Advent Sunday

Hosted by: St Michael's Church and Choir

11am Sung Mass or Litany. Advent Sunday is the start of the Christian Year; the Liturgical colour changes to PURPLE

The Litany published by Archbishop Thomas Cranmer in 1544 is the earliest officially authorized vernacular service in English.  The Litany is sung in Procession and the 1st candle of the Advent wreath is lit. Our Celebrant & Preacher today is …

 

In 2016, we celebrate the new Liturgical Year with the tuneful Mass in F by Charles Wood (the “John Rutter” of his era) and his joyous Anthem “O Thou the Central Orb”, a sonnet by Henry Ramsden Bramley (1833-1917).

O Thou, the central orb of righteous love,
Pure beam of the most High, eternal Light
Of this our wintry world, Thy radiance bright
Awakes new joy in faith, hope soars above.

Come, quickly come, and let thy glory shine,
Gilding our darksome heaven with rays Divine.

Thy saints with holy lustre round Thee move,
As stars about thy throne, set in the height
Of God’s ordaining counsel, as Thy sight
Gives measured grace to each, Thy power to prove.

Let Thy bright beams disperse the gloom of sin,
Our nature all shall feel eternal day
In fellowship with thee, transforming clay
To souls erewhile unclean, now pure within. Amen.

For 2015, the Setting is Kenneth Leighton’s austere Mass in D (Opus 45, 1965) and the Motet is “Let all mortal flesh keep silence” (1906) by Edgar Bairstow.

In 2014 – Setting: Missa Papae Marcelli, Palestrina,  and Carol: This is the Truth sent from above, Vaughan Williams.

The Herefordshire Carol, This is the Truth Sent from Above, was one of several folk tunes preserved and popularized by Ralph Vaughan-Williams. The text recalls the fall from grace of Adam, and the promise of redemption by Jesus.

This is the truth sent from above,
The truth of God, the God of love:
Therefore don’t turn me from your door,
But hearken all, both rich and poor.

And at this season of the year
Our blest Redeemer did appear,
He here did live, and here did preach,
and many thousands he did teach.

INTROIT. Ad te levavi. Ps. 25:  UNTO thee, O Lord, will I lift up my soul: my God, I have put my trust in thee, O let me not be confounded: neither let mine enemies triumph over me: for all they that hope in thee shall not be ashamed. Ps. ibid. Shew me thy ways, O Lord: and teach me thy paths. V. Glory be.

ALMIGHTY God, give us grace that we may cast away the works of darkness, and put upon us the armour of light, now in the time of this mortal life, in which thy Son, Jesus Christ, came to visit us in great humility: that in the last day, when he shall come again in his glorious majesty to judge both the quick and the dead; we may rise to the life immortal. Through the same Jesus Christ thy Son, our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. AMEN.

GRADUAL. Ps. 25 For all they that look for thee shall not be ashamed, O Lord. V. Make known to me thy ways, O Lord: and teach me thy paths.

Alleluia, alleluia. V. Ps. 85 Shew us thy mercy, O Lord: and grant us thy salvation. Alleluia.

OFFERTORY. Ps. 25 Unto thee, O Lord, will I lift up my soul: my God, I have put my trust in thee, O let me not be confounded: neither let mine enemies triumph over me: for all they that hope in thee shall not be ashamed.

COMMUNION. Ps. 85. The Lord shall shew loving-kindness: and our land shall give her increase.

Advent Sunday Pewsheet

Directions


St Michael and All Angels’ Church, Dinham Road, Mount Dinham, Exeter, EX4 4EB