Music for Reformation Sunday: October 29, 2023

INTRODUCTION TO THE DAY (From Sundays and Seasons)
Rooted in the past and growing into the future, the church must always be reformed in order to live out the love of Christ in an ever-changing world. We celebrate the good news of God's grace, that Jesus Christ sets us free every day to do this life-transforming work. Trusting in the freedom given to us in baptism, we pray for the church, that Christians will unite more fully in worship and mission.

OPENING VOLUNTARY Prelude and Chorale on "Nun bitten wir"

Dieterich Buxtehude (c. 1637 - 1707)

The text and tune can be found at ELW 743.

In our day it's quite easy to learn from somebody who is miles away. We can buy books, send emails, and even attend internet master classes. It was not so easy in the days of J. S. Bach. His desire to learn from the Danish master of his day, Dieterich Buxtehude, included a walking journey of about 250 miles! 

The young J. S. Bach asked his employer for a one month leave of absence, but instead spent something more like four months learning from Buxtehude and writing out copies of his music by hand.

The hymn grew out of a medieval form called the leise. Each of these hymns featured a single verse and ended with some form of a Kyrie eleison.  Experts believe the name leise came out of eleison. 

The first stanza dates from about the thirteenth century. Martin Luther added three stanzas and it has appeared in Lutheran hymnals ever since.

Each Sunday, the Holy Spirit gathers us as the people of God, so it's appropriate that our time together begins with a hymn that honors the Spirit's work.

GATHERING HYMN Making Their Way (Komt nu met zang) ACS 979

Delores Dufner, OSB

This beautiful text by Sister Delores Dufner makes it clear that everyone - from all times and places and all facets of society - is called to gather and hear God's word, offer thanks, and share in the eucharistic feast. Dufner, a prolific hymn writer, was born and raised on a farm in the Red River Valley of North Dakota and is now a member of St. Benedict's Monastery in St. Joseph, Minnesota. The text is set to a sturdy Dutch tune that many have learned in Evangelical Lutheran Worship with the text "What Is This Place?" (ELW 524). 

(From Sundays and Seasons)

HYMN OF THE DAY Built on a Rock (Kirken den er et gammelt hus) ELW 652

MUSICAL OFFERING Rise, Shine! arr. Dale Wood

The text and tune can be found at ELW 665.

Martin Luther gave us a great gift in his Small Catechism. In it we find Luther's answers to many questions that have guided generations of Lutherans whose faith has been formed by his words.

But the church's hymns are equally formational - and their metrical nature makes them easier to remember than the prose narratives many of us had to memorize to pass the examinations that led to confirmation.

That's why Ronald A. Klug's text, written with Epiphany in mind, encourages us to hurl our songs and prayers against the world's darkness and against our "old evil foe, sent to work us woe." Our arsenal is a rich one that we perhaps began using with "Jesus Loves Me." 

Pay attention to today's hymns and see what truths you can find that are worthy of hurling against the darkness. You might even want to jot them down on the "notes" page of your bulletin.

COMMUNION HYMN In the Midst of Earthly Life (Mitten wir im Leben sind) 

ACS 1026
Martin Luther was deeply aware of the brevity of human life. This hymn makes plain what

we so often work to deny: death is a part of life. Each stanza names this difficult truth, then makes a turn toward God in faith and praise, using a paraphrase of the Greek hymn Trisagion, or "thrice-holy." Luther modeled this hymn on an eleventh century antiphon, and it has been sung at countless deathbeds and gravesides, offering comfort to those yearning for the hope of God's eternal embrace. (From Sundays and Seasons)

This will be a new hymn to many singers at St. Mark's. The stanzas are longer than we are used to, but the stepwise motion of the melody will make its singing intuitive for many. 

A one-stanza version of this hymn appeared as "Even as we live each day" in Lutheran Book of Worship. All Creation Sings favors a new translation by Susan Palo Cherwien and adds two additional stanzas. It is among the first of the 36 or so hymns that Luther wrote.

SENDING HYMN A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (Ein fest Burg) ELW 503

This year we sing the rhythmic version, the one that Luther wrote!

A commonly mistold story is that the melody of this song originated in taverns as a popular song of the day.
This legend began when someone read that the tune was a bar song, meaning that it was written in bar form - a form of musical writing that was common in Luther's time. 

CLOSING VOLUNTARY A Mighty Fortress Is Our God Johann Pachelbel

Sources:
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Sundays and Season (some texts, and the funeral clip art)

https://bachtrack.com/feature-at-home-guide-bach-buxtehude-lubeck-arnstadt-august-2017
Wikipedia
Delores Dufner photo: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:S_Delores_Dufner_300px.jpg#/media/File:S_Delores_Dufner_300px.jpg
Assembly Song Companion to All Creation Sings

Music for the 21st Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 29): October 22, 2023

OPENING VOLUNTARY Mit Freuden zart setting, Benjamin M. Culli

Broadway musicals and operas open with an overture - a musical introduction that contains musical themes from the show to follow. Similarly, this piece previews the music that our Festival Choir will sing during the musical offering.

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

It's an easy trap to trust in our earthy assets. Once we break that bond, we can readily "Give. . .to God the things that are God's." In stanza three we ask God to "shame our wanton, selfish gladness" in order to do just that.

But this hymn doesn't only have ties to our gospel reading, it relates to our world situation as the Abrahamic traditions war with each other in the Middle East. Last week's intercessory prayers included this petition: 

We pray for our Jewish, Christian, and Muslim siblings in the Middle East, for those who have died and for those who mourn. Bring an end to war and hatred so that all may live peaceful lives and be reconciled with their neighbors. 

We ended the prayer with "God of grace, hear our prayer," but we could also take a cue from this well-known hymn and say, "God of Grace and God of Glory, hear our prayer."

HYMN OF THE DAY O God of Every Nation (Llangloffan) ELW 713

MUSICAL OFFERING Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above

Mit Freuden zart is the tune for this hymn. It's slightly altered from the ELW version. The melody has some extra notes and it has a different metre - instead of dividing the larger beat into two equal parts, it's divided into three. (This means you can sway back and forth as you sing!)

When we render unto God what is God's, we can't forget to include all praise and glory!

COMMUNION HYMN Around You, O Lord Jesus (O Jesu, än de dina) ELW 468

SENDING HYMN You Servants of God (Lyons) ELW 825

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Jesus Shall Reign (Duke Street) setting, Gerhard Krapf

 

Music for the Twentieth Sunday After Pentecost (Lectionary) 28: October 15, 2023

OPENING VOLUNTARY Laudation Arnold Sherman

Today's gospel reading recounts events around a wedding. Is there any greater cause for celebration than a wedding? Today's "Laudation" is a celebratory piece that is rhythmically exciting with chords that double, then triple in size. The introspective middle section might even accompany a wedding procession.

GATHERING HYMN Now We Join in Celebration (Schmücke dich)

ELW 462

The celebratory theme continues. As the guests for the wedding in Matthew's gospel put on their wedding robes, so we come "dressed no more in spirit somber" but "clothed instead in joy and wonder."

The tune, with its alternation between long and short notes, feels like an elegant dance. Is there a better way to enter into worship than with singing and dancing?

HYMN OF THE DAY At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing (Sonne der Gerechtigkeit) ELW 362

Jan Hus preaching

The music for this hymn is deeply associated with reformers who predate Martin Luther! Jan Hus (1369-1415) was an important voice in the Bohemian Reformation. (The Moravians were spiritual descendants of the Bohemians.) This tune, fashioned from a 15th century folk song, comes from a Bohemian hymnal published in 1566. 

This is a hymn of praise to Christ. In the Prayer of the Day, we ask God to transform us into a people of righteousness and peace. We echo that prayer in the 7th stanza with the words "From sin's pow'r, Lord set us free, newborn souls in you to be."

MUSICAL OFFERING Jesus Calls Us K. Lee Scott

K. Lee Scott borrowed the text from a well-known hymn and paired it with a tune from from New Harp Columbia, a shape-note tune book that was published in Knoxville, TN in 1867. It's easy to hear the tune as a piece of Americana, but I could not determine if it was newly composed for this book or arranged from other sources.

COMMUNION HYMN Look Who Gathers at Christ's Table (Copeland) ACS 977

This hymn imagines the assembly gathered for worship, bringing their whole lives with them - their joy and their pain. The text was commissioned by the First Presbyterian Church of Tallahassee, Florida, to honor its pastor, Brant S. Copeland, and was first sung there in October, 2000. The tune was created specifically for this text. (From Sundays and Seasons)

SENDING HYMN Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart (Vineyard Haven) ELW 874

There are two uses of this hymn in ELW. The other one is on the facing page. Today we sing Vineyard Haven, a much more somber tone than Marion.
There is another difference between the two versions, one that changes the intention. Instead of a refrain of "Rejoice! Rejoice! Rejoice, give thanks and sing!" we find ourselves singing "Hosanna! Hosanna! Rejoice, give thanks and sing. "Hosanna!" is often translated as "Save us!" As we learn more of the unfolding drama in the Middle East, of atrocities and lives that have been lost, "Save us!" may be an important cry as we are sent into the world. 

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Partita on "At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing" Kenneth T. Kosche

The postlude is two settings from Kosche's partita: Scherzo and Fanfare and Chorale

from a window at Christ Lutheran Church in Bexley, OH

Sources:
Wikipedia

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Hus_na_kazatelne.jpg#/media/File:Hus_na_kazatelne.jpg
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Music for the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost (Lectionary 27), October 8, 2023

OPENING VOLUNTARY Prelude and Chorale on "Jesu, meines lebens leben"

Friederich Wilhelm Zachau (1663-1712), chorale from Das grosse Cantional, pub. Darmstadt, 1687

Today's prelude uses a peculiarly Lutheran device, using an ornamented piece of freely composed music based on the hymntune that it introduces. Usually the chorale prelude introduces the actual singing of the hymn.

GATHERING HYMN Lord Christ, When First You Came to Earth (Mit Freuden zart) ELW 727

HYMN OF THE DAY There in God's Garden (Shades Mountain) ELW 342

This crepe myrtle grows outside our choir room door.

MUSICAL OFFERING A Vineyard Grows K. Lee Scott

In a happy coincidence, the composer of our Hymn of the Day is also the composer of today's musical offering. The music is based on an English folk song. (Unfortunately, I was unable to learn which one.)

Scott's music is paired with a text by the Jaroslav J. Vajda, a Lutheran pastor and hymn writer. Vajda has six texts in Evangelical Lutheran Worship, including Go, My Children, with My Blessing.

COMMUNION HYMN My Song Is Love Unknown (Love Unknown) ELW 343

SENDING HYMN Thine the Amen (Thine) ELW 826

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Westminster Abbey with Fanfares ed. David Drinkwater

It took awhile for John Mason Neale's translation of a Latin hymn and the music of Henry Purcell to find each other, but they are a "match made in heaven." A mainstay of English hymnody, it was used at the wedding of Princess Margaret and Antony Armstrong-Jones in 1960, the wedding of Prince Charles and Lady Diane Spencer in 1981, and the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II in 2022.

The organ's trumpet chorus from the swell manual ( top keyboard) plays the fanfares while the great manual (middle keyboard) plays the hymn.