Notes

What exactly is the "central orb"? Throughout the years, I have been occasionally asked this question by adult choristers to whom I have distributed the beloved Anglican cathedral hit-anthem, "O Thou the Central Orb" by Irish composer Charles Wood (1866-1926). Composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and Herbert Howells, also biggies in the English cathedral music world, studied with Wood at the Royal College of Music. But, I digress... After some years of playing, singing a... Read More

For all intents and purposes, this Sunday (November 26) is “Liturgical New Year’s Eve” for the Christian year. For those who follow the three-year cycle of lectionary readings in their faith traditions, the Feast of Christ the King is the last Sunday on the Christian calendar. The Roman Catholic and many Protestant denominations – Episcopalians, Presbyterians, Lutherans and Methodists – celebrate Christ the King Sunday. Christ the King is also a popula... Read More

The Book of Psalms is in the third section of the Hebrew Bible, the Ketuvim (“Writings”), which contains the “poetic” books including the Psalms, Proverbs, Song of Solomon, Ruth, Esther, Daniel, and a few others. The first section of the Hebrew Bible is the Torah (“Teachings”), namely Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. The second section Nevi’im (“Prophets”) contains the books of the prophets Joshua, Samuel, Isaiah, Eze... Read More

Anglicans tend to have our own vocabulary. As we are a people of books, I suppose that we come by this honestly and slightly unintentionally. Our Book of Common Prayer (BCP) has lots and lots of words, and centuries ago lots and lots of people died for the privilege for us to have them in our own language. Two such terms are Ordinary vs. Proper. No, not that “proper,” as in how our grandmothers made us sit up at the dinner table and fold our napkins in our laps properly. And in... Read More