The Anglican Chaplaincy of the University of Cardiff has just received a gift of 20 copies of the Book of Common Prayer from the Prayer Book Society.

During the second lockdown in the spring of 2021 the Anglican Chaplain, the Revd David Sheen, was approached by a small number of music students about singing Evensong.

“As soon as the regulations in Wales allowed we started singing the 1662 Choral Evensong in Chapel, with no congregation but streamed on Facebook Live,” says David, who’s been at the Chaplaincy for almost eight years.

The service got a good online following, averaging 200 views a week.

“A group wanted to carry that on into this academic year and we have,” says David. Now with an in person congregation, the original service sheets have been replaced by books gifted from the PBS.

“I wanted to get the students used to handling and using the Prayer Book, which many of them will not have done before. We use a lot of modern technology and social media in the chaplaincy but how we worship with a book as opposed to a digital device is quite different. Your brain responds differently. There’s something about the cadence and the different register of the language of the book, which lifts people out of the everyday and ordinary,” observes David. “I find 1662 a great aid to creating that sacred space, the sense of newness, that sense of difference.”

The Evensongs continue every Wednesday and are still streamed online. Catch up with past services by the Cardiff University Anglican Chaplaincy Choir on YouTube.