Cantor's POV Sunday by Sunday at St. Mark's Lutheran

Saturday, May 28, 2022

Year C: Music for the Seventh Sunday of Easter - May 29, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY This Little Light of Mine

arr. Valerie Stephenson

St. Mark's Ringers

GATHERING HYMN The Church's One Foundation (Aurelia)

ELW 654

HYMN OF THE DAY Thine the Amen (Thine) ELW 826

MUSICAL OFFERING The Truth Will Make You Free

Anne Krentz Organ
The Festival Choir

COMMUNION HYMN This Joyful Eastertide (Vruechten) ELW 391

SENDING HYMN Scatter the Darkness, Break the Gloom
(Besançon)

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

Friday, May 20, 2022

Year C: Music for the Sixth Sunday of Easter - May, 22, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY Shall We Gather at the River (Hanson Place)

setting, Robert A. Hobby

Bad Axe River - near my Wisconsin home

Twelve years ago, just after Easter, my brother, Adam, died unexpectedly. The lectionary was a constant blessing to me in the weeks that followed. I found comfort in stories of Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, but I found even more in the readings from Revelation, like the second reading today. "Shall We Gather at the River" is a common hymn at funerals, and we often think of it in terms of crossing the River Jordan. Clearly, that's not what Robert Lowry had in mind when he wrote the text.
Since this river is "flowing by the throne of God," he speaks of the river in John's revelation, the river that flows through the holy city of Jerusalem.

The tune, Hanson Place, is named for Hanson Place Baptist Church in Brooklyn

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

Even though the text has been slightly modified for contemporary worshipers, many will remember singing it to the tune Austria. I never heard this hymn until I was in college, and we sang through it in a Church Music class. I was surprised to know that my Baptist friends all knew it and seemed to like it.

Franz Joseph Haydn

When the Nazis came to power in Germany and Austria, this tune was used as the national anthems for both countries. It's said that this association is the reason many modern hymnals have paired the text with a new tune. Blaenwern is an excellent choice. Its longer notes and phrases draw attention to the text and allude to God's grandeur.

Even though I prefer Blaenwern, I'm saddened that Austria has disappeared from our hymnals. It's a sturdy tune by a celebrated composer, Franz Joseph Haydn (1732-1809). I hope it will come back in a future generation of hymnals, but I also hope it's paired with a different text.

In my mind, Blaenwern and Glorious Things of You Are Spoken, are a perfect pairing.

HYMN OF THE DAY Come Down, O Love Divine (Down Ampney) ELW 804

MUSICAL OFFERING O Living Breath of God (Vårvindar friska)

arr. John Helgen

Osvaldo Catena (1920-1986), a Roman Catholic priest in Argentina, did most of his work among some of Argentina's poorest citizens in Sante Fe, Argentina. He was known as a gifted musician who organized workshops and retreats. His compositions helped to renew Latin American liturgy. When a military dictatorship came to power in the late 1970s, he became a victim of harassment. He found refuge in a monastery where he later died.

The tune is a folk song from a completely different part of the world - Scandinavia. It is probably Norwegian or Swedish in origin.

This photo, showing the Holy Spirit descending over a rainbow background, was a community art project at Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio. You can read more about it on a previous blog post: http://smljax.blogspot.com/2016/07/one-more-story-from-columbus-doing-art.html

COMMUNION HYMN My Life Flows On in Endless Song (How Can I Keep from Singing)

ELW 763

SENDING HYMN I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light (Houston) ELW 815

Light, light, light! If singing this hymn doesn't call today's second reading to mind, you should probably go back and read it again!

CLOSING VOUNTARY Scatter the Darkness, Break the Gloom (Besançon)

setting, Matthew Machemer

You can be forgiven if, upon hearing this postlude, you think the organist has lost his mind and accidentally pulled out one of his Advent books - but that isn't the case.

This arrangement of the tune, Besançon, was written with a different text in mind.
An Easter version of "People, Look East," it is found in the Lutheran Service Book, the most recent hymnal from the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod.

Sources:
Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship, edited by Paul Westermeyer
Wikipedia

Friday, May 13, 2022

Year C: Music for the Fifth Sunday of Easter - May 15, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY Prelude and Chorale on "Duke Street"

Richard Wienhorst / John Hatton

GATHERING HYMN Come, We That Love the Lord

(Marching to Zion) ELW 625

PSALM Psalm 148 (Thaxted)

Metrical text by Martin Leckebusch

HYMN OF THE DAY I Come with Joy (Dove of Peace) ELW 482

MUSICAL OFFERING In Heaven Above arr. Carl F. Schalk

COMMUNION HYMN Draw Us in the Spirit's Tether

(Union Seminary) ELW 470

SENDING HYMN Alleluia! Jesus Is Risen (Earth and all Stars)
ELW 377

CLOSING VOLUNTARY Christ Jesus Lay in Death's Strong Bands (Christ lag in Todesbanden) J. S. Bach

And on Thursday, May 26th at 6:00 p.m:

Friday, May 6, 2022

Year C: Music for the Fourth Sunday of Easter / Church Music Sunday

"Music in the liturgy is God's good gift to the church to glorify God and edify God's people." (From the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians Statement on Worship and Music)

Church Music Sunday is not a liturgical observance, but it is a day that St. Mark's has chosen to recognize the importance of music in our worship services. We publicly express our support for our siblings in Christ who sing in the Festival Choir, ring handbells in the St. Mark's Ringers, and play instruments to enliven our worship. Further, we acknowledge assembly singing as the primary musical expression of our worship and promise to cheerfully lift our own voices for the proclamation of the gospel.

OPENING VOLUNTARY Andante Maestoso Kevin McChesney

St. Mark's Ringers

This melody comes from The Planets, a famous orchestral suite by English composer Gustav Holst (1874-1934). We hear the music for Andante Maestoso in the movement named for Jupiter.

Diana, Princess of Wales
at the White House in 1997

Probably the first instance of adding text to this melody came in 1921when the tune, now named Thaxted, was paired with patriotic words by the British poet Sir Cecil Spring-Rice (1859-1918). It was famously sung by the assembly at Princess Diana's funeral in 1997. Hear the tune, and the singing at Princess Diana's funeral, at this link:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LmeQ_M7fPMw

The text of I Vow to Thee, My Country follows:

Evangelical Lutheran Worship pairs Thaxted with two texts: Let Streams of Living Justice (ELW 710), and O God Beyond All Praising (ELW 880). Another instance is found in All Creation Sings where the tune is paired with O Spirit, All Embracing by Delores Dufner.

Feel free to call any of these texts to mind as the St. Mark's Ringers signal the beginning of our worship service.

GATHERING HYMN Good Christian Friends, Rejoice and Sing

(Gelobt sei Gott) ELW 385

We continue to lift our voices with hymns of Christ's resurrection as the 50-day celebration of Easter continues!

HYMN OF THE DAY My Shepherd, You Supply My Need

(Resignation) ELW 782

Today is also known as Good Shepherd Sunday. This hymn is a metrical setting of the beloved 23rd Psalm. The meditative tune - a traditional North American creation - is a suitable pairing for the text.

MUSICAL OFFERING Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life

Michael Larkin

Larkin's original melody is gentler than the one we find in ELW. The harmonies are lush and a joy to sing. One musical thing to listen for in his melody concerns rhythm. It's written in 6/8 time so that the larger beat is typically divided into three parts: 123 456, 123 456. Occasionally he divides the second half of the bar into two beats, so we get something like 123 456, 123 4 &. It has the effect of briefly suspending time and relaxing into the end of the musical phrase.

COMMUNION HYMN Savior, like a Shepherd Lead Us (Bradbury)

ELW 789

SENDING HYMN How Shall I Sing That Majesty (Coe Fen)

ACS 1095

Text by John Mason (1646-1694)

Music by Kenneth Naylor (1931-1991)

Who are we in the grand plan of God's creation? Hymnwriter John Mason draws on images from Psalms 104 and 137 to express our place in the cosmos and the boundless greatness of God. The majestic melody from Kenneth Naylor gives us a glimpse of what that greatness might sound like, even though in our earthbound insignificance we can only imagine the eternal Alleluias of heaven. The melody, Coe Fen, is named for a small meadowland east of the River Cam in the city of Cambridge, England. (From Sunday and Seasons)

One of the views around Coe Fen

After the "Recognition of Music Ministers in the Church" this new-to-us hymn has a double emphasis. It's an exhortation for our musicians who work during the week to prepare well-rehearsed music, and it strengthens the resolve of those who sing from the pews but will one day sing "Alleluia" with the celestial choir.

Watch for this amazing bit of poetry that expresses the vastness of God: thou art a sea without a shore, a sun without a sphere.

Sources:

www.alcm.org - website of The Association of Lutheran Church Musicians

Wikipedia

Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/holst-i-vow-to-thee-my-country

Portrait of Diana, Princess of Wales: By White House photographer - Ronald Reagan Library ([https://reaganlibrary.archives.gov/archives/photographs/large/c31901-3.jpg C31901-3)], Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2356832

https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/holst-i-vow-to-thee-my-country

Stained glass window of Jesus as The Good Shepherd: By Stained glass: Alfred Handel, d. 1946[2], photo:Toby Hudson - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10163206

View of Coe Fen: By JackyR - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=631009

Friday, April 29, 2022

Year C: Music for the Third Sunday of Easter - May 1, 2022

OPENING VOLUNTARY Where True Charity and Love Abide (Ubi caritas)

setting, Gerald Near (b. 1942)

The text of this hymn is very old - dating from the ninth century. It talks about how Christians should live together - watching out for division, and without "contention, envy, ill will." It is most often sung on Maundy Thursday when the church remembers - and seeks to live out - Christ's mandate to love one another.

Part of this hymn ties to the Prayer of the Day. There we talk about lauding God's majesty with the angels and all saints. In Where True Charity and Love Abide we sing of a time when "All surrounded by the blest saints, we shall see you face to face in glory and light. . ."

GATHERING HYMN The Day of Resurrection! (Lancashire)

John of Damascus
14th century Greek Icon

The author of this hymn, John of Damascus, was one of the Greek church's most important poets, hymnwriters, and theologians. He was born circa 675, then left Damascus to become a monk and a priest.

Damascus takes an important role in the first reading today, as it recounts St. Paul's conversion while he was on the road to that city. There's no theological point here, just an interesting fact.

Evangelical Lutheran Worship pairs John's text with the tune Ellacombe;, I have chosen to use Lancashire instead. It was composed by Henry Smart (1813-1879), an English organist and composer.

PSALM Psalm 30

This is a metrical setting with a refrain by Hal Hopson (b. 1933) who combined his work with that of

Michael Morgan (b. 1948) who paraphrased the psalm's verses so they could be sung with a metered tune.

The tune here is Y'Isarael voraita, a Hasidic tune. According to Westermeyer, the Hasidic movement values "the study of Torah, a continual awareness of God's presence, joyful and ecstatic exuberance, and physical involvement of the whole body at worship." This tune fits the bill of being joyful and ecstatic. We don't dance a lot at St. Mark's, but feel free to tap your toe as you sing!

HYMN OF THE DAY Touch That Soothes and Heals: See My Hands and Feet (Civility) ACS 939

This hymn describes the embodies dimensions of Jesus' ministry: with human hands and feet, Jesus heals, feeds, carries, and serves. The refrain proclaims the ongoing power of Jesus' incarnation as love risen from the dead. . . The refrain gently turns the singing community from contemplation to action, alluding to Teresa of Avila's assertion that "Christ has no body now on earth but yours." (from Sundays and Seasons)

St. Mark's Choir 1942

Back Row: Pastor Hart, Art Fraley, Charles Kelly, Herman Eppler, Richard Kaszner

Front Row: Ella Eppler, Hednig Simonsen, Myrtle Kaszner, Doris Brubaker, Betty Fraley, Doris Smoak, Pat Dickert, Marjorie Clifford

MUSICAL OFFERING Bread of Heaven

Ray Hopp (b. 1951)

Have you ever been gobsmacked by the text of a hymn? That's exactly what happened to me in this text by Richard Leach (b. 1953).

When the tongue shows up in a hymn text, it usually has something to do with singing or otherwise using our mouths to praise God or proclaim the gospel. There are lots of examples:
O, for a thousand tongues to sing my great redeemer's praise. . .
Sing, my tongue, the glorious battle. . .

At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue confess him. . .

The final stanza of Leach's text says Faith and hope and love have come; joy and freedom on our tongue.

It's easy to take the usual meaning and to understand that faith, hope, and love have come, and with them the freedom to sing about and praise God.

But consider another meaning.

Regarding communion, Lutherans teach In this sacrament the crucified and risen Christ is present, giving his true body and blood as food and drink. This real presence is a mystery.

Leach is showing us something of the mystery of Christ's presence in the eucharist. For a moment, we have the true body and blood of Jesus, his actual presence, on our tongue. We may not understand it, but here we have words to sing about it!

Communion will have a different emphasis for me today!

By Jonathunder - Own work, GFDL 1.2, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9929602

COMMUNION HYMN You, Lord, Are Both Lamb and Shepherd (Picardy) ACS 954
Resurrection of Christ
Hans Memling, 15th century
from Wikipedia

The author of this poignant text, Sylvia Dunstan, was an ordained minister in the Anglican Church of Canada, who died at a young age after a battle with cancer. The hymn, originally titled "Christus Paradox," presents images of Christ that are seemingly contradictory. Consider, for example, an "everlasting instant." At the crux of these paradoxes stand death and resurrection with the cross at the center of it all. This particular paradox is the heart of the Christian faith. (from Sundays and Seasons)

SENDING HYMN Rise, O Church, Like Christ Arisen (Surge ecclesia) ELW 548

CLOSING VOLUNTARY This Joyful Eastertide (Vreuchten) ELW 391

setting, Kevin Hildebrand

You may not actually hear the full tune in this setting. Hildebrand takes snippets from tune and repeats them at different musical intervals. It gives this postlude a playful quality that I hope you enjoy.