At Christ Church yesterday, we had to sing for two Eucharist services – the usual Sunday morning service, and then an Ordination service in the early evening. Ordinations are always length affairs, this one coming in at 1hr and 45 minutes! It was the first opportunity that the Cathedral choir had had to hear our new Dean preach, and his thoughts on ordination were most interesting.
There were plenty of clergy at the service to welcome the new ordinands into their role as Deacons of the Church of Ireland, and the service was presided over by the Archbishop of Dublin. The Bishop of Cork was also present as the guest of one of the ordinands.
As well as the usual liturgical music, there was a piece of music for three clarinets (played in turn by the player) composed by one of the ordinands. The three-fold nature of the piece was representative of the Trinity and other aspects of Christian doctrine.
Next week we have another ordination – this time of Priests. Perhaps one of the hymns (there were FIVE in this service) could be cut, so we have a chance of getting away before night falls!