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Choral Evensong

Sunday 15th October 2023 – 15:15

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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.

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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 It may sound old-fashioned, but its meaning is not out of date.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. Through all the changing scenes of life,
In trouble and in joy,
The praises of my God shall still
My heart and tongue employ.

2. O magnify the Lord with me,
With me exalt his name;
When in distress to him I called,
He to my rescue came.

3. The hosts of God encamp around
The dwellings of the just;
Deliverance he affords to all
Who on his succour trust.

4. O make but trial of his love,
Experience will decide
How blest are they, and only they,
Who in his truth confide.

5. Fear him, ye saints, and you will then
Have nothing else to fear;
Make you his service your delight,
Your wants shall be his care,

6. To Father, Son, and Holy Ghost,
The God whom we adore,
Be glory, as it was, is now,
And shall be evermore.

Nahum Tate (1652–1715) & Nicholas Brady (1659–1726)

George Smart (1776–1867)

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.

Philip Moore (b.1943)

Please sit as the Choir sings the 

PSALM 78 vv 1–12

Attendite, popule.

Hear my law, O my people: incline your ears unto the words of my mouth.  I will open my mouth in a parable: I will declare hard sentences of old;  Which we have heard and known: and such as our fathers have told us;  That we should not hide them from the children of the generations to come: but to shew the honour of the Lord, his mighty and wonderful works that he hath done.  He made a covenant with Jacob, and gave Israel a law: which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children;  That their posterity might know it: and the children which were yet unborn;  To the intent that when they came up: they might shew their children the same;  That they might put their trust in God: and not to forget the works of God, but to keep his commandments;  And not to be as their forefathers, a faithless and stubborn generation: a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit cleaved not steadfastly unto God;  Like as the children of Ephraim: who being harnessed, and carrying bows, turned themselves back in the day of battle.  They kept not the covenant of God: and would not walk in his law;  But forgat what he had done: and the wonderful works that he had shewed for them.

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

Proverbs 3: 1–18

Please stand as the Choir sings 

Magnificat

The Winchester Service; Herbert Howells (1892–1983)

Please sit for the 

Mark 10: 17–31

Please stand as the Choir sings 

Nunc Dimittis

The Winchester Service; Herbert Howells (1892–1983)

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 

O God, forasmuch as without thee we are not able to please thee; Mercifully grant, that thy Holy Spirit may in all things direct and rule our hearts; 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.

Philip Moore (b.1943)

Please sit as the Choir sings the

Anthem

One thing have I desired of the Lord, which I will require: even that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the fair beauty of the Lord, and to visit his temple. For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his tabernacle; yea, in the secret place of his dwelling shall he hide me, and set me up upon a rock of stone. And now shall he lift up mine head above mine enemies round about me. Therefore will I offer in his dwelling an oblation with great gladness: I will sing, and speak praises unto the Lord.

Herbert Howells (1892–1983)

Please remain seated for the 

Sermon

The Reverend D. W. T. Crooks, M.A., B.D., Prebendary of Howth

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

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1. O what their joy and their glory must be,
Those endless sabbaths the blessèd ones see!
Crown for the valiant, to weary ones rest;
God shall be all, and in all ever blest.

2. Truly Jerusalem name we that shore,
Vision of peace, that brings joy evermore!
Wish and fulfilment can severed be ne’er,
Nor the thing prayed for come short of the prayer.

3. We, where no trouble distraction can bring,
Safely the anthems of Sion shall sing;
While for thy grace, Lord, their voices of praise
Thy blessèd people shall evermore raise.

4. Low before him with our praises we fall,
Of whom, and in whom, and through whom are all;
Of whom, the Father, and through whom, the Son;
In whom, the Spirit, with these ever One.

Peter Abelard (1079–1142)

Paris Antiphoner, Paris, 1681

Please remain standing for the

Blessing

Please remain at your seat for the duration of the

Organ Voluntary

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