Sun 7 July, 11am Sung Mass with Bountiful Table in aid of Mission to Seafarers. Trinity III. Hymns: 137: 52: 467. Mass in A minor, Casciolini. Panis Angelicus, Casciolini.

6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction. Responses: Byrd Ps: 65 Hymn: 242. Canticles: Wood in E flat No 2. Anthem: They that go down to the sea in ships, Sumsion. O salutaris & Tantum Ergo.

Sun 14 July, TrinityIV /Sea Sunday. 11am Mass. Hymns: 354: 495: 461. Missa ‘Ave Maris Stella’, Victoria. Crossing the bar, Parry.

Wed 17 July, 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture. Dr Alun Williams (Dept of History, Univ of Exeter & Server at St Michael’s) will talk on “Islam & Iberia; the Struggle for Supremacy in the Early Middle Ages.”

Sun 21 July, Trinity V. 11am Mass. Hymns: 238: 338: 431. Mass in C, Jubilate in F, both by John Ireland.

Sat 27 July, 9am. Men’s Breakfast in the Orangery at The Imperial.

Sun 28 July Trinity VI. 11am Mass. Hymns: 390: 358: 64. Mass in F, Darke. Notre Père, Durufle.

Thurs 1 Aug, 12noon. Parish Lunch Club at the Farmers’ Union. Please sign up in Church or see Sue Wilson at Srt David’s

Wednesday 7th August at 7pm, we welcome Jean-René André, Director of Music at Rennes Cathedral, to give a Recital of popular European Organ pieces from across the centuries. The city of Rennes , Brittany in France, has been twinned with Exeter since the 1950s.

No Evensong on Sun 4 Aug, and no Vespers on Tuesdays & Thursdays in August.

11am Sung Masses in Sundays 4, 11, 18, 25 August will feature Congregational Mass Settings and simple Choir Motets on an ad hoc basis depending on resources on the day.

At St Michael’s, worship is traditional, music is excellent, people are friendly, and all are welcome. Please join us. Pray for our continuing life & mission, and support your church with time, talents and giving.
Follow us on Twitter @StMikes_Exeter /strong>

Richard Barnes

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Sun 29th Oct. 10.45am, All Saints’ Sunday, Fr C, Rev Alison. Victoria, O quam gloriosum.

Thu 2nd Nov, 7.30pm. Fauré Requiem, Sung Mass for All Souls’ Day.

Sun 5th Nov, Advent-4, Trinity XXI, 10.45am Sung Mass. Palestrina.

Sun 5th Nov, 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction. Dyson in F. Gibbons.

Wed 8th Nov, 7.30pm, Song Recital by Thomas Hobbs with Andrew Millington. £15/£5.

Sun 12th Nov, Remembrance Sunday, 10.45am. Wood in Phrygian mode. For the Fallen, Keitch.

Sun 19th Nov, Advent-2, Trinity XXIII, 10.45am Mass. Nicholson in C. Rejoice in the Lord alway.

Wed 22nd Nov, 7.30pm, John Hughes Memorial Lecture by Dr Ed Skidelsky.

Thu 23rd Nov, 6pm. CBS Mass – St Clement, Bishop of Rome, Martyr (c.100)

Sun 26th Nov, Christ the King, 10.45am Mass. Byrd 4. Mendelssohn.

Sun 3rd Dec, Advent Sunday. 10.45am Sung Mass. 6pm Choral Evensong & Benediction.

Fri 8th Dec, 6.30pm at St David’s Church. Community Christmas Concert. £5.

Sun 10th Dec, 6pm, Advent Procession & Carols.

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

St Michael’s Lecture
Wednesday 22 November, 7.30pm, we welcome Dr Ed Skidelsky from Exeter University’s Sociology & Philosophy Dept to talk on “How can believers talk to unbelievers about God?”, a topic relevant to our recent Deanery Synod study on Discipleship. This is in memory of John Hughes, our Curate 2005-9, who tragically died in 2014 in a car accident while Dean of Jesus College, Cambridge. All welcome.

Choir Music
The main event for the Choir is a liturgical performance of Gabriel Fauré’s beautiful Requiem, in the context of a Requiem Mass for All Souls’ Day on Thursday 2nd November at 7.30pm. Please support this important midweek service. We will also sing Justorum Animae (The souls of the righteous…) by Stanford and the Russian Contakion of the Departed.

Please come to Choral Evensong & Benediction at 6pm on the 5th. Each setting of the Magnificat has its own character and, for me, Dyson in F, with its floating Soprano solo, ATB backing group, laid-back organ accompaniment, plus an incense-laden quire, evokes a sacred jazz club, so relax and enjoy the gently atmospheric music.

With an interim Director of Music and Organist rota, the Choir will keep singing and carry on providing music appropriate to the liturgy.

Review of October’s Concerts

At a couple of weeks’ notice, electro-acoustic musician GRICE and friends moved their Concert from the Chapter House to St Michael’s. Thanks to Jane Bellamy for all the liaison involved. Using all our candle-stands and bringing in uplighting & amplification, St Mike’s was transformed to an atmospheric venue for the 5-piece art-rock band. A very different and enjoyable evening of music.

A fortnight later, Tony Pugh brought Exeter Police & Community Male Voice Choir, with MD David Williams and guest soloist John Burgoyne, to St Michael’s with a toe-tapping programme of songs and arrangements from Frank Sinatra and ‘My Fair Lady’ to John Denver and Les Mis.

Thank you all.

Richard Barnes, 27 Oct 2017.

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News! St Michael’s, Mount Dinham, is a Pokestop in the #PokemonGO game. So please visit us, and if we’re open come in and have a look around. We have some interesting characters of our own.

Please make a note of the Theremin Recital on Wednesday 10 August; please check website/twitter for any updates.

St Michael’s will hope to welcome new Choral Scholars and others from the University in September. We can also offer Junior Scholarships to 16-18 year olds who want experience before applying for University or College Choral Scholarships or who just love singing church music – if you know anyone who may be interested, see http://www.stmichaelsmountdinham.org.uk/music/scholarships/ and contact Erika Borley, Music Director.

Several current and former Choir members formed part of the visiting choir, Hillwood Singers, at Winchester Cathedral for the week 25-31 July, singing Evensong every day except Wednesday and 3 Services on Sunday – exhausting but hugely enjoyable.

Thu 4 Aug at 6pm. CBS Plainsong Mass for St John Mary Vianney, Curé D’Ars (1786-1859). Celebrant is Fr Will Sweeney from St Thomas across the Exe.

Sun 7 August, Trinity XI. 10.45am. Setting: Missa Brevis, by Antonio Lotti (1667-1740). Motet: My Soul There is a Country far beyond the Stars, by Sir Hubert Parry (1848-1918), text by Henry Vaughan (1622-1695).

Sun 7 Aug, 6pm Choral Evensong and Benediction. Responses: Byrd. Psalm: 108. Office Hymn: 244. Canticles: Short Service, by Thomas Weelkes (1576-1623). Anthem: O Nata Lux de Lumine, by Thomas Tallis (c.1505-85).

Wednesday 10 August at 7.30 pm. Recital by Olesya Rostovskaya of music for the Theremin, accompanied by Nigel Brown and John Draisey. Please support what could be the first ever Theremin concert in Exeter.

Sun 14 Aug, Trinity XII. 10.45am. Setting: Mass in F, by Charles Wood (1866-1926). Motet: O Sing Joyfully, by Adrian Batten (1591-1637).

Monday 15 August, Feast of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 7.30pm Sung Mass. Setting: Missa Super Dixit Maria, by German composer Hans Leo Haßler (1564-1612). Motet: Ave Maria, attr. Franco-Flemish Jacob Arcadelt (1505-68).

Fulda Cathedral High Altar – Assumption of Mary
Dom zu Fulda Hochaltar – Mariä Himmelfahrt

Wed 24 Aug. 10am Low Mass. Bartholomew the Apostle, worth a mention for the street and cemetery named after him across the valley from St Michael’s.

Sun 28 Aug, Trinity XIV. 10.45am. Setting: Mass for Four Voices. Motet: Ave Verum Corpus, both by William Byrd (1543-1623).

Richard Barnes.

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

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Plainsong Vespers & Meditation take place at 6pm.

Thurs 4th June, Corpus Christi, 7.30pm; Sung Mass with procession of the Blessed Sacrament around Mount Dinham. Setting: Tallis ‘Dorian’ Mass. Anthem: Byrd ‘Ave verum corpus’.

The Feast of Corpus Christi was first celebrated in Liège, Belgium, in 1246 after some 40 years of lobbying by St Juliana who longed for a feast day outside of Lent in honour of the Blessed Sacrament. It was adopted for the whole Roman church in 1264. Scholars now recognize Juliana as author and composer of an initial sung version of the Latin office. St Thomas Aquinas formalised the Office for Pope Urban IV, leading both to developments in doctrine and to growth in his spiritual devotion.

Fri 5th – St Boniface, born c.675 in Crediton (possibly), studied in Exeter, worked as missionary and bishop in what is now northern Germany, martyred in 754 at Dokkum in the Netherlands, and buried in Fulda, which St Michael’s Choir visited in August 2012, where a splendid baroque cathedral now covers his shrine. This is a panel on the Exeter Cathedral Nave Pulpit.

Sun 7th June Trinity I, 10.45am; Sung Mass. Setting: John Merbecke’s Booke of Common Praier Noted (1550). Anthem: Our conversation is in Heaven, by Exeter born Walter Bond Gilbert.

Sun 7th June 6pm Evensong & Benediction – Reading Responses, Psalm 37 vv11-17, Canticles – Stanford in G, with the soaring Treble solo in the Magnificat and sonorous Baritone in the Nunc Dimittis. Anthem – Viadana ‘Exultate Justi’. Plainsong Hymns.

Tuesday 9th June is my best estimate for the fledging of our 2 young Peregrine, but it could be a day or two either side, and one may be more adventurous than the other.

Thursday 11th June 6pm, CBS Mass for St Barnabas Day. Although not one of the original Twelve, Barnabas is named an Apostle by virtue of his work with St Paul and then with John Mark in the missionary journeys recorded in Acts spreading the Gospel across the Mediterranean from Jerusalem to Rome. Tradition has it he founded the (Cypriot Orthodox) Church in Cyprus, and, less likely, that his brother Aristobulus was the first Bishop of Roman Britain, possibly at Glastonbury.

Sun 14th June Trinity II, 10.45; Sung Mass. Setting: Leighton in D. Anthem: Howells ‘Mine eyes for beauty pine’.

Monday 15th June at 7.30pm – Salzburg Connections, a Concert of early-Classical sacred choral music by Exeter Chorale, accompanied by instrumentalists. There was a remarkable conjunction of young musical talent in Salzburg in the 1760s. This concert features lively, elegant music by three composers who probably knew each other – Michael Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the lesser-known Bonifaz Stöckl. Tickets £8 (£6 conc) on the door.

Tues 16th – St Richard of Chichester, 1253, famous for the Prayer – “Thanks be to Thee, my Lord Jesus Christ, For all the benefits Thou hast given me, For all the pains and insults Thou hast borne for me. O most merciful Redeemer, friend and brother, May I know Thee more clearly, Love Thee more dearly, Follow Thee more nearly” (day by day) – itself better known in the 1970s as one of the songs from Stephen Schwartz’s musical Godspell.

Friday 19th June, VOCES8 at St Michael’s.

1pm-4pm; Buffet Lunch & Choral Workshop with Voces8, Tickets £10 (£7 conc), please book this in advance (online at http://stmichaelsrecitals.ticketsource.co.uk/events  or contact Alex West) to help with catering and planning.

7.30pm; Concert by Voces8; hear these brilliant and versatile young singers performing. Tickets £15 (£12 conc) on the door or online as above. (£3 reduction for both events). They really are exceptional – don’t miss it!

Sat 20th June at 4.45pm in St John’s Church, Newton Road, Bovey Tracey, TQ13 9BD, the Choir is pleased to be singing Choral Evensong with the Exeter Branch of the Prayer Book Society.

Sun 21st June, Music Sunday, 10.45am; Mass Setting – Missa “Ego flos campi” for double choir by Juan Gutiérrez de Padilla (ca. 1590-1664), a Spanish composer in what is modern Mexico. Anthem – Lauda Jerusalem by Monteverdi (1567-1643) for double SAB plus Tenor Cantus.

Mon 22nd June at 7.30pm, a Concert by the Choir of Queen’s College, Oxford, directed by Owen Rees, featuring the Requiem by Gabriel Faure and other choral masterpieces. Admission free – retiring collection.

Wed 24th June 7.30pm St Michael’s Lecture Speaker to be announced.

Sun 28th June, Trinity IV 10.45am; Sung Mass. Setting – Lotti ‘Missa brevis’. Anthem – Harris ‘Holy is the true light’.

Monday 29th June – 7.30pm at St Michael’s, a Concert by the Selwyn College Consort from Cambridge, performing music on the themes of Life, Death & Beyond.
This day is also the anniversary (year’s mind) of the tragic death of Revd Dr John Hughes, former Curate of this Parish and Dean of Jesus College, Cambridge.

Note that on Sunday 5th July at 5pm, the Choir of St Michael’s has been invited to sing Evensong at St Martin’s Church in Exeter Cathedral Close as they celebrate the 950th Anniversary of this ancient city centre place of worship, now cared for by the Churches Conservation Trust. Please join us. This will replace our normal 1st Sunday Evensong & Benediction.

With so much music in June, I thought I’d reprise my little guide to how music by choir and congregation fits together at St Michael’s with the work of clergy and servers in our Sung Mass. I find five musical strands woven into a colourful, joyful cord.

(i) Organ Music – Sets the mood, underpins much of the worship, covers movement, and the Voluntary helps us go forth rejoicing.

(ii) Hymns – Just 3 for the opening Procession, the Offertory and a closing Recessional, because at St Michael’s we continue to use…

(iii) Plainsong Propers – These are verses from the Psalms or other Scripture, sung at 4 points in the service. They are printed so that the congregation can join with the choir in response to the Cantor. The chants are the same each week, so they soon become familiar. These used to fit with the Prayer Book readings for the day, but with the Revised Lectionary that’s not always the case.

(iv) Music for All – The 3 great statements of Faith – the Gloria, the Creed and the Lord’s Prayer – are sung by all. We use the Anglican Folk Mass, composed in 1919 by Martin Shaw for St Mary’s, Primrose Hill, London, a great Anglo-catholic liturgical testing ground, and John Merbecke’s music for the Lord’s Prayer, written in 1550 for Cranmer’s First Prayer Book but seldom used until the Victorians rediscovered it.

(v) Music from the Choir – This is the spice in the mix, giving a distinctive flavour to each service without overpowering it. The short movements of the Mass – Kyrie (Lord, have mercy), Sanctus (Holy), Benedictus (Blessed is he) and Agnus Dei (O Lamb of God) – are sung to one of a dozen or so settings we have in our repertoire. Those from earlier times are in Latin, while those from the more recent flourishing of Anglican church music will be in English. After Communion there is an Anthem, again chosen to illustrate the day.

With its beautiful architecture, decoration and wonderful acoustic, St Michael’s is perfect for plainsong, soaring vocal lines and emotive organ music. With fine liturgy, thoughtful preaching, splendid vestments and clouds of incense, you can worship God with all your senses.

The choir is always happy to welcome new singers, whether regular or occasional; choir practice is on Tuesdays at 7pm.

Richard Barnes.

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If you’ve visited http://www.stdavidschurchexeter.org.uk/ recently, you’ll’ve seen that Chris Durrant will be ordained Deacon on Sunday 13th September 2015 at 10:00 in Exeter Cathedral (God willing!) to serve the parish of St. David’s with St. Michael & All Angels as our full-time training Curate, and will attend parish services from August.

Chris is currently balancing his training on the South West Ministry Training Course with his part-time work as a microbiologist for South West Water. He will resign from the laboratory in July, and hopes to have completed his dissertation on the symbolism of Baptismal Fonts by then!
His wife Jenny is the Assistant Curator of Antiquities at the Royal Albert Memorial Museum, and they have lived in Exeter for 15 years, originally coming to read Archaeology and Biological Sciences at Exeter University. They have previously worshipped at St. James’ Church. We look forward to welcoming them.

May this year is full of Red Letter Days of the Church; Rogation, Ascension, Pentecost, and Trinity all fall in the month, with Corpus Christi early in June. All of these and more feature as “Events” on the website. And there’s “Hymns&Pimms”, a Recital & a Lecture, so we look forward to seeing you at St Michael’s.

On Tuesdays and Thursdays, Vespers & Meditation take place at 6pm, though on Thurs 7th May there will be Mass prior to a DCC Meeting, and I think something else is happening that day!

Sun 3rd May Easter 5 = Easter IV, 10.45am; Sung Mass. Setting – Viadana ‘L’Hora Passa’. Anthem – Bairstow ‘I sat down under his shadow’.

Sun 3rd May 6pm Evensong & Benediction – Responses – Smith, Psalm 96, Canticles – Weelkes Short Service, Anthem – Palestrina ‘Exultate Deo’, Plainsong Hymns.

Friday 8th May 7.30pm Recitals @ St Michael’s welcome Alison Smith, Plymouth-based, internationally acclaimed classical guitarist. Tickets £5 (£3.50 conc) on the door.

Sat 9th May 7.30pm. Back by popular demand, please come to “Hymns & Pimms”, voting for and singing your favourite hymns and worship songs on a relaxed late spring evening.

Sun 10th May, Rogation Procession on Mount Dinham, praying for God to bless our work and the fruits of the Earth in their seasons. 10.45; Mass Setting – Bairstow in E flat. Anthem – Greater Love hath no man, by John Ireland.

Thurs 14th May, Ascension Day, 40 days after Easter, 8.00am; Plainsong Matins sung from the West Gallery, followed by breakfast.

Thurs 14th May, Ascension Day, 7.30pm; Sung Mass, with drinks afterwards. Mass in C&F and Coelos ascendit hodie, both by Stanford.

Sun 17th May, Sunday after Ascension = Easter 7, 10.45am; Mass in E by Harold Darke. Anthem – The merrie world did on this day, by Alex West, a lively, contemporary setting of George Herbert’s poem “The Quip”.

Sun 24th May, Whit Sunday/Pentecost, 50 days after Easter, 10.45am; Mass Setting – Victoria ‘O quam gloriosum’. Anthem – Tallis ‘If ye love me’.

Wed 27th May 7.30pm St Michael’s Lecture with Sabrina Gröschel. Same-Sex Marriage in the Church: A Lengthy and Unnecessary Debate? This topic has become a prominent and public issue across most Christian denominations. Speaking in a strictly personal capacity, Sabrina Gröschel will address the issue through reflection on her experience as a Facilitator of discussions in the United Reformed Church.

Sun 31st May, Trinity Sunday, 10.45am; Mass in F by Charles Wood. Anthem – Benedicta sit sancta Trinitas, by Agazzari.

Thurs 4th June, Corpus Christi, 7.30pm; Sung Mass with procession of the Blessed Sacrament around Mount Dinham.

Advanced Notice – Friday 19th June. Meet the exciting young vocal octet VOCES8 at St Michael’s over Lunch and a Choral Workshop (1-4pm, Tickets £10/£7 conc).
Then hear their brilliant and versatile talents in Concert at 7.30pm. Recital Tickets £15/£12 conc (£3 reduction for both events). They really are exceptional – don’t miss it!

Please see https://twitter.com/StMikes_Exeter for latest news.

Richard Barnes.

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

Thursday 23rd April at 6pm, in place of Vespers, CBS Mass for St George’s Day sung with Plainsong Propers and Hymns in the St Clement Chapel. All Welcome.

Sunday 26th April at 10.45am – 4th in/3rd after Easter. Mass. Setting: Darke in F. Anthem: Bairstow ‘Jesu, the very thought of thee’. Followed by a second (Re)Vision Day for St Michael’s, led by Sabrina Groeschel.

Monday 27th April, at St Michael’s, 7pm Holy Communion, 7.30pm, the important Annual Parochial Church Meeting to review and pray for our Churches’ life and mission.

Sunday 3rd May at 10.45am – 5th in/4th after Easter. Mass

Sunday 10th May at 10.45am – Sunday before Ascension, Rogation Sunday Procession. Mass

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There’s a touch of “Wolf Hall” musically for the first few weeks of Lent with the Plainsong of the Sarum Rite and Missa de Angelis, and indeed Martin Shaw’s strangely named Anglican Folk Mass, an Edwardian take on Merbecke’s 1550 work for Cranmer’s Prayer Book, giving way to motets and canticles mainly in English by Farrant, Tallis and eventually Purcell. For more information about Cranmer’s First Liturgy in English, explore from this link.

Monday 16th February, 7.30pm, starting at the City Gate Hotel, sees a pre-Lent Pub Crawl, with moustaches and optional fancy-dress, arranged by St Michael’s Social Committee.

Shrove Tuesday, 17th February, 6pm Vespers & Meditation, 7pm Choir Practice, 8.30pm Pancakes in church.

Ash Wednesday, 18th February, is marked with Matins at 9.30am and Low Mass with Ashes at 10am, and in the evening at 7.30pm by Sung Mass with Imposition of Ashes.
Setting: Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd and Anthem: Versa est in luctum by Alonso Lobo, My harp is tuned for lamentation, and my flute to the voice of weeping. Spare me, O Lord, for my days are as nothing.

Sunday 22nd February, Lent 1, 10.45am. Mass features Cranmer’s Litany of 1544 sung in procession, Plainsong Sarum Mass and Farrant’s Hide not thou thy face from me O Lord.

Tuesday 24th February at 6pm, in place of Vespers, Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass for St Matthias’ Day sung with Plainsong Propers and Hymns. All welcome, as we are able to use the St Clement Chapel for worship again following a big tidy-up now that the Organ build is finished.

A reminder that Stations of the Cross are prayed on Wednesdays in Lent at 6pm (except 25 Mar, Annunciation), and Vespers continue to be sung on other Tuesdays & Thursdays at 6pm.

Wednesday 25th Feb at 7.30pm, the St Michael’s Lectures welcome Dr Clare Bryden (Honorary Research Fellow in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter) to talk about Particulart: Or the art of knitting, chemistry, meditation and gentle protest.

Sunday 1st March, Lent 2, 10.45am. Mass. The full Anglican Folk Mass by Martin Shaw and O Nata Lux by Thomas Tallis.

Sunday 1st March, 6pm. Evensong and Benediction will be more penitential, with Tallis Responses & Canticles, Allegri’s sublime Miserere and Plainsong Benediction Hymns.

The nest box camera should also be back online on the Peregrine Falcons page of the website at the beginning of March, hoping for egg laying around the Spring equinox.

Sunday 8th March, Lent 3, 10.45am. Plainsong Missa de Angelis and Thou knowest, Lord, the secrets of our hearts, by Henry Purcell.

Friday 13th March at 7.30pm, the Recital@StMichael’s is a Schools’ Recital. A programme of chamber music performed by young musicians from Exeter School and the Maynard School. Tickets: £5/£3.50, please support.

Sunday 15th March, Lent 4 is Laetare or Mothering Sunday using the Rose Vestments, 10.45am. Missa “O quam gloriosum” by Victoria and Ave Maria by Parsons.

Tuesday 17th March at 6pm, in place of Vespers, Confraternity of the Blessed Sacrament, Mass for St Patrick’s Day sung with Plainsong Propers and Hymns. All Welcome.

Wednesday 18th March at 7.30pm. St Michael’s Lecture by Dr Morwenna Ludlow (Senior Lecturer in Theology and Religion at the University of Exeter). On Theological Writing as Art & Craft; Is Writing a Theology Book a bit like Making a Pot?

Sunday 22nd March, Passion Sunday when the Crosses and Statues are covered. 10.45am. Mass in A minor, by Casciolini and the Anthem, Crucifixus etiam pro nobis, by Lotti.

Annunciation Window – St Michael’s Mount Dinham

Wednesday 25th March please try and come to the Feast of the Annunciation. Sung Mass at 7.30pm. Missa “Dixit Maria” by Hans Leo Hassler. Anthem: Hymn to the Virgin, by Benjamin Britten.

Thursday 26th March Concert at St David’s Church in aid of their Transformation Fund, given by Exeter Police and Community Choir at 7.30pm, with refreshments. Tickets £5 on the door.

Sunday 29th March, Palm Sunday, 10.30am (N.B. earlier start and the clocks will have gone forward an hour overnight!) Sung Mass with Blessing and Procession of Palms. Sung Passion Gospel. Mass in D by Leighton. Anthem: Pueri Hebraeorum, by Victoria.

As Canon John Thurmer often said, homo sapiens is primarily a story-telling species, so it is always good for us to re-tell and re-enact the story of salvation in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Mirrored here may our lives tell your story, one might say.

The website also has details of services for Holy Week and Easter at the start of April.
RB

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We are quick off the mark as Candlemass is transferred a day early to Sunday 1st February. Do join us for the final service of the seasons of winter lights, as we bless candles for the coming year and remember the drama of Jesus’s Presentation in the Temple, what Simeon and Anna said about him, and Mary treasured in her heart.

Sunday 1st February – Candlemas – The Presentation of Christ in the Temple. 10.45am. Mass Setting is the lovely Mass in F by Charles Wood (1866-1926).

The Candlemas Anthem “When to the Temple Mary went” by Johannes Eccard (1533–1611) is one of many by foreign composers which were supplied with translations or new words in the 19th century. It was translated from German and given a second verse by Revd J Troutbeck (1833-99) best remembered for his translations for Bach’s Passions and Christmas Oratorio. Eccard’s music is frequently scored for more than four voices; this setting is in six parts. His music is thus rich and sonorous, the inner parts having their own melodic and rhythmic interest.

Singers who enjoy Choral Evensong are welcome to join us on the 1st Sunday of the month to rehearse the music beforehand at 4:45 pm. Sun 1st Feb Evensong and Benediction at 6pm.
The Canticles are Collegium Regale by Herbert Howells and the Anthem is Abendlied by Josef Rheinberger, from Luke 24 v29, “Bide with us, for evening shadows darken, and the day will soon be over.” Music for O salutaris & Tantum Ergo is by Chris Upton.

Between Candlemas and Ash Wednesday, we have just two “gesima” Sundays.

Please make a note of, and support, our monthly Recitals@StMichael’s. This month Friday 13th Feb, at 7.30pm, sees the Frizzante Sopranos, Devon-based classical duo Donna-Marie Hughes & Jane Anderson-Brown with a varied song recital. See music/recitals on the website for full details.

Our neighbours at Exeter Cathedral are celebrating a “Day of Love“ on St Valentine’s, Sat 14th Feb, with a Service for Renewal of Wedding Vows at 2pm, and the chance to book romantic Tower Tours for two throughout the day.

On Shrove Tuesday, 17th February, there is 6pm Vespers & Meditation, 7pm Choir Practice, and 8.30pm Pancakes.

Ash Wednesday, 18th February, is marked with Matins at 9.30am and Low Mass with Imposition of Ashes at 10am, and in the evening at 7.30pm by Sung Mass with Imposition of Ashes.
Setting: Mass for Four Voices by William Byrd and Anthem: Versa est in luctum by Alonso Lobo, My harp is tuned for lamentation, and my flute to the voice of weeping. Spare me, O Lord, for my days are as nothing.

On subsequent Wednesdays in Lent (except 25 March – Annunciation), Stations of the Cross are prayed at 6pm. Plainsong Vespers continue on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 6pm.

Sunday 22nd February, Lent 1, 10.45am, features the Litany of 1544 sung in procession, Plainsong Sarum Mass and Farrant’s Hide not thou thy face from me O Lord.

Tuesday 24th February at 6pm, in place of Vespers, CBS Mass for St Matthias’ Day with Plainsong Propers and Hymns.

Wednesday 25th February at 7.30pm there will be the next St Michael’s Lecture – speaker and title to be announced soon.

Sunday 1st March, Lent 2, 10.45am, Anglican Folk Mass by Martin Shaw, Anthem O nata lux by Thomas Tallis.

Sunday 1st March, 6pm. Evensong and Benediction will be more penitential, with Tallis Responses & Canticles, Allegri’s sublime Miserere, and Plainsong Benediction Hymns.

HLF Project.

Many thanks to all who have helped in any way with the Organ, Peregrine and Heritage Project over the past 2 years. Our final report should go to the Heritage Lottery Fund this month, to complete the Project. But hopefully the physical, digital and cultural legacy will serve and inspire us for many years to come. The nest box camera should be back online on the Peregrine page of the website at the beginning of March, hoping for egg laying around the Spring equinox.

Richard Barnes.

The post February Events appeared first on St Michael & All Angels.

And not before we have also marked the Conversion of St Paul the previous Sunday, instead of Epiphany 3 or Septuagesima this year. The radical Paul, who may have played on his Roman citizenship and been a bit ambivalent about women, but put Gentile and Jew, slave and free, rich and poor, as equal in the Church, and lived with some sort of chronic illness or disability, his “thorn in the flesh”, from Stephen’s stoning through the Damascus Road to adventurous journeys spreading the Good News of that same Jesus.

The Faith, Hope and Love of St Paul’s famous Letter should be seen mirrored in our Church life as a Worshipping, Witnessing and Caring community, where, as at the Manger, all are welcome.

So our journey to Lent looks like:-
Friday 9th January at 7.30pm. Recitals@StMichael’s will feature Eleanor Little and Ralf Ayling-Miller, the winners of our Young Organists’ Competition. £5/£3.50

Sunday, 11th January, Epiphany I, 10.45am Sung Mass (Baptism of Jesus)
Setting: Missa Brevis, Wills. Anthem: Sicut cervus desiderat ad fontes, Palestrina.

Sunday, 18th January, Epiphany II, 10.45am Sung Mass
Setting: Missa “L’Hora Passa”, Viadana. Anthem: Beati quorum via, Stanford.

Sunday, 25th January, Conversion of St Paul, 10.45am Sung Mass
Setting: Mass in F, Harold Darke. Anthem: The Lord is my shepherd, Schubert.

Wednesday 28th January at 7.30pm, St Michael’s “Heritage” Lecture exploring the effects of history and religion on church music in Devon, with West Gallery Singers and St Michael’s choir.

Sunday, 1st February, Candlemas, 10.45am Sung Mass

Sunday, 1st February 6pm Evensong & Benediction

Sunday, 8th February, Sexagesima, 2 before Lent, 10.45am Sung Mass

Friday 13th February at 7.30pm, Recitals@StMichael’s welcomes “The Frizzante Sopranos”, a Devon-based classical duo, Jane Anderson-Brown and Donna-Marie Hughes, to give a song recital.

Sunday, 15th February, Quinquagesima, 1 before Lent, 10.45am Sung Mass

Shrove Tuesday, 17th February, 6pm Vespers & Meditation, 7pm Choir Practice, 8.30pm Pancakes.

Ash Wednesday, 18th February, 7.30pm Mass with Imposition of Ashes

January 25th also marks the end of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity – The Well is Deep – which has the following interesting commentary on its website:-

“This year’s theme comes to us from the churches of Brazil. Brazilians, who have traditionally been tolerant of their various social classes and ethnic groups, are now living through a time of growing intolerance made manifest in high levels of violence, especially against minorities and the vulnerable. The logic that undergirds this kind of behaviour is competition for the religious market. Increasingly, in Brazil, some Christian groups compete with one another for a place on the mass media, for new members and for public funds. The Brazilian churches have begun to recognise that intolerance should be dealt with in a positive way – respecting diversity and promoting dialogue as a permanent path of reconciliation and peace in fidelity to the gospel. We can share this recognition. Although the competition between churches is less obvious in our islands, we are well aware that competition and violent discrimination lie beneath the surface of our lives together. Jesus challenges us to acknowledge that diversity is part of God’s design, to approach one another in trust and to see the face of God in the face of all men and women.”

And finally…

The really useful Cross-Country train from Exeter to Edinburgh traverses a dozen Dioceses and affords glimpses of several Cathedrals, such as Durham reflecting the late December afternoon light and the elusive Orthogonal Cathedral of St Pythagoras (sorry, St Nicholas Cathedral, Newcastle-on-Tyne, Jesus, Tyne).

Over Hogmanay, I enjoyed two rather similar stories; the 2013 anti-slavery film “Belle” set in England around 1770, and the hit musical “Wicked” set in the not-so-wonderful world of Oz (now on tour and coming soon to Plymouth and then Bristol). Both revolve around a pair of contrasting girls, having to grow up together through force of circumstances, defying the conventions of their times, and their friendship changing each of them for good and hopefully for the better.

Both seemed to exemplify the Latin maxim used by Lord Mansfield in “Belle”. “Fiat justitia ruat coelum” – Let justice be done, though heaven may fall. And in the event, justice was done, and people coped. Could there be a parable for the Church of England in 2015 too?

RB.

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All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. John 1:3.

As Sydney Carter (1915-2004) wrote in the 1960s, reflecting the flourishing of diversity and the interest in Time and Space:-

Every star shall sing a carol, Every creature high or low.
Come and praise the King of Heaven, By whatever name you know.

God above man below, Holy is the name I know.

When the king of all creation, Had a cradle on the earth.
Holy was the human body, Holy was the human birth.

Who can tell what other cradle, High above the Milky Way,
Still may rock the King of Heaven, On another Christmas day?

And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14.

On Friday 26th, the Feast of St Stephen, and Saturday 27th, St John the Evangelist, Low Mass will be said at 10am, but those who sing 6pm Vespers will have a well-deserved rest until Tuesday 6th January Vespers for Epiphany.

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 continued to abuse 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.

That was the true Light, which lighteth everyone that cometh into the world. John 1:9.

Sunday 4th January 2015, Christmas II, 10.45am Sung Mass.

Sunday 4th Jan, 6pm, Choral Evensong and Benediction.

Tuesday 6th Jan, Epiphany, 6pm Plainsong Vespers, 6.30pm Choir Practice, 7.30pm Sung Mass. Motet: We Three Kings, Hopkins arr. Alex West.

The Recitals @ St Michael’s Series is re-launched in 2015 with a monthly Friday Evening slot. Friday 9th January 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).

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