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Sun 1st Dec, 11am. ADVENT SUNDAY. Sung Mass. Litany in Procession, 11, 15. Missa Brevis, Lotti. Matin Responsory, Palestrina. 12Noon Bountiful Table of Bakes, Preserves & Produce.
N.B. No Evensong on Sun 1st Dec.

Sat 7th Dec, 10 – 12. Church Cleaning Morning – please come & help if you can.

Sun 8th Dec, 11am. Advent II. Hymns: 5: 10: 16. Mass in the Dorian Mode, Tallis. People Look East, Trad.
6pm ADVENT PROCESSION & CAROL SERVICE, followed by Mulled Wine & Mince Pies.

Fri 13th Dec, 7pm. Swedish Choir Santa Lucia Day celebration. All welcome.

Sun 15th Dec, 11am. Gaudete, Advent III. 7: 12: 499 . Mass in Phrygian Mode, Wood. E’en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come, Manz.

Sun 15th Dec, 6pm at St David’s Church. Service of Readings & Carols.

Wed 18th Dec, 7.30pm.  The Revd. Dr. Alastair Logan “In Search of Ancient Gnostics”

Sun 22nd Dec, 11am. Advent IV. 21: 57: 186. Missa Brevissima, Casciolini. Ave Maria, Arcadelt.

Tue 24th Dec, 11.30pm. Midnight Mass of the Nativity. With Carols from the Gallery at 11pm. Hymns: 26: 29: 30. Mass in F, Sumsion. O magnum mysterium, Byrd.

Wed 25th Dec, 10.30am (N.B. earlier time) Christmas Day Sung Mass. 24: 32: 30 (v1,2,6,7). Mass in F, Darke. Ding, dong, Merrily on High, arr. Woodward.
Sun 29th Dec, 11am. Christmas I. 25: 39: 42. Merbecke/Shaw. O men from the fields, Cooke.

Sunday 5th January 2020. Christmas II/Epiphany. Sung Mass. 50: 47: 52. Mass in F, Wood. Whence is that goodly fragrance, arr. Willcocks.

6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction for Epiphany. Smith Responses. Psalm 98 (&100). Hymn 49. Stanford in C. Anthem: Christus, Mendelssohn. O salutaris 269 Tantum Ergo 268.

Sun 12th Jan, 11am. Epiphany I/Baptism of the Lord. 56: 495: 58. Missa l’Hora passa, Viadana. Lully, Lullay – Keitch

Sun 19th Jan, 11am. Epiphany II. 55: 294: 467. Missa Sancti Nicolai, Nicholson. The Lamb, Tavener.

Sat 25th Jan, 9.30am. Men’s Breakfast at the Farmers’ Union, Queen’s Terrace.

Sun 26th Jan, 11am. Epiphany III. 36: 302: 57. Mass in F, Darke. Beati Quorum Via, Stanford.

Wed 29th Jan, 7.30pm Lecture. Dr. Robert Guyver will speak on John Coleridge Patteson, the martyred Bishop of Melanesia.

Sunday 2nd February, 11am. Candlemas. Sung Mass. 439: 408: 44. Mass in C&F, Nunc Dimittis in B flat, both by Stanford.

6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction for Candlemas. Reading Responses. Psalm 122 (&132). Hymn: 475. Stanford in B flat. Anthem: O nata lux, Lauridsen. O salutaris, Tantum Ergo.

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December & January Events @ St Michael’s
Sun 3rd Dec, Advent Sunday. 10.45am Sung Mass & 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction.
Wed 6th Dec, St Nicolas of Myra, 9.30am BCP Matins, 10am Low Mass.
Thu 7th Dec, 6pm CBS Plainsong Mass. St Ambrose, Bishop of Milan, Teacher of the Faith (397)
Fri 8th Dec, 6.30pm at St David’s Church. Community Christmas Concert. £5.
Sat 9th Dec, 4.30pm. Exeter Chorale Concert. Veni Sponsa Christi (£10/£6 students)
Sun 10th Dec, Advent II. 10.45am Mass, 6pm, Advent Procession – Thanks to all who came.
Sun 17th Dec, Gaudete, Advent III. 10.45am Mass (Rose Vestments).
Sun 24th Dec, Advent IV! 10.45am Mass.

Sun 24th Dec, Christmas Eve. 11pm Gallery Carols, 11.30pm Midnight Mass of the Nativity.
Mon 25th Dec, Christmas Day. N.B. 10.30am Sung Mass of the Nativity.
Tue 26th Dec, St Stephen Please check website/twitter for details of any Services this week.
Sun 31st Dec, Christmas I, Holy Family. 10.45am No Clergy, so Sung Matins!

Sun 7th Jan, Epiphany. 10.45am Mass & 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction.
Sun 14th Jan, Epiphany II. 10.45am Mass.
Tue 16th Jan, 7.30pm at St David’s Church. Institution & Induction of Preb Nigel Guthrie as Vicar of the Parish.
Thu 18th Jan, 12noon Parish Lunch at Exeter College @34 Restaurant – sign up in churches.
Sun 21st Jan, Epiphany III. Sung Mass.
Sat 27th Jan, Men’s Breakfast or Brunch – see in churches for details.
Sun 28th Jan, Epiphany IV/Septuagesima. Sung Mass.
Wed 31st Jan, 7.30pm. Apologies – NO St Michael’s Lecture this month.
Fri 2nd Feb, Candlemas. 7.30pm Sung Mass.

Regular Events:-
Tuesdays & Thursdays, 6pm Plainsong Vespers & Meditation.
Tuesdays, 7-8.30pm Choir Practice.
Wednesdays, 9.30am BCP Morning Prayer, 10am Low Mass.

See Twitter https://twitter.com/StMikes_Exeter for details and updates.

Concerts. Please support the Community Christmas Concert at St David’s Church on Friday 8 December at 6.30pm with a wealth of local talent performing – including Oliver Nicholson & Richard Barnes giving a spirited rendition of “Watchman, what of the night?” accompanied by Natasha Goldsworth at the pianoforte. Tickets £5.

On Saturday 9 December at 4.30pm there’s a Tea-time Concert at St Michael’s Church as Exeter Chorale present glorious Renaissance Masses & Motets by Palestrina, Lassus & Guerrero, with tea & cakes, all for £10.

Choir Music. Thanks to Tim Hampshire and organist Nigel Atkinson for leading the Fauré Requiem for our All Soul’s Day Mass, and to Graham Keitch for his setting of ‘For the Fallen’.

Sunday 10 December at 6pm we have the beautiful Advent Procession guiding us from darkness to light through music, prayer and readings, with seasonal refreshments afterwards.

Our Music List & Organist Rota for Advent to Epiphany are online, and we thank all who are pulling together to carry on providing St Michael’s with music fitting for the church’s liturgy.

I hope we will sing “O magnum mysterium” as the words ‘ut animalia viderent Dominum natum jacentem in praesepio’, ‘that animals should see the new-born Lord lying in a manger’ bring the Incarnation of Jesus truly down to Earth, and also remind me of Thomas Hardy’s poem “The Oxen”.

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
“Now they are all on their knees,”
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.

Lent Reading Group. Advance notice. Following last year’s successful meetings exploring the ‘Confessions’ of St Augustine, Oliver Nicholson will lead a series of Wednesday evening gatherings for Lent 2018 looking at the founder of Desert Monasticism, St Antony of Egypt (c.251-356), whose Life was influential in the Conversion of Augustine. The likely dates are Wed 21 Feb to Wed 21 Mar, but you don’t have to commit to all 5 Wednesdays.

Wishing you all a Holy Advent & a Merry Christmas.

Richard Barnes

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This is Incarnation, the messy humanity of it all, for Mary & Joseph, the Shepherds and their families, ruthless Herod and his clever advisers, the Magi with their expectations; explored in our words & music, as we ponder the selfishness, sadness and sinfulness of 2016.

There is a strange symmetry in the life of Jesus, sometimes picked up in poems or paintings – stable cave and rock-hewn tomb, the wood of crib and cross, swaddling-bands and grave-clothes, the spices of the Wise men and the Women, Angel’s words to the Shepherds and the Women, the cruel pragmatism of politicians and zealots.

We hope our worship & fellowship at St Michael’s and St David’s will help us all to delight in the Season of Incarnation, Jesus Son of God, born in humility, Joy to the World.

Sunday 4th December, Advent II, 10.45am Sung Mass. Missa Brevis by Lotti; Motet “Canite Tuba” by Guerrero. …Veni, Domine, et noli tardare. Sound the trumpet …Come, Lord, and do not delay.

Our beautiful candlelit Advent Procession at St Michael’s is on Sunday 4th December at 6pm. Prayers, Readings, Hymns and Carols illuminate the 7 Great O Antiphons of the Advent Hymn “O come, O come Emmanuel”. The choir will sing the Pergolesi/Durante setting of the Magnificat. The service is followed by mulled wine and mince pies.

Thursday 8th Dec at 6pm. Vespers for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. All are welcome.

Sunday 11th Dec, Advent III, Gaudete Sunday with Rose Red Vestments. 10.45am. Mass in A minor by Casciolini; E’en so Lord Jesus, by Manz.

Sunday 11th Dec at 2pm, the Choir will sing Carols in the Chapel at Killerton House. National Trust admission applies. Please come and support us.

Sunday 11th Dec at 4.30pm, Exeter Chorale, conducted by Dr Nigel Browne, presents a Tea-time Concert with a “watery” theme. Music includes Stanford “The Blue Bird”, Tippett “Deep River”, a couple of stormy Baroque Motets, plus Drunken Sailors and a Mermaid! Admission £8 (children free) including refreshments.

Tuesday 13th Dec at 6pm, this month’s CBS Plainsong Mass celebrated by Fr David Hastings on St Lucy’s Day. All welcome.

Saturday 17th Dec at 5pm – Carol Concert with St Michael’s Choir in aid of the charity Refugee Support Devon.

Sunday 18th Dec, Advent IV, 10.45am. Mass in Phrygian Mode, by Wood. The Motet is “Anna mater Matris Christi” by John Plummer, a 15th century piece on the worthiness of St Anne to be the grandmother of Jesus.

Sunday 18th Dec, at St David’s Church at 6pm – Carol Service and Farewell to Canon Tom Honey & Jeanie at 7pm.

Saturday 24th December Christmas Eve, 11pm Carols from the West Gallery, 11.30pm, Midnight Mass. A “Victoria” Christmas, Missa “O Quam Gloriosum” & Motet “O Magnum Mysterium”.

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock. “Now they are all on their knees,” An elder said as we sat in a flock By the embers in hearthside ease.
We pictured the meek mild creatures where They dwelt in their strawy pen, Nor did it occur to one of us there To doubt they were kneeling then.
So fair a fancy few would weave In these years! Yet, I feel, If someone said on Christmas Eve, “Come; see the oxen kneel,
“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb Our childhood used to know,” I should go with him in the gloom, Hoping it might be so.
“The Oxen” by Thomas Hardy, was published in The Times on Christmas Eve 1915. On the face of it, a pastoral idyll of worshipping animals and simple country folk, but below the surface are Hardy’s growing doubts and the irony of such a myth ‘in these years’ of war raging in the mud of the trenches. Yet still hope lingers for peace on earth, upon the midnight clear.

Sunday 25th Dec, Christmas Day, 10.45am Mass in F & In the Bleak Midwinter, both by Harold Darke.

Holy Communion/Low Mass will be said at 10am at St Michael’s Church by Canon Tom Honey on the 3 Feast Days following Christmas.
Monday 26th Dec, St Stephen, Deacon & First Martyr, 10am.
Tuesday 27th Dec, St John, Apostle &Evangelist, 10am.
Wednesday 28th Dec, Holy Innocents Day, Childermas, 10am.

Sunday 1st January 2017, Holy Name of Jesus, 10.45am. This will be Fr Tom Honey’s final service at St Michael’s before moving. Mass in F by Sir William Harris. Carol: Infant Holy, Infant Lowly, trad. arr. Willcocks. N.B. No Evensong today, but please come to…

Friday 6th January, Epiphany, 7.30pm. Mass in F by Sumsion; O God who by the leading of a star, by Attwood. Celebrant & Preacher Fr Christopher Durrant. Please support the first Feast of 2017.
Richard Barnes.

The post December 2016 at St Michael’s appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

Click “Events” for details of many of the following:-

29th November is Advent Sunday. We start our 10.45am service with The Litany sung in procession; this is Cranmer’s first piece of English Liturgy, published in 1544. The Setting is Kenneth Leighton’s austere Mass in D from 1965, and the Motet is Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence, composed by Edgar Bairstow in 1906.

On Wednesdays 2nd, 9th & 16th December, St Michael’s will be open from 8.15 – 9.15am to offer Breakfast and hospitality to the parents and children of St David’s School as they arrive, and to our other neighbours, the residents of Mount Dinham. If you can help with this outreach, please contact Chris Heaven or Sabrina Groeschel.

Thursday 3rd December at 6pm, there will be a sung Requiem Mass in memory of Nick Heath.

Sunday 6th December, Advent II, 10.45am Mass. A cappella Setting: Missa “Dixit Maria” by Hassler, and Motet “Canite Tuba” by Guerrero. (…Veni, Domine, et noli tardare. Sound the trumpet …Come, Lord, and do not delay.)

Our beautiful candlelit Advent Procession at St Michael’s is on Sunday 6th December at 6pm. Prayers, Readings, Hymns and Carols illuminate the 7 “Great O” Antiphons of the Advent Hymn “O come, O come Emmanuel”. The service culminates with Palestrina’s double choir setting of the Magnificat, and is followed by mulled wine and mince pies.

Tuesday 8th December at 6pm. CBS Mass for the Feast of the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary. All are welcome at this Plainsong Mass.

Saturday 12th December at 7.30pm, Exeter Chorale, conducted by Dr Nigel Browne, presents a programme of seasonal music, Renaissance and Modern, on the theme of Images of the Incarnation. Admission £8 (£5 Students, children free) including refreshments.
ExCh_Winter15_Poster
Sunday 13th December, at St David’s Church at 9.30am, Confirmation Service with the Bishop of Crediton, Rt Revd Sarah Mullally.

Sunday 13th December, Advent III, Gaudete Sunday with Rose Red Vestments at 10.45am. Mass in E by Harold Darke and Rejoice in the Lord Alway.

Sunday 13th December, St Michael’s Choir is at Killerton House, Broadclyst, from 2-3.30pm for an afternoon of Carol Singing in the Estate Chapel (NOT the Music Room). National Trust admission applies. Please come and support us. The House has Narnia themed decorations this year.

Thursday 17th December at 7.30pm – Our traditional Service of Nine Lessons & Carols at St Michael’s.

Sunday 20th December, Advent IV, 10.45am. Lighting the 4th candle and thinking of Mary, with Missa “Ave Maris Stella” by Victoria, and Motet “Alma Mater Redemptoris” by Palestrina. Copies of “Prope Est Dominus” by Michael Haydn, from this Sunday’s Gradual – The Lord is nigh unto all them that call upon Him – were not as nigh as we hoped.

Sunday 20th December, at St David’s Church at 6pm – Another more contemporary Nine Lessons & Carols. Why not try 18 L&C this year?

And on Christmas Eve, Thursday 24th December at 4pm at St David’s Church, a child friendly Christingle Service and Nativity tableau.

Thursday 24th December, 11pm Carols from the West Gallery, 11.30pm, Midnight Mass at St Michael’s. The beautifully tuneful Mass in F by Charles Wood (at his most Rutteresque, if that’s not too much of an anachronism) and the ever popular 1837 arrangement of “In Dulci Jubilo” by R L Pearsall, translating the German of the original macaronic text into English but letting the Latin stand.

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock. “Now they are all on their knees,” An elder said as we sat in a flock By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where They dwelt in their strawy pen, Nor did it occur to one of us there To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave In these years! Yet, I feel, If someone said on Christmas Eve, “Come; see the oxen kneel,

“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb Our childhood used to know,” I should go with him in the gloom, Hoping it might be so.

This poem, “The Oxen” by Thomas Hardy, published in The Times on Christmas Eve 1915, is exactly 100 years old. On the face of it, a bucolic idyll of worshipping animals (O magnum mysterium) and simple country folk, but just below the surface are Hardy’s own growing doubts and the irony of such a myth ‘in these years’ of war raging in the mud of the trenches. And perhaps still a lingering hope for peace on the earth, upon the midnight clear.

Friday 25th December, Christmas Day, 10.30am (N.B.) Mass in F by Harold Darke, and Motet: Born Today, by Jan Sweelinck. Come and celebrate Christmas morning with us giving thanks for God’s gift in Jesus.

Saturday 26th December, St Stephen Said Mass at 10am.

Sunday 27th December, St John the Evangelist, the disciple whom Jesus loved. 10.45am Mass. Missa & Motet “O Magnum Mysterium” by Victoria.

Monday 28th December, Holy Innocents Said Mass at 10am.

Sunday 3rd January 2016, Christmas II, 10.45am. Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd. Motet: Lullay my Liking, by Gustav Holst. N.B. No Evensong today, but please come to…

Wednesday 6th January, Epiphany, 7.30pm. Mass in C & F by Stanford. Motet: Three Kings from Persian lands afar, by Cornelius. Please make this Event a priority in your diary. We shall be formally thanking Fr David Hastings for the gifts of his ministry among us at St Michael’s over several years, as he retires from his position as Honorary Assistant Priest.

Incarnation Actually.

No doubt the joyous, uplifting and slightly naughty film “Love Actually” will be gracing our TV screens again with its ensemble story of the lead up to a secular Christmas, in which most characters, but not quite all, find love one way or another.

Our sacred seasons of Advent & Christmas are also about the earthing of religion in relationships, strained or fulfilling, in the unsettling humility of God become human, one of us, at his mother’s breast, the outbuilding behind the Inn echoing to his crying, awake in a manger.

Theology finds a word, Incarnation, to disguise the naked fleshliness, the messy humanity of it all, but I wonder how was it for Mary & Joseph, the Shepherds and their families, Herod and his clever advisers, the Magi with their expectations?

These ideas are explored in our music over these seasons. The big Gospel song at the end of that film’s Nativity Play says – All I want for Christmas … is you. We might rephrase it as – All we need for Christmas … is Jesus.

But what that means to each of us will be different, because we are all loved but each different. How we respond to the Christmas story this year, its message and its music, will probably depend on how events have affected the various physical, emotional, intellectual and spiritual facets of our life.

There is a strange symmetry in the life of Jesus, sometimes picked up in poems or paintings – stable cave and rock-hewn tomb, the wood of crib and cross, swaddling-bands and grave-clothes, the spices of the Wise men and the Women, angelic words to the Shepherds and the Women (you can find both in our East window), the cruel pragmatism of the political elite, even the little donkeys of the journey and Palm Sunday.

And there through it all, from start to finish of those special 30-odd years, is Mary, uniquely Mother of God, and also representing us in our humanity.

Wishing you all the love, joy and peace that we so need this Christmas and New Year.

Richard Barnes.

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There’s a little quiz to ‘name’ the Angel-(tri)angles pictured throughout the blog. Answers at the bottom. (Views expressed in this blog are personal, light-hearted and not intended to cause any offence – RichardBarnes.)

“The bells of waiting Advent ring,”
famously wrote Sir John Betjeman in his poem “Christmas”. But another poem of his, Advent 1955,
“The Advent wind begins to stir
With sea-like sounds in our Scotch fir,”
is also worth searching out (copyright prevents reprinting). At that very time my parents were waiting for their Christmas baby to arrive.

I do enjoy a nice typo, and here’s a real one I spotted recently for some seasonal elf and safety training. “Health & Safety for Mangers” – presumably that would be for Mary & Joseph and others with line(age) management responsibilities.

Into the growing, or groaning, Oxford Movement English Dictionary, I’ve been asked to add:-
Apse – a download for your smartphone or tablet to upgrade its architecture.
Messy Solennelle – a Catholic version of Messy Church.
O Llama God – a version of the Agnus Dei for use with the Peruvian Gloria.
L’Église – a French Expression of Church.

On PyTV, look out for the Apse Factor. The final of this church architecture talent show features the classical order of Justin Pediment, the Irish Rococo splendour of Baroque O’Bama, the Victorian Gothic of Augustus Pingu, and the functional Modernism of Lars Pews-gone.

As the final film instalment of The Hobbit comes out, I recall a BBC TV presenter recently telling us that Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland, regularly met with JRR Tolkien and the other Inklings in the Eagle and Child pub in Oxford to discuss their literary creations. An intriguing idea, but not ‘strictly’ true, they would never have met, their lives only overlapping by a few years. He must have meant Inspector Lewis, and Morse – only joking, C S Lewis, of course.

For some festive fantasy for children of all ages, dust off the Box of Delights (book or DVD) by John Masefield, and travel back 80 years with young Kay Harker and old Cole Hawlings to Tatchester, where the Wolves are Running, to save the Bishop, the Cathedral and Christmas itself from the evil schemes of the wizard who has taken over the theological college. The BBC adaption over 6 half-hour episodes was filmed at locations mainly in Herefordshire, and features music from Hely-Hutchinson’s Carol Symphony.

At Christmas Midnight Mass, as well as the ever poignant …
Yet with the woes of sin and strife
The world has suffered long;
Beneath the angel-strain have rolled
Two thousand years of wrong;
And man, at war with man, hears not
The love-song which they bring;
O hush the noise, ye men of strife,
And hear the angels sing.
… so appropriate to the 20th century and this centenary of World War I (but written in Massachusetts in 1849), let us also recall “The Oxen”, a poem by Thomas Hardy published in The Times on Christmas Eve, 1915.

Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock.
“Now they are all on their knees,”
An elder said as we sat in a flock
By the embers in hearthside ease.

We pictured the meek mild creatures where
They dwelt in their strawy pen,
Nor did it occur to one of us there
To doubt they were kneeling then.

So fair a fancy few would weave
In these years! Yet, I feel,
If someone said on Christmas Eve,
“Come; see the oxen kneel,

“In the lonely barton by yonder coomb
Our childhood used to know,”
I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so.

So, a Blessed Christmas to all when He arrives.

But where is the humorous, dodgy scholarship of St Pythag’s, you may be wondering?

At this time when the light of our Lord is shining, in the midst of the darkness shining, the Pythagoras Institute for Indisciplinary Studies presents “The Effulgent History of the Worship Song, Shine, Jesus shine.” In 2013 many people celebrated the Silver Jubilee of this much loved and sometimes derided opus from the pen of Graham Kendrick. But could there be a pre-history to be fabricated for these stirring lyrics and music?

By coincidence in Autumn 2013, choir members at St Michael’s discovered Codex Dinhamensis, containing a 16th century manuscript with polyphonic music and Latin words, Domine lux tui amoris lucet … Fulge Jesu Fulge, remarkably similar to Shine, Jesus shine. A performing edition was constructed and ascribed to the little known composer Giovanni di Kendrika, born in 1507 in the Italian city of Apiclapi. An accomplished musician from an early age, he is, however, now only remembered for the eventful and notorious period, culminating in the ‘Great Handclapping Schism’ of 1548, as maestro di capella of the Capella Giulia at St Peter’s Rome, predecessor of his better-known contemporary Palestrina.

Then, in a move that would be repeated some 400-odd years later, the Council of Trendi in 1563 caused a time of Choroclasm in which organs and robed choirs, in all but the most prestigious institutions, were replaced by mandolins and gruppi musici, singing sanitised versions of popular music from their youth.

Another manuscript dated Leipzig 1608 has the same words and similar music arranged as a Lutheran Choral by the German Schein, Johann Schein, thought to be a pseudonym of the little-known composer Johann Sebastian Kendrich.

Analysing the text of Shine, Jesus shine, it seems clear that two earlier works have been combined sometime before the 16th century. The motifs of the Antiphon or Chorus – Shine, Blaze, Flow, Send – are in the Christus Victor style of the late Classical period and were perhaps penned by the lyricist Tinned Rice of the Ambrosian school of hymnography in the 4th century, or else Venantius Unfortunatus in the 6th. However the ideas of inundation and worship of Sun and River suggest to me an origin way, way back many centuries earlier in Ancient Egypt.

Some New-Age devotees have suggested various pagan origins in river cults such as Tyne Geordie Tyne or Rhein Mädchen Rhein, but, like much else, these cannot be traced back beyond post-Enlightenment Romanticism.

The verses, by contrast, seem to use a more sombre, medieval imagery – in mediis tenebris lucet, in the midst of the darkness shining; Domine venio ad faciem tuam terribilem, Lord I come to your awesome presence; per sanguinem intrabo splendorem, by the blood may I enter your brightness – or be reminiscent of the Psalmist in his darker moods. They appear first along with the familiar Tonus Kendrickus plainsong in the late 12th century Serve’em Rite, a short-lived alternative to the Sarum Rite, but somehow failed to find a place in Cranmer’s Book of Common Prayer.

With this understanding of its illustrious pre-history, I’m sure we will all be much more willing to raise our hands and sing
“Fulge Jesu Fulge, replete hanc terram gloria patris,
Flagra spiritu flagra, incende corda nostra,
Flue flumen flue, inunda gentes gratia misericordiaque,
Emitte verbum tuum Domine, et fiat lux.”

Codex Dinhamensis also contains a fragment from the Confessions of St Augustine of Hippo:-
Lutum lutum gloriosum lutum, nihil omnino sanguis ad refrigerandum.
now better known set to music by Flanders and Swann.
And a lost final Sailors’ Chorus from Purcell’s opera Dido & Aeneas:-
Dido, Dido, it’s off to sea we go.

Finally a few little “Knock, knock” jokes, such as you might find in your Christmas Crackers.
Knock, knock. – Who’s there? Owen. Owen who? Owen the saints go marching in.
Knock, knock. – Who’s there? Andy. Andy who? Andy Glory of the Lord shall be revealed.
Knock, knock. – Who’s there? Wendy. Wendy who? Wendy red, red robin comes bob, bob bobbin’ along.
Knock, knock. – Who’s there? Wayne. Wayne who? Wayne a manger.
Knock, knock. – Who’s there? Wenceslas. Wenceslas who? Wenceslas train to Exeter?

Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say, Merry Christmas.

Those Angels? – Equilateral – Isosceles – Scalene – Obtuse – Acute.

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Fr David, Canon Tom and the clergy, servers, choir and congregation extend a warm welcome each and all to come and join us at St Michael’s, Mount Dinham, for any or all of our Services over the Advent, Christmas and Epiphany seasons, as we celebrate the light of Jesus coming into the darkness of his world and ours.

And indeed, for those who might find Services at St Mike’s a little strange or too intense, there are also 3 pre-Xmas events where overt religion is kept to a minimum. Click on “Events” for more detail on individual events.

Wednesday 10th December sees the Choir in Concert at 7.30pm – Christmas by Candlelight will include the splendid Fantasia on Christmas Carols by Ralph Vaughan Williams, and we’ll Ding dong merrily, In dulci jubilo, with Shepherds and Kings and wish you a Merry Christmas! Admission £5 (£3).

Then on Saturday 13th December from 3-5pm there’s an Open Invitation to an Afternoon of Festive Food, Drink and Song at St Mike’s for friends, neighbours, families and passers-by. Do Drop In.

And on Saturday 20th Dec at 7.30pm, Exeter Chorale visit with a Concert of Christmas Music from 17th Century Venice & Saxony. The exciting sound of 8-part singing, brass and strings will echo around St Michael’s. And the Christmas Story will be re-told to the music of Heinrich Schutz, with guest soloist, Tony Yates, from Topsham. Tickets £7.50 on the door, with fine refreshments.

Plus on Sunday 21st Dec, St Michael’s Choir is delighted to have the opportunity to go Carolling at Killerton House. We will be entertaining visitors to this National Trust property in the Music Room with Carols sacred and secular, old and new, from 2pm to 4pm. Supporters welcome.

Don’t forget the St Michael’s Lecture. On Wednesday 3rd December at 7.30pm, our own David Beadle, who is studying for a PhD on the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament) at the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter, and has done so much to reinvigorate the Lecture Series over the past few years, will talk about “Attitudes to Death and Dying in the Bible and Contemporary Europe.”

As for Services, this year the First Sunday in December is Advent 2, so the 6pm Evening Service will be our beautiful Advent Procession (and not Evensong). Thus:-

Thursday 4th December at 6pm, in place of Thursday Vespers, CBS Mass in commemoration of Nicholas Ferrar (1637) of the Little Gidding Community.

Sunday 7th Dec, Advent II, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa de Angelis, Plainsong. Motet: E’en so, Lord Jesus, quickly come, Paul Manz.

Sun 7 Dec at 6pm. St Michael’s candlelit Advent Procession, from Darkness into Light, with Readings, Hymns and Carols, followed by Refreshments.

As well as 5 rousing Advent congregational hymns, music will include Palestrina’s well-known Matin Responsory and the traditional plainsong Advent Antiphons. Also the motet by Ramsey – O Sapientia (O Wisdom), Handel’s chorus – And the Glory of the Lord (from Messiah) and Gibbons’ dancelike Magnificat.

Sunday 14th Dec, Advent III, 10.45am Mass. We get out the Rose vestments for Gaudete Sunday – Rejoice in the Lord always. Setting: Mass in E flat, Bairstow. Motet: This is the record of John, Gibbons.

Thursday 18th Dec, 7:30pm at St Michael’s. Advent 3.571428 as Alex put it! A traditional Service of Nine Lessons & Carols. Hymns, Carols, Bidding Prayer and Readings telling the great story from Adam & Eve to Mary, Joseph and Jesus, the Shepherds and the Magi.

Sunday 21st Dec, Advent IV, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa “Dixit Maria”, Hans Leo Hassler. Motet: Hymne a la Vierge, Villette.

Wednesday 24th December, Eve of Christmas, 11.30pm Mass. Preceded by Carols from the Gallery at 11pm. Setting: See website nearer the date. Motet: A babe is born, I wys, Anon.
If someone said on Christmas Eve, “Come; see the oxen kneel.” I should go with him in the gloom,
Hoping it might be so. Thomas Hardy, The Oxen, Christmas Eve 1915.

Thursday 25th December, Christmas Day, N.B. 10.30am Mass. Setting: Missa “O magnum mysterium”, Victoria. Motet: O little one sweet, J S Bach.

Sunday 28th Dec, The Holy Innocents, 10.45am Mass. Setting: Missa L’Hora Passa, Viadana. Motet: The Coventry Carol, Trad. Whether the killing of infants in Bethlehem by King Herod is fact or myth, the Church and the World have abused and hurt the innocent and childlike for too long, and caused women to grieve. Only the just and gentle rule of Jesus Christ can give us hope to do better.

And for your new Diaries:-
Sunday 4th January 2015, Christmas II, 10.45am Mass.
Sunday 4th Jan, 6pm, Choral Evensong and Benediction.
Tuesday 6th Jan, Epiphany, 7.30pm Sung Mass.

The Recital Series is being re-launched in 2015 with a monthly Friday Evening slot. The January Recital on Friday 9th at 7.30pm will feature Eleanor Little and Ralf Ayling-Miller, the winners of our Young Organists’ Competition, so that promises to be a splendid start to the New Year. Admission £5 (£3).

Also, advanced notice that the St Michael’s Lectures for 2015 will commence on Wed 28th Jan at 7.30pm with Dr Nigel Browne giving an Illustrated History of Church Music in Devon, helped by a diverse array of performers.

Wishing you a blessed Advent, a joyful Christmas and a peaceful New Year from all at St Michael’s.

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