Christ the King Sunday marks the end of our long green season of Pentecost, and will be celebrated tomorrow by our choir at St. Philip's singing The Solemn Mass by Louis Vierne. From our Rector Tom Slawson's blog:

This special liturgy will be a Solemn High Mass for Christ the King Sunday, which means that it is going to be a little different from our regular Holy Eucharist. A Solemn – High – Mass commonly refers to a specific liturgy. Solemn, meaning the use of incense; and the sacred ministers who lead the liturgy: the priest/celebrant, deacon, and sub-deacon. High: referring to a sung liturgy with chanting and choral voices. Mass, of course, is the Eucharist. The ordinary of the liturgy (those elements that do not change from week to week) consists of the Kyrie (Lord have mercy), Gloria (Glory to God in the highest), Creed (we will be omitting the musical setting of the creed for this service), Sanctus (Holy, holy, holy Lord), Benedictus (Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord), and the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God). For a Solemn High Mass, one composer would compose musical settings for the ordinary of the mass; this is what our choir will be singing.

This music is indescribably beautiful. I wish everybody I know could hear it. I looked for a video on YouTube to embed here, but the only ones they have are scratchy and incomplete. Sorry. At this site is a good version of the Sanctus sung by Duke University's Chapel Choir. It's one of those works that almost has to be experienced in person to appreciate fully. We had an extra rehearsal this afternoon to get it polished to perfection, and with the grace of God, it will be. (Our choir always leaves room for God's grace:)

I also learned from our rector's blog that our Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefforts Schori will be visiting St. Philip's on Jan. 11th. That's an event I don't want to miss!

I spent the morning cleaning out kitchen cabinets. Am I the only one who has things taking up space that expired long ago? The oldest item I found was dated 2003. Okay, I admit it... I'm a terrible housekeeper, but if you know me, you already knew that, didn't you? Anyway, it was a cathartic experience, emotionally speaking. Now if I could just do that with some of the other stuff around here that lost its freshness and appeal long ago. Oh well, one room at a time.