Evensong - probably a stupid question

[Grace212]

Hello all
I have a question
Does Evensong normally have Holy Communion at the end?

Thank you

Not generally. I have never known communion be given at Evensong.(CoE).

No. It's a mixture of vespers and complin . Usually taken from the book of common prayer. I love evensong!

Not stupid at all! It doesn't usually IME (Anglican). There is a set service for Evensong. However a church could choose to include Communion as part of an evening service if they wanted.

HTH

Ah
I feel less stupid, thank you

Here’s why I asked

I went to evensong at Chichester cathedral today. I had a tight squeeze to get my train home and checked at the information desk how long the service would be.

Anyway, gorgeous singing, but towards the end, during a prayer, loads of people came in - I mean loads. And squeezed past those of us already there, filling up from the front. This happened just before the choir filed out.

I had no idea what was happening but seeing so many people appear at such an odd point, I got worried in case some further service thingy was about to happen that I wasn’t aware of, and that I wouldn’t be able to leave discreetly to get my train.

So I took advantage of the kerfuffle to slip out myself. But I just wonder what was going on, there was nothing listed on the board.

If there was another event afterwards, surely they’d not let those people in till after evensong? I know there was an author event tonight but I presume that was in a meeting room!

Sorry, I’ve just answered my own question by looking on Twitter
It was the author event

That was really poor management in that case. A whole crowd of people coming in during a service?!

was just updating mum on my day out and still grumbling over this

probably an error on the part of the cathedral, but hordes of people coming in and trying to move past others, who were actually praying, heads bowed etc, to get seats for a book event!!

this is not what I thought cathedral evensong would be like...

I agree. Not an ideal end for the service at all, and could have been much better managed. Perhaps someone inexperienced made the booking/hadn't realised how early people would arrive for the event.

Why not email the staff and just let them know what happened? They may be v happy to take on board your suggestion.

I agree, it is surprising that they weren't able to manage entry for an evening event to be "please wait till the service has finished". I'm glad you enjoyed the singing!

For future reference though, if you want to attend evensong anywhere but the timing isn't ideal, no-one will bat an eyelid if you slip out discreetly when you need to. Ideally doing so just after the choir finishes something, or during a hymn (if there is one - often isn't at weekday services). Sit somewhere where you don't walk past loads of people on your way out though :)

(My children have been cathedral and college choristers, so I've attended a lot of evensongs in my time!)

slightly outing but oh well...

I don't want to email them because it turns out I have some connections to the author in question!!

Also, looking back at the incredibly rude behaviour, I have a feeling what happened was that they didn't have someone on the door, or possibly a large group of people just ignored the person on the door, and I don't want to get that person in trouble. So I'm not going to say anything but it's good to know that evensong should not normally end in such a shambles.

at some point I might shift my arse and to go St Pauls for it and I certainly wouldn't want it ending like that. People were literally squeezing past others who had heads bowed in prayer, to get a front seat. Beyond rude. This is why I think it's quite possible they would have barged past someone trying to keep control on the door.

Don't go to St Paul's if you want a peaceful evensong. It's all tourists. And they come and go all the time.

Evensong at Westminster Abbey is nice. If I were going to choose a (big, touristy) one in London I would definitely go for that over St. Paul's.

I think many people never go to Cathedrals for religious reasons and treat them as just another venue, except a very picturesque one. They seriously have no concept of prayer and the sacred and will barge in and will walk around, find seats, talk and take photos at all kind of inappropriate and inconvenient times. It takes polite but firm management by Cathedral staff to prevent just the kind of inconsiderate behavior you experienced.

I thoroughly recommend southwark cathedral evensong!