11 May 2015

A note on this evening’s
service and hymns

‘This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me’ (Luke 22: 19) … a modern icon

Patrick Comerford

I am presiding at the Eucharist this evening at the end of the first day of the seminar involving staff and students of the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, Dublin, and Edgehill Theological College (Methodist), Belfast. The preacher is the Revd Nigel Mackey, chaplain at Wesley College, Dublin.

The service booklet is illustrated with this icon, and a note in the service booklet reads:

This evening’s service and hymns:

The readings at this evening’s Eucharist reflect the themes of this year’s integrative seminar; the Collect and Post-Communion Prayer are those for the Sixth Sunday of Easter; and the Greetings, Preface, Blessing and Dismissal remind us that we are still in the Season of Easter, which continues until the Day of Pentecost.

Processional Hymn: The hymn ‘10,000 Reasons (Bless the Lord),’ by Matt Redman and Jonas Myrin, prepares us to pray Psalm 103 together. Matt Redman, who is based near Brighton, has sung in venues such as Saint Paul’s Cathedral, the Royal Albert Hall, the Wembley stadiums, and the Angel Baseball Stadium, Los Angeles.

Gloria: ‘Glory in the highest to the God of heaven!’ (693) was written by the Revd Christopher Idle in 1976 for this earlier tune, Cuddesdon, written in 1919 by Canon William H Ferguson, who had been an ordinand at Cuddesdon Theological College, near Oxford.

Gradual: The well-known hymn ‘The Church’s one foundation’ (528), by the Revd Samuel John Stone (1839-1900), reflects many of the ideas in our Epistle reading. But this hymn is also appropriate with its emphasis on the unity of the Church, whose very foundations is none other than Christ himself. Despite our divisions and differences, Christ wants us to be one and united with him.

Offertory:I heard the voice of Jesus say’ (576) was written by the Revd Horatius Bonar (1808-1899), integrating key Gospel passages. The folk tune is popular throughout these islands, and one version is known as ‘The Star of the County Down.’ But the setting ‘Kingsfold’ was arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958), who named it after the Sussex village where he first heard in 1904 it as the tune for the ballad ‘Dives and Lazarus.’

Communion Hymn: As we receive Holy Communion, we sing ‘Jesus, remember me’ (617), by Jacques Berthier (1923-1994) and the Taizé Community.

Post-Communion Hymn: ‘Now let us from this table rise’ (436) was written in 1964 by the Revd Fred Kaan as a challenging post-communion hymn. He says: “This is a hymn which tries to say: the worship is over, the service begins.” The tune ‘Niagara’ was written by Robert Jackson, the organist at Saint Peter’s, Oldham.

The Collect of the Day:

God our redeemer,
you have delivered us from the power of darkness
and brought us into the kingdom of your Son:
Grant, that as by his death he has recalled us to life,
so by his continual presence in us he may raise us to eternal joy;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God our Father,
whose Son Jesus Christ gives the water of eternal life:
May we also thirst for you,
the spring of life and source of goodness,
through him who is alive and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever. Amen.