Musical Prayer for Healing: Organ Recital (Florence Jowers) followed by Choral Evensong sung by the St. Paul's Choir

On Sunday, October 17, the 7:30 p.m. service will be a Choral Evensong anticipating the Feast of St. Luke, the patron saint of healing and medicine, offered especially for this time of pandemic. An extended organ prelude begins at 7:15 p.m., played by guest organist Florence Jowers, on the Jane Rotch Memorial Chamber Organ. The Parish Choir will sing special settings of the evening canticles by Henry Purcell, perhaps the finest English composer of the Baroque period, along with service music by Philip Radcliffe and Charles V. Stanford. The anthem As truly as God is our Father by Welsh composer William Mathias, sets powerful and moving words from the writings of Julian of Norwich. Evensong, considered the “crown-jewel” of the Anglican choral tradition, is a form of Evening Prayer that draws from the medieval Latin offices of Vespers and Compline. This service is unique to churches of the Anglican Communion and has remained unchanged for centuries. All are invited to this very special and beautiful service of music, prayers and healing.