The Season of Lent in Liturgy and Music

A Note from Interim Director of Music, Karl Robson

During the season of Lent, there will be several alterations to our Sunday morning routine:

• Exclusion of the word “Alleluia” from our spoken responses, hymns, and service music.
• Introduction of a new (to St. John’s) setting of service music: Kyrie, Sanctus, and Agnus Dei.
• Psalms sung to plainsong by the choir. Plainsong is the original notated music of the Christian church, and was in exclusive use until the development of polyphony in the ninth century by Léonin and Pérotin, Parisian church musicians who likely worked at the Cathedral of Notre-Dame. Plainsong sounds solemn and serene to our modern ears because of several features including monophonic texture, modes outside major and minor, and free-flowing, non-metric rhythms.
• A different Hymn at the Presentation.
• Eucharistic Prayer C, affectionately known to many Episcopalians as “The Star Wars Prayer” because of the following sentence from its Preface: “At your command all things came to be: the vast expanse of interstellar space, galaxies, suns, the planets in their courses, and this fragile earth, our island home.” Prayer C is among four contemporary-language options introduced in the 1979 Book of Common Prayer; its authors injected thoroughly modern imagery into the traditional “recipe,” which traces the history of God’s saving acts.
• Hymns and choir anthems spanning the corpus of the Western canon: not only songs of despair, but also of hope and reconciliation.

Look forward to our traditional musical offerings during Holy Week (including a sung Passion on Good Friday at noon, and a brass quartet on Easter Day at 9 and 11:15 am). Additionally, on Good Friday at 7:00 pm, we will offer a joint service of Tenebrae with the clergy and choir of St. Francis, Great Falls. Tenebrae (the Latin word for “darkness” or shadows”) has for centuries been applied to the ancient monastic night and early morning services of the last three days of Holy Week. As a sequence of readings and sung Psalms unfolds, candles and other lights in the church are gradually extinguished until a single candle, considered a symbol of Christ, remains. Toward the end of the service this candle is hidden, symbolizing the apparent victory of the forces of evil at the Crucifixion. At the very end, a loud noise (Strepitus) is made, symbolizing the earthquake at the time of the Resurrection. The hidden candle is then restored to its place, and by its light all depart in silence.

There's no one way to observe a Holy Lent. We invite you to explore these opportunities for study, reflection, and prayer:

SUNDAYS

Lenten Sunday Forum:

Our Favorite Heresies, or Theology 101

Sunday, March 9, 16, and 30 at 9:15 am in Shears Hall

WEDNESDAYS

Lenten Wednesday Holy Communion

7:30 am

Begin your Wednesday with this abbreviated service. Coffee and light refreshments will be available in Shears Hall after the service.

WEDNESDAYS

Lenten Wednesday Hybrid Bible Study: Entering the Passion of Jesus

Wednesdays through April 16

from Noon to 1:00 pm

In Person (Smoot Conference Room) AND on Zoom

WEDNESDAYS

Lenten Wednesday Digital Compline

8:00 pm via Zoom