A voice in the wilderness

It can sometimes feel that espousing belief in this unbelieving age of immediate gratification that we are voices in the (spiritual ) wildernesss. We were reminded both by Father Mark and in our readings that preparation requires time and patience. Choirboy was somewhat crestfallen to be reminded by St Peter 'That with the Lord a day can mean a thousand years' - Patience has never been one of his greatest virtues !

Musically today we progressed through the second Sunday in Advent with some musical references to John the Baptist as well as our new mass setting. Father Mark also sang the Concluding Rite and although nervous at first soon got into the role and sang very well - we will repeat this in two weeks.

Entry Hark ! A herald voice is calling

Advent candle Prepare ye the way of the Lord (repeat)

Alleluia Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Prepare ye the way of the Lord (repeat)
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Credo/I believe

Offertory In bread we bring You


Holy Holy Newquay Mass #4
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and God of might. Heaven
And earth are full of Your glory, Hosanna, hosanna. Blest is he who comes in Your name, Hosanna, hosanna. Hosanna,
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna.

Mem Accl When we eat this living bread and when we drink Your saving cup, we proclaim Your death my Lord, until You come in glory. Until You come in glory, until You come in glory.

Lamb of God Newquay Mass #4
Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world, the sin of the world (repeat). Lord have mercy on us and grant us Your
Peace and grant us Your peace.
Amen Amen, Amen, Amen
We will sing of Your love forever. We will sing Your praise forever Amen.
Amen, Amen, Amen


Communion Wait for the Lord

Living Lord

Concluding Rite: -

Priest: The Lord be with you
All: And also with you
Priest: May almighty God bless you, Father, Son and Spirit. Forever and ever
All: Forever and ever, Amen.
Amen, Amen, Amen. We go in peace to love and serve You
We go in peace to love and serve You Lord. Amen, Amen, Amen.

Recessional On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry

First Sunday of Advent

There is no such thing as bad publicity so they say, so here we go . What on earth has Trago Mills got to do with the First Sunday in Advent. Well, apparrently if you go to Trago Mills or at least the Liskeard branch, there is a a guy (presumably employed by Trago) shouting out how many days and hours of shopping there are left until Christmas and with a leap of poetic (or preaching) licence, Father Mark likened the start of Advent to the beginning of such a countdown. Musically it marked a change for us with a new Mass setting (Newquay Mass #4 penned by choirboy) and a new memorial acclamation (also by choirboy). We have also purloigned our Alleluia from the 70s musical Godspell with a bit of musical adaptation by choirboy.

Entry Song of body of Christ

Advent candle Prepare ye the way of the Lord (repeat)

Alleluia Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia
Prepare ye the way of the Lord (repeat)
Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia, Alleluia

Offertory Sweet sacrament divine

Holy Holy Newquay Mass #4
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and God of might. Heaven
And earth are full of Your glory, Hosanna, hosanna. Blest is he who comes in Your name, Hosanna, hosanna. Hosanna,
Hosanna, hosanna, hosanna.

Mem Accl When we eat this living bread and when we drink Your saving cup,we proclaim Your death my Lord, until You come in glory. Until You come in glory, until You come in glory.

Lamb of God Newquay Mass #4
Lamb of God, You take away the sin of the world, the sin of the world (repeat). Lord have mercy on us and grant us Your
Peace and grant us Your peace.
Amen Amen, Amen, Amen
We will sing of Your love forever. We will sing Your praise forever Amen.
Amen, Amen, Amen


Communion God to enfold you (six times)

Abba, Abba Father

Recessional Like a sea without a shore

Christ the King

Today we celebrated the feast of Christ the King and were reminded by Father Mark about the origins of this feast. You can read about it and its originator Pius XI here.

Choirboy was today left with a degree of guitar envy as Jimmy unveiled one of his six new guitars - it's a long story about bartering services. The particular model that he used today was a Crafter , all that was missing were the cowboy boots and stetson. Wow !

Musically we had hoped to sing a version of 'My sweet Lord'. Unfortunately in the absence of sufficient choir members at last weeks rehearsal, we had to change our mind. Maybe later in Advent.

Entry Majesty

Gloria

Alleluia Plymouth Alleluia

Creed Credo/I believe

Offertory Take our bread, we ask You

Holy Holy Newquay Mass I

Mem Accl Lord by Your cross

Amen We lift our hearts

Lamb of God Newquay Mass III

Communion The servant King
Air I breathe

Recessional Hail redeemer King divine

Remembrance Sunday

'You cannot reap what you have not sown. How are we going to reap love in our country if we only sow hate?' Oscar Romero

Entry: - Meekness and majesty

Taize: - Kyrie

Gloria

Alleluia Plymouth Alleluia

Offertory: - Lord accept the gifts we offer

Holy Holy: - Newquay mass I

Mem Accl: - Dying you destroyed our death

Amen: - Forever Amen

Lamb of God: - Newquay mass III

Communion: - God beyond all names /Jesus Lamb of God (V1-4)

Recessional: - Abide with me

For all the Saints - whoever they may be.....

Today we celebrated the feast of All Saints, although the pedants among you will have noticed that the date being the 2 November, we should have been celebrating All Souls ! Nevertheless All Saints it is and we were reminded by Fr Mark that during the papacy of John Paul II more saints were canonised by him than all of his predecessors put together. I guess we all have some idea of what constitutes a saint and for most of us labelling people as saints is neither here nor there - after all we are not the final arbiters of someone's worthiness . So what is the purpose of making saints ? Probably to acknowledge goodness and as an example for the faithful. The process is long and complicated. Few of us have a deep understanding of it. There are books written about the process. It is a controversial and confusing peculiarity of Roman Catholicism. Recent speculation about the proposed beatification of Pius XII has led many within and outside the Church to question the process.

So what about the music ? OK - we had a veritable mixture of styles and musical textures today particularly when choirboy's tin whistle started to sound as though he was strangling a cat during Amazing Grace. It is a tune that evokes string emotions - two comments today were; 'I absolutely love it' and 'I hate Amazing Grace' - heady stuff ! In addition to Jimmy's broken string and Father forgetting the sung Kyrie, it was an eventful morning.

Entry For all the Saints

Gloria

Alleluia Plymouth Alleluia

Creed Credo/I believe

Offertory In bread we bring You Lord

Holy Holy Newquay mass I

Mem Accl Christ has died

Amen Forever Amen

Lamb of God Newquay mass III

Communion Amazing grace

Ubi Caritas

Recessional Follow me, follow me

Which is the greatest commandment ?

This is the question asked of Jesus by the Pharisees after he had silenced the Sadducees. Before I give His answer, I'll bet that most of us couldn't really explain who these people were. The image that immediately springs to mind for me is of John Cleese in the film 'Life of Brian' ! And I probably shouldn't own up to seeing that yet alone enjoying it - it does, however, contain in choirboy's view one of the funniest scenes in any film. Back to the subject of these mysterious people who crop up regularly in the scriptures. They seem to provide Jesus with the perfect foil with which to illustrate the divine nature of his ministry. You can read more about the Pharisees here and the Sadducees here.
The answer - well that's here in Matthew's Gospel 22:34-40.

Entrance Hail Queen of Heaven

Kyrie Taize Kyrie

Gloria Gloria

Alleluia Plymouth alleluia

Offertory Gifts of bread and wine

Holy Holy Gathering Mass

Mem Accl Christ has died

Amen A-men, we lift our hearts and voices to you as we sing A-men
so shall it be forever Amen.


Agnus Dei Newquay mass III
Communion Love is His word
Confitemini Domino

Recessional I’ll sing a hymn to Mary

Social death ?

Odd title, odd concept - this was the message from Father Mark on the fate awaiting Catholic converts ! OK - it's out of a necessity in a way for the Church to be unfashionable and unmoving in its beliefs, not simply following the social mores of the day.

The gospel reading had on the other hand both a secular and a spiritual message - 'render unto Caesar'

Musically we survived a depleted congregation, an absent Laura (Choirboy sang the Kyrie), a broken string on Choirboy's guitar (and the disintegration of the offertory hymn), an incorrect number for the final hymn (mea culpa) and a problem with Gill's throat (he was due to be singing a solo) ! Phew....

Entry O purest of creatures

Kyrie Taize Kyrie

Gloria Gloria

Alleluia Plymouth alleluia

Credo Credo/I believe

Offertory Lord we come to Your table

Holy Holy Gathering Mass

Mem Accl Dying You destroyed our death, rising you restored our life
Come, Lord Jesus come, come again in glory.
Come Lord Jesus come, come again in glory (rpt)

Amen A-men, we lift our hearts and voices to you as we sing A-men
so shall it be forever Amen.

Agnus Dei Newquay mass III

Communion Be still for the presence of the Lord
Bless the Lord my soul
1st time instruments/hum 2nd time all sing 3rd In Polish

Recessional Holy Virgin by God’s decree

Wedding Banquet - are you coming ?

You are invited to the wedding feast - are you coming ? For 'Many are called but few are chosen'.

There was an apt theme to today's gospel as we celebrated John and Frances Whybrow's Diamond wedding anniversary. On a beautiful day, the Church was full with regulars and visitors. We were fewer in number in the choir today as Jimmy and Paul were absent (they were at a charity ball last night - draw your own conclusions) and Choirboy's daughter sat out, tired after spending most of last week in hospital. She is now minus her appendix and judging by her bossy demeanour is on the road to recovery. October is the month of Our Lady and our music liturgy today strongly reflected this.



Entry Immaculate Mary


Gloria Gloria

Responsorial Psalm As the deer pants


Alleluia Plymouth alleluia

Offertory Blessed be God


Holy Holy Gathering Mass

Mem Accl Dying You destroyed our death, rising you restored our life
Come, Lord Jesus come, come again in glory.
Come Lord Jesus come, come again in glory (rpt)


Great Amen Amen, Amen, Amen
We will sing of Your love forever. We will sing Your praise forever Amen
Amen, Amen, Amen

Agnus Dei Newquay mass II

Communion There is a longing in our hearts


Recessional O Mother Blest

Plymouth 150

If you didn't go or haven't heard of this event, you can look here.

Last weekend the young people of our diocese (helped by a few oldies) celebrated their faith in joining together for a day of prayer, reflection and song starting at Plymouth Cathedral. Choirboy was fortunate to have been part of this magnificant event and the memory of the Cathedral rocking to the sound of 'Glory, glory I believe' will live with him for a long time. If somehow we can catch the essence of that joy in our parish liturgies then surely we need not worry for the future of our Church. Let's hope so - next stop National Youth Sunday, we'll see if we can give it a go.

Who is my neighbour ?

This practical and philosophical question is on the one hand easy to answer but challenging at the same time. We used this 26 th Sunday of the year to remember the work of the St Vincent de Paul Society named after Vincent de Paul whose feastday was celebrated yesterday. Choirboy blogged about the SVP this time last year. Once again Helen Connolly told us of the good works that the people who belong to this society do in our own community, quietly, without fanfare and with great humility and love.

Musically today was very Graham Kendrick. Regular readers of this blog will know that Choirboy is a great fan of his but in an effort to balance old and modern we had enough room for the Tantum Ergo - Choirboy likes a bit of Latin too from time to time !

Entry Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

Kyrie Taize

Gloria Gloria

Alleluia Plymouth alleluia

Credo Credo/I believe

Offertory Take our bread

Holy Holy Gathering mass

Mem Accl Lord by Your cross and resurrection, You’ve set us free, You’ve set us free. You are the saviour of the world. You are the saviour of the world (repeat)
Saviour, Saviour Saviour, Saviour
You set us free, You set us free. You are the saviour of the world. You are the saviour of the world

Great Amen Amen, Amen, Amen
We will sing of Your love forever. We will sing Your praise forever Amen
Amen, Amen, Amen

Agnus Dei Newquay mass II

Communion The Servant King

Tantum Ergo

Recessional Shine Jesus shine

They're at it again - yawn !

They just cannot stop themselves, choirboy minor and choirboy minimus (AKA the Ginger Ninja). The last occasion they decided Church was a good place for a punchup was here. This time Mrs Choirboy was the arbiter of the pugilists' endeavours. A draw having been declared we were able to continue with Mass.

The message from Father Mark today was that 'Those to whom much has been given, much will be expected'. A challenge for us all !

Our music liturgy today concluded with four verses of 'O Lord my God' but really only one was required as Father Mark left the altar like Usain Bolt with Brian in hot pursuit. Why ? The answer was in the fact that there was a parish outing to The Minack Theatre - he had to complete catechism classes before they left and by all accounts he was well and truly into the lesson as those of us left in the Church hit verse 4.

Entry Gather us in

Kyrie Taize

Gloria Gloria

Alleluia Plymouth Alleluia

Offertory This is my body

Holy Holy Newquay mass II

Mem Accl Lord by Your cross and resurrection, You’ve set us free, You’ve set us free. You are the saviour of the world. You are the saviour of the world (repeat)
Saviour, Saviour Saviour, Saviour
You set us free, You set us free. You are the saviour of the world. You are the saviour of the world

Great Amen Amen, Amen, Amen
We will sing of Your love forever. We will sing Your praise forever Amen
Amen, Amen, Amen

Agnus Dei (Newquay Mass #2)
Lamb of God, You take away, the sin of all the world (repeat)
Have mercy on us. And grant us Your peace

Communion Bread of life, Truth eternal

Recessional Oh Lord my God

Speak Lord to me

The link for this song is here:-

www.myspace.com/plymouth150

The triumph of the cross

I 'borrowed' this picture from here. An Anglican Church with the same name as ourselves - fitting as apart from our normal mass, today we were able to join with Churches Together in Newquay at a Songs of Praise event at Newquay harbour to mark the end of the annual Fish Festival. Our chosen hymn 'Shine Jesus shine' was somewhat shorter than Graham Kendrick had intended (by one line). The cause of this was, as Mary O'D had predicted, due to lack of proof reading of the printed order of service. The consequence was yours truly and Jimmy completely out of kilter with the congregation which caused us some difficulty which we managed to resolve by end of the final chorus.
Our mass today was interupted by a mobile phone during the consecration (Father Mark said nothing - perhaps he didn't hear it) and finished with a rather risque joke. Sunday's will never cease to amaze and apall sometimes in equal measure - did I mention the Dambuster's March ? Well maybe another time, but just try and imagine singing a hymn to this well known piece of music. Not possible ? Well not quite impossible - we tried it at our Songs of Praise !

Entry : - We walk by faith

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - Take our bread

Sanctus:: -Gathering Mass

Mystery of faith : - Dying you destroyed our death
Amen Amen, Amen, Amen We will sing of Your love forever. We will sing Your praise forever Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen

Agnus Dei (Newquay Mass #2)
Lamb of God, Lamb of God, You take away, the sin of all the world (repeat)
Lord have mercy on us and grant us Your peace. Grant us Your peace.

Communion: - Sweet Sacrament divine
Open out eyes to see

Recession: - Oh Lord, all the world belongs to You

BIg brother community ?

In what was something of a first, the programme 'Big Brother' was the focus of Fr Mark's sermon, likening the Big Brother house to a community with all its problems. It was a bit of a mental stretch for Choirboy to imagine that our own community was similar to those in the TV house but we can run with it for a bit - the issue raised was about living together, forgiveness, love and a connection with the psalm - 'Harden not your hearts'. Well you had to be there really but the answer is love and love in the person of Jesus Christ...

With Jimmy's shoulder playing up again last week, a visit to his local physio enabled him to be fit enough, thankfully, to play today. One thing that cannot be repaired is his eyesight which, in common with many of us, is deteriorating. So replete with spectacles he attacked the music liturgy with gusto......

Entry : - My God accept my heart this day

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - Lord accept the gifts we offer

Sanctus:: -Gathering Mass

Mystery of faith : - Dying you destroyed our death
Amen Amen, Amen, Amen We will sing of Your love forever. We will sing Your praise forever Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen

Agnus Dei (Newquay Mass #2)
Lamb of God, Lamb of God, You take away, the sin of all the world (repeat)
Lord have mercy on us and grant us Your peace. Grant us Your peace.

Communion: - Be not afraid

Recession: - Follow me, follow me

Who does the Church belong to ?

The Church doesn't belong to our priests, bishops or even the Pope - it belongs to God and we are merely the building blocks, small but essential to its wholeness. This was the challenging message from Brian, our Deacon as we draw to the end of our summer season. The Church was almost full for a joyful celebration that musically included something new (Open our eyes to see by Angela Reith, published by CJM) and saw the return of Jimmy (following a rotator cuff tear - it's a shoulder thing) and the arrival of Danny (guitar).

Entry : - The Church’s one foundation

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - Take our bread

Sanctus:: -Gathering Mass

Mystery of faith : - Dying you destroyed our death
Amen Amen, Amen, Amen We will sing of Your love forever. We will sing Your praise forever Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen

Sign of Peace Peace be with you, peace be with you always (x3)

Agnus Dei (Newquay Mass #2)
Lamb of God, Lamb of God, You take away, the sin of all the world (repeat)
Lord have mercy on us and grant us Your peace. Grant us Your peace.

Communion: - On Eagle’s wings

Open our eyes to see

Recession: - I watch the sunrise

Good news for all...

It was all change at Holy Trinity today with the return of choirboy to the music liturgy but the departure (for a week) of Mary with Kath as substitute - Jimmy was absent injured (in injury to the strumming arm). We were told by Father Mark that the message of the gospel was an inclusive one - for all peoples and races and that we should find joy in our faith. I hope that we were able to reflect some of that joy through our music liturgy.

Entry : - All are welcome

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - Gifts of bread and wine

Sanctus:: -Gathering Mass

Mystery of faith : - Lord by Your cross

Amen Amen, Amen, Amen We will sing of Your love forever. We will sing Your praise forever Amen. Amen, Amen, Amen

Agnus Dei (Newquay Mass #2)
Lamb of God, Lamb of God, You take away, the sin of all the world (repeat)
Lord have mercy on us and grant us Your peace. Grant us Your peace.

Communion: - Be still for the presence of the Lord

Eat this bread

Recession: - Guide me, O thy great Redeemer

Summer Holiday

Regular readers of this blog (if there are any) will notice that there has been a shortage of posts recently. There is a simple answer - the choirboy clan has been on holiday to foreign parts. The liturgy at Holy Trinity has been in the capable hands of Mary our organist with the help (hopefully) of a few other willing volunteers. I can report from Northern Spain that Churchgoers are enthusiastic singers whereas the French approach appears slightly different (we went to a large Church where a good proportion of the congregation where engaged in activities not related to prayer or participation for a fair proportion of the mass). So feeling (somewhat) renewed we approach the end of the summer looking forward to the next big liturgical event - Christmas ! Hope you have/had a good holiday if you are lucky enough to have one.

Here comes summer !

Although the weather is telling us otherwise, the fact that our small Church is increasingly full on Sundays, tells us that the holiday season is here. It's a great pleasure to meet all of those holidaymakers who organise liturgy in their home parishes. Choirboy is always happy to share musical ideas - leave me a message on the blog with your email address and I will contact you. We had a very contemporary liturgy today and judging by the comments after mass, I think it was enjoyed by the congregation - we hope that it enhanced your participation in the celebration of the mass. We certainly enjoy having visitors at Newquay - it's fantastic to have the Church full and the volume turned up !

Please check out the following blog: -

www.plymouth150.blogspot.com

Entry : - Meekness and majesty

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - Blessed be God

Sanctus:: -Gathering Mass

Mystery of faith : - Lord by Your cross and resurection

Amen Amen Amen. All glory to Our Lord and King. Songs of praise to You we sing in honour of Your sacrifice; Christ our Lord who brings us life. Amen, Amen, Amen.

Agnus Dei (Newquay Mass #2)
Lamb of God, Lamb of God, You take away, the sin of all the world (repeat)
Lord have mercy on us and grant us Your peace. Grant us Your peace.

Communion: - This is my body

Knocking on Heaven’s door

Recession: - Praise my soul the King of heaven

Reap what you sow

The phrase 'reap what you sow' is a familiar one - it is also the end line of Lou Reed's 'Perfect Day', a song that Choirboy hopes to use at some point in the future. The challenge today was wondering what sort of witness we are providing to others, what sort of crop will we produce. I guess that only others can answer that for us.........meanwhile our Sunday celebrations expand to include the large numbers of holidaymakers visiting Newquay. It's fantastic to see our small Church so full. Regular readers will be interested to know that a ceasfire was observed by the younger members of the choirboy family -they simply listened to a reasoned a logical argument and worked out that fighting was pointless (and if you believe that you'll believe anything - Mrs Choirboy has her methods !)

Entry : - Eternal Father, strong to save

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - Gifts of bread and wine

Sanctus (Newquay Mass # 3)

Mystery of faith : - Lord by Your cross and resurection

Amen Amen Amen. All glory to Our Lord and King. Songs of praise to You we sing in honour of Your sacrifice; Christ our Lord who brings us life. Amen, Amen, Amen.

Agnus Dei (Newquay Mass #3)

Communion: - Love is His word

Recession: - Freely, freely

Ding ding round 3

Regular readers of this blog will notice two things, one the absence of the blog for the last two weeks (week 1, pressure of work, week 2, week off) and secondly the similarity to a previous post: - (http://holytrinitymusic.blogspot.com/2008/01/ding-ding-round-2.html)

Today the two protagonists chose the Eucharistic prayer to loose off a few blows, the majority of which were from choirboy minimus who was clearly more up for it than his older brother. I am at a loss to explain the whys and the wherefors of this particular happening - let us hope that like all amateur boxing matches, they only have three rounds ! Today there was a first and a last. The first was a Taize chant sung in Polish by Patrycja and the last was Maz's last appearance at Holy Trinity before she disappears (posted to South Wales). Notwithstanding her work committments (taking her to Afghanistan) she has been with us for the past 4 years - her contributions to our liturgy have been fantastic and one of the aforementioned pugilists has cause to give her thanks as he is the now the proud owner of Maz's clarinet. Thank you for everything Maz.

Entry : - All are welcome

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - Gifts of bread and wine

Sanctus (Newquay Mass # 3)

Mystery of faith : - Lord by Your cross and resurection
Amen Amen Amen. All glory to Our Lord and King. Songs of praise to You we sing in honour of Your sacrifice; Christ our Lord who brings us life. Amen, Amen, Amen.

Agnus Dei (Newquay Mass #3)

Communion: - Sweet sacrament divine

Bless the Lord my soul

Recession: - Walk in the light