Worship, Prayer and Christian Formation at Ely Cathedral

Advent, Christmas and Epiphany

Darkness to Light

Darkness to Light A Journey of Hope and Transformation at Ely Cathedral

At the darkest time of the year, we turn in urgent expectation towards the light that is coming. We look for the dawning of a renewed relationship between God and humanity. During these seasons of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany we move from waiting to fulfilment, darkness to light, celebrating the coming of Jesus, light of the world, as frail infant and as eternal redeemer of the whole of creation - our Lord Jesus Christ, who was, and is, and is to come.

Advent

Advent literally means ‘coming towards’. It’s a time of expectation - and of preparation. We look towards our Lord Jesus Christ who is coming towards us, and we make ourselves ready for his appearing. We recall his coming as newborn infant; but we also look towards his coming at the end of all things, as redeemer and judge. We prepare ourselves, then, for the ultimate realities of judgement, for that day when ‘the secrets of all hearts will be revealed’.

A Prayer for the Season: O OriensO Radiant Dawn,splendour of eternal light, sun of justice:come and shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shadow of death.

Tuesdays 4, 11 & 18 December, 9pmAdvent Complinein The Lady ChapelCompline is the last service of the seven which are sung in monasteries and convents. It brings us to the end of the day, and it is also a gentle preparation for the end of life, very much in the spirit of Thomas Ken’s words:

Teach me to live, that I may dreadThe grave as little as my bed;Teach me to die, that so I mayRise glorious on that aweful day.

Compline in the Cathedral has changed very little since the monks of Ely sang it before the Reformation. It is a meditative, candlelit space for music, prayer and reflection, to quiet and calm the soul, to look back over the day that is gone, and to commend ourselves and those we love to the care of God as night comes.

Worship is offered daily, all are welcome.

Monday - Saturday7.30am Morning Prayer (a short said service with bible readings, canticles and prayers)8.00am Holy Communion (said)5.30pm Evensong

Sunday8.15am Holy Communion (a said service, in traditional language with a short address)10.30am Sung Eucharist with music, hymns and sermon4.00pm Choral Evensong with short address

On Thursdays and Saints’ Days there is an additional Eucharist at 12.10pm.A full list of services can be found on the Cathedral website.

Watching and Waiting Study and Prayer in AdventHow we make ourselves ready

…you know what time it is, how it is now the moment for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we became believers; the night is far gone, the day is near.

(Paul’s letter to the Romans, chapter 13)

Advent Sermon Series

Our Advent sermon series ponders the four traditional subjects for spiritual contemplation during the season, sometimes called the ‘Four Last Things’: Death, Judgement, Heaven and Hell. These are ultimate issues for the human soul in this season of watching and waiting.

Sunday 2 December, 10.30am The Revd Professor Sarah Coakley Death

Sunday 9 December, 10.30am Canon Victoria Johnson Judgement

Sunday 16 December, 10.30am Canon Jessica Martin Hell

Sunday 23 December, 10.30amCanon James Garrard Heaven

Meet the PreacherCome and meet the preacher at Powcher’s Hall at noon after the Eucharist - bring your coffee!

Advent Poetry Discussion Series: Poetry of the Four Last ThingsThursdays 29 November, 6, 13, & 20 December, 7-9pmPowcher’s HallLed by Canon Martin. All welcome. Please let Canon Martin know if you are coming - j.martin@elycathedral.org

Thursday 29 November Death and Christina RossettiThursday 6 December Judgement and John DonneThursday 13 December Heaven, Hell and William BlakeThursday 20 December Heaven, Hell and T.S. Eliot

Advent Pilgrimage Tour followed by ComplineTuesday 18 December, 7.15pm Meet at the West Door

What can this Cathedral, built to the glory of God, tell us about the nature of our pilgrimage through this life and our seeking for God’s presence? Come on a pilgrimage tour and walk the Way of Life. Finish with candlelit Compline in the Lady Chapel at 9pm.

Advent Worship

Sunday 2 DecemberAdvent Sunday

10.30am Advent Sunday EucharistWe begin to reflect on the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ as Saviour of the world. Music includes Walton’s wonderful Missa Brevis, along with two much-loved anthems for Advent: Paul Manz’s E’en so Lord Jesus and Shephard’s Never Weather-Beaten Sail.

6pm Advent ProcessionThis awe-inspiring service helps us prepare our hearts and minds for the season of Advent, a time of patient waiting and joyful expectation. We hear the choir sing from many locations within the Cathedral. The liturgy begins with two choristers calling Drop down, ye heavens, from above. One chorister sings aloft from the clock tower at the West end of the building and the other sings from one of the Angel windows in the Octagon. The remainder of the service is built on The Great Advent Antiphons (explained in their own section on the next pages).

Sunday 9 December Second Sunday of Advent

10.30am Sung EucharistWe hear the voice that cries in the wilderness: Prepare the way of the Lord! The music of Orlando Gibbons’ seventeenth century anthem, This is the Record of John, also invokes this text from Isaiah, chapter 40, which heralds the coming of the Messiah.

4pm Choral EvensongThe theme of prophetic expectation is reiterated in the anthem at Evensong. It is John Stainer’s setting of the text from Isaiah, chapter 52: How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that publisheth salvation; that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!

Friday 14 December5.30pmChoral Evensong with Performance of Britten’s Ceremony of CarolsEly Cathedral Girls’ Choir sing Britten’s 1942 unearthly collection of settings from medieval and sixteenth century carol texts. They sing to a harp accompaniment (played by Anne Denholm, official harpist to the Prince of Wales) and enclose the carols, beginning and end, by plainsong which celebrates Christ’s incarnation, Hodie Christus Natus Est. Today Christ is born, today the Saviour appears, today the angels sing on earth, the archangels rejoice. Today the just exult, saying ‘Glory to God in the Highest, Alleluia!

Sunday 16 December Third Sunday of Advent

10.30am Sung EucharistThis is sometimes called ‘Gaudete Sunday’, named after the Latin opening to the New Testament reading which belongs to it, from Paul’s letter to the Philippians: Rejoice (gaudete) in the Lord always. Our journey of watching and waiting is lightened by a mood of joyful anticipation which beckons on the far side of today’s repentance and warning. The anthem, Rejoice in the Lord always by John Sheppard, sets the same Pauline text of faith and joy in the unfathomable mercy of God.

4pm Choral EvensongThe mood of hope and expectation is carried through into evening worship, where the choir sings: O people of Zion, behold! the Lord is nigh at hand…alleluia! The text, which uses elements from the prophets Joel and Isaiah, but turned towards joy rather than warning, is set by the composer Francis Jackson.

6.30pm Advent Taizé ServiceAcross the world, Christian communities of all denominations worship in the style of the Taizé Community in France. Founded by Brother Roger in 1940, this monastic community attracts thousands of pilgrims a year to live and worship, the majority of them young people. Using simple chants, prayers and times of silence, worshippers are encouraged to grow ever deeper into a relationship with God. The chants, with easily learned music and accompanied by a few instruments, sustain each service (or Prayer as it is known in Taizé). The Advent Taizé service in the Cathedral, held in the Lady Chapel by candlelight, has established itself firmly in the preparations for Christmas.

OO

The ‘Great O’s’ of Advent

The ‘Great O’s’ are seven invocations of the different names of Christ, looking towards his coming into the world under different titles. Each one, addressing Christ, begins ‘O..!’

They are used as antiphons (opening and closing threads of song) for the Magnificat in the Catholic tradition, which is how the Cathedral offers them this year, during Evensong, or at said Evening Prayer, from Monday 17 to Saturday 22 December.

Monday 17 December O Sapientia O Wisdom5.30pm Choral EvensongO Wisdom, coming from the mouth of the most High, reaching from one end to the other, mightily and sweetly ordering all things: Come and teach us the way of prudence.

This text of incarnation, Christ as the Word of God, is joined to the command to watch for Christ’s coming in the anthem, Vigilate. This is William Byrd’s setting of words from the Gospel of Mark: Watch therefore, for you know not when the Lord of the house cometh.

Tuesday 18 December O Adonai O Lord5.30pm Choral EvensongO Adonai, and leader of the House of Israel, who appeared to Moses in the fire of the burning bush and gave him the law on Sinai: Come and redeem us with an outstretched arm.

The images of O Adonai find their echo in the anthem, where the text of F.W.H Myers’ hymn, Hark what a sound invokes the Lord’s voice in thunder on Sinai, but hears it as future as well as past. What trembles in the air is the sound of Christ’s coming at the end of all things: Surely he cometh, and the earth rejoices, Glad in his coming who hath sworn: I come! The melody, by John Bacchus Dykes, is reworked by Andrew Fletcher into a new piece: a fresh and gentle anthem of expectation.

7.15pm Advent Pilgrimage Tour followed by Compline at 9pm

Wednesday 19 December O Radix Jesse O Root of Jesse5.30pm Evening PrayerO Root of Jesse, standing as a sign among the peoples; before you kings will shut their mouths, to you the nations will make their prayer: Come and deliver us, and delay no longer.

OThursday 20 December O Clavis David O Key of David5.30pm Choral EvensongO Key of David and sceptre of the House of Israel; you open and no one can shut; you shut and no one can open: Come and lead the prisoners from the prison house, those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death. As we draw nearer and nearer to the time of fulfilment, the music becomes plainer and sparer - with canticles in plainsong and, as anthem, a text which blesses the Virgin’s womb, Beata Viscera. This anthem honours Mary as the ‘God-bearer’ who carried within her body the Son of God.

Friday 21 December Oriens O Dayspring5.30pm Evening PrayerO Dayspring, splendour of light eternal and sun of righteousness:Come and enlighten those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death.

Saturday 22 December O Rex Gentium O King of the Nations5.30pm Evening PrayerO King of the nations, and their desire, the cornerstone making both one: Come and save the human race, which you fashioned from clay.

Sunday 23 December Fourth Sunday of Advent O Emmanuel, God with us O Emmanuel, our king and our lawgiver, the hope of the nations and their Saviour:Come and save us, O Lord our God.

10.30amSung EucharistOn the fourth Sunday of Advent, the events leading up to Jesus’s birth are pondered. We focus especially on Mary’s response to God’s call, and the bringing together of the ways of heaven with ordinary human loves and concerns in her encounter with the angel. The music reflects the focus on Mary with the late medieval setting Missa Regina Coeli (Mass for the Queen of Heaven) by Jacobus de Kerle, and the late fifteenth century hymn to Mary, Ave Regina, by Walter Frye.

6pm Carol Service 1This processional service includes many opportunities for congregational singing as well as a colourful mix of choices from the choir of boys, girls and men. Included will be a selection of carols recently recorded and released by the girls and lower voices featuring music by Paul Edwards, Philip Stopford, Will Todd and Bernard Trafford. Towards the end of the service a highlight will be John Tavener’s dramatic Christmas Proclamation.

O

Christmas Peace on Earth, Goodwill to All People

At Christmas, God comes among us - not in power, or in eloquence, but as a new-born, dependent upon human love and care for his survival. The great preacher Lancelot Andrewes called Jesus, The Word without a word, because the swaddled baby in the manger is also the power which has brought everything into being. Because God emptied himself out to become human, human beings are forever brought back into close intimacy with God.

A Prayer for the Season

You gave us so many gifts on the day of your birth:A treasure chest of spiritual medicines for the sick;Spiritual light for the blind;The cup of salvation for the thirsty;The bread of life for the hungry.In the winter when trees are bare,you give us the most succulent spiritual fruit.In the frost when the earth is barren,you bring new hope to our souls.In December when seeds are hidden in the soil,the staff of life springs forth from the virgin womb.

Ephrem the Syrian, 4th Century prayer

Monday 24 December Christmas Eve

6pm Carol Service 2

11.30pm Midnight MassWhen peaceful silence lay over all, and the night in its swift course was half spent: down from the heavens, from the royal throne, leapt your all powerful Word. The waiting and watching of Advent is brought to fulfilment in the deepest part of the night. Mary brings to birth the newborn infant who is also the redeemer of all creation. The midnight service hallows the turning of the night to Christmas, and honours Jesus’s birth in word and sacrament, carols and song. The Bishop will preside and preach. Incense will be used.

Christmas Sermons

Monday 24 December, 11.30pmChristmas Eve The Bishop

Tuesday 25 December, 10.30amChristmas Day Festal Eucharist The Dean

Wednesday 26 - Friday 28 December8.30am Morning Prayer9.00am Holy Communion12.10pm Holy Communion4pm Evening Prayer

Wednesday 26 December St Stephen Stephen was the first martyr of the early Christian church. In honouring him, the order of the Church’s feasts moves abruptly from rejoicing to the realities of commitment to Christ’s Way in this confused and violent world. Stephen witnessed to Jesus as Messiah and was then stoned for blasphemy. As he died, Stephen saw a vision of heaven and prayed for forgiveness for his persecutors.

Thursday 27 December St John St John the Evangelist is honoured for the Gospel named after him, which contains the most mystical of the visions of Jesus as both human and divine, participating both in human mortality and in the eternal nature of God the maker, redeemer and sustainer of all things. Friday 28 December The Holy InnocentsAgain we see the violence with which the realities of human power and greed surround the proclamation of the good news of peace. The feast of the Holy Innocents remembers the infants of Bethlehem killed by King Herod. Herod ordered their murder in an attempt to eliminate the threat he perceived to his own power in Jesus’s birth. Jesus and his family escaped his soldiers to become refugees in Egypt.

Tuesday 25 December Christmas Day

10.30am Festal EucharistYea, Lord, we greet thee, born this happy morning!The people of God rejoice together, singing carols, sharing in communion, hearing and receiving the Word. George Malcolm’s 1959 Missa ad Praesepe (‘Mass at the Crib’) is the setting which focusses our Christmas devotion. Incense will be used.

4pm Festal EvensongA rich adornment of the Christmas Evensong service with Vaughan Williams’ Christmas Fantasia and Charles Villiers Stanford’s Canticles in G. Incense will be used.

Sunday 30 December 1st Sunday of Christmas

4pm Come and Sing CarolsThis annual service is led by local singers and any other singers who happen to be visiting Ely and who would like to join them. Singers are asked to assemble under the Octagon at 2.15pm to rehearse. The carol choices are selected from books 1 and 2 of Carols for Choirs. Some copies will be available to borrow on the day, but we have to rely on most singers bringing their own books.

Tuesday 1 January 2019 Naming and Circumcision of JesusEight days after Jesus’s birth, he was circumcised according to Jewish law, and this Feast marks that moment in real time, eight days after the Feast Day of Christmas itself. 8.30am Morning Prayer9.00am Holy Communion12.10pm Holy Communion4pm Evening Prayer

Carol Services

Enjoy music, rejoicing, story, brass bands, choirs, and all the joy of Christmas in our Ely community at our various different carol services!

Saturday 15 December, 2pmCommunity Carols Sing AlongForget the Christmas shopping for an hour! Come and sing along to your favourite carols accompanied by Littleport Brass band and Ely Cathedral Community Choir. With Christmas music, readings and prayers.

Sunday 23 December, 6pm Service of Lessons and CarolsA carol service featuring the Boys, Girls and Lower Voices of Ely Cathedral Choir.

Monday 24 December, 6pm Service of Lessons and CarolsA carol service featuring the Boys, Girls and Lower Voices of Ely Cathedral Choir.

Sunday 30 December, 4pm (rehearsal 2.15-4pm)Come and Sing CarolsSing your favourite carols in this come and sing free-for-all! All welcome.

Children and Families at Advent and Christmas

Saturday 8 December, 3pmChristingle Service in aid of the Children’s SocietyChristingle was established in 1747 as a symbol of Christ’s light and love and has since become a popular family celebratory and community event. It is named after the Christingles that are lit during the service and made from an orange decorated with red tape, sweets and a candle.

Sunday 9 December, 5.15pm The Big Christmas Tree Lights Switch-On ServiceCome and enjoy the biggest, most spectacular Christmas tree in Ely as we count down to the switching on of the lights. This popular family event celebrates the festive season in song and prayer, concluding with the blessing of the magnificent tree!

Thursday 13 December, 10.30amChristmas Story and Song TimeMeet at the Christmas tree. A very special event for younger children retelling the Christmas Story in the wonderful setting of the Cathedral. The short service will include storytelling and festive snacks, as well as songs and prayers in preparation for Christmas.

Monday 24 DecemberChristmas EveNoon Crib Service featuring the Ely Cathedral Children’s Choir, the Ely Imps3pm Crib Service featuring the Boys of Ely Cathedral ChoirThe children of the Cathedral re-tell the story of Christmas in this wonderful tableau of shepherds, angels, wise men and a very special VIP guest from the local donkey sanctuary. Sing carols and experience the awe and wonder as we enjoy the celebrations to mark the birth of Jesus. Dressing up optional!

Community at Advent and Christmas

When our Saviour and Lord was born, he was a helpless, wordless baby, born into poverty, without shelter, needing human care. As we celebrate his birth and give thanks for his coming among us, we are also mindful that our care for other human beings in need is central to our Christian calling all the year round.

Saturday 15 December, 10pmAdvent Sleepout ChallengeSince 2010, there has been a more than two and a half times increase in homelessness. 4751 people in England are estimated to sleep rough. For four years the Advent Sleepout Challenge, through the Church Urban Fund, has brought hope, joy and practical help to people across England. This Advent, give your support to transform the lives of people who sleep on the streets and live on the margins of our society. Why not be part of the Advent Sleepout Challenge at Ely Cathedral? Or you can help by generously sponsoring our team who are sleeping out in the Galilee Porch on 15 December. Contact receptionist@elycathedral.org for more information.

Tuesday 25 December, NoonChristmas Day Community LunchLady ChapelTraditional Christmas dinner with all the trimmings! The community lunch is for anyone who would like to be part of a festive gathering on Christmas Day, either in the congregation or in the local community. Free tickets are available for those in financial need. £10 for those who can afford it. Tickets on sale at the Box Office on 01353 660349.All very welcome.

Debbie Bellaby Illustration

The Community of St Etheldreda gathers for prayer, worship, discussion, and reflection in and around Ely Cathedral. We share food together, we enjoy each other’s company and journey with each other in faith. Our rhythm of community life is based loosely on the Rule of St Benedict, written 900 years ago. The Rule guides people in the life of Christian community and still offers a pattern for living in the world today. All are welcome.

Wednesday 5 December7.30-9pm GatheringThe Black Hostelry, Ely Cathedral Exploring the themes of waiting and watching concluding with candlelit Compline in Prior Crauden’s Chapel.

Wednesday 23 January7.30-9pm GatheringPowcher’s Hall, Ely CathedralNew year, new beginnings? Discussing hopes, dreams and visions for the future concluding with candlelit Compline in Prior Crauden’s Chapel.

For more information about the Community of St Etheldreda email: cofse@elycathedral.org

Sunday 6 JanuaryEpiphany

10.30am Sung EucharistThe eucharist for Epiphany focusses particularly on the coming of the Magi, the wise men, following a star to offer their homage to the infant Jesus. We hear the late medieval mass setting by Francisco de Panelosa El Ojo (the Eye), and the anonymous medieval Christmas carol Deo Gracias persolvamus.

4pm EvensongEvensong for Epiphany features the Epiphany Responsories, written by the Cathedral’s Director of Music, Paul Trepte. The Responsories are built round the text from Isaiah, chapter 60 (set for the Eucharist that morning), a prophecy shot through with the theme of divine illumination: Arise, shine, for your light has come: the glory of the Lord is rising upon you.

Epiphany

Epiphany is ‘a showing’. It is associated with light, with the idea of being illuminated with an astonishing truth which changes life for ever. The ‘showings’ of Epiphany are three. First, Jesus is recognised as a King and worshipped by the Magi, who follow the light of a star to his dwelling place. Second, when Jesus is himself baptised in the river Jordan and the ‘heavens tear apart’ as he is recognised by God himself as his Son, the Beloved. Third, at the wedding in Cana, Galilee, where Jesus shows his abundant and generous power, changing water into wine at the wedding feast to which he comes as a guest.

A Prayer for the Season

Almighty God,in Christ you make all things new:transform the poverty of our nature by the riches of your grace,and in the renewal of our livesmake known your heavenly glory;through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Sunday 13 January Baptism of Christ

10.30am Sung EucharistThe Gospel today tells the story of Jesus’s baptism. John heralds Jesus’s coming, promising that his baptism will be not of water but of the Holy Spirit. When John baptises Jesus, the Spirit descends in the form of a dove, and God speaks his love from the heavens. The anthem, Tomorrow shall be my dancing day, uses a traditional lyric to tell the story of Jesus’s life as a divine dance, a dynamic patterning of love between God, the Holy Spirit and humankind.

4pm Epiphanytide ProcessionThis processional service is based around the three epiphanic miracles: the wedding at Cana, the coming of the Magi and the baptism of Jesus. Its fine carols and hymns, like itsdynamic liturgy, ponder the themes of divine manifestation and human transformation. The service begins with a setting of a powerful text by Dorothy L. Sayers, ‘The Three Kings’ from her famous radio play series, The Man Born to be King (1942). The setting is by the contemporary composer Jonathan Dove and was first performed in King’s College, Cambridge in 2000.

Friday 25 January, 5.30pm The Conversion of St PaulHow lovely are the messengers that preach the Gospel of peace. These are the words set by Felix Mendelssohn in today’s anthem at Evensong. It celebrates the dramatic change of direction in St Paul’s life - from a man who persecuted the early followers of the Christian Way, to one who would give his own life, health, and intellectual and emotional energies to spreading the Gospel of peace across all the peoples of the Mediterranean and near East.

Wednesday 30 January, 3.30pm (Please be seated by 3.15pm)Live Broadcast of Choral Evensong on Radio 3The Epiphany themes of light and transformation are echoed in the music for this service, which will include Lux (Light) by Ola Gjeilo, and Jonathan Dove’s Vast Ocean of Light.

Friday 18 - Friday 25 January Week of Prayer for Christian Unity

Sunday 20 January, 6.30pm Joint Service at St Etheldreda’s Roman Catholic Church

Monday 21 January8.15am Prayers for Ely at St Mary’s Church, Ely5.30pm Evensong at Ely Cathedral

Tuesday 22 January, 8.15am Prayers for Ely at St Mary’s Church Ely

Thursday 24 January, 11.30amEcumenical Prayers at Ely Methodist Church followed by weekly lunch

The Presentation of Christ in the Temple (Candlemas)

Forty days after Christmas Day comes Candlemas. The Church marks, in real time, the first forty days of Jesus’s life, culminating in his dedication to God’s service, at the Temple, as was traditional for a first-born son. As he was brought to be presented, he was recognised as honoured as the Messiah, the Anointed One, by two faithful Temple servants, Simeon and Anna. Each of them prophesied his greatness and the transformation not only of Israel but of all nations. Historically Candlemas has been for the Church a great feast of light, a time for dedicating the household’s candles and bringing the celebrations of Christmastide to a fitting culmination.

Sunday 3 February10.30am Choral Mattins Music will include David Bednall’s Pure Living Light, commissioned for Ely Cathedral and first performed in 2017.

6.30pmCandlemasCandlelit Sung Eucharist

Awe . Wonder . HopeCandle Light . Sacred Music . Ancient Ritual

Thousands of candles will illumine the hallowed spaces of the Cathedral. The beautiful music of Ely Cathedral Choir and the grand organ will provoke awe and wonder as heaven touches earth in this ancient ritual. The feast of Candlemas is one of the oldest festivals of the Church and wll be celebrated in word, music and sacrament. The setting is Vierne’s epic and mystical Messe Solenelle. Charles Wood’s Nunc Dimittis focuses our meditation on the revealing of the divine light in Christ at his dedication. The address will be given by the Right Reverend Tim Stevens, former Bishop of Leicester, who will explore how we can find wisdom and hope for the future by entering into the deeper meaning of Candlemas.

The congregation is advised to be seated by 6.20pm as this is a very popular service. Incense will be used.

More details about ‘Darkness to Light’ can be found on our website.

Images © ECPL, Keith Heppell, Andrew Sharpe, Timothy Selvage, James Billings, Geoff Pugh.

Ely Cathedral Cambridgeshire CB7 4DLTel: 01353 660300Email: receptionist@elycathedral.org

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