Worship Music for 11 November 2007

This week we welcome the Aerie Singers, the older children’s choir from our Logos program. These children are in grades 3-4-5. They will sing “Cantad al Senor,” a Brazilian worship song and “God of The Sparrow, God of the Whale” by Carl Schalk. The visual arts component of Gateways (youth Sunday School), Visual Impact, studied this hymn and its theology last term. As they sought to express their understandings of the text, they created mini-banners about 18 inches square. We will have these placed in the worship spaces this week, as the children sing the song. The appellation Aerie Singers is brand new. This week no one around church knew what this group of musicians had ever been called before. Our resident fount of wisdom Carla S. was not present for the conversations, so she may know better. But this is a new name for this group of kids. Whatcha think?

Congregation song at FirstLight this week will include Kurt Nystrom’s “As the deer,” “I will call upon the Lord,” “My life is in you,” and David Ruiz’ “You are worthy of my praise.” In the absence of our usual (and much-beloved) singers (Caroline P. and Connie S.) we welcome Donna Marie Todd to lead congregational song. Other songs for worship will include the jaunty “Halle, halle,” and Dennis Jernigan’s “You are my all in all.” Here’s a link to a nice music video of that song.

Hymns at 11 AM will include “Our God, our help in ages past” (St. Anne); “Live into hope” (Truro); and “Take up your cross, the Savior said” (Bourbon). How’s that for a tune name?!? Here’s a little information on the tune (scroll down a bit to find the relevant material). The Aerie Singers will sing the Introit and at the Time with Children; other worship music will include “Halle, halle,” and George Tomer’s “God be with you till we meet again.” The choir will be singing Mark Patterson’s setting of text from Habakkuk, “The Lord is my strength.” This is a lovely anthem with shimmeringly close harmonies that have the basses on their toes (and the other sections also for that matter)! Organ music will include John Benke’s setting of “Magdalen” (an alternative tune for the text “My hope is built on nothing less), JSB’s “In dich hab ich gehoffet Herr” (from the Orgelbuchlein) and Healy Willan’s short setting of St. Anne. Here is a wee bit of information about John Stainer’s tune “Magdalen” also known as “Rest.”