Music and Worship: Mary and Simeon – Evensong: Part 2

Central to Evensong are two very different figures – Mary, the young mother of Jesus, and the elderly man Simeon.

After the first reading at Evensong, we sing Mary’s song from Luke, chapter 1, verses 46–55, often called the Magnificat after the old Latin version of the song. Mary uttered these words when she visited her relative Elisabeth. Both women were pregnant (middle-aged Elisabeth with John the Baptist, young Mary with Jesus). Mary’s song of praise owes much to Hannah’s song of thanks for her young son Samuel (1 Samuel, chapter 2).

The Magnificat starts with a note of joy, familiar to many people from the paraphrase by Timothy Dudley-Smith, ‘Tell out, my soul, the greatness of the Lord’ (tune ‘Woodlands’). Later the mood changes, and we are reminded of a Gospel paradox: God overthrows the mighty, and raises up ordinary people; he feeds the poor but sends away empty those who are rich in their own eyes.

The Magnificat is followed by a New Testament reading, often from one of the Gospels. Next comes the song of Simeon from Luke 2: 29–32 (called Nunc Dimittis after the opening of the Latin version). As Simeon takes the infant Jesus in his arms in the Temple, he gives praise that he has lived to see God’s all-encompassing salvation – both ‘a light to lighten the Gentiles, and…the glory of…Israel’. The opening words ‘Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace’ imply that Simeon was elderly, content to die after seeing his lifelong hopes fulfilled.

Simeon’s song is followed by the Apostles’ Creed, a statement of Christian belief broadly similar to the Nicene Creed said at Communion services, but shorter. The Lord’s Prayer and a sung dialogue between minister and congregation follows, and then there are three set prayers or ‘collects’. The first is for the day, the second for peace,* the third for aid against all perils. Evensong ended here in the first (1549) Book of Common Prayer.

The 1662 Book of Common Prayer has additional set prayers, but we now have intercessions after the third collect (similar to those in Communion services). An anthem is sometimes sung by the choir, and everyone joins in a hymn. A sermon follows, and there is another hymn, a blessing and a concluding piece of organ music.

Evensong is an important part of our worship in Chandler’s Ford, but there are two dangers. The first is that regular attenders can be lulled into over-familiarity and inattention simply because some items appear every time (including the songs of Mary and Simeon). But the second is perhaps greater – that people will be put off by the slightly unusual language and miss out on a lot of valuable insights. Evensong is very much a Bible-based service, and its fairly gentle pace offers valuable opportunities for reflection in a busy world.


*O God, from whom all holy desires, all good counsels, and all just works do proceed; give unto thy servants that peace which the world cannot give…