Music for the Fifth Sunday of Easter, Year B: April 28, 2024

OPENING VOLUNTARY Ubi caritas et amor  setting, Gerald Near

It is the Holy Spirit's work to gather us together as God's people in a community of faith. This ancient hymn from the ninth century celebrates our communal worship. It is also a prayer that we have no division and that we be on guard against the ways in which we might harm each other.

Finally, it reminds us of the day when we shall see Jesus "face to face in glory and light." And it won't just be our community, but we'll be surrounded by the "blest saints" with whom we will join in worship.

It's a suitable text for meditation as worship begins.

GATHERING HYMN We Know That Christ Is Raised (Engelberg)

ELW 449
The author of the text, John B. Geyer wrote this hymn in 1967. He was a tutor at Chestnut College, Cambridge, U.K. At the time, experiments were being done around producing living cells in the laboratory. Geyer says, "The hymn attempted to illustrate the Christian doctrine of baptism in relation to those experiments." 

Evangelical Lutheran Worship groups We Know That Christ is Raised with baptism hymns - as Geyer intended. But it's easy to see why we also sing it during Easter.

HYMN OF THE DAY Alleluia! Jesus Is Risen! (Earth and All Stars)
ELW 377

Easter lilies in my home garden, 2019
They all came from the Easter celebrations at St. Mark's

Like the gathering hymn, the Hymn of the Day begins with a proclamation of Jesus' resurrection. It reminds us (as if we needed reminding) that we are still in the Easter season.

Herbert Brokering (1926-2009), one of our time's most noteworthy Lutheran hymnwriters, wrote this SECOND text to be used with the same tune as his Earth and All Stars. The text was specifically written to be included in With One Voice. Both texts appear in ELW, and we used them at St. Mark's frequently.

Since ELW's release in 2006, we have sung Earth and All Stars nine times.  We have sung Alleluia! Jesus Is Risen! fifteen times. This means David N. Johnson's tune gets significant play at St. Mark's - 24 times!

The third verse of Alleluia! will especially catch our eyes this morning as Brokering reminds us of what Jesus said - that he is the vine. We are the branches.

MUSICAL OFFERING A Vineyard Grows K. Lee Scott

close-up of the fruit and vine
motif from the organ at St. Mark's

Scott wrote a melody based on an English folk tune to accompany Jaroslav J. Vajda's (1919-2008) text. Like Brokering, he is another celebrated Lutheran hymn writer of our time.

The text appeared with Richard Hillert's tune Granton in Lutheran Book of Worship.

The full text closely aligns with today's gospel reading.

COMMUNION HYMNS
Like the Murmur of the Dove's Song (Bridegroom) ELW 403
Where Charity and Love Prevail (Twenty-Fourth) ELW 359

SENDING HYMN Awake, O Sleeper, Rise from Death (Azmon)

ELW 452

Is there a more stalwart tune than Azmon? This hymn also carries reminders that we are still in Easter. It also offers us advice on how to live in community, that we should walk in love and forgive each other as Christ forgave us.
It's a suitable text to carry with us as the Spirt who gathered us, now sends us witnesses to the good news of Jesus Christ. 
Awake! Arise! Go forth in faith!

Ruth V. took this photo of choir members and worship assistants
preparing for this year's Easter vigil

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Now the Green Blade Rises (Noël Nouvelet)

setting, Wayne L. Wold

Sources:
Wikipedia
Hymn Notes for Church Bulletins, Austin C. Lovelace, GIA Publications, Inc.
The Hymnal Companion: Evangelical Lutheran Worship

Music for the Third Sunday of Easter, Year B: April 14, 2024

OPENING VOLUNTARY This Joyful Eastertide (Vruechten)

setting, Ronald A. Nelson

I often like to choose opening voluntaries that act as a preview of something later in the service. In this case, it's the melody of the Sending Hymn, This Joyful Eastertide.

Here is a reminder that we are in an Easter tide. Easter is not just a day, but a season of 50 days that includes Ascension of Our Lord and finds its culmination in Pentecost. 

This hymn is sometimes called an Easter carol - and why not? It has a danceable tune (courtesy of the Dutch people) and even a melisma at the end - a series of notes sung under a single syllable.  How do you sing it without thinking of Angels We Have Heard on High and its "Glo-o-o-o-o-o-o-ria!"

The refrain is a joyful reminder that Jesus has risen. It's a perfect way to begin, and finish, a worship service in Eastertide.

GATHERING HYMN As We Gather at Your Table (In Babilone) ELW 522

Jesus' disciples share a piece of broiled fish with him, and he eats it in their presence.

This gathering hymn reminds us how we are fed through God's word and the Lord's supper. It ends with the words "repeat the sounding joy." Carl P. Daw, the author, intentionally quoted the famous Christmas hymn on purpose. (It's not really a Christmas hymn - but that's not the focus of today's post.) The people of Eastern Shore Chapel Episcopal Church (Virginia Beach, Virginia) asked him to include these words that echoed the theme of their celebration commemorating the 300th year of their founding.

HYMN OF THE DAY Around You, O Lord Jesus (O Jesu, än de dina) ELW 468

Sweden's national church, Lutheran in its identity, adopted the Augsburg Confession in 1593. Some 50 years later, the Diocese of Härnösand was formed, and that is where this hymn came from. The author is Frans Michael Franzén, who was bishop of the diocese from 1832 - 1847.

Frans Michael Franzén
by Johan Gustaf Sandberg (1823)
via Wikipedia

Franzén's hymn reminds us that Jesus is still present with his people, and in the context of a communion hymn reminds us of the unique way we experience Christ's true presence in the Lord's supper. Indeed, the opening words, "Around YOU, O Lord, Jesus. . ." depict our gathering at the table, and not simply gathering for corporate worship or for a memorial.

MUSICAL OFFERING Ancient Words Lynn DeShazo, arr. Mary McDonald
This arrangement of a contemporary praise song (1999) has become one of our choir's favorites.

I chose it after reading Jesus' words in today's gospel reading. These are my words that I spoke to you while I was still with you - that everything written about me in the law of Moses, the prophets, and the psalms must be fulfilled." 

COMMUNION HYMNS
Hallelujah! We Sing Your Praises (Haleluya! Pelo tsa rona) ELW 535

Christ Has Arisen, Alleluia (Mfurahine, haleluya) ELW 364

Both of our communion hymns have their origins in Africa - South Africa and Tanzania, respectively.
The first focuses on communion themes and the second on the Easter message, but both have a strong "sending theme" that sends US to spread the gospel of Jesus' resurrection.

SENDING HYMN This Joyful Eastertide (Vruechten) ELW 391

CLOSING VOLUNTARY At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing (Sonne der Gerechtigkeit) 

setting, Jeffrey Blersch

Sources:

Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship
Wikipedia
The Resurrection of Christ, an Icon of the Eastern Orthodox Church is believed to be in the public domain.z

Praising the Lamb graphic from SundaysandSeasons.com