Music for the 19th Sunday after Pentecost: October 3, 2021

OPENING VOLUNTARY Where Love Is Found (O Waly Waly)

The tune is a folk song of questionable origins – various sources claim it comes from England, Scotland, and Ireland. Its text speaks of the joys of love:

The water is wide, I cannot cross o’er.
Oh, would that I had wings to fly.

Give me a boat that can carry two,

And both shall row, my love and I.

But as is the case with folk songs, things don’t always remain as we might want them to. A final verse concludes:
O love is gentle and love is kind,

Gay as a jewel when first it’s new,
But love grows old and waxes cold,

And fades away like morning dew.

 

In today’s gospel reading, Jesus speaks of divorce from the perspective of a culture in which divorce was the man’s prerogative, when women had few rights and children were considered a drain on resources. The lesson for the men he was speaking to is this: Women and children are precious in the kingdom of God

In the 70s, Hal H. Hopson made some minor changes to the tune and called it Gift of Love – which we’ll sing during communion. The text is based on I Corinthians 13, making it a popular choice for weddings.

 

GATHERING HYMN For the Beauty of the Earth (Dix) ELW 879

Composers love setting this text to new music. My favorite is by John Rutter who created delicate countermelodies that dance around a lyrical melody. Follow this link to a recording by the Bath Abbey Girls Choir in Somerset, England.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtFASXydzgI

God has placed us in a world of physical beauty, and made it even more so because of the relationships we enjoy.

 

PSALM Psalm 26

Michael Perry (1942-1996) was a member of the English clergy and the author of more than 300 hymns, including this metrical setting of Psalm 26. The text is paired with an English tune, Westminster Old.

 

With this text, the psalmist affirms the same desire as Job in the reading before – to live a life free from sin against God.

 

HYMN OF THE DAY Great God, Your Love Has Called Us

(Ryburn) ELW 358

 

MUSICAL OFFERING Draw Us in the Spirit’s Tether Bob Moore 

COMMUNION HYMN The Gift of Love

Hal H. Hopson adapted O Waly Waly with a text based on I Corinthians 13 for use at weddings. Later, the same arrangement came to be a popular choral anthem before finding its way into denominational hymnals. Today we’ll sing a hymnal version, but with the accompaniment of the choral anthem.

 

SENDING HYMN Now Thank We All Our God (Nun danket alle Gott) ELW 840

Does it get more Lutheran than this? This joyful hymn of thanksgiving is a fitting way to conclude our worship time together. Throughout this service we have been reminded of God’s many gifts of love. May we manifest that thanksgiving with our own gifts of love in the coming week.

 

CLOSING VOLUNTYARY Nun danket alle Gott Robert A. Hobby

Hobby has designated this setting to be played as a procession. It alternates an interlude played in a plenum manner (with all the principal stops) and trumpet, with a choral setting of the melody played on a trumpet chorus.