Music for the 22nd Sunday after Pentecost: October 24, 2021

 

On Tuesday of the coming week, the church commemorates thee hymnwriters: Philipp Nicolai, Johann Heerman, and Paul Gerhardt.

These great hymnwriters all worked in seventeenth-century Germany in times of war and plague. Nicolai, a pastor, lost 1,300 parishioners to plague, 170 in one week. He wrote "O Morning Star, how fair and bright" and "Wake, awake, for night is flying." Heermann's hymns, including "Ah, holy Jesus," often express the emotions of faith. Gerhardt, perhaps the greatest Lutheran hymnwriter, was a pastor in Berlin. (from Sundays and Seasons)

Their texts and music, now hundreds of years old, continue to form and inspire Christian worship. We will join our voices with theirs, and the whole church, as we sing Gathering, Communion, and Sending hymns.

All three portraits are from Wikipedia

 

OPENING VOLUNTARY Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart (Herzlich lieb) setting, Jacob B. Weber

The text and music can be found at ELW 750. Later, we will sing the hymn as the Hymn of the Day.

 

GATHERING HYMN O Holy Spirit, Enter In (Wie schön leuchtet) ELW 786

Nicolai’s tune has long been known as the “Queen of the Lutheran Chorales.” He also wrote the tune for “King of the Lutheran Chorales” – Wachet auf – which we sing with the text “Wake, Awake, for Night is Flying.”

HYMN OF THE DAY Lord, Thee I Love with All My Heart (Herzlich lieb) ELW 750

Probably the first thing Bartimaeus saw when he gained his sight was the face of the Lord Jesus. May it be the same for us when our eyes are opened at his reappearing.

MUSICAL OFFERING I Lift My Eyes Up to the Hills Thomas Keesecker

The text comes from Psalm 121. It continues the theme of vision, and also echoes much of the text in the Psalm for the Day.

COMMUNION HYMN O Jesus, Savior Dear (O Gott, du frommer Gott)

A Saturday night communion service in Advent
at St. Mark's

There are three hymns from Heermann in ELW, but they are not well-known to our community – so I went in search of something else. I found this Heerman text in The Lutheran Hymnary, published by Augsburg in 1935.

I altered the text for modern usage (eliminating the “thees” and “thines”) but still found difficulty with the archaic usage of “prais-ed” and “bless-ed.”

This tune may not be familiar, but it is predictable and not difficult to sing. The introduction will be soloed out on the organ’s clarinet stop.

 

SENDING HYMN Evening and Morning (Die gülde Sonne) ELW 761

 

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Wie schön leuchtet

Johann Christoph Bach (1642-1703)

J. S. Bach’s first cousin once removed is the composer of this fughetta setting of Nicolai’s tune from the Gathering Hymn.

Bartimaeus graphic From Sundays and Seasons.com. Copyright 2015 Augsburg Fortress. All rights reserved. Reprinted by permission under Augsburg Fortress Liturgies Annual License #SAS004212