From the Organist & Choirmaster

Merry Christmas! I pray that everyone is enjoying a bit of respite at the Christmas holiday. Christmas is my favorite time in the church, especially Christmas Eve. I hope that you were able to attend one or all of our liturgies for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It is probably not a shocking thing to hear that my favorite liturgy is the Lessons & Carols/Midnight Mass. Each liturgy has beautiful components, but something about the darkness and feelings at the later Mass always get to me. The Lessons and Carols is modeled on King’s College Cambridge’s liturgy, something I make a point to watch and listen to before any of our liturgies happen since it happens in the morning in the US. At Saint Andrew’s we begin the same way, a chorister singing the first verse of Irby (Once in Royal David’s city), the choir the second, and the congregation for the rest of the hymn. The translation of the Lessons is the King James Version read by choristers and clerks with associated carols after each reading. The Mass has great anthems and hymns, O come, all ye faithful, Hark! the herald angels sing, Of the Father’s love begotten, to name a few hymns. This year the choir sang William Mathias’ A babe is born, a brilliantly 20th century anthem that is very much British in nature. Verses in English capped with latin phrases which make up a prayer of itself “Come O creating Spirit, O light of the blessed Trinity. From lands that see the sun arise, Glory be to thee O Lord, Come, O creating Spirit.” The use of Latin in English anthems is a very common medieval practice, especially as exclamations at the ends of verses like this anthem.

Let those words that the choir sang Christmas Eve guide us as we celebrate Christmastide.

Come O Creating Spirit, O light of the blessed Trinity. From lands that see the sun arise, Glory be to thee O Lord. Come, O creating Spirit.

Merry Christmas!

Cody