Last Evensong of the Year
St. Mary of the Hills presents concert in Blowing Rock this Sunday

The choir of St. Mary of the Hills Episcopal Church will sing the final evensong of the season this coming Sunday, October 26, at 5:00 p.m. in the nave of the church. Service music will include the setting of the Magnificat and Nunc dimittis in G by Stanford, as well as the Smith 4-part Preces and Responses. The Introit will be Healey Willan’s O King All Glorious, and the anthem will be Worthy is the True Light by Near.

The choir of St. Mary’s sings Evensong every fourth Sunday from March through October, and the public is always welcome. Donations from this month’s evensong will be used to support the Choral Scholarship program at St. Mary of the Hills; this program provides financial support, generally to students and budding young singers, in exchange for outstanding vocal contributions to the choir.

The service of Evensong, or Evening Prayer, combines elements of two services, Vespers and Compline, which were part of the seven-service daily cycle of prayer in monasteries. It is said or sung daily in the cathedrals and collegiate churches of England, and in many cathedrals and churches in America as well. The service is a fragment of the worship offered to God by christian people at every hour, in every part of the world. In attending a service of Evensong, it is a if you were dropping in on a conversation already in progress - a conversation between God and God’s peope that began long before we were born, and which will go on long after we are dead.  So don’t be surprised if there are some things in the conversation that you do not at once understand.

The form of the service has changed little since the 16th Century, but the content has a longer history, The Psalms were the hymnbook of the Jewish temple. Canticles (Magnificat and Nunc dimitis) are taken from the New Testament and, in the set prayers and responses, thanksgiving and petitions the people of God have always found themselves trying to make are expressed in words that were shaped and refined by long usage
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The service is in three parts.  The first part prepares the worshipper for the story that is to follow.  The second part is the narrative of God’s redeeming work, beginning with the psalms, since the recitation of the psalter is at the heart of monastic worship.  The story of God’s work continues in readings from the Old and New Testaments, and the Canticles of Praise in response to this story (Magnificat and Nunc dimitis)  are taken from the gospels.  This part reaches its climax in the Affirmation of Faith. The third part is our prayerful response to the God who has been revealed in history, in Jesus Christ, and in the Church. The service is a lovely, contemplative way to end the day.

For more information on this service, please contact St. Mary of the Hills at (828) 295-7323.