The England 2016 Tour Choir will offer a choral setting of the Ordinary of the Mass (Gloria – Sanctus – Agnus Dei) at the 11:15 service this Sunday in preparation for its upcoming trip to the UK. The music – Missa Puer Natus Est Nobis (or Communion Service for the Incarnation) – was composed by Joel Martinson in 1997 for the centennial celebration of the Church of the Incarnation, Dallas, and uses quotations from the Gregorian chant Introit for Christmas Day. A companion Evening Service for the Incarnation was commissioned by the church in 2000 for the Incarnation Choir’s tour of England that year. Both services will be sung on July 24 and 31 by Transfiguration’s Tour Choir at St Mary Redcliffe and Bristol Cathedral, respectively. It is a common Anglican practice in larger parishes and cathedrals in the UK and abroad for choirs to sing a choral setting of the Ordinary for Sunday or festival celebrations of the Eucharist. Next week, July 17, at 11:15, the Tour Choir will sing the two traditional Morning Prayer canticles – Te Deum and Jubilate Deo – in musical settings by Herbert Howells. The choir hopes that these musical glimpses will give you a taste of our upcoming trip!