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Source: (consider it)
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Thread: When Christmas Eve is a Sunday
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Forthview
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# 12376
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Posted
Sorry I missed out the Gospel passage for the Dawn Mass which is about the visit of the shepherds to Bethlehem.
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Brenda Clough
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# 18061
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Posted
At our place (Anglican US) we're having one morning eucharist at 11 am, instead of our usual three services (7:30, 9 and 11 am). Then in the afternoon we swing into all the Christmas Eve services: the 4 pm children's service, the 5:30, the 7:30, and the 11:30 pm. These come complete with choir, eucharist, carols, Living Nativity (Mary, Joseph, baby, 3 Kings, an angel or so), an even more elaborate Living Nativity between the services out in front (added animals, usually a donkey, sometimes a cow, one very grand year a camel).
There is one service on Christmas Day at 10:30 am, usually very sparsely attended. All of this is very exhausting for choir, Altar Guild and clergy, and for some years now I have never been in town -- this year I'm going to Atlanta to visit my grandson.
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Science fiction and fantasy writer with a Patreon page
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
In which case, of course, the faithful who attend all three Masses do get the full story, as it were.
IIRC, much the same pattern was followed in the Church Of My Yoof (con/open evo, mostly BCP), with services at 1130pm on Christmas Eve ('Midnight Communion' - the word 'Mass' was never used, being Popish), 8am Communion on Christmas Day, and a sort of 'Family Morning Prayer' at 11am on Christmas Day. The latter was followed at around 12 noon by a shortened BCP Communion, beginning at 'Ye that do truly and earnestly repent you, etc.'
Back in those dear, dead days, beyond recall, we not only had a full church on Christmas Eve, but also maybe 30-40 at 8am Communion (with hymns!), and another fairly full house of adults and children at 11am. We usually had another 30 or so staying for the shortened Communion at noon, too.
O happy times!
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
(Noted re Brenda's church, but cross-posted with Forthview).
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
Sounds sensible - do you have an 8.00am on Christmas morning?
That's the one which used to get a fairly good congregation at The Church Of My Yoof, given that it was handy for those with family etc. commitments later in the Day.
Given the paucity of clergy these days (where are all the Assistant Curates of yore?), it does mean that services may simply have to be curtailed, out of sheer compassion for the overworked priests who are left...
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
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stonespring
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# 15530
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ecclesiastical Flip-flop:
quote:
On a side note, why are there only three Sundays of Advent when Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday? Couldn't Advent start one week earlier to fit four Sundays in?
Not for the first time, this is a thread that has already built up by the time I come across it, so I apologise if I inadvertently repeat anything that has already been said earlier on.
Who said there are only three Sundays in Advent this year, with Christmas Eve itself falling on a Sunday?
Last year in 2016, Christmas Day itself fell on a Sunday, when the most could be made of Advent IV, allowing for the full week to occur, of all seven days in Advent, before Christmas was upon us. This year of 2017, the reverse occurs, so that only minimal use of Sunday Advent IV can be made, so that this Sunday becomes the only day of the fourth week of Advent. So in any year, the length of the fourth week in Advent, is shorter or longer (with more or fewer days) depending on the fall of December dates with days of the week in that year.
But Advent in every year has all four Sundays. If it coincides with Christmas Eve, as it does this year, then that Sunday becomes two liturgical days, making it Advent IV in the morning and Christmas Eve in the afternoon and evening. This of course, has its effects, very likely causing smaller morning congregations that Sunday.
After checking the USCCB (RC) and US Episcopal Liturgical Calendars online, I now realize how wrong I was. December 24 this year is the 4th Sunday in Advent. I have an app for Roman Catholics called iMissal (by no means a liturgical authority!) that only listed December 24 day services and evening vigil and midnight services for December 25 as happening on December 24 this year. I looked at my iBCP (also not an official liturgical authority!) app for what US Episcopalians were doing and it said "Christmas Eve" in big letters with "The Fourth Sunday of Advent" in tiny letters below it. In stupid haste I became mortified that the day services of December 24 were replacing or overshadowing the Fourth Sunday of Advent this year and, mortified, rushed to start this thread. I apologize.
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MrsBeaky
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# 17663
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Posted
Don't worry stonespring!
It has resulted in a very enlightening glimpse of how lots of us plan for this special time of year.
I worship at our Cathedral which as would be expected is going with 4th Sunday of Advent (dropping the 8.00 am Communion) and then the Christmas Eve services:
10.30am Eucharist
2.30pm Crib Service
4.00pm Crib Service
5.30pm Evensong
11pm Midnight Mass
What is really exciting is that this is the first year we have done two Crib services- numbers have been growing over the years and last year was packed with loads of families who don't normally attend, too many really. A lovely problem to have!
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"It is better to be kind than right."
http://davidandlizacooke.wordpress.com
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Nick Tamen
Ship's Wayfaring Fool
# 15164
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by MrsBeaky:
What is really exciting is that this is the first year we have done two Crib services- numbers have been growing over the years and last year was packed with loads of families who don't normally attend, too many really. A lovely problem to have!
I fear that I have asked this before but have failed to retain the helpful information provided in answer to my question, so apologies in advance:
What is a Crib Service? That’s not a term one hears here.
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The first thing God says to Moses is, "Take off your shoes." We are on holy ground. Hard to believe, but the truest thing I know. — Anne Lamott
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Mudfrog
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# 8116
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Posted
We Salvationists will have our normal morning meeting at 10am and then, instead of our 5.15 evening meeting we will do what we have done for the last 2 Christmas Eves we will take our brass band outside and stand at the town market cross / civic Christmas tree for an open air carol service that will be attended by up to 200 people who will gather from who knows where and sing along with us for about half an hour.
This year I though we'd give everyone a glow stick.
Entirely meaningless but it will look nice and give everyone something to wave.
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"The point of having an open mind, like having an open mouth, is to close it on something solid."
G.K. Chesterton
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Evangeline
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# 7002
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Posted
We will have our regular 9am and 10.30 services but will drop the 6.30pm Evensong and just have midnight "mass" instead. I think Christmas Day will be 9am and 10.30.
Posts: 2871 | From: "A capsule of modernity afloat in a wild sea" | Registered: May 2004
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BabyWombat
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# 18552
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Posted
Sunday morning is usually 8 and 10 (hymns). On Dec 24 we’ll only have the said service using Advent 4 lessons. Out of courtesy for our Altar Guild we will roll out the simple nave altar for that. This allows the AG folk to change chancel altar frontal, put out flowers, etc. during the week or on Saturday. I’d expect maybe 5, if that.
Sunday at 5pm will be the usual Christmas Eucharist with hymns. Parish tradition is nothing on Christmas Day.
Saturday Dec. 30 will be 5PM Eucharist for Christmas 1 with hymns and no sermon, followed by festive pot luck and farewell party for my clergy colleague and I, whose contracts as interim team expire. No service Sunday the 31st. (Darn! – I love preaching on the prologue to John’s gospel!)
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Let us, with a gladsome mind…..
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bib
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# 13074
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Posted
I think that is much more of an issue when Christmas Eve is on a Friday. After work there is the children's service plus midnight mass later on. Come Christmas Day there are the festival services and then the usual service on the Sunday. This is a big toll on the choir who have work commitments as well as church. In my church the choir is a dedicated group who receive no pay for all the hard work.
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"My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End, accept the praise I bring"
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MrsBeaky
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# 17663
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Nick Tamen:
quote:
Originally posted by MrsBeaky:
What is really exciting is that this is the first year we have done two Crib services- numbers have been growing over the years and last year was packed with loads of families who don't normally attend, too many really. A lovely problem to have!
I fear that I have asked this before but have failed to retain the helpful information provided in answer to my question, so apologies in advance:
What is a Crib Service? That’s not a term one hears here.
I can't answer for elsewhere but at our Cathedral we have a large scale and very lovely Nativity scene- not life-size but still large. The Crib service takes place around the scene in the Nave of the Cathedral using a more child-friendly liturgy/ service format. Some children come dressed as shepherds etc. As far as I can tell it has become an annual event for lots of families seeking to add something numinous to their Christmas celebrations.
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"It is better to be kind than right."
http://davidandlizacooke.wordpress.com
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Anselmina
Ship's barmaid
# 3032
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Posted
With us it'll be like this. The fourth Sunday of Advent will be the usual Eucharist for main Sunday morning service as per the lectionary. That it happens to fall on Christmas Eve this year makes no difference.
As it is Christmas Eve, however, we'll run a crib service about five o'clock.
And then there'll be the first communion of Christmas, beginning at 11.30pm that night; aka the midnight communion service.
Christmas Day will be a Christmas Day Eucharist in the morning.
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Irish dogs needing homes! http://www.dogactionwelfaregroup.ie/ Greyhounds and Lurchers are shipped over to England for rehoming too!
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ExclamationMark
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# 14715
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Posted
Christmas Eve
10.45 am Morning Service as usual - John 1 (end 12 pm)
11.30 pm Reflective Service for Christmas
(from 8 pm give out soup/coffee to passers by)
Ends 12.15 am
Christmas Day
10.30 am All age celebration ends 11.15 am
Fit in home communions/hospital visits as necessary including seeing anyone in hospital on Christmas Morning after the service
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Ian Climacus
Liturgical Slattern
# 944
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Nick Tamen:
What is a Crib Service? That’s not a term one hears here.
This?
I've been to a Blessing of the Crib where no dressing-up [priests excepted ![[Roll Eyes]](rolleyes.gif) ] took place but a carved wooden Baby Jesus was processed to a nativity scene in the altar. Prayers were read. Are these similar?
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MrsBeaky
Shipmate
# 17663
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Ian Climacus:
quote:
Originally posted by Nick Tamen:
What is a Crib Service? That’s not a term one hears here.
This?
I've been to a Blessing of the Crib where no dressing-up [priests excepted ] took place but a carved wooden Baby Jesus was processed to a nativity scene in the altar. Prayers were read. Are these similar?
This is where I worship!
If you click the link for "Advent and Christmas" you'll see that two crib services are planned this year, no doubt due to increased attendance.
Which as I said above is a really encouraging development, given some of the depressing press the C of E has recently received.
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"It is better to be kind than right."
http://davidandlizacooke.wordpress.com
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by bib:
I think that is much more of an issue when Christmas Eve is on a Friday. After work there is the children's service plus midnight mass later on. Come Christmas Day there are the festival services and then the usual service on the Sunday. This is a big toll on the choir who have work commitments as well as church. In my church the choir is a dedicated group who receive no pay for all the hard work.
Still less work than Holy Week...
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
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Ecclesiastical Flip-flop
Shipmate
# 10745
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Og, King of Bashan:
quote:
Originally posted by bib:
I think that is much more of an issue when Christmas Eve is on a Friday. After work there is the children's service plus midnight mass later on. Come Christmas Day there are the festival services and then the usual service on the Sunday. This is a big toll on the choir who have work commitments as well as church. In my church the choir is a dedicated group who receive no pay for all the hard work.
Still less work than Holy Week...
I might have mentioned that in my earlier post on this thread.
With Christmas Day on a Saturday, followed next day by a Sunday, worshippers may concentrate on being in church, as expected, on Christmas Day, very likely resulting in that Sunday being rather low-key, with reduced numbers attending on the second of those two consecutive days.
I will have to check my information, but I believe that in the USA in any year, the main worship services take place on Christmas Eve (including midnight), so that on Christmas morning, there may be a low-key service or no services at all.
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Joyeuses Pâques! Frohe Ostern! Buona Pasqua! ¡Felices Pascuas! Happy Easter!
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
Not sure about Holy Week necessarily being busier than Christmas-time...
With Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday always falling on a Sunday (!), Our Place usually has only two extra Holy Week services to worry about, to wit, the Maundy Thursday Mass, and the Good Friday Liturgy.
(We don't have a separate Easter Vigil, preferring to have the Blessing and Lighting of the Paschal Candle at the beginning of the Easter morning Mass.)
Christmas this year brings not only the usual Sunday services, but also Carol Service, Christingle Service, Crib Service, Midnight Mass, and Christmas morning Mass.
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
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BabyWombat
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# 18552
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Posted
As originally posted by Ecclesiastical Flip Flop. quote:
I will have to check my information, but I believe that in the USA in any year, the main worship services take place on Christmas Eve (including midnight), so that on Christmas morning, there may be a low-key service or no services at all.
So true, and it is the practice in my current shack to have a Christmas Eve service only. However, it ignores the needs or outreach to those whose non church going families insist on a Christmas Eve dinner/party, etc., leaving the church goer high and dry for a service.
In my old shack we perhaps double covered this: on the Eve we'd do a 3PM service for those not wanting to be out after dark and/or needing to go to family gatherings. A 7 or 8 PM service as "midnight" service; and then a 9 AM Christmas Day service for those not able to come on the Eve.
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Let us, with a gladsome mind…..
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irreverend tod
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# 18773
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Posted
We'll have the Carol Service on the 17th, as two of the large families in the village have a get together with compulsory church attendance ( and guidance on suitable giving. 9am on Christmas Eve, midnight service in the mother ship (big sister church) and 9 am on Christmas Day at ours for the hardy of the parish.
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Diocesan Arsonist and Lead thief to the Church of England.
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Stephen
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# 40
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Posted
Well assuming it's the pattern as in the past it'll be a Choral Eucharist at 11.00. I doubt if there'll be Evensong but there might well be a crib service - which is quite popular - and Choral Eucharist at 11.30pm. There is a Eucharist on Christmas morning, but the one that is well attended is the 11.30pm on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day a lot less so. Quite a few years back we tried an 8.00pm First Eucharist but the numbers weren't good and since going back to Midnight the attendances are a lot better. Of course quite a few people will be away as well.......
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Best Wishes
Stephen
'Be still,then, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations and I will be exalted in the earth' Ps46 v10
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Stephen
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# 40
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Posted
Sorry - I meant to say that it will be Advent 4 on the Sunday AFAICT
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Best Wishes
Stephen
'Be still,then, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the nations and I will be exalted in the earth' Ps46 v10
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Amos
Shipmate
# 44
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Posted
In our multi-parish benefice the services for the 24th & 25th look like this:
Sunday 24 December
8 am BCP HC (4th Sunday of Advent--Purple) Church 1
3 pm Lessons & Carols --- Church 2
4:30 pm Crib Service --Church 1 (huge congregation)
11 pm First mass of Christmas--Church 3 (visiting priest)
11 pm First mass of Christmas--Church 1
Monday 25 December
8 am BCP Holy Communion--Church 1
9:30 Parish Communion--Church 2
11.00--Parish Communion with Sunday School--Church 1
3 pm--Holy Communion in tiny Church 4
I do feel very badly about not having the 9.30 and the 11 o'clock services on Christmas eve, but the servers and organists (who are all volunteers) have put their collective feet down.
[ 25. October 2017, 06:35: Message edited by: Amos ]
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At the end of the day we face our Maker alongside Jesus--ken
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
Yes, and in any case the old 8am 'Early Service' has disappeared from many parishes.
Mind you, I can recall an 8am service on Christmas Day in the Church Of My Yoof with 40-50 people present, a brief sermon from the Vicar, and a couple of hymns as well.
(There would have been Matins with Carols at 11am, followed by a shortened Communion - all BCP in those days).
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
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Og, King of Bashan
Ship's giant Amorite
# 9562
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Not sure about Holy Week necessarily being busier than Christmas-time...
With Palm Sunday and Easter Sunday always falling on a Sunday (!), Our Place usually has only two extra Holy Week services to worry about, to wit, the Maundy Thursday Mass, and the Good Friday Liturgy.
(We don't have a separate Easter Vigil, preferring to have the Blessing and Lighting of the Paschal Candle at the beginning of the Easter morning Mass.)
Christmas this year brings not only the usual Sunday services, but also Carol Service, Christingle Service, Crib Service, Midnight Mass, and Christmas morning Mass.
IJ
Holy week at my place involves 8 services plus one special rehearsal in 8 days for volunteer singers, and 10 services plus one special rehearsal in 8 days for staff singers. Between Advent IV, Christmas Eve, and Christmas day, we're having 1 call in 2 days for volunteers, and 4 in 2 days for staff, with no special rehearsals. So it's really no contest. (And by consolidating the usual three services from a normal Advent IV into one for this year, on the assumption that most people will only come in the evening, I think we are actually going to save money on staff singers over a typical year.)
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"I like to eat crawfish and drink beer. That's despair?" ― Walker Percy
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Well, I did have my tongue slightly in my cheek!
We may well run a minimalist Holy Week at Our Place, but I do appreciate the fact that, for many churches, it's just as heavily-laden a season as Christmas.
I only wish we could do more, but it's hard enough to muster a congregation on Sundays, let alone other major Holy Days.
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
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Alex Cockell
Ship’s penguin
# 7487
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by bib:
I think that is much more of an issue when Christmas Eve is on a Friday. After work there is the children's service plus midnight mass later on. Come Christmas Day there are the festival services and then the usual service on the Sunday. This is a big toll on the choir who have work commitments as well as church. In my church the choir is a dedicated group who receive no pay for all the hard work.
Almost sounds like the typical audiovisual team workload... several services to set up for, run V, record it all, cut masters, tear down... collapse.
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L'organist
Shipmate
# 17338
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Posted
The thing about Palm Sunday to Easter Day is that the whole shebang is compressed into 8 days; whereas things like carol services, Christingle, etc, can be further spread so there isn't the same gridlock - at least thats what I tell myself.
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Rara temporum felicitate ubi sentire quae velis et quae sentias dicere licet
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
Up to a point, though our Madam Sacristan complains most bitterly if we even think of having the Carol Service as early as Advent 3!
This year, of course, there's not really (for us, anyway) an alternative date, though I do wonder if perhaps one year we could save the carol service for Epiphanytide.
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
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Ecclesiastical Flip-flop
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# 10745
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Posted
"Purists" would insist on no Christmas carols until Advent is well and truly over and not before Christmas Eve. But the "real world" isn't like that anymore.
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Joyeuses Pâques! Frohe Ostern! Buona Pasqua! ¡Felices Pascuas! Happy Easter!
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Well, quite. But our dear Madam Sacristan sometimes doesn't acknowledge the Real World...bless 'er.
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
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cliffdweller
Shipmate
# 13338
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Posted
For us non-liturgical traditions, the conflict is when Christmas Eve is on Saturday. We axed the Sunday am service last year when it fell on Christmas Day, and focused on the Christmas Eve service. But this year, we'll go all out on Christmas Eve-- regular Sunday am service with evening Christmas Eve services (as well as dinner at our shelter for our homeless neighbors)
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"Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." -Frederick Buechner
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k-mann
Shipmate
# 8490
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Posted
In big towns or cities you might have different services, but I have six parishes (in a more rural area), and I am going to be at three different places on Christmas Eve (the other parishes will have substitute priests). On Christmas Day I will have two services, and on Boxing Day one (although it will function as a Christmas Day service). All these three will be at three different parishes.
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"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt."
— Paul Tillich
Katolikken
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Bishops Finger
Shipmate
# 5430
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Posted
Are all six services Eucharists, k-mann?
![[Eek!]](eek.gif)
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
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keibat
Shipmate
# 5287
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Posted
In our rural benefice we have 11 churches, three of which are only in use twice a year – of which one is of course Christmas (the other being either Easter or Harvest).
On Sunday 24.12., the 'hub church' has a regular Sunday Eucharist in the morning for Advent 4.
In a previous parish context, early-December special services were successfully slanted as being for Advent rather than Christmas, but in the rural context here, each village wants its own specifically Christmas-themed service, and for scheduling reasons these need to get started early in the month.
The Christmas carousel starts on Advent 1 with the first 3 village carols services, plus one more midweek; 3 more on Advent 2, plus one more midweek; two more on Advent 3; and the last village service in the early evening on Christmas Eve.
In the hub church, Christingle will come on Advent 1; we will also host two non-parochial carols services (Scouts, Town Band) in the first half of December; the IX Lessons and Carols will be on Wed 20.12., and a Crib Service for parents and young children on Christmas Eve afternoon. We have two parallel Midnight Masses (hub and largest village church).
By Christmas Day we are down to a single Christmas Eucharist for the whole benefice, in the hub church.
That’s 18 specifically Christmas-themed services between Advent 1 and Christmas Day, with five of them between midday on Christmas Eve and midday on Christmas Day – plus 14 ‘regular’ i e non-Christmas services. We will not have any ‘extra’ services thereafter.
On Sunday 31.12., being a Fifth Sunday in the month, we will follow our usual pattern with a single service for the whole benefice (held in different churches in rotation).
We have 2 full-time clergy (one will be away until mid-month, however), 2 nonstipendiaries, and one retired priest; also 2 Readers and 4 authorized lay ministers or as some dioceses would call them authorized worship leaders. Unsurprisingly, they all have parts to play somewhere on this carousel.
I personally love the idea of Advent as a Time of Expectation, and recognize the traditional liturgical argument that Christmas services shouldn’t start until the Feast of the Nativity, but could well continue throughout Christmastide up to the Epiphany. But that will only work for seriously liturgically-minded communities (e g in monasteries!). With all the pre-Christmas hype in secular society around us, it simply will not work to try to follow that logic in a parish context.
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keibat from the finnish north and the lincs east rim
Posts: 93 | From: Alford, Lincs + Turku, Finland | Registered: Dec 2003
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Barnabas Aus
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# 15869
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Posted
In our three-centre Australian country parish, we will celebrate Advent 4 with a Saturday Vigil in our parish church followed by 2 Sunday eucharists [8.30am and 10.00am] in the smaller centres.
Christmas services begin with a family eucharist with setting up of the crib at 5.30pm, followed by Midnight Mass and Blessing of the Crib, commencing at 11.30pm, both in the parish church, and the 8.30 and 10.00 eucharists on Christmas Day.
This with a parish priest and one non-stipendiary local priest, although the priest's husband is about to be ordained deacon and will preach at Midnight Mass and Christmas Day.
Posts: 375 | From: Hunter Valley NSW | Registered: Sep 2010
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k-mann
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# 8490
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Are all six services Eucharists, k-mann?
Not the first three, on Christmas Eve. The three others are, on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
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"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt."
— Paul Tillich
Katolikken
Posts: 1314 | From: Norway | Registered: Sep 2004
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
Thanks!
Next question - what form do the Christmas Eve services take?
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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Karl: Liberal Backslider
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# 76
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Posted
quote:
Originally posted by Bishops Finger:
Thanks!
Next question - what form do the Christmas Eve services take?
IJ
I'd expect that there'd be a normal Sunday AM service, whatever you normally do, advent hymns/carols, then a child orientated (more honest than "all age", methinks) at around 5.30 (calms the dears down before tea-time; appeals to parents that, but please, late enough for the Kings College Nine Lessons to have finished!), half an hour, put the last figures in the crib saving Jesus himself, few words about Christmas being even better than Santa, pressies and throwing up through eating too much Chrimbo pud, few child-friendly carols (but please not Away in a Manger, minging thing that it is) then Midnight Mass, perhaps said (with carols, obviously, wherever a hymn can be slid in in the rubrics) to avoid the non-regulars getting lost in the sung Gloria/Sanctus/Agnus Dei, with a nip of Sherry and a mince pie as people leave,
Well, that'd get my vote, any road.
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Might as well ask the bloody cat.
Posts: 17938 | From: Chesterfield | Registered: May 2001
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
Well, that's more-or-less what we do, but I was actually asking k-mann what sort of non-eucharistic services he conducts on Christmas Eve in Norway.
The Norwegian Lutheran Eucharist is not dissimilar to that of the C of E, I believe.
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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k-mann
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# 8490
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Posted
This is how we do it:
- Prelude
- Entrance hymn.
- Introductory words (either "in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit" or "Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.").
- Entrance prayer / collect.
- Kyrie and Gloria.
- Reading (Isaiah 9.1a.2.6-7).
- Hymn.
- Gospel reading.
- Homily.
- Creed.
- Hymn.
- Prayers of the people and the Lord's Prayer, followed by some announcements.
- Offering.
- Hymn.
- Blessing and clock himing.
- Postlude.
- Dismissal.
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"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt."
— Paul Tillich
Katolikken
Posts: 1314 | From: Norway | Registered: Sep 2004
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k-mann
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# 8490
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Posted
And this will be the Festal Eucharist on Christmas Day:
- Prelude.
- Entrance hymn.
- Introductory words ("in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit").
- Entrance prayer / collect.
- Kyrie and Gloria.
- First reading (Proverbs 8:1-2.22-31).
- Hymn or music.
- Second reading (Heb. 1:1-6).
- Introduction to the homily and hymn.
- Gospel (Joh 1:1-14).
- Allelujah (alle står).
- Homily.
- Nicene Creed.
- Hymn.
- Confession of sin.
- Prayers.
- Announcements.
- Offertory (with a hymn).
- Preface and sanctus.
- Eucharistic prayer.
- The Lord's prayer.
- Peace.
- Invite to communion and Agnus Dei.
- Communion.
- Hymn.
- Blessing and clock himing.
- Postlude.
- Dismissal.
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"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt."
— Paul Tillich
Katolikken
Posts: 1314 | From: Norway | Registered: Sep 2004
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Enoch
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# 14322
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Posted
What is clock himing? Is it a Norwegian phrase that doesn't translate into English, or is it a curious custom that all Lutherans take for granted but the rest of us have never heard of? And is it just to do with Christmas or something you do all the year round?
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Brexit wrexit - Sir Graham Watson
Posts: 7610 | From: Bristol UK(was European Green Capital 2015, now Ljubljana) | Registered: Nov 2008
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Bishops Finger
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# 5430
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Posted
Clock chiming, perhaps?
Otherwise, the Christmas Eve services in k-mann's churches are what we, I guess, would call 'Services Of The Word', doubtless with suitable Christmas hymns!
(I know the Church of Sweden has a number of 'our' carols and hymns, often to familiar tunes.)
IJ
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Our words are giants when they do us an injury, and dwarfs when they do us a service. (Wilkie Collins)
Posts: 10151 | From: Behind The Wheel Again! | Registered: Jan 2004
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k-mann
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# 8490
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Posted
Yes, it's clock chiming. And this is also called a Service of the Word in Norway. We also have a good number of Anglican hymns in Norway (translated into Norwegian), as well as some melodies. The one I can name off the top of my head is The Church's One Foundation.
We also sing Dear Lord and Father of Mankind, which is written by an W. Garrett Horder, and we sing it with the British melody by Hubert Parry. But I don't think that qualifies as Anglican (apart from the tune). It was based on a poem by an American Quaker poet and Horder was a congregationalist.
We also have a few Christmas hymns by Charles Wesley, but I'm not sure if he qualifies as Anglican.
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"Being religious means asking passionately the question of the meaning of our existence and being willing to receive answers, even if the answers hurt."
— Paul Tillich
Katolikken
Posts: 1314 | From: Norway | Registered: Sep 2004
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