Church

Happy New Year 2017!

Lindsey

It was wonderful to start off 2017 at church! In place of our regular service (sermon and Eucharist) we did “Christmas Lessons and Carols with Holy Communion.” I have always loved Christmas songs, but my appreciation for Christmas hymns has grown over the past few years. During the offertory, our choir sang the “Sans Day Carol,” arranged by John Rutter. It is a lovely hymn that directly connects Christmas with Easter, and while I have listened to this song many times (I have the album), there’s always something special about hearing hymns in the context of a service, and followed by Holy Communion.

Now the holly bears a berry as white as the milk,
And Mary bore Jesus, who was wrapped up in silk:
And Mary bore Jesus Christ our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!

Now the holly bears a berry as green as the grass,
And Mary bore Jesus, who died on the cross:
And Mary bore Jesus Christ our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!

Now the holly bears a berry as black as the coal,
And Mary bore Jesus, who died for us all:
And Mary bore Jesus Christ our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!

Now the holly bears a berry, as blood is it red,
Then trust we our Saviour, who rose from the dead:
And Mary bore Jesus Christ our Saviour for to be,
And the first tree in the greenwood, it was the holly!

A holy Lent begins with humility

Lindsey

The Very Rev. Samuel G. Candler, the dean of my church, had some wonderful pre-Ash Wednesday thoughts that I wanted to share:

A holy Lent begins with humility, which is a deep word. The word “humility,” comes from the Latin word, “humus,” which means, of course, “organic earth,” or “dirt.” I think humus is actually “good dirt.” For Christians, to be humble does not mean getting stepped on like a doormat; it means being “down to earth” like good and honest soil. Humility means being real, being authentic about who we are, not thinking more about ourselves than what we really are. Humility means being the fertile soil which allows great things to grow. (Read the full post on Dean Candler’s blog.)

Also, for those who can handle a Lenten laugh, this is pretty hilarious.  I’m going to participate this year! I figure at the very least it will be educational:

The Feast of the Presentation (aka Candlemas)

Lindsey

Menologion of BasilToday we celebrated that we are mid-way through winter – spring is on its way!!

Candlemas is a traditional Christian festival that commemorates the ritual purification of Mary forty days after the birth of her son Jesus. On this day, Christians remember the presentation of Jesus Christ in the Temple. Forty days after the birth of a Jewish boy, it was the custom to take him to the temple in Jerusalem to be presented to God by his thankful parents.

It was the day of the year when all the candles, that were used in the church during the coming year, were brought into church and a blessing was said over them – so it was the Festival Day (or ‘mass’) of the Candles. ~Project Britain

As it was a feast day, I chose to attend the Evensong service rather than my usual 11:15 service because I knew that the music would be beautiful to celebrate this day, and I was not disappointed.  One of the things I love the most about my church is how amazing the choir is, and how intellectual the music selection is.  The primary music for this service was G.P. da Palestrina’s Missa Brevis.  It was so peaceful and lovely, and the candlelight made the entire experience feel like a lovely winter reprieve, especially after all the craziness that happened in Atlanta this week.  See below for a YouTube playlist of the Missa Brevis.

I truly resonated with this week’s collect: Almighty and everliving God, we humbly pray that, as your only-begotten Son was this day presented in the temple, so we may be presented to you with pure and clean hearts by Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.