SUNDAY 12TH AUGUST 2018 10.30AM
SUNG EUCHARIST according to the Scottish Liturgy (1929)
Choral Setting: Mass for 4 voices by William Byrd (1540-1623)
Anthem: Salve Regina by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Director of Music, Les Shankland
Guest Preacher: Revd Professor David Fergusson OBE, D.Phil, FBA, FRSE
Principal of New College and Professor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh
'Eucharist’ means ‘thanksgiving’. This is just one of the names for the principal liturgy of the Christian religion, also known as the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion and Mass. The Scottish Episcopal Church’s liturgy for the Eucharist dates from a period when the only church recognized by the state was the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and it was illegal to celebrate communion in this way. Though based on the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, the Scottish Liturgy of 1764 retained elements that had proved very controversial in the reign of Charles I, and were changed in later versions of the English prayerbook.
A lightly revised version of the liturgy that King Charles knew was approved in 1929. It retains the beautiful Elizabethan language that modern versions of the liturgy have largely abandoned. St Vincent’s Chapel is highly unusual in continuing to use the ancient Scottish Liturgy on most Sundays. In the ‘sung’ version, certain parts are intoned by the priest and other parts by a choir, or by the congregation as a whole, interspersed with hymns for everyone to sing. In this service -- which will open the Edinburgh Festival of Sacred Arts -- the choir will sing music from the 16th and the 20th centuries.
Everyone is welcome to attend this opening Sung Eucharist. The Scottish Episcopal Church practices ‘Eucharistic hospitality’, which means that all baptized Christians are welcome to receive the sacrament of holy communion. Those who do not take communion are invited to come to the altar for a blessing.
David Fergusson OBE DD FBA FRSE is Professor of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, Principal of New College, and a minister of the Church of Scotland. Having served as a parish minister in Lanark and Cumbernauld, he was appointed a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 1986. In 1990 he became Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Aberdeen, returning to Edinburgh in 2000. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (elected 2013), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He delivered the Cunningham Lectures in Edinburgh in 1996, the Bampton Lectures in Oxford in 2001, the Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow in 2008 and the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in 2012. In November 2015, he was installed as a personal chaplain to the Queen, and was awarded an OBE in the 2016 Birthday Honours.
Choral Setting: Mass for 4 voices by William Byrd (1540-1623)
Anthem: Salve Regina by Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Director of Music, Les Shankland
Guest Preacher: Revd Professor David Fergusson OBE, D.Phil, FBA, FRSE
Principal of New College and Professor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh
'Eucharist’ means ‘thanksgiving’. This is just one of the names for the principal liturgy of the Christian religion, also known as the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion and Mass. The Scottish Episcopal Church’s liturgy for the Eucharist dates from a period when the only church recognized by the state was the Presbyterian Church of Scotland, and it was illegal to celebrate communion in this way. Though based on the Book of Common Prayer of the Church of England, the Scottish Liturgy of 1764 retained elements that had proved very controversial in the reign of Charles I, and were changed in later versions of the English prayerbook.
A lightly revised version of the liturgy that King Charles knew was approved in 1929. It retains the beautiful Elizabethan language that modern versions of the liturgy have largely abandoned. St Vincent’s Chapel is highly unusual in continuing to use the ancient Scottish Liturgy on most Sundays. In the ‘sung’ version, certain parts are intoned by the priest and other parts by a choir, or by the congregation as a whole, interspersed with hymns for everyone to sing. In this service -- which will open the Edinburgh Festival of Sacred Arts -- the choir will sing music from the 16th and the 20th centuries.
Everyone is welcome to attend this opening Sung Eucharist. The Scottish Episcopal Church practices ‘Eucharistic hospitality’, which means that all baptized Christians are welcome to receive the sacrament of holy communion. Those who do not take communion are invited to come to the altar for a blessing.
David Fergusson OBE DD FBA FRSE is Professor of Divinity at the University of Edinburgh, Principal of New College, and a minister of the Church of Scotland. Having served as a parish minister in Lanark and Cumbernauld, he was appointed a lecturer at the University of Edinburgh in 1986. In 1990 he became Professor of Systematic Theology at the University of Aberdeen, returning to Edinburgh in 2000. He is a Fellow of the British Academy (elected 2013), and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. He delivered the Cunningham Lectures in Edinburgh in 1996, the Bampton Lectures in Oxford in 2001, the Gifford Lectures at the University of Glasgow in 2008 and the Warfield Lectures at Princeton Theological Seminary in 2012. In November 2015, he was installed as a personal chaplain to the Queen, and was awarded an OBE in the 2016 Birthday Honours.