Favourite liturgical music meme

I was tagged by Kathryn Rose who wrote an insightful piece on worship and created this more positive meme in response to the CCM praise songs we have trouble with meme. These aren't necessarily my all time favourites but what came to mind in response to the questions.

What is your favourite piece of music for congregational singing? Why?
Be thou my vision. A challenging prayer and in my last parish the worship band used an arrangement accompanied by a Bodhrán (Irish frame drum) which added just the right beat. If I was to go for something  written more recently it would be Everlasting God by Chris Tomlin. It's rooted in scripture, focused on God and is communal (we rather than I) and a family favourite.

What is your favourite piece of music for performance by a group of specialist musicians within a liturgical context? This might be a worship band or a cathedral choir or just a very snazzy organist or something else entirely, but the point is that it is not congregational singing and it is live music in liturgy.
The Grail Prayer. Difficult to choose but our parish choir have sung this on several occasions during the administration of communion and it is a beautiful and uplifting piece of music with words appropriate for the moment. The other piece is Allegri's Miserere a setting of Psalm 51. The choir at Waltham Abbey used to sing this during Holy week and I would find the hairs standing up on the back of my neck.

What is your favourite piece of music which makes you think about God to listen to outside of your place of worship? Why? This could be secular music.
Passion: The Last Temptation of Christ soundtrack by Peter Gabriel. I could listen to this for hours and the music, with its middle eastern cadences, is the perfect accompaniment to the film. I used a track to accompany a meditation on the cross one Good Friday and it left people stunned.

What is one thing you like about the music at your usual place of worship? Have you told the musicians about this lately?
The choir is quite small but they are faithful people offering their gifts to God and led by our very talented Reader. It is often the simple Taizé chants that help me to focus my attention on God. They also feel right in the setting of a small ancient parish church. Last Sunday we learnt sign language to accompany The Lord is My Light and it provided a prayerful response to the talk in our all-age service. I try and remember to thank them but not often enough.



Thanks to Kathryn for setting this one running and consider yourself tagged if you would like to have a go.

O Emmanuel

The final O Antiphon is O Emmanuel (God is with us). One of the more well known of the names of the Messiah, taken from Isaiah 7:14. Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign. Look, the young woman is with child and shall bear a son, and shall name him Immanuel.

O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver,

the hope of the nations and their Saviour:

Come and save us, O Lord our God.

Maggi has an interesting piece about the hidden message of the O Antiphons worth looking at.

O Rex Gentium

The O Antiphon for 22nd December is O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations).

‘He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war anymore.’ Isaiah 2:4

I am constantly amazed at the breadth of Isaiah’s vision. The Messiah is for all the nations.

O King of the nations, and their desire,

the cornerstone making both one:

Come and save the human race,

which you fashioned from clay.

O Oriens

Today’s O Antiphon is O Oriens (O Rising Sun), sometimes translated as O Morning Star. This title of the Messiah is taken from Isaiah 9:2: The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light, those who lived in a land of deep darkness - on them light has shined.

O Morning Star,

splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:

Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

O Clavis David

Today’s O Antiphon is O Clavis David (O Key of David).

O Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel;

you open and no one can shut;

you shut and no one can open:

Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house,

those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

For commentary check Maggi’s blog.

O Radix Jesse

The third of the O Antiphons is O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), another of the great names of Messiah taken from Isaiah and applied to Jesus.

O Root of Jesse, who stands for an ensign of the people,
before whom kings shall keep silence
and unto whom the Gentiles shall make supplication:
Come to deliver us, and tarry not.

For commentary on the O Antiphons check out Maggi’s blog.

O Adonai

The second O Antiphon is O Adonai (O Lord).

You might like to check out the post from Maggi Dawn for more about it’s meaning.



O Adonai and Ruler of the House of Israel,
who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush
and on Mount Sinai gave him your law.
Come, and with outstretched arm redeem us.

O Sapientia

My Advent liturgical education continues. Apparently, today is the first of the ‘O Antiphons’. I’m grateful to Fr William Saunders for bringing me up to speed on what they are all about. He writes:

The “O Antiphons” refer to the seven antiphons that are recited (or chanted) preceding the Magnificat during Vespers of the Liturgy of the Hours. They cover the special period of Advent preparation known as the Octave before Christmas, Dec. 17-23, with Dec. 24 being Christmas Eve and Vespers for that evening being for the Christmas Vigil.

The exact origin of the “O Antiphons” is not known. Boethius (c. 480-524) made a slight reference to them, thereby suggesting their presence at that time. At the Benedictine abbey of Fleury (now Saint-Benoit-sur-Loire), these antiphons were recited by the abbot and other abbey leaders in descending rank, and then a gift was given to each member of the community. By the eighth century, they are in use in the liturgical celebrations in Rome. The usage of the “O Antiphons” was so prevalent in monasteries that the phrases, “Keep your O” and “The Great O Antiphons” were common parlance. One may thereby conclude that in some fashion the “O Antiphons” have been part of our liturgical tradition since the very early Church.

The importance of “O Antiphons” is twofold: Each one highlights a title for the Messiah: O Sapientia (O Wisdom), O Adonai (O Lord), O Radix Jesse (O Root of Jesse), O Clavis David (O Key of David), O Oriens (O Rising Sun), O Rex Gentium (O King of the Nations), and O Emmanuel. Also, each one refers to the prophecy of Isaiah of the coming of the Messiah.

Today is O Sapientia and here’s a setting with relevant passages of scripture beneath.



O Wisdom, coming forth from the mouth of the Most High,
reaching from beginning to end,
ordering all things mightily and sweetly:
Come and teach us the way of prudence.

Isaiah had prophesied, “The spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him: a spirit of wisdom and of understanding, a spirit of counsel and of strength, a spirit of knowledge and fear of the Lord, and his delight shall be the fear of the Lord.” (11:2-3), and “Wonderful is His counsel and great is His wisdom.” (28:29).

h/t Maggi Dawn for the translation and further commentary.

h/t Steven Maxon for the video clip.

walls come tumbling down

Lots taking place today in celebration of the fall of the Berlin Wall twenty years ago. A book that springs to mind when I think about this momentous event is Ian McEwan's Black Dogs; the black dogs of the title are a metaphor of the potential for violence, corruption and perversion in modern Europe as the book ranges from events during the second world war to the collapse of the Berlin Wall.

Here's something else that the collapse of the Berlin Wall brings to mind even though it was recorded several years before; Paul Weller and The Style Council's Walls Come Tumbling Down.



And if you are looking for a liturgical rite to celebrate the bringing down of the wall you can do no better than this from the Beaker Folk of Husborne Crawley.