Carols for Peace 2011
December 29, 2011
Piper Willie welcomes the congregation
Last year, musicians and congregation had to fight their way through the snow to attend the Annual Carols for Peace service organised by Glasgow Churches Together and hosted by Glasgow City Council. This year the weather was much more accommodating and the City Chambers Banqueting Hall was full for the service, with extra chairs having to be brought in. Read more
The St Mungo Festival 2012
December 28, 2011
The Festival this year marks the 14th centenary of the founding of the City of Glasgow, whose roots can be traced to the presence of Mungo
at the site of the present Cathedral, near the Molendinar Burn. Mungo, (or Kentigern), died between 604 and 612.
1 The Vita Kentigerni at the Mitchell Library Saturday 7th January 2012 at 12.00
To hear Bailie Catherine McMaster, (on whose initiative the Festival has developed),
being interviewed by Dr Irene O’Brien (Chief Archivist at the Mitchell Library), with excerpts from the music of ‘City of St Mungo’
(Ian Davidson, sung by children of St Timothy’s Primary) and ‘Let Glasgow Flourish
(sung by the St Mungo Singers) please click on audio below.
2 Ecumenical Evening Service: 8th January 2012 Glasgow Cathedral at 6.30
To hear Dr Laurence Whitley, Minister of the Cathedral, being interviewed by Dr Irene O’Brien,
with harp music by Sister Maureen, excerpts from the music of ‘City of St Mungo’ (sung by Ian Davidson),
the ‘Glorification of St Kentiger’ sung by Russkaya Cappella, ‘Let Glasgow Flourish (sung by the St Mungo Singers),
and the St Mungo Rhyme sung by children of St Patrick’s, Anderson, please click on audio below.
3 Services in the Cathedral on Friday the 13th January at 11.00 and 12.00
4 Events in the City Chambers 13th January at 10.00am and at 1.30pm
5 The Mass of St Mungo: 13thJanuary at 7.00pm – St Mungo’s Church, Parson St., Townhead.
To hear Archbishop Mario Conti being interviewed by Ronnie Convery please click on audio below.
6 The Ballet at the St Enoch’s Shopping Centre – 13th and 14th January from 12 noon till 4.00 pm both days.
Advent at Nazareth House
December 22, 2011
Dr. Noel at the harp
As the St. Mungo Singers can tell you from their experience at Nazareth House, the small and less formal services can be just as wonderful as the more formal events at this time of year. Some of the choir joined members of St. Joseph’s Tollcross choir to take part in an Advent service with the residents and their carers. Read more
A Christmas Proclamation
December 18, 2011
The Christmas Proclamation
The Christmas Proclamation places the birth of Christ in a religious and a secular time frame, from creation to Exodus to the foundation of Rome to the reign of Augustus Caesar. This is a simple chant setting with a lyrical ending.
For the music and text and for the sound file click below
Artists and musicians’ Christmas gift to Mary’s Meals
December 13, 2011
Artists and musicians’ Christmas gift to Mary’s Meals
By BILL HEANEY
Monday, December 12, 2011
Scotland’s artists and musicians handed over a very special Christmas cheque for £9,000 to one of the
country’s favourite charities today (Monday).
The money, which was raised during the group’s highly successful Festival of the Arts in Glasgow
last month, will be spent by Argyll-based Mary’s Meals on a new project to feed and educate poor children in a Third World country.
It will be the second feeding shelter to be financed from cash raised by the group, who have given
their time, talents and artwork free to raise money for Mary’s Meals, whose accountant, Monica
Lynas from Bothwell in Lanarkshire, picked up the cash at House for an Artlover in Glasgow.
Volunteer Mrs Lynas, whose family own a well known carpet business in Hamilton, said:
“This group have been extremely generous over a number of years now, and Mary’s Meals really
appreciates all the effort and talent that has gone into raising this money
which will be put to good use. It’s a fantastic Christmas gift.”
Their first shelter, the Chilingani Centre in Khombwe in Malawi, is already up and running and doing
tremendous work, according to Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow OBE., chief executive of
Mary’s Meals, who feed and educate more than 580,000 children in 16 countries across the world.
The Artists or Mary’s Meals money means that a further 1,500 starving children will be added to that
number because Scottish art lovers and music fans dug deep into their pockets
to buy paintings and attend concerts and a craft fair at the City Chambers and
House for an Artlover. It costs just £9 a year to feed and educate a child in theThird World.
The art exhibition included a Peter Howson portrait of Robert Burns and a portrait of Glasgow’s
octogenarian folk singer and TV presenter Jimmie Macgregor by the artist Paul Kennedy.
Magnus MacFarlane-Barrow said: “Our vision is to provide one good meal a day for a hungry child within a
place of education. We are doing that in 16 countries at the moment. But we
don’t just set up the feeding stations, recruit volunteers to staff them and
leave it at that. We track the academic performance of the children we feed and
we have seen some wonderful results.
“The young men and women now emerging will be the ones who lift their countries out of poverty and who
will take up the challenge to stamp out corruption and put measures in place to tackle AIDS and other
serious health problems.”
The great attraction of Mary’s Meals to supporters is that nearly all of the money raised by Mary’s
Meals – more than 90 per cent – is spent in the communities where it is needed
most and only a small proportion goes on administrative costs.
Magnus added: “We don’t use professional fund-raisers or spend fortunes on advertising.
We are growing through creative ideas like this one. I think that Artists for Mary’s Meals
is a particularly beautiful example of how we do things. It is through these little acts of love that the
vision we hold so dear is being achieved.
“This is that no child anywhere in the world goes hungry and that every child gets at least one meal a
day. It costs just £6.15 to feed a child for a whole year. Artists for Mary’s
Meals is helping to fund the lives of some of the world’s poorest children is
using your skills and talents to fund these little acts of love.”
The Rev Laurence Whitley, minister of Glasgow Cathedral, and Archbishop Mario Conti, who are
both patrons of Artists and Musicians for Mary’s Meals, said they were delighted that the group
had raised so much money for poor and hungry children.
Dr Whitley said: “Some of the country’s finest artists and musicians have contributed to this very
successful fund-raising Festival of the Arts and we are extremely grateful to them and to the many
people who came along to support them.”
Glasgow artist Netta Ewing, co-ordinator of the festival project, said: “A tremendous amount of hard work
and effort went into the festival and everyone involved excelled themselves. We intend to keep
going onwards and upwards from here.”
Artists for Mary’s Meals handed over a Christmas cheque for £9,000 to Mary’s Meals from money raised from
concerts and art and craft sales. Back row (left to right) Helen Burns,
Glasgow, Liz Mackinlay, Kilbrachan, Monsignor Gerry Fitzpatrick, St Leo’s,
Dumbreck, Glasgow, and Josephine Torrance, Duntocher, Dunbartonshire. Front (left to right) Margaret Houston and
Elspeth Glasgow, both Glasgow, Bothwell accountant Monica Lynas, of Argyll-based Mary’s Meals and Netta Ewing,
co-ordinator of Artists for Mary’s Meals. PICTURE by BILL HEANEY
St. Andrew’s Day Ecumenical Evening Prayer 2011
December 9, 2011
Despite the weather, the strikes and the traffic problems, Glasgow Churches Together celebrated St. Andrew’s Day with an evening service in St. Andrews’s Cathedral. The congregation, including representatives from the member churches of GCT and the Leader of Glasgow City Council Gordon Matheson,was welcomed by piper Jacqueline Riley outside the Cathedral and instrumentalists John Allen, Carissa Bovill and Clare O’Neill inside.
Before the service, the St. Mungo Singers sang the lovely Iona setting of Psalm 62 before leading the congregation in singing the simple evening hymn, “Creator of the Stars of Night” as Archbishop Conti led church representatives to the sanctuary, and the altar candles were lit.
After the Invocation and Doxology, Des McLean and members of the St. Andrews Brass Emsemble provided the music for the rousing Vaughan Williams setting of “All People that on Earth”, a warm and uniting sound for a cold night. The Psalms for the Evening Prayer were then proclaimed in song: Psalms 115 and 125. The Canticle was the Fitzpatrick setting of Stephen Smyth’s Canticle from Philippians 2.
The reflection was given by the Moderator of Glasgow Presbytery, Rev. Sandra Black. She said that we don’t know much about St. Andrew. He doesn’t get much mention in the Gospels but he is shown as someone who brings people to Jesus – no small or bad thing! She then asked “who has been Andrew for you in your life? Who has made him more real or more accessible for you?” and invited those present to give thanks for such people and be blessed by their existence.
Instrumentalists Carissa, John, Claire and Jane
As the congregation meditated on her words, the instrumentalists played quietly. The choir then sang the responsory before leading the singing of the Magnificat in the hymn version “Tell out My Soul”. The Intercessions for the country and its citizens followed. The congregation then joined in singing the Lord’s Prayer.
Before the prayer and blessing for St. Andrew’s Day, the St. Mungo Singers sang the Casciolini motet “Istorum est enim”, a piece suited for the feastday of an Apostle who was also a martyr. The service finished with the well-loved hymn “When Christ our Lord to Andrew Cried”.
The Cathedral community provided hospitality afterwards in the porch of the Cathedral, giving the congregation the opportunity to chat before going out into the night.
Council Leader Gordon Matheson with some of the congregation after the service
St. Andrew looks on benignly on the celebration
Archbishop Mario in discussion
The Blessing of the Crib Glasgow 2011
December 8, 2011
Glasgow's Crib in George Square
Glasgow City Council’s annual service of the Blessing of the Crib was held on 7 December 2011. Despite the forecast heavy rain, the evening was in fact dry if somewhat chilly, but everyone involved had dressed for the cold, particularly the Gorbals Children’s Choir, composed of pupils from St. Francis and Blackfriars Primary Schools. The children came wrapped up in bright woollies and were excited to discover that they were to sit on bales of straw (although one little girl was less than impressed to discover that straw was scratchy, not soft).
The children were supported for the event by the Alba Brass Quintet and friends plus some of the St. Mungo Singers, church leaders representing Glasgow Churches Together and Lord Provost Bob Winter, as well as members of their families and friends.
The Gorbals Children's Choir
The service opened with the singing of “O Come All Ye Faithful”. In welcoming the assembled crowd, Lord Provost Winter commented that this was his fifth and final time at the celebration as Lord Provost. It was a great honour to be present at a service which was a fitting reminder to all of the central purpose of the season’s celebrations and a time for reflection on how we can contribute to the New Year.
The children then sang a lively song “Love Shine a Light”, accompanied by two members of the Alba Brass on trumpet and trombone, with infective enthusiasm. This was followed by the singing of part of the Christmas story from the Gospel of St. Luke by cantor Gerry Healy, and the blessing of the Crib by Archbishop Mario Conti. Fittingly the next carol was “Away in a Manger”, begun by the children.
The Rev. Alan Anderson, Superintendent of the Methodist Church in Glasgow brought
The church representatives and the Lord Provost
greetings from Glasgow Churches Together, wishing everyone hope for the whole world, a world blessed by love. The Rev. Sandra Black, Moderator of Glasgow Presbytery, then led those present in prayer for the city and the world, before the church leaders joined in the blessing and everyone was invited to exchange a sign of peace with those around them.
After the vote of thanks, given by Rev. Paul Romano, everyone joined in singing the final, well known, carol “O Little Town of Bethlehem”. A lovely final touch was added by sisters of the Missionaries of Charity handing out bright home made stars with a figure of the Christ child at their centre to those attending the service as they made their way out through the busy Square and its many other attractions which, for a short time at least, had faded into the background.
The alternative attractions
Glasgow Carols for Peace 2011
December 7, 2011
Carols for Peace
Carols for Peace 2010
This year’s ‘Carols for Peace’takes place in the City Chambers at 3.00 on Sunday 18th December and
everyone is welcome.
Carols for Peace was established by the city and the churches of Glasgow a decade
ago when the troubles in the Holy Land were particularly bad. It continues as an
annual celebration and while it is a joy-filled event it includes prayers for people everywhere
afflicted by violence, war and any kind of distress.
The Lord Provost of Glasgow, the Rt Hon Bob Winter, will be represented by
Bailie Catherine McMaster, and the Churches of Glasgow will be well
represented.
Before the civic and church representatives process into
the Banqueting Hall, there will be a ‘Proclamation of Christmas
Approaching’, then we will sing a carol before the Moderator begins the prayer:
Father,
as we celebrate the coming of your Son among us
we gather here, united in spirit with our sisters and brothers
in the Holy Land and throughout the world.
We acknowledge your love for all your children,
And we pray today that the whole human family
may be drawn more closely together in love and peace..
The celebration will consist mainly of carols, with a reading, some prayers for the city and the needs of
people everywhere, and of course, The Lord’s Prayer. The music will be led by
the Rutherglen Salvation Army Band and the St Mungo Singers, with the support of a
small ensemble. Refreshments will be provided after the event, and all are welcome.
The Christmas Gospel
December 6, 2011
The Gospel of Midnight Mass set to music (c) Ewen McPhail and Gerry Fitzpatrick and recorded by Grace Buckley and the St Mungo Singers.
(c) Netta Ewing
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Now at this time Caesar Augustus issued a decree that a census of the whole world should be taken. This census, the first, took place while Quirinius was governor of Judaea, and everyone went to his own town to be registered. So Joseph set out from the town of Nazareth in Galilee, and travelled up to Judaea to the town of David called Bethlehem since he was of David’s house and line, in order to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.
While they werew there, the time came for her to have her child, and she gave birth to a son, her first-born. She wrapped him in swaddling clothes and laid him in a manger because there was no room for them at the inn.
In the countryside close by there were shepherd who lived in the fields, and took it in turn to watch over their flock during the night. The angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone round them. They were terrified, but the angel said: ‘Do not be afraid. Listen. I bring you news of great joy, a joy to be shared by the whole people. Today in the town of David a Saviour has been born to you. he is Christ the Lord. And here is a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.’
And suddenly with the angel there was a great throng of the heavenly host praising God and singing: ‘Glory to God in the highest heaven and peace to all who enjoy his favour.’
- (c) Netta Ewing
Blessing of the Crib: Glasgow 2011
December 1, 2011
The Blessing of the Glasgow Crib
George Square, 5.30 Wed 7th December
Civic and Religious leaders of Glasgow gather on Wednesday next, December 7th,
at 5.30 pm in George Square for a little Christmas Service during which the splendid Glasgow Crib
is blessed and some prayers are said for the well-being of the city.
This is a truly ecumenical event, supported by the Gorbals primary schools – St Francis’ and Greyfriars
combined choir - with some supporting singers, a small Ensemble, and interested citizens. All
are welcome, and despite the variable December weather, there is usually a large and joyfilled crowd.
It provides an opportunity for people, passing through the Square, or on a ‘visit to the crib’ to stop and reflect on
the deep meaning of Christmas and its implications for the human family, and to sing carols.
