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Advent & Christmas Great St Bartholomew

2017

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With the sole exception of the concert at 20:30 on 18th December, which takes place after the free Ceremony of Carols carol service,

all the services described below are free to attend, although we do take (voluntary) collections at these services.

Sunday, 3rd December 2017 – Advent Sunday

09:00 Holy Eucharist in the Lady Chapel of St Bartholomew the Great

10:00 Family Eucharist in St Bartholomew the Less

11:00 Solemn Eucharist at the High Altar of St Bartholomew the Great

18:30 Advent Carol Service in St Bartholomew the Great Our traditional Advent Carol Service recounts the prophecies that the Messiah will come, and describes the visit of the Angel Gabriel to the Virgin Mary to announce that she will be the Messiah’s mother. Between the readings, the choir sings music that carries forward the story and the congregation sings hymns appropriate to the season. It’s a great way to make a start on the themes that will bring us to Christmas night.

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Sunday, 10th December 2017 – Advent II

09:00 Holy Eucharist in the Lady Chapel of St Bartholomew the Great

10:00 Family Eucharist in St Bartholomew the Less

11:00 Solemn Eucharist at the High Altar of St Bartholomew the Great

18:30 Mid-Advent Carol Service: Tomorrow I will come in St Bartholomew the Great This service links the Advent season with Christmas itself. It is based on the great O Antiphons, which are chants used before and after the Magnificat in the seven days leading up to Christmas Eve. The text of each of these chants begins with the word O, followed by an attribute of the coming Messiah: Wisdom (Sapientia), Lord of Israel (Adonai), Root of Jesse (Radix Jesse), Key of David (Clavis David), Dayspring (Oriens), King of all Nations (Rex Gentium), God with us (Emmanuel). Going backwards from the last one, the first letters of the Latin names spell out the words ERO CRAS, which is the Latin for Tomorrow I will come, the Advent promise. While this was a clever medieval word game, it spells out the underlying themes of Advent, telling us why Christmas is special. We have built a service on these seven aspects of Advent, all leading to the well-known hymn that unites the Antiphons in one text: O come, O come, Emmanuel.

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Sunday, 17th December 2017 – Advent III – Gaudete Sunday

09:00 Holy Eucharist in the Lady Chapel of St Bartholomew the Great

10:00 Family Eucharist with Nativity Play in St Bartholomew the Less

11:00 Solemn Eucharist at the High Altar of St Bartholomew the Great

18:30 A Service of Nine Lessons & Carols This, our biggest service of the year, takes its inspiration from the Christmas Eve service held every year at King’s College, Cambridge, and broadcast live by BBC radio. The service was originally introduced by Bishop Benson of Truro (later Archbishop of Canterbury) in 1880 in the temporary, wooden cathedral in Truro. Later, the service was transported to

Cambridge with some amendment by Eric Milner-White while he was Dean of King’s College. Its structure was so successful that it has become the model for most carol services the world over. Readings telling the story of our salvation, from the Garden of Eden to the Kings arriving in Bethlehem to worship the baby Jesus, are interspersed with wonderful carols sung by the choir, with the congregation joining them in the great Christmas hymns. By tradition, the service begins with Once in Royal David’s City and concludes first with O come, all ye faithful, and after the Blessing, Hark! The Herald Angels sing. The church is usually very full for this service, so you will need to arrive early if you want to get a good seat!

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Monday, 18th December 2017

18:00

Carol Service: A Ceremony of Carols (un-ticketed) This, the first of a sequence of “special” carol services each year, contains the entire Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten, accompanied by harp and sung by upper voices. Britten's settings are interspersed in a sequence of readings and congregational hymns. The beauty of this music is especially astonishing, since it was composed on board a Swedish cargo vessel, the MS Axel Johnson, on which Britten was returning to the UK from the United States in 1942. Confined to a small, airless cabin, an enormous refrigerator compressor running constantly next door keeping the freight cold, Britten composed these beautiful pieces.

This carol service is followed by a concert (details below). Mulled wine, mince pies, and other refreshments will be available to buy in the Cloister Café (near the main door of the church) after the service.

20:30

Concert: A Garland of Carols by Anthony Bolton Tickets: £10 at the door, from the Parish office in advance, or online via www.greatstbarts.com Anthony Bolton has been one of this country's outstanding and successful fund managers, and at the same time has had a thriving career as a composer. A Garland of Carols is his companion piece and homage to Britten's A Ceremony of Carols. It is also accompanied by harp and sung by upper voices. The carols focus more on secular Christmas texts than the Britten, and are a wonderful addition to the season.

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Tuesday, 19th December 2017

13:00

First Priory Church Lunchtime Carol Service A specially shortened carol service, designed to fit into the lunchtime of a busy working day. The four main Christmas readings are interspersed with carols from the choir and hymns for the congregation. With the streets and shops full of festive decorations – and maybe your office as well – this is a great way to make the story that underpins the whole thing a part of your day in the week leading up to Christmas itself.

18:00

A Service of Nine Lessons and Carols Although an un-ticketed event, most of the central area of the church is reserved for Livery Companies associated with us. Other seats are on a first-come, first-seated basis.

This is a second chance to experience the traditional service that takes its inspiration from the Christmas Eve service held every year at King’s College, Cambridge, and broadcast live by BBC radio. Please see Sunday, 17th December, above for details. The church is usually very full for this service, so anybody not coming with one of our livery companies will need to arrive very early to get a good seat.

Mulled wine, mince pies and other refreshments will be available to buy in the Cloister Café after the carol service.

Exquisite Pain (St Bartholomew) by Damien Hirst, with the Mencap Tree

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Wednesday, 20th December 2017

18:00

A Star-Spangled Christmas A Service of Lessons and Carols from the US Christmas tradition Numerous Christmas carols that we regard as part of an English Christmas began life in America and only came here later. It came upon the midnight clear, O little town of Bethlehem, We three Kings of Orient are, Away in a manger, Deck the halls, are all examples of this happening. In many cases, the tunes to which they are sung today in the USA are the originals. When the texts crossed the Atlantic at a time of less easy communication, different tunes were given to some of them. This service of readings and music includes choir carols written in the Americas. Also, whenever there is an American tune for a familiar congregational carol, that is the one we use. We aim to make this a real star-spangled occasion!

Mulled wine, mince pies and other refreshments will be available to buy in the Cloister Café after the carol service.

Thursday, 21st December 2017

13:00

Second Priory Church Lunchtime Carol Service A second specially shortened carol service this season that has been designed to fit into the lunchtime of a busy working day. Please see Tuesday, 19th December above for more details.

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Thursday, 21st December 2017

18:00

Stille Nacht A Service of Lessons and Carols with music from the Germanic Christmas tradition

Many aspects of the British approach to Christmas came to us from Germany. Prince Albert, consort of Queen Victoria, introduced the domestic Christmas tree and Christmas cards to the United Kingdom, and they spread from there to the United States. While the UK and the US share a great deal of Christmas music, German Christmas music is almost completely

different – but is also very wonderful. This carol service is a sequence of Lessons & Carols as usual, but with the music drawn from the Germanic Christmas tradition. We have been offering this service for some years now, and it has become extremely popular, perhaps because it offers something a little different, and yet is full of abundant Christmas atmosphere. Please bring a large bunch of keys or some jingling bells with you: they are needed in the last hymn for a magical moment!

Glühwein, Stollen, mince pies, and other refreshments will be available to buy in the Cloister Café after the carol service.

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Friday, 22nd December 2017

18:00

A Christmas Carol A Service of Readings from Dickens and his contemporaries, together with carols that he would have heard and known Many of the images we are familiar with in our Christmases today in this country come to us from the Victorian era, and are especially associated with the works of Charles Dickens, and especially his book, A Christmas Carol. This service uses readings from that great work, as well as other Christmas-related writings by Dickens and a few of his contemporaries to remind us what his special interpretation of what Christmas is all about.

Meantime, the music for both choir and congregation is taken from the sources that were available in his lifetime, so that we both hear his words and sing the carols that he would have known. Even the Bidding Prayer and the Blessing are derived from the great man’s own writings. “God bless us, every one!”

Mulled wine, mince pies, and other refreshments will be available to buy in the Cloister Café after the carol service.

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Sunday, 24th December 2017 – Advent IV – Christmas Eve This Sunday does double duty this year! Right up to sundown, it is the Fourth Sunday of Advent, with a special focus on the Blessed Virgin Mary in the dramatic story that leads up to Christmas. With the fading of the light from the sky, the day turns into the most wonderful

night of the year: the Eve of Christmas itself. This means Midnight Mass, and the real start of the excitements of Christmas and all that this means. Our final Advent services are in the morning at 09:00 and 11:00. The church will open from 23:00 for those wanting a good seat for Midnight Mass, which begins at 23:45.

09:00 Holy Eucharist in the Lady Chapel of St Bartholomew the Great

11:00 Solemn Eucharist at the High Altar of St Bartholomew the Great

23:45 The Midnight Mass of the Nativity at the High Altar of St Bartholomew the Great

The service begins with the Blessing of the Crib, followed by a procession into the church, so that the Mass itself begins at midnight. There is wonderful music at this service, and a very special atmosphere that comes about just once in the year.

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Monday, 25th December 2017 – Christmas Day

09:00 Holy Eucharist in the Lady Chapel of St Bartholomew the Great

11:00 Solemn Eucharist with Procession to the Crib At the High Altar of St Bartholomew the Great This service is particularly suitable for children

This service is adapted from our usual liturgy to be a Christmas Day service that all generations will enjoy to the full. After the gospel, everyone is invited to join a procession around the church ambulatory and, like the shepherds, to visit the Crib that stands before the Sacrament Altar, as we sing O come, all ye faithful. Finally, once everyone has had a chance to see the Crib and return to their seat, the final verse of the hymn, which is sung only at Midnight Mass and on this morning, is given full reign: Yea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning!

Sunday, 31st December 2017 – Sunday after Christmas

09:00 Holy Eucharist in the Lady Chapel of St Bartholomew the Great

11:00 Solemn Eucharist at the High Altar of St Bartholomew the Great

18:30 There will be no Evensong today

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Sunday, 7th January 2018 – The Sunday of the Epiphany

09:00 Holy Eucharist in the Lady Chapel of St Bartholomew the Great

11:00 Ceremony of the Kings & Solemn Eucharist at the High Altar of St Bartholomew the Great

18:30 Epiphany Carol Service in St Bartholomew the Great

This service marks the visit of the Wise Men (which in many traditions are identified as Three Kings) to Bethlehem to adore the baby Jesus and to present to him gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. On their journey, they are led by a star.

This, the last of our seasonal carol services, follows the same outline as our services leading up to Christmas, with readings that illustrate the meaning of the season of Epiphany, and music for choir and congregation that brings it all vividly to life.

Although by tradition people remove Christmas greenery from their homes for Twelfth Night, some people also re-decorate discreetly with golden ornaments to mark the season of the Wise Men (or Kings). Christmas really ends on 2nd February, the Feast of the Presentation of Christ in the Temple, so you can decide for yourself how long or how short you wish to make it. At Great St Bartholomew, we’ll be marking its end on 4th February, the Sunday nearest the Feast Day itself.