship.

In an article ‚ÄúTruth in Music‚Äù (1966), Berkeley offered his views about composing works for the church: ‚ÄúBeing a Roman Catholic, I have naturally been drawn to the Latin liturgy and felt at home with it; it’s part of my life, and I have wanted to bring to it what I have to offer, however unworthy‚Äù.

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