News from Saint Paul's Church
Christmas Services at St Paul’s Church, Salem
The final Sunday of Advent, December 20, 2009, will be celebrated at 10:30 AM at St Paul’s Episcopal Church on East Broadway in Salem. Expectation and wonder are the themes of the last Sunday before Christmas. The music before the service will be an adaptation of Edward Bairstow’s setting of the ancient mystical text, “Let all mortal flesh keep silence.” The Gospel reading tells of Mary’s wonder as she sings her hymn of praise, the Magnificat: “My soul doth magnify the Lord.” The Advent liturgy also includes the singing of the Great Litany.
On Christmas Eve, Thursday, December 24, the festal Eucharist will be celebrated at 7:30 PM. As part of this service, the children will build the crèche with new figures which were given this year. Special music at the fully sung service will include Gustav Holst’s “The Saviour of the world is born,” Peter Warlock’s “The Birds,” and a traditional English carol, “O Joseph, being an old man truly.” John Mielke, Jared Stamm, and Nancy Jo Davidsen, are the singers of St Paul’s schola cantorum. The parish organist, William Briggs, will accompany the service on the organ and will conclude it by playing David Johnson’s “Prelude on Personent hodie.” In addition to traditional carols, the congregation will sing the “Huron Carol,” a hymn translated from the Huron language and retelling the Christmas story in a Native American setting.
On Christmas morning, there will be a celebration of the Eucharist at 10:30 AM.
This will be the 150th celebration of the Nativity of Our Lord Jesus Christ at St Paul’s which was founded in 1860. The cornerstone of the church was laid in September of that year and, remarkably, the new building opened for services in December. Several events are planned in the coming year to mark the anniversary and members of the community are always welcome to join the parish for worship. Instrumental music at services in the church is played on the historic E. & G.G Hook organ (Opus 189), built in 1855, moved to St Paul’s in 1890, and restored in 2006.
The Very Reverend Gary W. Kriss, D.D., is the parish priest at St Paul’s, assisted from time to time by the Reverend Gary Strubel of Cambridge, NY