Category: Choral Evensong

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Choral Evensong

Sunday 16th July 2023 – 15:15

Order of Service

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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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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 It may sound old-fashioned, but its meaning is not out of date.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 as the Choir sings

Introit

Even before we call your name. To ask You, O God, when we seek for the words to glorify You, You hear our prayer; Unceasing love, O unceasing love, surpassing all we know. Glory to the father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Even with darkness sealing us in, we breathe Your name, and through all the days that follow so fast, we trust in You; Endless Your grace, O endless Your grace, beyond all mortal dream. Both now and forever, and unto ages and ages, Amen.

Stephen Paulus (1949-2014)

Please remain standing whilst the Choir and Clergy enter the stalls

Please remain standing to sing the

Hymn

1. Dear Lord and Father of mankind, Forgive our foolish ways!
Re-clothe us in our rightful mind, In purer lives thy service find, In deeper reverence praise.

2. In simple trust like theirs who heard,
Beside the Syrian sea,
The gracious calling of the Lord,
Let us, like them, without a word
Rise up and follow thee.

3. O Sabbath rest by Galilee!
O calm of hills above,
Where Jesus knelt to share with thee
The silence of eternity,
Interpreted by love!

4. Drop thy still dews of quietness,
Till all our strivings cease:
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace.

5. Breathe through the heats of our desire Thy coolness and thy balm; Let sense be dumb, let flesh retire; Speak through the earthquake, wind and fire, O still small voice of calm.

John Whittier (1807–92)

Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848–1918)

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.

Richard Ayleward (1626-69)

Please sit as the Choir sings the 

PSALM 84

O quam dilecta!

O how amiable are thy dwellings: thou Lord of hosts.  My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.  Yea, the sparrow hath found her an house, and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young: even thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God.  Blessed are they that dwell in thy house: they will be alway praising thee.  Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee: in whose heart are thy ways.  Who going through the vale of misery use it for a well: and the pools are filled with water.  They will go from strength to strength: and unto the God of gods appeareth every one of them in Sion.  O Lord God of hosts, hear my prayer: hearken, O God of Jacob.  Behold, O God our defender: and look upon the face of thine anointed.  For one day in thy courts: is better than a thousand.  I had rather be a door-keeper in the house of my God: than to dwell in the tents of ungodliness.  For the Lord God is a light and defence: the Lord will give grace and worship, and no good thing shall he withhold from them that live a godly life.  O Lord God of hosts: blessed is the man that putteth his trust in thee.

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 7: 18-29

Please stand as the Choir sings 

Magnificat

Service in D; Herbert Brewer (1865-1928)

Please sit for the 

Luke 19: 41 – 20: 8

Please stand as the Choir sings 

Nunc Dimittis

Service in D; Herbert Brewer (1865-1928)

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, who hast prepared for them that love thee such good things as pass man’s understanding; Pour into our hearts such love toward thee, that we, loving thee above all things, may obtain thy promises, which exceed all that we can desire; 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.

Richard Ayleward (1626-69)

Please sit as the Choir sings the

Anthem

This sanctuary of my soul unwitting I keep white and whole, unlatched and lit, if thou shouldest care to enter or tarry there. With parted lips and outstretched hands and listening ears, thy servant stands. Call thou early, call thou late, to thy great service dedicate. My soul, keep white, and whole.

Charles Wood (1866–1926)

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. Glory to thee, my God, this night
For all the blessings of the light;
Keep me, O keep me, King of kings,
Beneath thine own almighty wings. 

2. Forgive me, Lord, for thy dear Son,
The ill that I this day have done,
That with the world, myself and thee,
I, ere I sleep, at peace may be.

3. Teach me to live, that I may dread
The grave as little as my bed;
Teach me to die, that so I may
Rise glorious at the aweful day.

4. O may my soul on thee repose,
And with sweet sleep my eyelids close,
Sleep that may me more vigorous make
To serve my God when I awake.

5. Praise God from whom all blessings flow,
Praise him all creatures here below,
Praise him above, ye heavenly host,
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Thomas Ken (1637–1711)

Thomas Tallis (?1505–85)

Please remain standing for the

Blessing

Please remain at your seat for the duration of the

Organ Voluntary

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