Lent gathering song

[docmattc]

Has anyone used James Chepponis' This is the time of fulfilment (Laudate 179) as an opening piece in Lent? It seems suitable only for the shortest of processions. I'd be interested to hear how anyone has used this.

[Psalm Project]

Yes, I have used it.
Beautiful setting (if you use the version in the organ / full edition of Laudate)
The title is listed as 'Call to worship - This is the time of fulfilment' - This could be taken to imply a gathering hymn. I would be flexible with its use - You might indeed use it right at the end of communion as a short reflection on the season.

I use a number of short pieces like this as a prelude to the entrance hymn.
This particular piece could be used two ways:
a) a prelude to the main opening hymn or...
b) a processional hymn - I would not have any qualms about its relative brevity. Sometimes, the repetition is all that is needed to deliver the short message and set the tone.
Keep repeating it - have a cantor sing and animate the 'refrain' bit with the congregation - if you have a choir, have them sing the SATB verse - very effective.
The repetitious nature of this is not unlike other hymns we use as processional material i.e. Laudate omnes gentes (Taize)

[oopsorganist]

On the theme of Lent
I have chosen four new things to do, one is Penitential Litany (Hold us in your mercy) Gary Daigle 183 Laudate which I think is useful for your younger music group to play around with.... but now I think about it, where would I put it in the services in Lent? I can imagine it during Communion, moving around music.....but I have also chosen a piece just for that........I wonder if it would fit somewhere else?

[ChrisC]

I've used This is the time of fulfillment effectively as a refrain to the introit on the first Sunday, with the 'verses' being the Litany of the Saints to the normal tone. That way, we have the Ceremonial of Bishops' request to use the Litany, but with a bit of choral interest...

[docmattc]

On the theme of Lent
I have chosen four new things to do, one is Penitential Litany (Hold us in your mercy) Gary Daigle 183 Laudate which I think is useful for your younger music group to play around with.... but now I think about it, where would I put it in the services in Lent? I can imagine it during Communion, moving around music.....but I have also chosen a piece just for that........I wonder if it would fit somewhere else?

I see the problem- its a bit too much of a departure from the text of the penitential rite to use it there, unless you only used verses 10 and 11. Might work as an opening piece though, look at the Entrance Antiphons for Lent 2, 3 and 5. Its not disimilar. I woudn't be afraid of doing the same opening piece (or selected verses each week) for all of the season.

[docmattc]

Follow advice on this thread, namely Psalm projects' "I would be flexible with its use", I'm using it as a recessional!Normally the exit procession is accompanied by organ music, but that's obviously not a lenten option, and in our parish neither is silence.
This piece, unaccompanied and in SATB in the verse (the full harmony in Laudate is excellent) is enough to accompany the procession and so stop folk leaving before the priest, but short enough not to keep folk in their seats too long after the dismissal.

Verses 2 and 3 just needed the anacrusis removing (both the word 'come') to make it work at the end rather than the start. We'll see how it goes on Sunday.

[docmattc]

I ought to report back that last Sunday several people commented how much they liked this piece. One even phoned me to say how good she though the Lent music was, especially this one. (My Ordinary for Lent is: Mass of the Celtic Saints Kyrie, Eucharistic Acclamations as in the altar missal (inc for the first time, the preface dialogue), Mass XVIII Agnus Dei)