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

Apostles - called to serve...

The Apostles we were reminded today were ordinary men. They did, however, do an extraordinary thing. When called by Jesus, they left everything to follow him - such was their belief. Are we listening ? Would we answer the call in the same way ? Are we ready to something extraordinary for Jesus ?

In the musical sense today, fortunately (or unfortunately) nothing extraordinary happened, unless you count one of choirboy's strings breaking during the Agnus Dei. It was the same string which broke no less than a month ago - getting too carried away apparrently. As luck would have it choirboy had a spare guitar in the sacristy (as you do). So in between birthdays (happy birthday Francis) and Father's day, we managed to navigate through a joful liturgy with no Jimmy or Mary but we welcomed back Jess and her flute !

Entry : - Song of the body of Christ

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Folk Alleluia

Offertory: - All that I am

Sanctus (Newquay Mass # 3)
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and God of might. Heaven and earth are full of Your glory, Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in Your name, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, Hosanna

Mystery of faith : - Christ has died

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)
Lamb of God, Lamb of God, You take away, the sin of all the world (repeat)
Have mercy on us, have mercy on us, have mercy on us and grant us Your peace

Communion: - Bread of life, Truth eternal

Recession: - I will be with you

He came to call sinners

Our gospel reading today reminds us that Jesus came to call sinners. This is good news as there cannot be anyone who does not fit into this category. The almost revolutionary nature of this calling by Christ was put into an historical context by Father Mark who reminded us of the multiplicity of rules prevalent in organised religion at the time of Christ. He pointed out that Christ reached beyond all of those regulations (and hierarchical red tape). This was somewhat ironical for Choirboy, the thought that we were hearing this in our own Catholic Church. I think sometimes we forget the true message of the historical Christ and get wrapped up in our own Church's rules and regulations - only a thought ! The Church was rather empty today and the choir severely depleted (the weather was glorious and this is a possible cause). It was slightly frustrating as we had rehearsed some music that most of the congregation were unfamiliar with. Still, there is always next week. MAz was absent with a dislocated knee but we were able to welcome Patrizia who hopefully will sing something for us very soon in Polish !

Entry : - Dear Lord and Father of mankind

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Offertory: - Lord we come to Your table

Sanctus (Newquay Mass # 3)
Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and God of might. Heaven and earth are full of Your glory, Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is he who comes in Your name, Hosanna, Hosanna in the highest. Hosanna, Hosanna

Mystery of faith : - Christ has died
Amen Amen Amen. All glory to Our Lord and King. Songs of praise to You we sing in honour of Your sacrifice; the bread and wine that brings us life. Amen, Amen, Amen.

Agnus Dei (Newquay Mass #3)
Lamb of God, Lamb of God, You take away, the sin of all the world (repeat)
Have mercy on us, have mercy on us, have mercy on us and grant us Your peace

Communion: - Living Lord

Recession: - Go tell everyone

The boys (and girl) are back in town !

It was great to welcome back Jimmy and Maz to our celebrations today. Maz unfortunately will be moving on soon as she has been posted elsewhere, but there will always be a place for her clarinet at Holy Trinity. The picture shows what happens when you don't build your house on firm foundations - our readings today were all about building our lives on the firm foundation of the message of the gospel. Choirboy toyed with the idea of using the famous hymn 'Rock of ages' today but instead we chose a Wesley hymn for openers. A good version of 'Rock of ages can be found here and a discussion of the origins of the hymn can be found here.

Entry : - The Church’s one foundation

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - In bread we bring You, Lord

Sanctus: - Gathering Mass

Mystery of faith : - Christ has died

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

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

Communion: - There is a longing

Recession: - Colours of day

Corpus Christi

Traditionally this is the 'Run to the Sun' weekend which usually leaves us with great difficulties in getting to Holy Trinity. Despite or in spite of the rain, the Church was almost full for our celebrations. A thoughtful sermon from our ex-footballer Deacon Brian lifted the dampened spirits of those brave enough to make their way to Holy Trinity. Musically we were without Jimmy again (where are you ?) but we managed to get through our celebrations with the addition of Choirboy's Hail Holy Queen and Air I breathe (made famous by Hillsong). Choirboy was even asked by two visitors whether or not we had a CD of our music - perhaps one for the future.

Entry : - Song of the Body of Christ

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - Take our bread

Sanctus: - Gathering Mass

Mystery of faith : - Christ has died

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

Agnus Die: - Newquay Mass III

Communion: - Jesus, Lamb of God

Recession: - Hail Queen of Heaven

Wonderful world !

In a beatiful celebration today we were witnesses to a number of our young parishioners making their First Holy Communion. It was a double celebration as Sunday is the Feast of the Most Holy Trinity - - our patronal feast. The children looked wonderful and a packed church joined in with our joyful liturgy. Mrs Choirboy is responsible for catechising our new Communicants so it was a special day for the Choirboy family. Thanks to John for 'looking after' the Choirboy boys. Musically we mixed old and new and Choirboy reworked Louis Armstrong's 'Wonderful World' to include some more appropriate liturgical words.Hopefully it was enjoyed by all.

Entry : - Walk in the light

Gloria: -

Alleluia : - Plymouth Alleluia

Credo/I believe

Offertory: - This is my body, broken for you

Sanctus: - Gathering Mass

Mystery of faith
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

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

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

Communion: - Be still, for the presence of the Lord

Reflection: - What a wonderful world

Recession: - Sancta Trinitas

Chorus Sancta Trinitas
Unus Deus
Miserere nobis (repeat)
1.One God, three Persons, one life in You, Lord. All glory and all power are Yours forever and ever.
Chorus
2. Father, Son and Holy Spirit, our divine mystery. All glory and all power are Yours forever and ever.
Chorus
3. Risen Lord, our redeemer, all our hope is in You. All glory and all power are Yours forever and ever.
Chorus
Amen, Amen.