Category: Choral Evensong

Categories
Choral Evensong

Sunday 9th July 2023 – 15:15

Order of Service

Donate

God has been worshipped in this place through the prayers and praises of countless generations. Worship lies at the heart of our life as Christians and we express our theology and belief through our liturgy. It is through these liturgical patterns of words and actions that we are formed and transformed.

Should you wish to translate this order of service into another language, please choose your language in the bottom right. There is a guest wireless network available within the Cathedral for those without a mobile data connection.

Please note that this service may be live streamed for our online congregation. By participating in this service, you acknowledge that you may be visible or audible. If you are uncomfortable about this possibility, please speak to a steward or verger, who will be able to advise further.

The ministry of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is made possible entirely through the support of individuals like you. The donations which we receive from people all over the world support our worship and music tradition, education programmes, and community outreach work, as well as contributing towards the vast cost of maintaining this historic building. Should you wish to donate online, please tap the donate button. 

Choral Evensong at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral is a tiny fragment of something else: it is part of the worship which is offered to God by people every hour of the day and night, in every corner of the world. When you come to Evensong here, it is as if you are dropping in on a conversation already in progress – a conversation between God and his people. So do not be surprised or concerned if there are some parts that you do not understand straight away.

Evensong is drawn almost entirely from the Bible. Much of the language spoken and sung in this service is that spoken by worshippers more than four hundred years ago. It may sound old-fashioned, but its meaning is not out of date. We invite you to allow the music and words to speak to you in the beauty and peace of this place.

You are invited to say the text in bold in English.

Please stand as the Minister, at the West End of the Cathedral, sings

Let us pray. 

Please remain standing whilst the Choir and Clergy enter the stalls

Please remain standing to sing the

Hymn

1. O thou not made with hands,
Nor throned above the skies,
Nor walled with shining walls,
Nor framed with stones of price,
More bright than gold or gem,
God’s own Jerusalem!

2. Where’er the gentle heart
Finds courage from above;
Where’er the heart forsook
Warms with the breath of love;
Where faith bids fear depart,
City of God, thou art.

3. Thou art where’er the proud
In humbleness melts down;
Where self itself yields up;
Where martyrs win their crown;
Where faithful souls possess
Themselves in perfect peace;

4. Where in life’s common ways
With cheerful feet we go;
Where in his steps we tread,
Who trod the way of woe;
Where he is in the heart,
City of God, thou art.
5. Not throned above the skies,
Nor golden-walled afar,
But where Christ’s two or three
In his name gathered are,
Be in the midst of them,
God’s own Jerusalem.

Francis Palgrave (1824–97)

Ravenscroft’s Psalmes (1621)

Please stand.

The Minister and Choir sing the

Preces & Responses

O Lord, open thou our lips.

And our mouth shall show forth thy praise.

O God, make speed to save us.

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.

Praise ye the Lord.

The Lord’s Name be praised.

Jack Oades

Please sit as the Choir sings the 

PSALM 47

Omnes gentes, plaudite.

O clap your hands together, all ye peoples: O sing unto God with the voice of melody.  For the Lord is high, and to be feared: he is the great King upon all the earth.  He shall subdue the peoples under us: and the nations under our feet.  He shall choose out an heritage for us: even the excellency of Jacob, whom he loved.  God is gone up with a merry noise: and the Lord with the sound of the trump.  O sing praises, sing praises unto our God: O sing praises, sing praises unto our King.  For God is the King of all the earth: sing ye praises with understanding.  God reigneth over the heathen: God sitteth upon his holy seat.  The princes of the peoples are joined unto the people of the God of Abraham: for God, which is very high exalted, doth defend the earth, as is were with a shield.

Please stand for

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.

Please sit for the

2 Samuel 2: 1-11; 3: 1

Please stand as the Choir sings 

Magnificat

Service in A; Herbert Sumsion (1899-1995)

Please sit for the 

Luke 18: 31 – 19: 10

Please stand as the Choir sings 

Nunc Dimittis

Service in A; Herbert Sumsion (1899-1995)

Please remain standing to say 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 Minister and Choir sing the 

Suffrages & Responses

The Lord be with you.

And with thy spirit.

Let us pray.

Please kneel or sit, according to your custom

Lord, have mercy upon us.
Christ, have mercy upon us.
Lord, have mercy upon us.

Our Father, who art in heaven, Hallowed be thy Name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. Amen.

O Lord, shew thy mercy upon us.

And grant us thy salvation.

O Lord, guide and defend our rulers.

And mercifully hear us when we call upon thee.

Endue thy Ministers with righteousness.

And make thy chosen people joyful.

O Lord, save thy people.

And bless thine inheritance.

Give peace in our time, O Lord.

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

O God, make clean our hearts within us.

And take not thy Holy Spirit from us.

The Minister intones the 

Grant, O Lord, we beseech thee, that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered by thy governance, that thy Church may joyfully serve thee in all godly quietness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give; that both our hearts may be set to obey thy commandments, and also that by thee we being defended from the fear of our enemies may pass our time in rest and quietness; through the merits of Jesus Christ our Saviour. 

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 Saviour, Jesus Christ. 

Amen.

Jack Oades

Please sit as the Choir sings the

Anthem

Laß dich nur nichts nicht dauren mit Trauren, sei stille, wie Gott es fügt, so sei vergnügt mein Wille! Was willst du heute sorgen auf morgen? Der Eine steht allem für, der gibt auch dir das Deine. Sei nur in allem Handel ohn Wandel, steh feste, was Gott beschleußt, das ist und heißt das Beste. Amen.

(Do not be sorrowful or regretful; Be calm, as God has ordained, and thus my will shall be content. What do you want to worry about from day to day? There is One who stands above all who gives you, too, what is yours. Only be steadfast in all you do, stand firm; what God has decided, that is and must be the best. Amen.)

Johannes Brahms (1833–97)

The Minister says 

Let us pray.

Please kneel or remain seated for the 

Prayers

At the end, all say

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with us all, evermore. Amen.

Please stand to sing

Hymn

During this hymn a collection of money is made. If you would like to donate securely online, tap the button below.

Donate

1. Jerusalem the golden,
With milk and honey blest;
Beneath thy contemplation
Sink heart and voice oppressed.
I know not, O I know not
What social joys are there,
What radiancy of glory,
What light beyond compare.

2. They stand, those halls of Sion,
Conjubilant with song,
And bright with many an angel,
And all the martyr throng;
The Prince is ever with them,
The daylight is serene,
The pastures of the blessèd
Are decked in glorious sheen.

3. There is the throne of David,
And there, from care released,
The song of them that triumph,
The shout of them that feast;
And they who, with their Leader,
Have conquered in the fight,
For ever and for ever
Are clad in robes of white.

4. O sweet and blessèd country,
The home of God’s elect!
O sweet and blessèd country,
That eager hearts expect!
Exult, O dust and ashes!
The Lord shall be thy part:
His, only his, for ever,
Thou shalt be, and thou art!

Bernard of Cluny (12th Century)

Alexander Ewing (1830–95)

Please remain standing for the

Blessing

Please remain at your seat for the duration of the

Organ Voluntary

Donate