Year C: Music for the Fourth Sunday in Lent - March 27, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth 

This third setting from Bálint Karosi's partita is in the style of a French chorale. The melody is played on a trumpet stop in the pedal. The actual bass notes are played on the swell which has a fairly active line with lots of scales and dotted rhythms. The organ's principal stops help fill in the harmonies.

GATHERING HYMN Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Nettleton)

ELW 807

Fountains are a good reminder of our baptism.
This one is at Palms Presbyterian Church
in Jacksonville Beach

PSALM: Psalm 32 (excerpted verses)

setting, Luke Mayernik

HYMN OF THE DAY Our Father We Have Wandered (Herzlich tut mich verlangen)

ELW 606

This tune alone brings Lenten connotations since it's also the melody used in J. S. Bach's famous passion chorale - O Sacred Head, Now Wounded.

MUSICAL OFFERING Lord, for Thy Tender Mercies' Sake 

The composer for this hymn has been called into question. Most collections attribute it to Richard Farrant (1530-1580), but it may also have been written by John Hilton. This arrangement by K. Lee Scott simplifies the vocal lines into two parts (instead of four) and relies on the accompaniment to fill in the harmonies.

It's a neat tie-in that this anthem ends with the words "that we may walk in a perfect heart before thee now and evermore" which leads into the offertory hymn (written in a similar style) with the text "Create in me a clean heart, O God."

COMMUNION HYMNS

Just As I Am (Woodworth)

ELW 592

Charlotte Elliott from Wikipedia

Honestly, this is not one of my favorite hymns. But, I know it is deeply loved by many and I am always happy to include it. After learning its story, I like it a lot more.

Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871) was an invalid for much of her life and she often felt rejected and undeserving of God's love. This became even more of a burden when her brother wanted to raise money to help build a school, but she was too sick in bed to be able to help. This hymn grew out of her own reflections as she was "tossed about with many a conflict, many a doubt." She heard God say "Come, as you are."  She responded, "Just as I am, I come."

We sing this hymn as we gather around the Lord's table - to which we come just as we are.

Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound (New Britain)

ELW 779

Today's gospel reading includes the parable we usually call "The Prodigal Son." Whenever I hear this parable, I will always be reminded of seeing this moving work of art.

The Prodigal Son, by Guercino (1591-1666)

A few years ago I saw this painting at the Timken Museum of Art in San Diego. Here's what I wrote about it then:

SENDING HYMN What Wondrous Love Is This (Wondrous Love)

ELW 666

Sources: Hymn Index to Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Wikipedia

Year C: Music for the Third Sunday in Lent - March 20, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY A Lamb God Uncomplaining Forth
(An Wasserflüssen Babylon)

This morning the Festival Choir sings the entire hymn. A chorale prelude by Bernard Wayne Sanders (b. 1957) on An Wasserflüssen Babylon introduces the chorale. The outer stanzas are sung to the accompaniment in ELW. The inner stanzas are sung to an alternate harmonization by Roger Petrich. The original tune is by Wolfgang Dachstein (1487-1553) who studied theology and music with Martin Luther.

GATHERING HYMN Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken (Blaenwern)
ELW 647

PSALM Psalm 63:1-8

Musical setting by Luke Mayernik from The Five Graces Psalter

HYMN OF THE DAY Jesus Still Lead On (Seelenbraütigam)

Nicolaus L. von Zinzendorf

ELW 624

The hymn we have today draws stanzas from two different hymns by the pietist Nicolaus L. von Zinzendorf (1700-1760), a bishop of the Moravian church. He wrote lots of others hymns - more than 2,000 from the time he was a young boy until the end of his life. He considered himself both "Cantor" and "Minister" to the church he served in Herrnhut, a parish in Saxony. 

MUSICAL OFFERING Give Me Jesus

arr. Robert Lau
"I heard my mother say. . ." are the opening words in many versions of this African American spiritual. In the morning, at midnight, at daybreak, and when we die, may our song always be "Give me Jesus."

COMMUNION HYMN Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me (Toplady)
ELW 623

SENDING HYMN There in God's Garden (Shades Mountain)
ELW 342

CLOSING VOLUNTARY If You but Trust in God to Guide You
(Wer nur den lieben Gott)
setting, J. S. Bach (1685-1750)

Preparing for the Third Sunday in Lent

Sources:
Hymnal Companion for Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Wikipedia
Zinzendorf portrait: By Balthasar Denner - 18. Apr 2005 upload to de.wikipedia by de:Benutzer:Joachim T., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=826213

Year C: Music for the Second Sunday in Lent - March 13, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth

Stanza Two from Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Organ Variation setting, Bálint Karosi

GATHERING HYMN The God Of Abraham Praise (Yigdal)

ELW 831

PSALM Psalm 27

musical setting by Luke Mayernik

HYMN OF THE DAY All Who Love and Serve Your City (New Orleans)
ELW 724

It may seem natural to hear this hymn in the overall context of bringing God's kingdom to the world, but this hymn was written specifically in response to riots occurring in American cities during the 1960s - riots arising from racial, economic, and justice-related issues.

Paul D. Weber's tune, New Orleans, was written in the aftermath of hurricane Katrina which struck that city in 2005. Thousands were stranded and the death toll was 1,833 people. As people struggled to survive and evacuate, Americans were forced to confront many of the same issues.

Perhaps these situations are not much different from what Jesus observed in Jerusalem.

Each time this reading comes up in the lectionary, I'm drawn to this scene from Jesus Christ Superstar:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YtakzK1T5U

Mission Basilica San Diego de Alcalá

MUSICAL OFFERING Appassionata Michael W. Joy

The St. Mark's Ringers

Sometimes the title of a piece is an indication of how it should be played. Pieces marked "appassionata" are deeply emotional, impassioned pieces. As you listen to this piece, it's easy to imagine Jesus, standing alone on some mountain, looking towards Jerusalem (or Kyiv, Buenos Aires, Johannesburg, or even Jacksonville) and weeping.

It's also a reminder that Lent is propelling us toward the Sunday of the Passion when we recall Jesus' suffering and death.

COMMUNION HYMN Thy Holy Wings (Bred dina vida vingar)

Sissel Kyrkjebø

I'm always happy when the opportunity comes up to sing "Thy Holy Wings." The melody is a Swedish folk tune and I have always imagined it as a lullaby with the scene of a mother rocking her child to sleep on a stormy night.

I love this recording by Sissel Kyrkebjø - one of Norway's best-known singers. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c94RJyGLEEI

But the song is hard to sing when there are children whose mother's lullabies are drowned out by the sounds of war and the desperation of evacuation. The bombing of the maternity hospital in Mariupol is a travesty. There is NO reason. There is NO justification.

Lord, have mercy.

SENDING HYMN Lord Christ, When First You Came to Earth (Mit Freuden zart) ELW 783 CLOSING VOLUNTARY Thy Strong Word

setting, Paul Manz

Our new "E3" handbell is used for the first
time today!

Sources: The Hymnal Companion: Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Photo of Sissel Kyrkebjø by Kristin & Vibeke - http://www.mynewsdesk.com/se/werecki_company/images/sissel-kyrkjeboe-sissels-jul-paa-turne-2014-280972, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=44428702

Year C: Music for the First Sunday in Lent March 6, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth

Stanza One from Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Organ Variation  setting, Bálint Karosi

Read more about the selection of this hymn from my other blog at:http://smljax.blogspot.com/2022/03/the-greatest-passion-hymn-you-probably.html

GATHERING HYMN Bless Now, O God the Journey (Llangloffan)
ELW 326

PSALM 91

Musical Setting by Luke Mayernik

Read more about Luke Mayernik's psalm settings on my other blog:http://smljax.blogspot.com/2022/03/something-were-not-giving-up-for-lent.html

HYMN OF THE DAY When We Are Tested (Slane) 

ACS 922

A prayer based on the temptation of Christ, this text set to a traditional Irish tune calls to mind whole Bible stories with single words or short phrases: "wrestle" in Genesis 32, "bread" and "stone" in Matthew 7, "food that sustains" in Exodus 16, and "by night and by day" in Exodus 13, thereby the struggle to be faithful within the biblical narrative.  The hymn calls from that struggle upon God who nourishes, lifts, teaches, and holds us.  Ruth Duck is a United Church of Christ pastor, professor, feminist, practical theologian, and hymnwriter.  (Description from Sundays and Seasons)

MUSICAL OFFERING O Christ, Surround Me

Richard Bruxvoort Colligan, arr. David Sims

On his website, Colligan describes himself as "a psalmist making adventurous music for the ever-evolving church." This is a nice pairing with the Hymn of Day since it has a Celtic feel. David Sims even quotes St. Patrick's Breastplate in this well-crafted, gentle arrangement.

COMMUNION HYMN Lead Me, Guide Me (Lead Me, Guide Me)

ELW 768
The words and the music are by Doris Akers (1923-1995) who was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 2001 for her career that included singing, composing, and arranging. She was also biracial. 

SENDING HYMN A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (Ein feste Burg)

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Fughetta on "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God"

Michael D. Costello

Biographical information and news clipping from Wikipedia.

By The Northwest enterprise (Seattle, Wash.) - https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn87093377/1949-06-29/ed-1/seq-1/, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=115583588