Year C: Music for Transfiguration of Our Lord February 27, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright

(Wie schön leuchtet)

setting, Niels Wilhelm Gade

In these Sundays after Epiphany, the Transfiguration of Our Lord reminds us where we started - with Jesus being revealed as "a light to enlighten the nations, and the glory of your people, Israel." It's not surprising that this cycle of readings ends with even more images (and music) around the theme of light.

Niels Wilhelm Gade (1817-1890) was an important musician in Denmark, a contemporary (and friend) of Felix Mendelssohn and Robert Schumann. Several Scandinavian composers of the day, including Edvard Grieg, are counted among his students. 

GATHERING HYMN O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright

(Wie schön leuchtet)

ELW 308

HYMN OF THE DAY How Good Lord, to Be Here! (Potsdam)
ELW 315

12th Century Icon of the Transfiguration

Have you ever wondered why Lutherans observe the Transfiguration at the end of the Advent-Christmas-Epiphany arc?  Others, including Episcopalians, observe it later in the year.

This was the work of two Lutheran reformers: Johannes Bugenhagen and Viet Dietrich, two Lutheran theologians and pastors who thought it made sense to link the transfiguration scene with that of Jesus' baptism. This action brought two of the major revealings (epiphanies) of Jesus nearer each other on the church calendar.


It is believed the old observance came from the East and had no significant relationship to the rest of the church calendar.

MUSICAL OFFERING In Thee Is Gladness (In dir ist Freude)
arr. Carl Schalk
(The text and the tune can be found at ELW 867.)

Johann Lindemann (1549-1631) first published this text in Amorum Filii Dei Duae in 1598. Some attribute the text not to Lindemann, but to his brother-in-law Cyriakus Schneegass. Whoever the author, it was Lindemann who paired it with the dancing music of Italian composer Giovanni Giacomo Gastoldi (1550-1622). Gastoldi wrote madrigals, masses, and psalm settings, but his most popular works were his balletti. These vocal works are closely associated with madrigals and often include refrains of fa-la-la-la-la.

The dance-hymn appears later in the service with a modern day setting by Kenneth T. Kosche.

COMMUNION HYMN Beautiful Savior (Schönster Herr Jesu)
ELW 838

SENDING HYMN Alleluia, Song of Gladness (Praise, My Soul)

ELW 318

Veiling crosses is another Lenten custom.

As is our custom, on the last Sunday before Lent, we bury the "Alleluia" and refrain from using it until Easter Sunday. Refraining from its use goes back to the 5th century, but the practice of "burying" or "saying farewell to" the Alleluia began in the middle ages. 

"Alleluia, Song of Gladness" is a hymn from the 11th century that compares our time of Lent to the exile of the Israelites in Babylon. The final stanza prepares us to sing "Alleluia" with joy when Easter arrives.

CLOSING VOLUNTARY In Thee Is Gladness

setting, Kenneth T. Kosche


sources:
Hymnal Companion: Evangelical Lutheran Worship; Paul Westermayer

Wikipedia
ELCA.org (see FAQ - Why don't we use alleluias during Lent?"

Icon of the Transfiguration By Unknown author - Saint Catherine's Monastery, Sinai (Egypt) / K. Weitzmann: "Die Ikone", Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3859855

Year C: Music for the Seventh Sunday after Epiphany / February 20, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service
(Beach Spring)
setting, Wayne L. Wold

GATHERING HYMN Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us (Hyfrydol)

ELW 707

PSALM Psalm 37

This musical setting, from Augsburg's "Psalm Settings for the Church Year," is by Nancy Raabe. The assembly sings a refrain and a cantor sings the stanzas.

HYMN OF THE DAY In All Our Grief (Fredericktown)

ELW 615
Many people will recognize "Lord, have mercy, Christ, have mercy" as words that are borrowed from the Kyrie. Interestingly, "grant us peace" is also borrowed from part of the liturgy - the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) - which is sung as we come to the communion table.

MUSICAL OFFERING Oh, Love, How Deep
Richard Williamson

COMMUNION HYMN Creating God, Your Fingers Trace (Prospect)

ELW 684

SENDING HYMN Build a Longer Table (Noel Nouvelet)

ACS 1062
"If you have more than you need," says a popular proverb, "it's better to build a longer table than a taller fence." In this proverb, hymnwriter David Bjorlin heard a resonance with the obstacles that refugees often meet when seeking safety far from their countries of origin. Bjorlin's text uses the love of Christ as its model in calling us to respond to refugees with long tables, wide doorways, and safe refuges rather than with violence and exclusion. (from Sundays and Seasons)

This familiar tune began it's life in France as a Christmas carol. We probably associate it more closely with Easter and the text "Now the green blade rises."

Set for Saturday evening worship.
The service is piano-led and happens on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays.
5:30 p.m.

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Oh, Love, How Deep (Deo Gracias)
setting, Stephen Gabrielsen
The text of this hymn was sung by the Festival Choir at the musical offering. The tune, Deo Gracias, dates to the 15th century.

Also known as the Agincourt Hymn, the tune originally carried a text that memorialized the Battle of Agincourt in 1415 wherein an English army, led by Henry V, defeated French Forces led by Charles VI.

The text and this tune can be found together at ELW 322.

Sources:
Wikipedia
Sundays&Seasons
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Year C: Music for the Sixth Sunday after Epiphany / February 13, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY Reverie

Michael Helman, played by the St. Mark's Ringers

A portion of today's psalm, translated in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, reads "Their delight is in the law of the Lord, and they meditate on God's teaching day and night." A reverie, being pleasantly lost in your own thoughts, is different from meditation - but sometimes it's easy to get lost in thoughts about what God is like and how God is active in our lives.

Perhaps that's what Michael Helman had in mind when he wrote this piece. Some of the techniques to listen for today include the echo martellato where a bell is rung as usual, then lightly tapped on the table to create successively softer sounds. Also, watch for the Let Vibrate technique wherein bells are rung and not stopped (damped), so that they ring long tones that decay naturally.

St. Mark's Ringers and friends
Lutheridge Handbell Weekend, Feb. 2020

GATHERING HYMN God of Grace and God of Glory (Cwm Rhondda)
ELW 705

PSALM Psalm 1

Today we a sing a metrical setting of the psalm. This means the words have been paraphrased into a poetic form that can be sung to a hymntune. In this case the tune is named Wareham.

HYMN OF THE DAY When Our World Is Rent by Violence (Fortunatus New)
ACS 1052

Today's gospel reading includes the Beatitudes as Luke gives them to us. We all might be a little more comfortable if the reading stopped at verse 22, speaking of a reward in heaven. If it did stop there, I might have chosen a different hymn, but Jesus' words call us to be active participants in God's kingdom - something we do by working for justice and serving our neighbor.

Fortunatus New will be a new tune for many of us. The first two phrases are quite similar except that the first ends with upward and motion and the second one ends with downward motion. The last phrase is a sturdy coda that can be quickly mastered. 

The tune is by Carl Schalk, an important Lutheran composer, who died January 24, 2021.

MUSICAL OFFERING What a Friend We Have in Jesus
arr. Charles McCartha
Feel free to sing along - but only in your head. Also, if you do, you'll need to use a different tune than you're used to singing with this text. The composer chose Beach Spring (from The Sacred Harp) rather than the more familiar Converse. Still, if you listen carefully, you'll hear echoes of Converse in the background as a countermelody.

COMMUNION HYMN Bring Forth the Kingdom
Worship & Praise 22

Worship & Praise is a songbook from the Augsburg Fortress family of hymnal resources. The words and music of Bring Forth the Kingdom are by Marty Haugen.

SENDING HYMN To Be Your Presence (Engelberg)
ELW 546

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Fortunatus New

setting, J. Wayne Kerr

This is  arrangement of the tune for the Hymn of the Day. It begins with an opening on the organ's Festival Trumpet followed by a majestic interlude that bookends a satsifying rendering of the hymn tune.

Additional Note:
You might be interested to know that our music comes from four different hymnals today, including Evangelical Lutheran Worship, All Creation Sings, and Worship & Praise - all from the Augsburg Fortress family of hymn resources. The psalm setting comes from Glory to God - a new (2013) hymnal published by the Presbyterian Church (USA).

Year C: Music for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany February 6, 2022

 

opening voluntary Morning Has Broken (Bunessan)

setting, Franklin D. Ashdown

 

gathering HYMN                                                                                         ELW 413

Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God Almighty                                                           nicaea

Text: Reginald Heber, 1783-1826, alt.

Music: John B. Dykes, 1823-1876

 

PSALM: Psalm 138                                                              muscial setting, Luke Mayernik

 

HYMN OF THE DAY                                                                                               ELW 574

Here I Am, Lord                                                                                          here i am, lord

Text and music: Daniel L. Schutte, b. 1946

 

MUSICAL OFFERING Light Shone in Darkness                                       Mark Sedio

 

COMMUNION HYMN                                                                                      ELW 817                          

You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore                       pescador de hombres

Text and music: Cesáreo Gabaráin, 1936-1991; tr. Madleine Forell Marshall, b. 1946

 

SENding Hymn                                                                                                       ACS 991

Go to the World                                                                                                 sine nomine

Text: Sylvia Dunstan, 1955-1993

Music: Ralph Vaughn Williams, 1872-1958

 

CLOSING VOLUNTARY  Postlude on Sine nomine                          Charles Callahan