I
was glad when they said unto me,
let
us go into the House of the Lord. (Psalm
122:1)
All of us at St. Stephen’s are so glad to see familiar faces and
others we have yet to meet who are visiting with us today.
Welcome to the Lord’s House! We pray you’ll feel instantly at home in
the warm and personal fellowship of our Risen Lord here at St. Stephen’s and
will return to share with us again, soon and often.
Our parish, part of the
Anglican Church in
Our Book of Common Prayer,
the basis of our worship, was translated and arranged by Anglican divines some
four and a half centuries ago. Well
over 78 million Anglicans are worshiping in like fashion all over the world. We
pray it may bless you as it does us.
Again, we are so happy and blessed that you are with
us this day that the Lord has made.
St. Stephen’s Anglican Church
2101 E. College Street
Rector:
mail@jcpardue.com
903-675-1639
Parish
web site: www.ststephensanglican.org
OUR
MINISTERS
All
Baptized Christians at St. Stephen’s
Mr.
Richard Bartholow, Sr. Warden
Mr.
Christian Hancock, Jr. Warden
Sister
DeLois Bomberger, Deaconess
Ms.
Cecelia Holland Kling, RN, GNP, Parish Nurse & Treasurer
Ms.
Yvonne Crumpton, Director of Outreach Ministry & Clerk of the Parish
Mr.
Kenneth Nash, Esq., Director of Music
Sister
Monica, F/OSA, Parish Administrator
Father
Jerry Pardue, Rector
The
Rt. Rev. Stephen Strawn, Bishop Coadjutor
The
Most Rev. Louis Falk, Bishop, Diocese of the
The Rt. Rev. George D. Langberg, President
Bishop, Anglican Church in
The
Most Rev. John Hepworth, Primate, Traditional Anglican Communion
THE
BOAR'S HEAD FESTIVAL
Sunday,
December 30, 2007
St.
Stephen's Anglican Church
Complete Score
of our
2007 Boar's Head Festival
At
Roman feasts, boar was the first dish served and continued as a staple of
medieval banquets. As Christian beliefs overtook pagan customs in
A
legend arose that a scholar was studying a book of Aristotle while walking
through the forest on his way to Christmas Mass. Suddenly, he was
confronted by an angry wild boar. Having no other weapon he rammed his
metal-bound philosophy book down the throat of the charging animal and ended the
danger.
That
night the boar's head, finely dressed and garnished, was borne in procession to
the dining room,
accompanied by carolers singing "in honor of the King of bliss."
The
Boar's Head may be the oldest continuing festival of the Christmas season.
First observed at Queen's College,
In
planning our festival we intentionally chose to demonstrate the timeliness of
the legend by including music ranging from the 15th century up a
composition written less than nine years ago. For
the same reason the mediaeval characters usually portrayed will be represented
by their modern day equivalents, dressed in present day costumes.
The one exception will be Good King Wenceslas.
Secondly,
it is our hope that the whole congregation will participate in singing those
carols or refrains printed with their music in the program.
All are invited and encouraged to join in loudly and joyfully in
this Christmas music and thereby becoming an important part of the pageant.
And
finally this tradition calls for fellowship at table and we urge everyone to
join us in "the Manor Hall" for our feast to celebrate the
triumph of good over evil, in Christ the victory.
We are so happy and blessed you are with us this evening and hope you
will have as much enjoyment in our presentation as we have had preparing it
for you.
PRELUDE
)We
prepare for this evening's
festivities listening to our church's treasure, a restored MP Moeller
organ brought from its earlier home in the northeast to Athens
by the founding
members
of the church and carefully rebuilt and voiced by Father Walter Wilson in 1998.
PROLOGUE
Our
scene is set with this ancient lullaby commenting on the earthly birth of God's
only
begotten Son. The King of Glory
comes to us in great humility,
a little child born of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
THE
YULE SPRITE BRINGS THE LIGHT OF CHRIST
A
sprite brings the light of Christ into the church to shine symbolizing the glory
of the
Son of the Father in Heaven. A
symbolic candle is lit from the taper thus brought in to
give light to us all assembled in God's holy place.
PROCESSION
OF THE BOAR'S
HEAD AND THE FOOD FOR THE FEAST
The church
is now lit by the light of Christ and the guards are in place. The Boar's Head
is
brought in by the hunters for presentation to Our Lord.
Evil has met its match and Christ
is the victor. Enter also a loaded
trencher bearing Christmas pies and treats for the feast.
THE
YULE LOG IS BROUGHT IN Welsh,
16th Century
The
woodsman drags in the new Yule log for the coming year.
THE
JESTORS
The season
honoring the birth of Our Lord is a time for merriment and gifting.
Our jesters and their friends extend greetings to all here present.
We ask all assembled
tonight to indeed share with each other the love and joy of this blessed season
in
which the gift of God, His only begotten Son, born for us and all humankind, is
remembered.
THE ANGELS STORY
The
angels came to the men of the land in ancient
their flocks. Our men of the land
today, to whom the angel's message still resonates,
are ranchers, farmers and cowboys of
KING
WENCESLAS
No
celebration of this season should omit the remembrance of this gracious ruler of
ancient times bent on caring for the people of his kingdom.
THE
JESTORS
The season
honoring the birth of Our Lord is a time for merriment and gifting.
Our jesters and their friends extend greetings to all here present.
We ask all assembled
tonight to indeed share with each other the love and joy of this blessed season
in which
the gift of God, His only begotten Son, born for us and all humankind, is
remembered.
REFLECTION
We
reflect on this humble birth of humankind's great hope, the Son of God here
on earth among us. Let us consider
well the gift to us of God’s love and how we
might best honor Him, not only tonight, but throughout our lives.
PRESENTATION
The company
presents our gifts, inadequate as they might be, in humble thanks for
God's magnificent gift to humankind of his only begotten Son.
THE
YULE SPRITE RETURNS
The
Sprite and Rector return to the altar to take the light back into the world.
We pray that this light may shine through us for the whole world to see and know
the
grace God has bestowed on us all.
RECESSION TO THE MANOR HALL English. 18th Century
The
gifts presented the company retires to the "Manor Hall" to sit
together at table
rejoicing in the season of love and joy. They
exit to the strains of the familiar
Christmas procession based on the old Latin hymn Adeste Fidelis.
Soon
we will be joining them for a together. Please
be sure to dine with us.
OUR
MENU
Roast
Pork Tenderloin
Cornbread Stuffing
Mashed
Potatoes & Gravy Whole
Kernel Corn
Chilled
Fruit Cup
Assorted
Desserts
Coffee
– Hot Mulled Cider
Our
organist and Music Director is Kenneth Nash.
Our feast is prepared by Yvonne Crumpton & Cele Kling
