Darkness to Light
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Darkness to Light Worship, Prayer and Christian Formation at Ely Cathedral Advent, Christmas and Epiphany Darkness to Light A Journey of Hope and Transformation at Ely Cathedral At the darkest time of the year, we turn in urgent expectation towards the light that is coming. We look for the dawning of a renewed relationship between God and humanity. During these seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany we move from waiting to fulfilment, darkness to light, celebrating the coming of Jesus, light of the world, as frail infant and as eternal redeemer of the whole of creation - our Lord Jesus Christ, who was, and is, and is to come. Worship is offered daily, all are welcome. Monday - Saturday 7.30am Morning Prayer (a short said service with bible readings, canticles and prayers) 8.00am Holy Communion (said) 5.30pm Evensong Sunday 8.15am Holy Communion (a said service, in traditional language with a short address) 10.30am Sung Eucharist with music, hymns and sermon 4.00pm Choral Evensong with short address On Thursdays and Saints’ Days there is an additional Eucharist at 12.10pm. A full list of services can be found on the Cathedral website. Advent Advent literally means ‘coming towards’. It’s a time of expectation - and of preparation. We look towards our Lord Jesus Christ who is coming towards us, and we make ourselves ready for his appearing. We recall his coming as newborn infant; but we also look towards his coming at the end of all things, as redeemer and judge. We prepare ourselves, then, for the ultimate realities of judgement, for that day when ‘the secrets of all hearts will be revealed’. A Prayer for the Season: O Oriens O Radiant Dawn, splendour of eternal light, sun of justice: come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death. Tuesdays 4, 11 & 18 December, 9pm Advent Compline in The Lady Chapel Compline is the last service of the seven which are sung in monasteries and convents. It brings us to the end of the day, and it is also a gentle preparation for the end of life, very much in the spirit of Thomas Ken’s words: 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 on that aweful day. Compline in the Cathedral has changed very little since the monks of Ely sang it before the Reformation. It is a meditative, candlelit space for music, prayer and reflection, to quiet and calm the soul, to look back over the day that is gone, and to commend ourselves and those we love to the care of God as night comes. Watching and Waiting Study and Prayer in Advent How we make ourselves ready …you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near. (Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 13) Advent Sermon Series Our Advent sermon series ponders the four traditional subjects for spiritual contemplation during the season, sometimes called the ‘Four Last Things’: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. These are ultimate issues for the human soul in this season of watching and waiting. Sunday 2 December, 10.30am The Revd Professor Sarah Coakley Death Sunday 9 December, 10.30am Canon Victoria Johnson Judgement Sunday 16 December, 10.30am Canon Jessica Martin Hell Sunday 23 December, 10.30am Canon James Garrard Heaven Meet the Preacher Come and meet the preacher at Powcher’s Hall at noon after the Eucharist - bring your coffee! Advent Poetry Discussion Series: Poetry of the Four Last Things Thursdays 29 November, 6, 13, & 20 December, 7-9pm Powcher’s Hall Led by Canon Martin. All welcome. Please let Canon Martin know if you are coming - [email protected] Thursday 29 November Death and Christina Rossetti Thursday 6 December Judgement and John Donne Thursday 13 December Heaven, Hell and William Blake Thursday 20 December Heaven, Hell and T.S. Eliot Advent Pilgrimage Tour followed by Compline Tuesday 18 December, 7.15pm Meet at the West Door What can this Cathedral, built to the glory of God, tell us about the nature of our pilgrimage through this life and our seeking for God’s presence? Come on a pilgrimage tour and walk the Way of Life. Finish with candlelit Compline in the Lady Chapel at 9pm. Advent Worship Sunday 2 December Advent Sunday 10.30am Advent Sunday Eucharist We begin to reflect on the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour of the world. Music includes Walton’s wonderful Missa Brevis, along with two much-loved anthems for Advent: Paul Manz’s E’en so Lord Jesus and Shephard’s Never Weather-Beaten Sail. 6pm Advent Procession This awe-inspiring service helps us prepare our hearts and minds for the season of Advent, a time of patient waiting and joyful expectation. We hear the choir sing from many locations within the Cathedral. The liturgy begins with two choristers calling Drop down, ye heavens, from above. One chorister sings aloft from the clock tower at the West end of the building and the other sings from one of the Angel windows in the Octagon. The remainder of the service is built on The Great Advent Antiphons (explained in their own section on the next pages). Sunday 9 December Second Sunday of Advent 10.30am Sung Eucharist We hear the voice that cries in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord! The music of Orlando Gibbons’ seventeenth century anthem, This is the Record of John, also invokes this text from Isaiah, chapter 40, which heralds the coming of the Messiah. 4pm Choral Evensong The theme of prophetic expectation is reiterated in the anthem at Evensong. It is John Stainer’s setting of the text from Isaiah, chapter 52: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth! Friday 14 December 5.30pm Choral Evensong with Performance of Britten’s Ceremony of Carols Ely Cathedral Girls’ Choir sing Britten’s 1942 unearthly collection of settings from medieval and sixteenth century carol texts. They sing to a harp accompaniment (played by Anne Denholm, official harpist to the Prince of Wales) and enclose the carols, beginning and end, by plainsong which celebrates Christ’s incarnation, Hodie Christus Natus Est. Today Christ is born, today the Saviour appears, today the angels sing on earth, the archangels rejoice. Today the just exult, saying ‘Glory to God in the Highest, Alleluia! Sunday 16 December Third Sunday of Advent 10.30am Sung Eucharist This is sometimes called ‘Gaudete Sunday’, named after the Latin opening to the New Testament reading which belongs to it, from Paul’s letter to the Philippians: Rejoice (gaudete) in the Lord always. Our journey of watching and waiting is lightened by a mood of joyful anticipation which beckons on the far side of today’s repentance and warning. The anthem, Rejoice in the Lord always by John Sheppard, sets the same Pauline text of faith and joy in the unfathomable mercy of God. 4pm Choral Evensong The mood of hope and expectation is carried through into evening worship, where the choir sings: O people of Zion, behold! the Lord is nigh at hand…alleluia! The text, which uses elements from the prophets Joel and Isaiah, but turned towards joy rather than warning, is set by the composer Francis Jackson. 6.30pm Advent Taizé Service Across the world, Christian communities of all denominations worship in the style of the Taizé Community in France. Founded by Brother Roger in 1940, this monastic community attracts thousands of pilgrims a year to live and worship, the majority of them young people. Using simple chants, prayers and times of silence, worshippers are encouraged to grow ever deeper into a relationship with God. The chants, with easily learned music and accompanied by a few instruments, sustain each service (or Prayer as it is known in Taizé). The Advent Taizé service in the Cathedral, held in the Lady Chapel by candlelight, has established itself firmly in the preparations for Christmas. The ‘Great O’s’ of Advent The ‘Great O’s’ are seven invocations of the different names of Christ, looking towards his coming into the world under different titles. Each one, addressing Christ, begins ‘O..!’ They are used as antiphons (opening and closing threads of song) for the Magnificat in the Catholic tradition, which is how the Cathedral offers them this year, during Evensong, or at said Evening Prayer, from Monday 17 to Saturday 22 December. OMonday 17 December O Sapientia O Wisdom 5.30pm Choral Evensong O Wisdom, coming from the mouth of the most High, reaching from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence. This text of incarnation, Christ as the Word of God, is joined to the command to watch for Christ’s coming in the anthem, Vigilate. This is William Byrd’s setting of words from the Gospel of Mark: Watch therefore, for you know not when the Lord of the house cometh. Tuesday 18 December O Adonai O Lord 5.30pm Choral Evensong O Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.