I just wondered how busy we are all going to be over the season.

I've just been asked to cover Christmas Eve midnight Eucharist AND Christmas morning, plus Sunday 28th and I shall have had a full Xmas Eve day at work. It's normally Eve or Day, not both.

On the other hand I'm not doing any 9/7/5 lessons and carols nonsense - I'm only the deputy.

Any more tales of woe or am I just acting the Grinch? It might even be fun! Someone else will have to stuff the turkey,

Mel

I think you're so lucky to have Christmas Eve and Christmas morning services, mel2! I only ever play at church when the regular organist is away, and she makes sure she's always there for those because they're two of the best of the year.

Just think of the wonderful atmosphere on Christmas Eve, and then the jollity of the Christmas Day service. Must admit I don't envy you 28th December, which is always a bit of a low point! I do hope you enjoy playing when it comes to it - think how disappointed all the worshippers would be with no organ, and feel appreciated!

Stuff the turkey - have a small schooner of sherry instead

From my seat in the choir stalls, I am bracing myself for evil glares in the rear view mirror of the organ for the following:

November 30th (Advent Sunday): Morning and evening services
December 7th: Morning service, Christingle in the afternoon, Civic carol service in the evening.
December 14th: An easy day - just a morning service.
December 21st: A bit of tambourine-shaking in the morning for the kiddies' seasonal production, then our 9 lessons in the evening.
December 24th: Midnight mass.
December 25th: Christmas morning service.
December 28th: Morning service.

Into this heady mix can be thrown two choral society concerts and at least two carol-singing engagements with the choral society, as well as trying to organise something vaguely resembling a family Christmas. Oh, and the small but important matter of my birthday, plus other trivia such as earning a living and making sure the house doesn't fall down under the emptiness of the cupboards and stench of laundry.

Then of course, there is the Carousel Clarinet Quartet concert on 4th January </shameless plug>

Did I say a small sherry? Make it a large one!

As I have two churches, everything doubles up. At the moment, on the Sunday before Christmas I have a rehearsal at 0830 followed by a service at 0930 at one church, followed by an 1100 service at the other church, followed by a 1630 rehearsal at the first church which precedes a service of "Carols by Candlelight" service at 1800, before going to my second church for "Nine Lessons and Carols" at 2000. The timing of the service at the second church has been changed so I can fit it in.

On Christmas Eve I have two crib services in the afternoon at both churches, followed by Midnight Mass at 2200 at one church, and 2330 at the other. On Christmas Day I shall be spared a rehearsal, but will have services at 0930 and 1100 at each church. I refuse to go carol singing with one of my choirs on Christmas Eve, and they have to get on with it themselves.

I also have family coming to stay, and shall be chef and chief bottle washer. Wahay!

I love the midnight communion service on Christmas eve; I've only ever shared the playing at it, but hope to this year too. It's a lovely oasis in all the frazzle.

I did turn down the offer of 28th Dec though...

Ok, ok, I'll do it! Bah!

Looks like I'm having it easy compared to some. And it could be worse - there is the Family Service at 5.30 but I'm not needed for that.
It's too late to book Xmas Eve off now, d'ammit.

I might take a snort of something with me to fend off the draughts. At least there will be chance of a couple of lie-ins before work again on the 29th.

Some clot has booked their wedding on the 29th - I hope I'm not supposed to do that too! Any offers?

Mel

So far, I've got a Christmas concert, two lots of carol singing outside the church, carol service, midnight communion, and Christmas day; and that's not including any normal Sunday services in December.

oh dear, and i thought i had it bad, but looking at some of what you're all doing, i don't dare complain!

22nd November: Music competition, where i will be playing a piano solo, as well as accompanying a flute choir and a solo flute piece.

2nd december: school concert, playing piano accompanying far too many people, as well as a choir, the flute group, and playing in the orchestra, as well as playing carols for the audience to sing as well.

8th december: Orchestra concert on flute- Shostakovich's 5th symphony, pirates of the carribean, A rossini overture about some lady from somewhere!, and lots more! very excited!

13th December: Playing the piano at a party where they want carol singing for a bit, and then i just play background music, which isn't too bad.

14th December: christingle service where i'm playing organ, and flute for some of them.

14th December: in the evening i have a carol service at another church, but i'm going to sing for that one.

20th December: sharing the carols with the other organist at my local church for the carol service, where i will also sing tenor when im not playing.

21st December: playing the organ for a service in the morning, as well as piano for the second service.

I don't have any playing on christmas eve or christmas day, which is good!

And through all this, i'm having 4 teeth out and having braces put in! i had 2 teeth out today, and my mouth is rather sore, and i feel a bit sick, and my mouth feels swollen, and i cant control my speech to well, because they numbed most of my mouth, and they got some anesethic on my tongue, which was interesting once it kicked in!

Jacob.

My commitments are light,

normal Eucharist on Sunday 21st at 9.30 and then 9 Lessons and Carols at 6.30 (rehearsal at 5.00)

Christmas Eve: Screaming Brats at 4.30 and then Drunken Mass at 11.30

Christmas Day: 9.30 only

Boxing Day: 3 hours of carols 12-3 at a local hostelry *hic*

Holy Innocents: I am skiving off for that (9.30 only, no Evensong) so back in the week after

I'd just be happy if our minister didn't start with Christmas (AND Epiphany!!) Hymns on Advent Sunday.
We already have at least one 'carol' service too many as it is.

Seems to me there's far too much religion at this time of year.

People ought to spread it around more evenly the rest of the year.

And WHAT is the point of a christingle service?

Pace yourselves, folks!

Mel

Religion always gets in the way of decent church music making, in my experience...

Not quite. There is actually so much religion in good music that the clergy do not like the contrast.

Barry Williams

As a Moravian I'd like to provide the answer to that one.
Here it is.
Do not be misled by other stories.

Where on the Moravian Website is the reference to Christingle please? Sorry, but I could not find it.

Barry Williams

It's quite obvious if you look at the Site Index, Barry, but if it's a problem, here's the direct link:

Edit: Now I see why the problem arose, as the direct link takes you to the home page! Anyway, just click on the Site Index and the Christingle story is one of the options.

This is where I say whoops! Foot in mouth, tangled trigger finger etc.
You are quite right of course and I meekly accept the rebuke.

Very churlish of me indeed, especially as C of E services directed specifically at children are few and far between.

Didn't know it was Moravian - just a vague idea it had European origin somewhere.

Mel

BTW, what other stories?

I've seen other claims to the origin of the Christingle on the web.
If you do a search on Christingle you get a variety of sites and some do tell different stories.

Be grateful for small mercies!

Granted, but who will be there to listen to your organing in 10 years if we don't bring on the s*ds and moppets ?


Mel

Advent for me will be pretty much as with the rest of the year, though at one church in particular, I'd like to assemble a group of people to sing a few extra things during Advent and when Christmas comes. For instance, it would be nice to have a small schola singing "Conditor Alme Siderum" one Sunday during Advent. It would also be good to have a bit more service music at Christmas (most parts of the mass are sadly still spoken, despite my best efforts). At another of my churches, I'd also like to sort out the "choir", which at the moment consists of about four people (it varies), who never practise, and are ruining the worship each week by trying to sing things they don't know and haven't rehearsed together.

I have a crib service on Christmas Eve, a Midnight Mass, and two services on Christmas Day. I'm hoping to be away on the 28th December! I wouldn't mind going to the odd service elsewhere, so I can join in with the singing and worshipping fully without having to play.

People, like myself brought up with good music and good liturgy. 'Childrens services' are frequently what clergy consider to be fashionable, but invariably is out of date, especially within the church of England. Dumb-down the liturgy, and you can leave people feeling insulted, and what is considered to be 'inclusivisit' becomes the exact opposite.

It is worth remembering that in the catholic church, Latin masses are popular amongst people my age (late-teen) because of the difference they provide to modern life, as well as a reverence in which to express spirituality. Is this achieved with praise bands? Never been too convinced by it. I don't know anything factual, but would be interesting to know if the same people would prefer a choral evensong (BCP) to taize etc

"Latin masses are popular amongst people my age (late-teen) because of the difference they provide to modern life, as well as a reverence in which to express spirituality. Is this achieved with praise bands? Never been too convinced by it. I don't know anything factual, but would be interesting to know if the same people would prefer a choral evensong (BCP) to taize etc"

Many London churches with professional choirs are populated by young people who love the formal liturgy, especially the Prayer Book words and the musical settings of them, as well as the traditional Latin texts.

Taize music is so dated and not actually good music. (All those ugly consecutives!) That community used to have rather nice music until it threw its lot in with one particular composer to the exclusion of all others.

Barry Williams

we bell ringers have a much more physical reason to be tired!
I should think organ is more a mental work out.
*wait to be proven wrong*

<picks up gauntlet of proving hc at least partly wrong>

The father of a friend of mine is a vicar. One 24th December they had a power cut, and power still hadn't been restored in time for Drunken Midnight Mass, so her brother ended up manually operating the organ bellows. The rest of the congregation were quietly shivering in coats, hats, scarves, gloves and thick jumpers, whilst he was stripped down to his t-shirt and drenched in perspiration

:O

We had a slight crisis last year, when the curate collapsed shortly before Midnight Mass and had to be taken to hospital. In the event, it just caused a reorganisation - we all joined another church in the group, and I shared the duties with the organist there!

I had decided to leave daveinnorfolks reply to stick to the wall, but I see BW has pitched in with it too.


Two points to make:
1) I have never once suggested that children's services should be made up of poor musical material or dumbed-down worship. Properly done, they would be much harder to plan than a standard service in order to combine enjoyable music and sound theology, appropriate (how I'm coming to hate that word!) for the age-group.

2) I wonder if the teenagers who join in with the admittedly beautiful musical settings of the traditional texts are entirely comfortable with some of the dogma behind it all? This is a touchy topic and I hesitate to bring it up at all - it is probably best left for another thread altogether.

Not altogether unrelated -

put my foot in it it royally over post-service coffee this a.m; the mum of one of my Sunday-school pupils (S School long defunct sadly) asked about If I were a Butterfly and I gasped 'not THAT one!!' before noticing frantic winks and face-pulling from the vicar. There followed conversational extraction of self from hole, but it illustrated that hymnal tosh is much beloved by a lot of people - babies and bathwater spring to mind.

Mel

"I wonder if the teenagers who join in with the admittedly beautiful musical settings of the traditional texts are entirely comfortable with some of the dogma behind it all?"

The significant feature of the Book of Common Prayer is that is solidly Scriptural and carries tried, tested and established doctrines (of the Church of England.)

The young people (not just teenagers) at London Churches do not 'join in' by singing, but by worshipping silently during the fully choral items and joining in the hymns - usually heartily. This is a wholly different way of worship which has long since passed from most parish churches. However, in order for worship to demand participation by silence those doing the music have to be rather good. With excellent performances on Classic FM, (well, usually!) and with Classic FM broadcasting a lot of religious music for comparison, the standard really does have to be high. Unfortunately, one still hears dreadful performances in church, as much as from organists, and choirs as well as 'worship groups'. The congregation is, or ought to be, a worship group of itself and the choir is part of the congregation, so the term is inappropriate, but is commonly used to mean those who play instruments from the front of the church.

"If I were a butterfly" seems, like much of that style, to be devoid of theology, trite and musically barren. It appears to have no basis in Scripture, yet, as Mel so rightly points out, "hymnal tosh is much beloved by a lot of people". That is a very good point. Mel makes another excellent point in that it is indeed difficult to plan a children's service of sound theology and enjoyable music. It is rarely (if ever) done. Most often the children are offered bad, out-dated music and trite words of no theology - all with a high 'feel-good' factor. It is demeaning to the children who deserve something better, but the hymn book Songs of Praise was aiming to do this, I think, many years ago. It seemed to work for many generations of children.

Barry Williams

PS I have been told that Daniel Hyde is to succeed Bill Ives at Magdelen. Can anyone confirm that please?

Dare I add, Iona to this, for the same reasons of musical limitedness and perpetual reference to one composer.

Yes! I do agree here - our PP is very keen on Taize, and we all groan when he requests some.

Very slightly off topic - our local parish church is much in demand for various Christmas carol services that the schools have and one Christmas we had occasion to go to 3 of these carol services. Hubby plays organ at said church, and therefore is a known "face in the crowd" to the vicar.

At first carol service, vicar shook hands with hubby on our way out and made a little "nice to see you" comment. At second carol service, he looked a bit more concerned, and sort of said, "nice to see you ..again" in a slightly funny voice. At the third one, he looked distinctly put out - the reason being that he reused his stories and blessings from one service to another - and of course by then we could remember the stories having heard them 3 times! That said, the poor man has to do about 20 carol services in the run up to Christmas.

don't remind me.... i had enough in my old school, the chaplain was very fond of them!!!!! anyways, as soon as she was ill and away in the first term of year 13, the head of music (who's my old organ tutor) and i changed all the music back to the more acceptable stuff... well, we were told off as soon as she got back from her leave, as she had spies all over the school.....

Well, I suffered the first of my many carol concerts/services this evening. They're coming in by the dozen from hereon in. The monotony was rather relieved when the church's alarm system went off halfway through the evening. It turned out that, during a reading, one of the basses had decided to quickly use the drain outside the vestry to relieve himself of something other than monotony and had tried to open the outside vestry door which was alarmed....

I recall we had a bout of Taize at Brighton St Peter in Eric Spencer's time, under the directorship of one Conrad Sandercock, about whom I'll say nothing further...

Ha ha He must have been so embarrassed! (Why do we have Schadenfreude?)

I don't really understand why you don't enjoy carol services, Holz - I love them! Mind you, I probably only get to about three a year. The carols are so lovely, and it's the only time of year we get to hear them. My first is on Tuesday and I can't wait!

I had to sing the same two bars about 170 times in Durham Cathedral.

I think you've hit the nail on the head there, BM. You only get to about three. I have to suffer something more like thirty-three. And it also rather wrecks my enjoyment of Advent to be 'celebrating' Christmas so early.

Yes, I take your point about it spoiling advent. I get annoyed with our church, though, because all through Advent they won't have carols. We have a carol service the Sunday before Christmas, Christmas Eve midnight service which I never attend, and Christmas morning service. Then they say, oh Christmas is over now, and go back to ordinary hymns! So I just get two services with carols.

The carol service I'm going to on Tuesday is the school one (where I work). I can see that 33 carol services is a lot (!!) but I wouldn't mind a few more carols before we're back to normal.

My HoD has said it might be ok for me to leave work early on Xmas Eve (in order to play for the 5p.m childrens service) if I work through my lunch break. Early = 4p.m.

Bah!

Scrooge and Marley are back in business.

I remember not so long ago everyone would leave at about 3 and go to the pub!

I, on the other hand, would love to have an excuse to miss such a service, and would probably ask for an extended lunch break instead....

Believe me I would love to miss it but it has been up on the notice boards for ages, it's historical and the Regular just announced that he would be going away and wouldn't be there to do it.

We didn't even have an Advent hymn on Advent Sunday this year! It was CMS Sunday apparently and we had a mission service with hymns to match it was one of the few occasions I was given the hymns. Normally I choose them myself.