Music for Worship 030208

First Light will continue using the music from Taize that we have explored all during Lent. We will also sing the familiar American tune "Wondrous Love" to conclude worship. The Prophets will sing a new-to-us song for the offertory, "Empty Me." It's images of emptying self and making space for God fit neatly with our overarching Lenten theme, "life in full." The image here is taken from the Taize community site: the community at prayer.

11 AM worship will begin with another in a series of Bach preludes for organ, this one in E minor. For those not keeping tracking, Mike Barker has played the Preludes in C minor, A Major, F Minor and now E Minor so far during Lent. No fugues. This Sunday's E Minor prelude is one of Bach's earliest extant works, and one that many, many students cut their teeth on so to speak. Hymns will include "O for a thousand tongues to sing" (Azmon); "What wondrous love is this" (Wondrous Love); and "Life into hope" (Truro). The choir will sing an anthem by Craig Curry, a setting of the text "I heard the voice of Jesus say." The text is by Horatius Bonar, whose page at CyberHymnal lists more than 140 hymn texts! The tune is totally new and makes a stirring transition, from introspection to declaration, through the three stanzas and key change. One interesting note about the piano accompaniment: Curry has written in use of the lowest note on the piano, a low-low A. Pianists rarely get to use that note, unless they are somewhat freely doubling octaves in the left hand. But here Curry has written it into the music! As at 830 worship, we will continue using the Taize music we have experienced all season.