A RICH mix of traditional hymns, Caribbean inspirational songs, Psalms used in the Anglican traditions of church music, combined with contemporary sounds of Jamaican composers, will be the main features of the service of enthronement for the 13th Anglican Lord Bishop of the Anglican Church in Jamaica, the Rt. Rev. Dr. Alfred Charles Reid.
The service is set to begin at 3:00 p.m., on Thursday January 25, at the Cathedral of St. Jago de la Vega, Spanish Town, St. Catherine.
The service will have three segments Induction, Investiture and Enthronement. Prior to the commencement service, there will be a grand feast of classical music choral and solo singing by mainly members of the Anglican community. Marilyn Bryce-MacDonald, mezzo soprano will sing Let The Bright Seraphin, this will be followed by Let Their Celestial Concert All Unite, sung by the Cathedral Church choir. Both pieces were composed by J.F. Handel. The trio, comprising Carole Reid, soprano; Marilyn Bryce-MacDonald, contralto and Steve Higgins, tenor will perform Thee Each Living Soul Waits from Franz Haydn's Creation.
The Reverend Ralph Hoyte, Pastor of the St. Andrew Scots Kirk, Duke Street, Kingston will play on cornet, He Giveth More Grace by Hubert Mitchell. Miss Reid, is also expected to sing Alleluia, by W.A. Mozart and Trevor Beckford, Cathedral organist, will play, Sheep May Safely Graze by W.A. Mozart.
Meanwhile, accompanying the procession of lay representatives of Synod, students from the Theological College of the West Indies, Mona, Supplementary Ministry, Church Army captains and sisters, deaconesses, clergymen from other Christian religions, visiting Anglican clergy, clergy of the Diocese and Bishops retired, will be Paul Dicknell, senior organist at the St. Andrew Parish Church, Half-way Tree, playing The March of the Caribbean Pilgrims, by Eric Levy.
The service of enthronement is scheduled to begin with the opening hymn All People That On Earth Do Dwell, by Ralph Vaughn Williams an arrangement of The Old One Hundredth Psalm .
According to Vivian Craw-ford, music co-ordinator, during the prayers of induction and after the proclamation is read by the Registrar, Glenmuir High School Concert Choir, will sing Psalms 122 to an arrangement by C. Herbert H. Parry. At the end of the investiture ceremony, Psalms 23, with music composed by Noel Dexter, retired director of the Music Unit, UWI, Mona, will be presented.
The Bishop who at this time should be standing before the High Altar and in the company of the Bishop of Mandeville, Rt. Revd. Dr. Harold B. Daniel, Rt. Revd. Dr. Herman Spence, Bishop of Kingston and having declared Bishop of Jamaica, by the senior Archdeacon of the Diocese, Dr. Alvin Stone, the hymn of praise, Te Deum Laudamus, by C.V. Stanford will be sung.
As an act of recognition as the Bishop is invested, the congregation and clergy will offer acclamation and applause. This will be accompanied by the ringing of the Cathedral bells, drum rolls, organ and piano rumble, tambourine clash and the sounding of trumpets.
Chorus of
exhortation
Then the clergy and people will join in singing Psalm 150, arranged by Noel Dexter. Before the Bishop is escorted to the pulpit to deliver his enthronement sermon, a kumina version of the popular chorus of exhortation, 'Alleluia', will be sung by the congregation.
A special feature of the celebration will be the singing of the Ubi Caritas, (Taize), anti-phonally sung with Jasmine Holness as cantor.
During the Eucharistic prayers, the Sanctus, taken from the Mapletoft Poulle Mass will be sung by choir and congregation. And, to illustrate the new Bishop's ecumenical thinking, The Lord's Prayer, written and composed by Father Richard HoLung will be sung.
During the Breaking of Bread, the Agnus Dei, taken from a Reggae Mass written by Willie Lindo and commissioned by the Bishop, when he was Rector at St. Jude's Church, Stony Hill, will be performed reggae style. Instrumental backing will be by drummers Calvin Mitchell, Devroe Clarke and Paul Mullings, with Cecile Williams on tambourine and Livingston Burnette, organist at the Church of The Redeemer, North Street. The voices of an augmented choir, directed by J. Leo Whyte, will be featured.
The hymn after Ablusions, Come With Us Oh Blessed Jesus, music by Johann Schop and arranged by J.S. Bach will be sung.
After the Lord Bishop blesses the congregation, there will be a trumpet fanfare by bandsmen D. Hall, H. Oats and Corporals O. Laing and H. Miller of the Jamaica Regiment Band. The recessional hymn, with lyrics by Patrick Prescod and music by Noel Dexter, will be sung.
This will be followed by postlude music, Tune Your Harps, from Jonah the first Jamaican oratorio, written by Samuel Felstead and played by Paul Bicknell.
J.W.
