The orderly reading of Luke's Gospel in Ordinary Time begins on the Third Sunday. On this Sunday, I play three pieces from the 'Gorgeous Georgians', two Regency pieces by William Russell, and an earlier voluntary by John Bennett.
The Fourth Sunday features Paul's great paean to love - 1 Corinthians 13 - hence Elgar's 'Salut d'amour'! The postlude, Karg-Elert's 'Nun danket', follows the singing of this hymn at the end of the service. As the previous day is Candlemas, I play the overture to Handel's Ninth Chandos Anthem, 'The Lord is my Light'.
The Fifth Sunday is also the last before Lent, Carnival Sunday in Roman Catholic countries, and so the final opportunity for alleluias before Easter. The hymn 'Alleluia, song of sweetness', with its looking forward to Lent and Easter, is the final hymn, followed by Simon Preston's exuberant 'Alleluyas', based on the final verse of 'Let all mortal flesh keep silence'. I play a Serenade written by my composition teacher at Bristol University, Dr. Derek Bourgeois, for his own wedding, and a composition of mine during the communion – heavily influenced by 'The Lark Ascending'!