On Sunday, March 10 at 3 p.m., St. Colman Church will host a service called “Evening Prayer – a Devotion for Lent.”
This is a service of Psalms and other Scripture with choir, accompanied by organ and strings, for the fourth Sunday in Lent.
Craig Jaynes is the director of music and organist. Fr. C. M. Haddad is pastor.
The prayer service, known formally as Evening Prayer (sometimes called Vespers or Evensong) is one of the oldest in western Christendom. It is actually ordered for daily use, the Sunday version of it often being made more elaborate with music. It is known, in some form or another, throughout most Christian denominations and is highly suited for ecumenical participation.
St. Colman has made a tradition of presenting a special treatment of the service for the Fourth Sunday of Lent, one of two Sundays in the liturgical year designated as a “Rose” Sunday, that being the liturgical color specified for the day. It is of a less somber tone than the usual color of purple and reflects the more joyful nature of the day (because it’s more than halfway through the season). It is also the only Sunday in Lent when the use of flowers is permitted.
One of the primary scriptures for the day is from the Letter of Peter and it quotes from the prophet Isaiah concerning the Messiah. Those words are paraphrased in the second part of Handel’s “Messiah” and for that reason, the first section of that work will used as the special music of the day and will be accompanied by the strings and organ.
This is in addition to the chanted Psalms, a Magnificat (The Song of Mary) by the 20th century English composer, Herbert Howells, the “Evening Hymn” of John Gardiner and the hymn “Jesus, Lover of My Soul” in an arrangement by Henry Coleman, all to be performed by the choir.
The well-known “Adagio for Strings” by Samuel Barber will be the prelude music, performed by the string quartet with organ.
Admission is free to all, although a free-will offering is taken to help support the charitable work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society at St. Colman.
