Music for Sunday, July 1

This Sunday is the Sunday before July 4, where many churches do patriotic salutes and sing songs to our country. Well, I hate to disappoint, but we are not doing much of that! But I have selected a couple of hymns and songs that you should enjoy, mainly because summer is time to sing OUR FAVORITES!

Mark Miller

The lectionary texts for this week call for us to care for the poor, following Jesus' example. The Gospel reading includes stories of Jesus healing the woman who touched his cloak, and raising the little girl who had died. He said, "Do not fear, only believe". So this week the choir will sing one of our most favorites, "I Believe". The composer, Mark Miller, serves as Assistant Professor of Church Music at Drew Theological School in New Jersey. He has written many anthems which touch on social justice. He likes to say that we can change the world with music. I agree! The text to "I Believe" is by an unknown poet. The words were found scratched into a wall in a cave in Cologne, Germany after WWII.

I believe in the sun, even when it's not shining.

I believe in love, even when I don't feel it.

                     I believe in God, even when God is silent.

Another favorite is the hymn "This Is My Song". The Contemporary Music Group will lead this hymn in honor of Independence Day.  The stirring melody comes from a symphonic tone poem by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) by the name of Finlandia, Op. 26. Not only is the spirit of the music appropriate for “This Is My Song,” but the history of Sibelius’ composition also adds meaning. He wrote Finlandia as a patriotic offering in 1899, and revised it in 1900. The composition was performed as the last of seven musical pieces that accompanied a series of tableaus, each reflecting portions of Finnish history. Out of agitated and tumultuous opening music—symbolizing the struggles of the Finnish people—the serenity of the hymn-like melody emerges, symbolizing hope and resolution. Lloyd Stone (1912-1993), an American public school teacher who lived in Hawaii, wrote the first two stanzas of “This Is My Song”. During the brief time of peace between two world wars, it was a song of hope for all nations—“for lands afar and mine.” The poet acknowledges love for his own country, but balances that with the love that others feel around the world for their nations.

Methodist theologian Georgia Harkness (1881-1974) now enters the story. In the late 1930s she added a third stanza..  It is a prayer to the “Lord of all earth’s kingdoms.” Harkness skillfully ties the reference to “earth’s kingdoms” to a petition found in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.” Christ becomes the central figure in Harkness’ stanza, as one who will unite us in service to each other and help us to “learn to live as one.” Her stanza ends with a personal dedication: “Myself I give thee; let thy will be done.” In this stanza, Harkness transforms a hymn of peace with vague religious overtones into a prayer for peace that comes from the author of peace, Jesus Christ.

Jean Sibelius

This is my song, O God of all the nations,

A song of peace for lands afar and mine.

This is my home, the country where my heart is,

Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine.

But other hearts in other lands are beating,

With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.

My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,

And sunlight beams on clover leaf and pine.

But other lands have sunlight too, and clover,

And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.

O hear my song, thou God of all the nations,

A song of peace for their land and for mine.

This is my prayer, O Lord of all earth's kingdoms,

thy kingdom come, on earth, thy will be done;

let Christ be lifted up 'til all shall serve him,

and hearts united, learn to live as one:

O hear my prayer, thou God of all the nations,

myself I give thee -- let thy will be done.

We will also honor America by using the Sacred Heart tune "Beach Spring" on the recessional hymn, "Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service". I will introduce the tune at the prelude by Gordon Young. And don't duck out without hearing "Improvisation on My Country, 'Tis of Thee" by the great Charles Wesley! I will play that at the postlude.


Prelude - Beach Spring                                                      
Processional - Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation                                            
Sequence - Father, All Loving, Who Rulest in Majesty                                                       
Offertory - I Believe                                                                                                        
Communion - Like an Avalance
                       Your Love, O Lord
                       This Is My Song
Recessional - Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service                                           
Postlude - Improvisation on "My Country, 'Tis of Thee                                              
             

Music for Sunday, June 24

It's been a while since I posted here, so I thought I would give it a go!

First I would like to comment on our recent pilgrimage to England. I and 7 folks from Trinity, as well as an old friend from a Georgia left on May 22 for an 11 tour of England. While there we sang Evensong 5 times in two cathedrals - Gloucester and Wells. We also sang Sunday morning service in Gloucester. It is difficult to put into words how amazing it was to sing in these beautiful and holy spaces. Gloucester Cathedral has been a place of Christian worship for over 1,300 years! The building of the current cathedral was begun in 1089. For those of you that have read "Pillars of the Earth", that's the same time period! One more bit of trivia - many of the hallways were use in the Harry Potter movies.

Gloucester Cathedral

Cloisters

The whole gang!

Wells Cathedral

Bisop's Close

St. Andrews Well

The Cathedral in Wells, has the same rich history. The springs in the Bishop's Garden are the reason for the original settlement (that's how the town is called Wells), and the first chapel was built in 705. The present cathedral was begun in 1175, and was the first English cathedral to be built in the new Gothic style. In 1348, the Bishop of Shrewsbury founded a college so that the Vicars Choral, the singing men of the choir, could live together.  He provided a hall for meals and a house for each of the vicars. These were built on two sides of a quadrangle, with the hall at one end and a chapel at the other end.Vicars' Close, as the street came to be known, is the only medieval street in England, and the old residential street in Europe. Today, the Choristers and Vergers still live there. The houses are completely updated!

The chance to sing in these spaces and experience Evensong with our new friends from St. James, St. Peter's and Good Shepherd was a wonderful and memorable experience!

As wonderful as it was, it was also wonderful to return home! The combined 10:00 service has been an exciting event at Trinity. It is wonderful to look out on all the faces together in community! The singing on the recessional hymn this past Sunday was glorious! Keep it up!

This Sunday's gospel reading is from Mark 4:35-41

When evening had come, Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd behind, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. Other boats were with him. A great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that the boat was already being swamped. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion; and they woke him up and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” He woke up and rebuked the wind, and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” Then the wind ceased, and there was a dead calm. He said to them, “Why are you afraid? Have you still no faith?” And they were filled with great awe and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

This reading led me to two songs in particular - "Oceans" by Hillsong, and Robert Lowry's "How Can I Keep From Singing". The choir will sing the offertory anthem, which is a different tune than the one you know, with hints of Aaron Copland, apple trees and newly mown meadows. For almost a century, the hymn remained unknown in mainline Christian worship.  It was brought to wide notice by Pete Seeger during the folk revival of the 1960's and came into use in Roman Catholic worship through arrangements by Marty Haugen and others.  Although Lowry composed the music for the hymn, the authorship for the words is unclear.  Regardless of authorship, the words, while bearing an unmistakably Victorian patina, are remarkably fresh and viable in their original form, and require little editing for use in modern worship. 

My life flows on, in endless song: 
Above earth's lamentation, 
I catch the sweet, tho' far off hymn 
That hails a new creation.
No storm can shake my inmost calm, While to that rock I'm clinging; Since Love is Lord of heaven and earth, How can I keep from singing? 

Through all the tumult and the strife 
I hear the music ringing; 
It finds an echo in my soul; 
How can I keep from singing? No storm can shake my inmost calm, While to that rock I'm clinging; Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, How can I keep from singing? 

The peace of Christ makes fresh my heart,
a fountain ever springing!
All things are mine since I am his!
How can I keep from singing?
No storm can shake my inmost calm, While to that rock I'm clinging; Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, How can I keep from singing? 

The Contemporary Music Group will sing "Oceans" at communion. This song, by the Australian worship group Hillsong United, was released in 2013. It spent a record 61 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot Christian Songs chart. It also won the 2014 song of the year at the GMA dove Awards. The theme of the song is about stepping into the unknown and Peter having blind trust to walk upon the water. When it was recorded, singer Tanya Smith sang many of the parts of the song in one take.

You call me out upon the waters
The great unknown where feet may fail
And there I find You in the mystery
In oceans deep my faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name
And keep my eyes above the waves
When oceans rise, my soul will rest in Your embrace
For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters
Your sovereign hand will be my guide
Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me
You've never failed and You won't start now

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders
Let me walk upon the waters
Wherever you would call me

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost - Proper 7

Processional - Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven   

Sequence - Eternal Father, Strong to Save   

Offertory - How Can I Keep From Singing

Communion - Oceans; Precious Lord, Take My Hand; Let Us Break Bread Together

Recessional - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty