St. Barnabas Online

Diocese of Massachusetts Lambeth Updates Available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 01:29:00 +0000

Our diocesan website, www.diomass.org, has now created a Lambeth Updates page. You may view it here.

Lambeth Conference Links

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 13:54:00 +0000

(This post is copied from the Cape and Islands Deanery blog.)

The Lambeth Conference has begun. Here are some links to find out what is going on and how to support the bishops gathered there with prayer. In addition, the Anglican Communion Office has published a companion Bible study for use in parishes and by individuals that dovetails with the Bible studies of the bishops at Lambeth.

The official Lambeth Conference website
The Anglican Communion website
Bible study materials and information
The "Petitions for a Lambeth Prayer Vigil" from Province One (New England Dioceses of the Episcopal Church) (Two specific times suggested: 7 a.m. and noon, daily during Lambeth - see Province One's website for details)
The Blogging Bishops' Lambeth Journal - a group of Episcopal Bishops who are keeping an online journal of their experiences at Lambeth.
The national Episcopal Church website has a page devoted to Lambeth coverage.

Compline Audio Available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:40:00 +0000

Sunday, June 22, the day after the Strawberry Festival, was a Compline Sunday. It was also a hot and humid evening. We had all the doors open and the ceiling fans going at high speed in the nave to help with air flow in the church. You can hear a constant background hum from the fans in the audio.

What an energizing yet peaceful way to close the weekend and start a new week.

The audio is available
here or off our Compline page.

Strawberry Festival Pictures

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Sat, 21 Jun 2008 20:13:00 +0000

We had a glorious day for our Strawberry Festival. Here are some pictures from the event. Click on the photo below (that smiling lady in the middle is festival co-chair Doris Weeks) and you will go to the full album!

Please note the last 3 pictures...Greg Strohm, festival co-chair, sat in the dunking booth in the last half hour of the festival. You can see what happened!

Strawberry Festival 2008

Strawberry Festival is Next Saturday, June 21!

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 16:17:00 +0000

Saturday, Rain or Shine, starting at 10:00 a.m.
Our annual Strawberry Festival is St Barnabas' largest fundraiser for Outreach programs. This year's festival will be Saturday, June 21, 10 am - 2 pm, rain or shine.

The festival features yummy strawberry shortcake with homemade whipped cream, lobster rolls, BBQ chicken and ribs, hot dogs, watermelon and baked goods. There are also tables with 'Elegant Elephants', books, jewelry and plants; face painting, cotton candy & games for kids; performances by musical groups, and new this year, a dunking tank!

The Elegant Elephants will be set up in the lower Parish Hall, along with an exhibit of oil pastels by Diane Hill. Diane is an artist and lover of gardens who has been painting and drawing since the blizzard of 1978. As a Saint Barnabas parishioner, she wanted to contribute something to the Strawberry Festival effort but was unable to help physically as she is currently being treated for cancer. Instead, she sends her work, the displayed oil pastels, to help raise money for our outreach projects. You may view some photos of her artwork here.

What Happened to Last Sunday's Audio?

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Thu, 12 Jun 2008 01:05:00 +0000

Was the sound system misbehaving? Did you forget the recorder?

The answer to both the above is 'No.' All systems were working and the service was merrily recording away via the recorder placed in a window nook.

And then...a transformer blew somewhere and all of Falmouth and beyond (Martha's Vineyard) lost power. It was out for about 10 minutes starting during the Fraction Anthem.

Even thought the power went off, the choir and congregation continued to sing with great voice and joy. The organ faded away like bagpipes losing their air, and we sang on. During communion, the choir and congregation sang the appointed hymns and an extra - all without accompaniment. One parishioner said afterwards, 'I tried to hang out at the altar rail as long as I could - I loved being surrounded by the singing.'

Since the Sunday morning choir is going on summer hiatus as of June 9, it was especially nice for the choristers to hear this parishioner's thank you.

Unfortunately, when the power came back on, the recorder did not. So we have a partial audio file. We have been able to recover it, and it will be posted in the next day or so with a separate link from the usual one.

We have also been evaluating whether to continue posting recordings of the services during the summer. Because the team that does the work will be scattered during the coming months, we are going to suspend regular recording and posting of the audio from our worship. We will occasionally be able to provide a delayed audio of a service this summer, but it will not be a weekly occurrence.

Thank you for your patience and understanding.

Pentecost 3 Worship Audio Available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 17:23:00 +0000

For those of you who wish to worship with us, you will find the audio in the usual spot on our Worship page or by using this link.
Today's celebrant: Rev. Patricia Eustis
Today's guest preacher was Rev. Julie Nelson.
Today's lessons:
Deuteronomy 11:18-21, 26-28
Psalm 46
Romans 1:16-17, 3:22b-31
Matthew 7:21-29

Today's hymns:
Opening: 48
Gloria: S278
Gospel Procession: 688
Offertory: 690
Sanctus: S128
Fraction Anthem
Communion Hymns: 628, 636
Closing: 522

May 25th Worship Audio Available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Sun, 25 May 2008 17:30:00 +0000

We have re-entered 'Ordinary' season in the church year. The term 'ordinary' refers back to its origins in 'ordinal' - showing the 'order' or 'rank' of something. So, in Ordinary time after Pentecost, we are counting the Sundays before the end of the liturgical church year in November. (Learn more here and here.)

We include a link to a reflection on Ordinary Time from the archives of Anglicans Online.

To learn how we know which Proper to use on which Sunday after Pentecost, you may read more from the Book of Common Prayer on page 158 or online here.

Some notes on today's audio: We are experimenting with a different recording method. We want to provide reliable posting of the worship audio, so we are exploring duplicate methods of recording and ways that avoid use of the sound system to forego the drops and other issues it quirkily decides to inject in the recordings.

Please let us know if this week's method is acceptable. We will, of course, continue to scout out the causes of problems and possible solutions for our main sound system.

For those of you who wish to worship with us, you will find the audio in the usual spot on our Worship page or by using this link.

This week's celebrant and preacher: Rev. Kate Stebinger
This week's guest organist: Charlene Higbe

Hymns this week:
Opening: 390
Gloria: S278
Psalm: 62:6-14 (sung to tune of Hymn 121)
Gospel Processional: 408
Offertory: 678
Sanctus: S128
Fraction Anthem
Communion: 711, 701
Closing: 388

Trinity Sunday at St Barnabas

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:46:00 +0000

My, my, we were busy on Sunday! Our apologies for the delay in posting audio this week. Our team members were all involved in Evensong for Trinity Sunday, so we lost our audio conversion time for the morning service on Sunday afternoon. We have been trying to find time to convert the audio of Evensong to mp3 for your listening ever since.

You may listen to Evensong here.

Evensong is only one among many possible ways of worship. Our aim is to offer beauty in song to God, the giver of all beauty and goodness. Based on the services held daily in the medieval Church, Evensong, as found in the Book of Common Prayer, has been sung regularly since the sixteenth century.

You will hear the choir's entrance on the Psalm pick up steam- they had expected to hear the start of the Evening Hymn, but quickly recovered and sang Psalm 150 with gusto. As soon as we finished the psalm, we went back and sang the Phos hilaron with the congregation.

The Order of Service:
We sing an opening hymn (#28)
followed by the Invitatory and Psalter
Psalm 150
Phos hilaron (Evening Hymn #37)
then come the Lessons and Magnificant/Nunc dimittis
Proverbs 8:1-4, 22-31
The Magnificat
Romans 16:12-15
The Nunc dimittis
The Apostle's Creed
Then come prayers of various types...
The Prayers
The Suffrages
The Collects
The Offertory Anthem
The Occasional Collects
The General Thanksgiving
The Blessing
Closing Hymn (#24)

The morning service recording has issues, unfortunately. We are trying to salvage the sermon for you. There were two sections with audio drops and distortion. We have asked Rev. Kate to remind us of what those sections contained. Once we hear back from her, we will post the sermon with her notes!

Pentecost Worship Audio Available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Mon, 12 May 2008 03:55:00 +0000

Pentecost - the birthday of the Church. The altar guild had filled our nave with bright red geranium plants (which we took home after service).

For those of you who wish to worship with us, you will find the audio in the usual spot on our Worship page or by using this link.

Today's preacher and celebrant was Rev. Patricia Eustis.

Music:
Opening Hymn: 225
Gloria: S278
Psalm: 104:25-32 (setting: RS James)
Gospel Procession: 516
Offertory Hymn: 508
Sanctus: S128
Fraction Anthem
Communion Hymns: 513, 507
Closing Hymn: 224

Sunday After Ascension

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Mon, 05 May 2008 13:11:00 +0000

Despite having two methods of recording set up and ready to go, we are not immune to error. Recording does not work if the equipment is left in standby mode! Our humblest apologies to our online congregants. And thanks be to God for a reminder of our human qualities! You can rest assured we won't make this particular mistake again!

Canon Cecil Scantlebury was our preacher and celebrant. His sermon was handwritten. We have asked if he could share it with us for posting. We will let you know if and when we receive it.

The skies opened and it poured off and on all morning. We are watching that leak in the roof - the wall has a definite bulge of watery origins up high above the choir...

April 27 Compline Audio Available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:00:00 +0000

Sunday was the Easter VI which this year coincided with Eastern Orthodox Easter. Our recording team was unavailable in the morning (one was playing guitar in the Chapel, one was home ill, and one was attending a family Orthodox Easter gathering), hence no new Sunday morning worship audio. Instead, we offer you the Service of Compline held on Sunday evening.

Baseball Anyone?

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Fri, 25 Apr 2008 12:16:00 +0000

The May Banner is in production as we speak. One item that did not make it into the newsletter comes from Al Irish. We publish it here. This annual announcement is another sign that summer is right around the corner!

The Falmouth Commodores baseball team is seeking host families for players this summer. Team players are housed by volunteer host families during the summer. Through the years, many close relationships have developed between a player and his host family. It is an experience that has shown over and over again to be a very positive one for all involved. If you and your family would like to be a part of the Commodore family, please contact housing director Christine Clark at 508-540-4755.

Easter V Worship Audio Available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 01:40:00 +0000

For those of you who wish to worship with us, you will find the audio in the usual spot on our Worship page or by using this link.

This morning's service included an Earth Day Acclamation and a Baptism. The sound system behaved well - for the most part. Unfortunately, the communion motet did not successfully record, so you will have to take our word that it was a lovely setting by Noel Rawsthorne of George Herbert's poem Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life.

It was wonderful to see so many young families in the church. Welcome one and all!

An anecdote to share: About one minute into the first organ voluntary, one of the side doors was opened and a hefty draft started riffling the score off the music stand. Our organist ended up playing the piece with his head holding his music on the stand! If you listen carefully, you will hear what we mean...

Our preacher and celebrant was Rev. Kate Stebinger.

Today's music:
Opening Hymn: 518
Psalm 66: 1-8
Gospel Procession: 430
Offertory Anthem: With a Voice of Singing
Offertory Hymn: 51
Sanctus: S128
Fraction Anthem
Communion Motet (missing - our apologies)
Communion Hymns: 455 & 487
Closing Hymn: 296

Transition Update from the Search Committee

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 19:53:00 +0000

Transition: A Faith Journey
Sunday, April 27 at the Coffee Hour after the 10 o'clock services, the Search Committee will present our Parish Profile and give us a Progress Report. Please join us to celebrate this milestone in the transition process.

Easter IV Worship Audio Available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 19:49:00 +0000

Hurrah! The sound system was in good spirits today.
We have posted the audio from this morning's 10:00 a.m. Eucharist. For those of you who wish to worship with us, you will find the audio in the usual spot on our Worship page or by using this link.

This is the second week of having concurrent 10:00 a.m. services - one in the chapel and one in the church. Today's lectionary includes Psalm 23, hence some folks call today 'Good Shepherd Sunday.'

Today's celebrant was Rev. Pat Eustis.

Music in the service:
Opening Hymn: 377
Gloria: S278
Psalm 23 (setting: R.S. James)
Gradual Hymn: 343
Offertory Anthem: a setting of Psalm 23
Offertory Hymn: 391
Sanctus: S128
Fraction Anthem
Communion Hymns: 341, 317
Closing Hymn: 495

Easter III Worship Audio - Rained Out

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:54:00 +0000

Sadly, we must tell you that the amount of rain we have had in the past few days has made the sound system be Very Temperamental. The audio drops out repeatedly in this morning's service recording. We hoped we could salvage the sermon, but it is missing some at the beginning and again its entire summation and ending.

Our apologies to our online parishioners. We will try again next Sunday.

Someday the roof won't leak!

New Service Schedule Begins

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 21:46:00 +0000

Today, April 6th, was the start of an experiment with a new worship schedule on Sunday mornings. Instead of 8, 9 and 11 o'clock services, we are now have our usual 8:00 Rite I, Education Hour at 9:00, and then 2 concurrent 10 o'clock services. The two services at 10:00 are both Rite II, with one in the Chapel and one in the Church.

With this arrangement, we now have a 9:00 education hour at a time when people can attend no matter at which service (8 or 10) they worship. We also can re-institute a fellowship time and coffee hour after the 10 o'clock services!

Parishioners are encouraged to share their thoughts on this schedule and their feelings about the experiment with the clergy.

Easter II worship audio available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Sun, 30 Mar 2008 19:17:00 +0000

March 30, 2008

Our worship audio from this morning's service is now available.
Today's guest preacher was our own Rev. Canon Cecil Scantlebury. His sermon has been posted on our Sermons page, for those of you who wish to simply hear the sermon.

For those of you who wish to worship with us, you will find the audio in the usual spot on our Worship page or by using this link.

Today's service music and hymns:
Processional Hymn: 193
Gloria: S278
Psalm: 111:1-4, 9-10
Gradual Hymn: 209
Offertory Hymn: 212
Sanctus: S128
Fraction Anthem: Christ Our Passover
Communion Hymns: Lift Every Voice and Sing (LEVAS) 88 & 152
Closing Hymn (omit v. 3): 208

Details of Latest Audio files

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 23:09:00 +0000

We are recovered from our hectic Triduum and Easter Day schedule.

Apologies for not giving details for the Good Friday, Easter Vigil and Easter Day services when we initially posted them. Maundy Thursday was recorded in analog rather than digital format, so it will take a little longer to extract the sermon for the website. Keep checking the sermon page for our latest postings.

To remedy this, we are sharing the music and service details now. Better Late than Never...but Always Better On Time! We are hoping to soon provide copies of the weekly bulletins with our audio, but the office had enough to do with getting everything set for Holy Week. Our team didn't want to add any more to their workload.

Good Friday

The service starts with a silent procession in. The altar is bare; the cross is shrouded in black cloth. Choir and priests are in black. Moments of silence allow for reflection and remembrance.

The women of the choir sing the plainsong psalm. All is stillness.

At the time of the Gospel, members of the choir take their positions at the lectern and pulpit and steps to the choir stalls. The Gospel is chanted. This year, our chorister who sang Jesus' words got a frog in his throat near the end. How appropriate for him to have difficulty when Jesus says from the cross, 'I am thirsty' and 'It is finished.' Somehow, this moment conveyed a hint of the realness of Jesus' suffering.

Why, some ask, did the church use chant instead of reading texts? In the days before audio amplification, when not everyone could read, when there were not lots of books in pews with which to follow along, one voice had to reach many ears in a large space. Spoken sound does not carry as far as sung or chanted sound. Hence, chanting was a way to make sure people could hear the prayers and lessons.

Music during the service:
Psalm: 40:1-14
Gradual Hymn: 442 (In the Cross of Christ I glory)
Passion Gospel of John
Anthem: My Lord, My Love, Was Crucified
Choral Response: The Ballad of the Judas Tree
Hymn at Procession of the Blessed Sacrament: 330 (Therefore we before him bending)

Motet at Communion - yes, we had one, and - yes, the sound system did a bunk on it. Sigh. We suspect that the amount of silence at communion made the system suspend processing. It recovered in time for the final prayer.

Easter Vigil

We can think of one good thing about Easter being as early in the year as it is this year: It was dark enough at the Vigil for us to be truly dependent on the candles we all held!

The Paschal Candle leads the procession into the church where all sit in the deepening darkness of evening. We hear the call, 'The light of Christ' and respond with 'Thanks be to God' three times during the procession. Once the Paschal Candle reaches the front of the church, the flame is used to light the candles of the choir and congregation.

A cantor sings the Exsultet - an ancient hymn (you can follow along here or in your Book of Common Prayer, p. 286) and then begins the Liturgy of the Word. This portion of the Vigil focuses on readings that remind us of the long history of humankind being saved and redeemed by God.

You will hear the second lesson's reader have difficulty at first. Her candle was low and it was difficult to read the passage in the dimness. One of our young folk in the choir came to her aid with another candle and all was well.

When we sing the Gloria, the candles in the congregation are blown out as the lights come on and the acolytes light the candles on the altar. Now it is the first Eucharist of Easter. The Alleluias have returned from their Lenten exile.

Music during the Vigil
Liturgy of the Word:
Hymns 648, 679, 413
Gloria: S278
Procession of the Gospel: S70
Offertory Anthem: Sing Ye to the Lord
Offertory Hymn: 200
Sanctus: S218
Fraction Anthem: Christ our Passover
Anthem at Communion: This is the Day the Lord hath Made
Communion Hymns: 204, 190
Closing Hymn: 207
Voluntary: Processional in G Major (Stanley)

Easter Day Eucharist

The recording we have posted for you is the 11:00 a.m. service from Easter Day (the 9:00 a.m. service had the same structure as the 11:00 a.m.). The church is decorated with lilies and tulips and hydrangea and daffodils and pansies. Lots and lots of pansies in all the windows. Every child is encouraged to take a pot of pansies home with them. And every year, we wonder if we will run out, and every year we don't! This year, we had an Easter Egg hunt between the 9:00 and 11:00 o'clock services which all enjoyed, young and old.

Our sound system behaved itself except for a little bit during communion. It seems when things go quiet, such as when the choir takes communion before the communion hymns, the system sometimes stops responding. Then when it comes back, we have some distortion for a few seconds before it kicks into gear. This is advance notice that you won't hear the organ introduction to the first communion hymn.

Music:
Voluntary: Entrada (Ives)
Processional Hymn: 205
Introit: This is the Day the Lord Hath Made
Gloria: S278
Psalm 118:14-17, 22-23 (setting: R.S. James)
Gospel Procession: 180
Gospel Response: Hallelujah Chorus (Handel) with the entire congregation
Offertory Anthem: Sing Ye to the Lord
Offertory Hymn: 200
Sanctus: S128
Fraction Anthem: Christ our Passover
Communion Hymns: 178, 204, 190
Closing Hymn: 207
Voluntary: Toccata (Widor)

He Is Risen! Alleluia!

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 01:49:00 +0000

We have made available the following services via audio:

Good Friday

The Great Vigil of Easter

Easter

Palm Sunday Worship

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas) — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:40:00 +0000

Audio Available off our Worship page

Starting in the Parish House for the Liturgy of the Palms, the congregation then processed to the church. Arriving at the West door of the Church, the Celebrant knocked three times using the foot of the Processional Cross, and said, 'Open in the name of the Lord.' At this point, the organ began playing our opening hymn, 'All glory, laud, and honor' while the procession of acolytes, clergy, congregants, and finally choir, made its way into the church.

This was a challenge to record...starting in the Parish House, out of range of the wireless microphones that feed our sound system, and then needing to switch to the church. We took our digital recorder to the Parish House to record the Liturgy of the Palms. Then, during the processional hymn (Psalm 118:19-29), we turned off the recorder and ran back to the church to set up for recording the service. So the only parts missing in the recording are part of Psalm 118 and the priest's knocking at the door.

Palm Sunday is a day that begins in celebration and ends on a more somber note. Instead of a sermon, the Passion Gospel from Matthew was read.

Music in today's service:

Anthem at the Distribution of Palms:
Hosanna to the Son of David (de Vitoria)
Processional: 157
Opening Hymn: 154
Psalm 22:1-11
Sequence Anthem: 162
Offertory Anthem: My Lord, my Love, was crucified (Tallis)
Offertory Hymn: 458
Sanctus: S125
Faction Anthem: S172
Communion Hymns: 158, 170
Post-Communion Hymn: 164

Lent V Service Audio Available

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 15:26:00 +0000

Dear worshippers in cyberspace:

Our apologies for the tardiness of posting last Sunday's worship audio. As we told you in an earlier posting, we had to use the cassette recorder. This means that getting the audio file ready takes much longer - once we have our hands on the cassette!

After retrieving the tape at choir practice last night, the audio has been converted to digital format and posted in the usual spot with a link from our Worship page.

The quality of the audio is not our best, but we hope you will forgive the foibles of the recording and join us in worship.

This coming Sunday is Palm Sunday - another challenge for our recording team. The service begins in the Parish House (due to forecasted inclement weather, we won't start in the Chapel Garden) and processes to the Church for the Eucharist. Two locations, one recording device...hmmmm. We are brainstorming ways to cover this. Your support of this ministry has encouraged us to continue to experiment with improving our methods and expanding our capabilities.

With the Diocesan Learning Event (Marcus Borg) webcast in the Chapel on Saturday morning and Palm Sunday service on Sunday morning, we will be a busy committee!

A blessed day to you all.

Marcus Borg - Diocesan Learning Event

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:33:00 +0000

Saturday, March 15, from 9am to 1pm, the Diocese will be having a Spring Learning Event at Boston University. The featured speaker is Marcus Borg, well-respected scholar on the historical Jesus.

Those of us loathe to drive to Boston are thrilled that the diocese is making the event available to one and all via the Internet! Saint Barnabas will be one location where we can gather to watch and listen to Marcus Borg speak. We will hold small group discussions with those of us in attendance while those in Boston do the same.

If you can, join us for an event that promises to be enlightening and thought-provoking.

Lent V (March 10)

noreply@blogger.com (St. Barnabas Web Team) — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 20:27:00 +0000

Our primary recording person was away this Sunday - and she had the digital recorder with her. We left our youth member, Tim, in charge of recording to the cassette deck. Unfortunately, there were heavy rains on Saturday. Tim reported that the signal seemed to go in and out. We will attempt to pull the service off the cassette and post it. First step is to retrieve the cassette from the Music Office!