Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs, sermon by the Rev’d Bill Eakins.

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Service Music:

Voluntary    Go, tell it on the mountain    Robert Powell (b. 1932)
Prelude on Cranham    Malcolm Archer (b. 1952)

Processional Hymn 119    As with gladness men of old     Dix

Gloria S280     Robert Powell (b.1932)

Sequence Hymn 112    In the bleak midwinter    Cranham

Offertory Anthem    Behold a star from Jacob shining, from Christus       Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Words: Based upon Numbers 24:17

Behold a star from Jacob shining,
And a scepter from Israel rising,
To reign in glory over the nations.

Like some bright morning star is he,
The promise of the coming day,
Beyond the night of sorrow.

Break forth, O Light!
We, our joyful hearts uplifting with thanksgiving,
Hail the brightness of Thy rising.

Underscoring the chorus with an undulating accompaniment of triplets in the strings, Mendelssohn developed his music with extended, imitative lines and the chorus singing “Behold a star from Jacob shining.” A dramatic chordal section highlights a royal metaphor for Christ “reigning in glory over the nations.” And the chorale tune: Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern, (How Brightly Shines the Morning Star), by Philipp Nicolai, 1597, a well-known German Christmas chorale, brings the chorus to a conclusion.

Sanctus  S130    Franz Schubert (1797-1828)

Fraction anthem S164    Jesus, lamb of God     Franz Schubert

Communion Anthem    Saw you never in the twilight    Harold Friedell (1905-1958)
Words by Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895)

Saw you never, in the twilight,
when the sun had left the skies,
up in heav’n the clear stars shining
through the gloom, like silver eyes?
So of old the wise men, watching,
saw a little stranger star,
and they knew the King was given,
and they followed it from far.

Know ye not that lowly baby
was the bright and morning Star?
He who came to light the Gentiles
and the darkened isles afar?
And we, too, may seek his cradle;
there our hearts’ best treasures bring;
love and faith and true devotion
for our Savior, God, and King.

Closing Hymn in Procession 616    Hail to the Lord’s Anointed    Es flog ein keins Waldvogelein

Voluntary    Choral Song    Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876)

Assisting Organist: David Chrzanowski