Libera Dreams

I was very fortunate to have the opportunity to attend St Philip's yesterday; a truly special event. As many of you know I'm not a religious person but I was privileged to be made welcome by the congregation and share in their worship. Perhaps if the local CofE church I attended as a child had a choir of this quality my spirituality might have been very different.....

Of course the service is an act of worship and not a concert as Father Francis adroitly articulated in his address before the commencement of the main event and therefore I do not intend to 'review' the evening - I just wanted to share with those of you interested in such things a few of the details.

Arriving shortly before 6:00 pm there was a small queue already formed in the chill December air. Through the church windows I could see dozens of candles already lit and once inside the extent of the hard work was evident with hundreds of candles spreading their soft, calming light over the interior.

The following is the order of service:

INTROIT: Come thou redeemer of earth (Matthew J did the solo walking down the nave to join the rest of the choir)

INTROIT HYMN: Once in Royal David's City (Ralph first verse, choir second and choir + congregation 3,4 & 5)

BIDDING PRAYER

CHOIR: Shepherds' pipe carol - Rutter arrangement

1st LESSON: Genesis 3 (Read by Sammy M)

CHOIR: Hodie - Sweelinck

2nd LESSON: Genesis 22

CHOIR: Lully, Lullah - Leighton

O Little town of Bethlehem (sung by choir + congregation)

CHOIR: Rejoice greatly - (Handel from 'Messiah' sung solely by Stephan. Wow,wow, wow)

3rd LESSON: Isaiah 9

CHOIR: Sussex Carol - Ledger
Poor little Jesus

4th LESSON: Isaiah 11

CHOIR: Angel Tidings
The Angel Gabriel

5th LESSON: St Luke 1

Silent night (sung by all)

CHOIR: O magnum mysterium - Lauridsen

6th LESSON: St Matthew 1

CHOIR: Still, Still, Still (beautiful with an excellent back line of current Libera voices and the rest of the St Philip's adults)
While shepherds watched - Trepte arrangement

7th LESSON: St Luke 2

While shepherds watched, traditional arrangement (not like above) and sung by all

CHOIR: My Lord has come - Todd

8th LESSON: St Matthew 2

CHOIR: Mary's lullaby - Rutter

9th LESSON: St John 1

O come all ye faithful (sung by all)

The service finished with a final blessing.

I will finish by saying that the choir sounded wonderful and Mr Prizeman should be congratulated for his skill in finding, training and directing such a fantastic group of singers.

Thanks for sharing this Yorkie. The Festival of Lessons and Carols is a wonderful tradition.

Thanks for sharing. It sounds like it was a wonderful and reflective service

Thanks Yorkie for writing up the 'order of play' - Would have loved to hear Stefans solo, but hopefully he will feature in more 'libera' duties next year. Yuki's also posted a summary on her blog.

Thanks Yorkie. It's so nice to remember this event again

Thanks Yorkie.

Thanks Yorkie !

Yorkie wrote:
INTROIT: Come thou redeemer of earth (Matthew J did the solo walking down the nave to join the rest of the choir)

Matt Jansen! O, his first solo & I didn't see/hear it!!! Yorkie, how it sounded? How's his voice?

Yorkie?

Not Yorkie, but I was there too.
To my ear his voice was very warm and gentle - reminded me of Mini-James.