Category: Choral Evensong

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Choral Evensong

Sunday 16th April 2023 – 15:15

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 It may sound old-fashioned, but its meaning is not out of date.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

Order of Service

Please stand as the Minister sings

Let us pray.

Please remain standing whilst the Choir and Clergy enter the stalls

Please remain standing to sing the

Hymn

1. Love’s redeeming work is done;
Fought the fight, the battle won:
Lo, our Sun’s eclipse is o’er!
Lo, he sets in blood no more! 

2. Vain the stone, the watch, the seal;
Christ has burst the gates of hell;
Death in vain forbids his rise;
Christ has opened Paradise.

3. Lives again our glorious King;
Where, O Death, is now thy sting?
Dying once, he all doth save;
Where thy victory, O grave?

4. Soar we now where Christ has led,
Following our exalted Head;
Made like him, like him we rise;
Ours the cross, the grave, the skies.

5. Hail the Lord of earth and heaven!
Praise to thee by both be given:
Thee we greet triumphant now;
Hail, the Resurrection thou!

Charles Wesley (1707–88) John Wesley (1701–90)

Please sit.

THE INSTALLATION OF THE REVEREND DOCTOR SAHR YAMBASU AS PREBENDARY OF FINGLAS

Please stand.

The Minister and Choir sing the

Preces and 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.

Thomas Tallis (d.1585)

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

Daniel 6: 6–23

Please stand as the Choir sings 

MAGNIFICAT

Short Service; William Byrd (d.1623)

Please sit for the 

Mark 15: 46 – 16: 8

Please stand as the Choir sings 

NUNC DIMITTIS

Short Service; William Byrd (d.1623)

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 AND 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 

Almighty Father, who hast given thine only Son to die for our sins and to rise again for our justification: grant us so to put away the leaven of malice and wickedness that we may always serve thee in pureness of living and truth; through the merits of the same thy Son 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.

Thomas Tallis (d.1585)

Please sit as the Choir sings the

The Anthem

Christ rising again from the dead now dieth not. Death from henceforth hath no pow’r upon him. For in that he died, he died but once to put away sin; but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. And so likewise, count yourselves dead unto sin, but living unto God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

William Byrd (d.1623)

The Sermon

Preacher: The Reverend B. M. McKay, O.Carm., B.A., B.D., M.Phil., D.D., Prebendary of Clondalkin

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. The strife is o’er, the battle done;
Now is the Victor’s triumph won;
O let the song of praise be sung:
Alleluia!

2. Death’s mightiest powers have done their worst,
And Jesus hath his foes dispersed;
Let shouts of praise and joy outburst:
Alleluia!

3. On the third morn he rose again,
Glorious in majesty to reign;
O let us swell the joyful strain:
Alleluia!

4. He brake the age-bound chains of hell,
The bars from heaven’s high portals fell;
Let hymns of praise his triumph tell:
Alleluia!

5. Lord, by the stripes which wounded thee
From death’s dread sting thy servants free,
That we may live, and sing to thee.
Alleluia!

Latin, tr. Francis Pott (1832–1909)

Melchior Vulpius arr. Henry G. Ley (1887–1962)

Please remain standing for

The Blessing

Please stand as the Choir and Clergy depart.

Members of the Chapter withdraw to Saint Stephen’s Chapel, where the newly-installed Prebend is conferred with a Place and Voice in Chapter

 

Please remain at your seat for the duration of the 

ORGAN VOLUNTARY

Prelude in E minor   J. S. Bach (1685–1750)

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