OPENING
VOLUNTARY O Blessed Spring
setting,
David Lasky
This
voluntary is an arrangement of the Hymn of the Day. A light oboe stop carries
the melody over a lush accompaniment by the organ’s strings and flutes.
GATHERING
HYMN Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service (Beach Spring)
ELW
712
HYMN OF THE DAY O Blessed Spring (Berglund)
ELW
447
Sometimes art inspires art. Such is the case with this text according to its author, Susan Palo Cherwien. From the book “O Blessed Spring,” it is among this modern hymn writer’s first published texts.
The inspiration was a sculpture by Paul Granlund (1925-2003) in a church where she was a member.
In
her words: Above the baptismal font at Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd,
Minneapolis, hangs a bronze sculpture by Paul Granlund titled LIFE-TREE. This
hymn was shaped by the seasons of life portrayed in the sculpture and was
written for the baptismal life of Good Shepherd parish. It is base on the scripture
verse Granlund chose: I am the vine, you are the branches. (John 15:5)
And
again the art of the poetry seems to have inspired the tune Berglund,
written especially for the text by Robert Buckley Farlee. As we sing the
melody, we can feel the vine moving, growing, and reaching. Paul Westermeyer
calls it “a winding musical embrace that mirrors the embrace of Christ the
Vine.”
SENDING
HYMN What God Ordains Is Good Indeed (Was Gott tut)
ELW
776
This
hymn, from the “Trust,Guidance” section of ELW offers assurance that God is
with us in difficult times – including this one.
My faithful God, on
every road, you know the way unfolding
and my hand you are
holding.
CLOSING
VOLUNTARY Prelude and Chorale on “Erhalt uns, Herr”
David
Johns / J. Klug, Geistliche Lieder, 1543
sources:
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship, ed. Paul Westermeyer
Evangelical Lutheran Worship
