Service Leaflet - May 17, 2020 (Choral Evensong)

(Recorded at the Cathedral of St. Philip on May 21, 2017, with the Reverend Canon C. Wallace Marsh IV and the Cathedral Choir)

In this traditional season of Easter and this newer “season of social distance,” we hope that the music and prayers of this Solemn Evensong (sung Evening Prayer), recorded during Easter 2017, are a source of comfort, peace, and holy company for your soul.

The Procession

The Opening Sentences

The Invitatory and Psalter

The Cantor and Choir sing

The Preces and Responses

music: Stephen Caracciolo

V. O Lord, open thou our lips:

R. And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

V. O God, make speed to save us:

R. O Lord, make haste to help us. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: As it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

V. Praise ye the Lord.

R. The Lord’s Name be praised.

You may want to light candles at home during the

Office Hymn 392

music: Vineyard Haven, Richard Wayne Dirksen (1921-2003) words: Isaac Watts (1674–1748), alt.

The Choir sings

Psalm 66:7-18

Anglican chant: Kenneth Miller BCP, p. 673

7 Bless our God, you peoples; * make the voice of his praise to be heard;

8 Who holds our souls in life, * and will not allow our feet to slip.

9 For you, O God, have proved us; * you have tried us just as silver is tried.

10 You brought us into the snare; * you laid heavy burdens upon our backs.

11 You let enemies ride over our heads; we went through fire and water; * but you brought us out into a place of refreshment.

12 I will enter your house with burnt-offerings and will pay you my vows, * which I promised with my lips and spoke with my mouth when I was in trouble.

13 I will offer you sacrifices of fat beasts with the smoke of rams; * I will give you oxen and goats.

14 Come and listen, all you who fear God, * and I will tell you what he has done for me.

15 I called out to him with my mouth, * and his praise was on my tongue.

16 If I had found evil in my heart, * the Lord would not have heard me;

17 But in truth God has heard me; * he has attended to the voice of my prayer.

18 Blessed be God, who has not rejected my prayer, * nor withheld his love from me.

Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The Lessons

The First Lesson: 1 Peter 3:13-22

Lector: A Lesson from The First Letter of Peter.

Now who will harm you if you are eager to do what is good? But even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence. Keep your conscience clear, so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame. For it is better to suffer for doing good, if suffering should be God’s will, than to suffer for doing evil. For Christ also suffered for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, in order to bring you to God. He was put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, in which also he went and made a proclamation to the spirits in prison, who in former times did not obey, when God waited patiently in the days of Noah, during the building of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were saved through water. And baptism, which this prefigured, now saves you—not as a removal of dirt from the body, but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers made subject to him.

Lector: Here ends the lesson.

The Magnificat

music: Howard Helvey in B flat words: Song of Mary, Luke 1:46-55

My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. For he hath regarded the lowliness of his handmaiden. For behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath magnified me, and holy is his Name. And his mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations. He hath showed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away. He remembering his mercy hath holpen his servant Israel, as he promised to our forefathers, Abraham and his seed for ever.Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

The Second Lesson: John 14:15-21

Lector: A Lesson from The Gospel of John.

Jesus said to his disciples, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you.

“I will not leave you orphaned; I am coming to you. In a little while the world will no longer see me, but you will see me; because I live, you also will live. On that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. They who have my commandments and keep them are those who love me; and those who love me will be loved by my Father, and I will love them and reveal myself to them.”

Lector: Here ends the lesson.

The Nunc Dimittis

music: Howard Helvey in B flat words: Song of Simeon, Luke 2:29-32

Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word; For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, To be a light to lighten the Gentiles, and to be the glory of thy people Israel. Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

All sing

The Apostles’ Creed

I believe in God, the Father almighty, maker of heaven and earth; And in Jesus Christ, his only Son, our Lord; who was conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, and buried. He descended into hell. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended into heaven, and sitteth on the right hand of God the Father almighty. From thence he shall come to judge the quick and the dead. I believe in the Holy Ghost, the holy catholic Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.

The Prayers

The Choir sings

The Preces and Responses

music: Stephen Caracciolo

V. The Lord be with you.

R. And with thy spirit.

All stand or kneel

V. Let us pray.

R. Lord, have mercy upon us. Christ, have mercy upon us. Lord, have mercy upon us. Our Father, which art in heaven, hallowed be thy Name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done, in earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

V. O Lord, show thy mercy upon us:

R. And grant us thy salvation.

V. O Lord, save the State:

R. And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

V. Endue thy ministers with righteousness:

R. And make thy chosen people joyful.

V. O Lord, save thy people:

R. And bless thine inheritance.

V. Give peace in our time, O Lord:

R. Because there is none other that fighteth for us, but only thou, O God.

V. O God, make clean our hearts within us:

R. And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

The Collects

O God, who hast prepared for those who love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding: Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee in all things and above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Lord God, whose Son our Savior Jesus Christ triumphed over the powers of death and prepared for us our place in the new Jerusalem: Grant that we, who have this day given thanks for his resurrection, may praise thee in that City of which he is the light; and where he liveth and reigneth for ever and ever. Amen.

Lighten our darkness, we beseech thee, O Lord; and by thy great mercy defend us from all perils and dangers of this night; for the love of thy only Son, our Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.

The Anthem after the Third Collect

music: Paul Halley (b. 1952), Jesu, the Very Thought of Thee words: 12th century Latin, tr. Edward Caswell (1814-1878)

Jesu, the very thought of thee With sweetness fills the breast; But sweeter far thy face to see, And in thy presence rest.

No voice can sing, no heart can frame, Nor can the memory find A sweeter sound than Jesus’ name, The saviour of mankind.

O hope of every contrite heart, O joy of all the meek, To those who ask how kind thou art, How good to those who seek.

But what to those who find? Ah, this Nor tongue nor pen can show; The love of Jesus, what it is None but his loved ones know.

Jesu, our only joy be thou, As thou our prize wilt be; In thee be all our glory now, And through eternity. Amen.

The Intercessions

A Prayer of St. Chrysostom

Officiant: Let us pray.

All: Almighty God, who hast given us grace at this time with one accord to make our common supplication unto thee, and hast promised through thy well-beloved Son that when two or three are gathered together in his Name thou wilt be in the midst of them: Fulfill now, O Lord, the desires and petitions of thy servants as may be best for us; granting us in this world knowledge of thy truth, and in the world to come life everlasting. Amen.

The Grace

All sing

The Closing Hymn

music: Blaenwern, William Penfro Rowlands (1860-1937) words: Charles Wesley (1701-1788)

The Psalm in Procession 150

Anglican chant: George S. Talbot BCP, p. 807

Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy temple; praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts; praise him for his excellent greatness. Praise him with the blast of the ram’s-horn; praise him with lyre and harp. Praise him with timbrel and dance; praise him with strings and pipe. Praise him with resounding cymbals; praise him with loud-clanging cymbals. Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Hallelujah! Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost: as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen.

All music is reprinted by permission under www.OneLicense.net (license number A-717455). Music from The Hymnal 1982 © Church Publishing, Inc.