Alternative lines

"After considerable discussion, the Dean and Chapter of St Paul's have decided to close the Cathedral outside regular times of worship in sympathy with the cause of the Occupy camp in Paternoster Square.  We believe the issues raised through this protest warrant serious national attention, and will be rostering members of the Chapter to sit with the protesters through the day and night as an act of solidarity and support.  Many volunteers and members of the Cathedral staff have expressed their willingness to join in this act of solidarity.

The decision to close the Cathedral is a serious one, which Chapter takes with a heavy heart.  Closure of a cathedral is regrettable under all but the most extreme circumstances, such as the day in 1940 when a time-delayed bomb was dropped in the Cathedral by the German Luftwaffe.  The devastation to human lives wrought by recent crises is of such a magnitude that Chapter is unanimous in taking this decision.

The Chapter has received strong advice about compliance concerns in the camp.  Naturally, St Paul's will do all it can to assist the Occupy coordinators to fulfill their obligations in this regard.

The Dean and Chapter of St Paul's invites all who remain concerned about the endemic problems in international finance to support the Occupy initiative by visiting the camp.  We look forward to meeting you there."

Music for Sunday 30 November

Readings for the week can be found here, and the psalm will be sung to this setting.

The service setting will be Philip Mathias's Christ Church Mass (Together in Song, 757).  Hymns as follows:

Introit: God of mercy, God of grace [452]
Sequence: O day of God, draw near [616, tune: Southwell 546]
Offertory: All my hope on God is founded [560 i]
Communion: Behold the Lamb of God [705]

Change of look

Google seems to be having a tantrum about blog templates, which means that these pages haven't been loading properly over the last week.  It's probably connected up with the Google+ upgrades, which have been causing upheavals on Google Reader, Google Calendars, and various other applications that have to interact each other.

One of the worrying things about the template problems over the last few days is that editing tools have been appearing on all blogs using the simple format.  Of course one must be logged in to actually use the tools, but it's a little bit perplexing to have them appearing everywhere all the same.

I've changed the template here for the time being so that the content appears more-or-less as it should.  Menus, links, lists, and other things have been taken out for now.  Pages for music and research can still be accessed from the bar in the header.

It's been a while since the blog had a makeover, so perhaps the technical glitch isn't such a bad thing.

Music for Sunday 23 October

Readings for this week can be found here, and the psalm will be sung to this setting.

The setting will be Philip Mathias's Christ Church Mass (Together in Song, 757). Hymns are as follows:

Introit: Come down, O Love divine [398]
Sequence: Love divine, all loves excelling [217]
Offertory: Morning glory, starlit sky [174]
Communion: Bless the Lord, my soul [706]

Organ event on Sunday 16 October

The annual Historic Organs of Richmond Hill crawl is coming up on Sunday.  This is an opportunity for you to hear some interesting music played on some fascinating instruments at St Stephen's Anglican Church, St Ignatius Catholic Church, and Richmond Uniting Church, all located closely together on the top of Richmond hill.

I've been asked to provide a programme for St Stephen's.  If you happen to be in the area, it is the first of three short recitals showcasing the instruments, and will be starting at 3.00pm before the crowd moves next door to St Ignatius.  Each programme is roughly 30min in duration, and you get to take in the magnificent surrounds while hearing some interesting music.

Admission is free, although donations of 440gram tins of food or cash donations towards the Richmond Hill Churches Food Centre would be highly appreciated.

Afternoon tea will be served following the last recital at Richmond Uniting Church.


My programme is as follows:

Children's March "Over the Hills and Far Away" -- Percy Grainger (1882-1961)

Suite 1er Ton from Troisieme Livre de Pieces d'Orgue (1756) -- Michel Corrette (1797-95)

Pleins Jeux

Duo

Trio

Basse de Trompette

Musette

Grands Jeux

Variations on a Theme of Robert Schumann -- Edmund T. Chipp (1823-86)

Introduktion und Passacaglia -- Max Reger (1873-1916)

Like water dripping on a stone

I don't watch my blog traffic stats very closely, but there was a little milestone just lately.

Thanks to someone who found these pages via some weird Google search, over 10,000 people have visited here.

Music for Sunday 16 October

Readings for the week can be found here, and the psalm will be sung to this setting.

The service setting will be Philip Matthias's Christ Church Mass (Together in Song, 757), with the Kyrie Orbis Factor to spice things up.

Hymns are as follows.

Introit: Jesus calls us! O'er the tumult [589, tune 272]
Sequence: Take my life, and let it be [599 ii]
Offertory: God is love, let heav'n adore him [153]
Communion: Behold the Lamb of God [705]

Why do they persist?

The government is to present legislation to deal with its recent contretemps with the High Court.  I wonder why people around the Prime Minister don't see this as part of the cause for poor opinion polling.

The House of Representatives may be doing the collective humanity of this country a service by giving the bill the thumbs-down.  The political integrity of the Labour Party is another matter...

Bike trails

As the weather improves, I tend to spend more time on the bicycle.

Not long ago, my main cycling routes took me down to the Main Yarra Trail and either west to the city or east to places further afield.  South Yarra lacks a critical bit of cycling infrastructure, however; there really needs to be a resolution about sharing the footpath along Punt Road.  Having only ever ventured onto the tarmac when the only other traffic was one car on the far side of a distant intersection, my feelings about riding on that particular road remain fixed: only a fool would do it.

Coming from the far side of the Preston Reservoirs is a different matter.  There are a couple of really well-built and properly maintained trails that serve brilliantly for off-road bike commuting.  St George's Road is a dream, although getting there is a bit of a hassle: one has to pass through one of Melbourne's most dysfunctional intersections at the railway crossing in Reservoir.

Strangely, my commute times for getting to work don't really change much according to the medium.  Catching the train takes around 50 minutes, riding the bike is around 45 minutes, and taking the car in morning traffic can be anything between 30 minutes to an hour.

Music for Sunday 9 October

Readings can be found here, and the psalm will be sung from a setting in the parish hymn book.

The setting will be Philip Mathias's Christ Church Mass (Together in Song, 757) with the Kyrie from John Merbecke.

Hymns are as follows:

Introit: Sing, all creation, sing to God in gladness [61]
Gradual: My shepherd is the Lord [11]
Sequence: I, the Lord of sea and sky [658]
Offertory: Jerusalem the golden
Communion: Shout for joy! [545]

There will be an anthem at communion: Blest is he who thinks on Him -- J.S. Bach