Worship Music November 16

FirstLight will begin with a set including "Jubilate, Everybody" from the Iona Community; "He knows my name;" and "Shout to the Lord." We'll use the Caribbean "Halle, halle" at the confession. Andy G. got a new ceramic drum this week. He's breaking it in with us in worship on a couple of these songs this Sunday. The Prophets will sing a new song at the offering, "Jesus Christ is Lord." It is a setting of text from Philippians, and includes a meditative and captivating refrain with which the congregation can sing. We'll use "We are an offering" as our Doxology this week. Our closing song will be "In Christ alone."

Hymns at 11AM will include "Immortal, invisible, God only wise" (ST. DENIO); "Lonely the boat" (BAI); and "Take my life and let it be" (HENDON). I was explaining to the choir in rehearsal that while HENDON is a perfectly fine tune, United Methodists associate that tune with the text "Ask ye what great thing I know." I shared further that the tune MESSIAH is used for "Take my life" in the UM hymnal. It makes for an interesting comparison. Despite the theological limitations in the hymn "Ask ye...," there's nothing like a few hundred Methodists singing "Jesus Christ, the crucified" to the last musical phrase of HENDON unaccompanied.

The Tune Weavers will sing Hassler's "Cantate Domino" at the introit; we'll use the Caribbean "Halle, halle" at the confession and Dauermann's "Trees of the field" at the benediction. The choir will sing Michael Burkhardt's "The Lord is beautiful" at the readings. This anthem merges a Tanzanian worship song "Nimemwona bwana" with the first stanza of the hymn "Fairest Lord Jesus." The choir will also include a stanza of the hymn "Beautiful Savior" in their rendition this week. The Tune Weavers will sing Ed Lojeski's setting of "Just a closer walk with thee" at the offering. They will be joined by Andy G. and Perrin T. to add some color to the accompaniment. As a special treat, Robert Cumming, a retired clergyperson from Montreat, will play two movements from a Telemann string quartet on recorder. Worship will conclude with Buxtehude's "Fugue in C," the gigue fugue for organ.