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