Music for Worship November 23, 2008

This Sunday is Christ the King Sunday, a day at the end of the church year when we affirm and celebrate the Lordship of Jesus Christ over all creation. This is also the last of a series of centennial celebration Sundays. Bobbi White, executive presbyter of the Western North Carolina Presbytery, and a daughter of this church will be the preacher. It’s also the Sunday before Thanksgiving, so worship music will have that as an additional theme.

FirstLight worship will begin with a set including “King of kings and Lord of lords,” “He is exalted,” “We will glorify the King of kings,” and “Made me glad.” We will use the song “You are my king (Amazing Love)” for the confession. We will sing Graham Kendrick’s “Go forth in his name” at the end of worship. The Prophets will sing “Thank you Lord” by Dave Jernigan at the offering, with Jimmy Owens’ setting of the Doxology to follow.

Worship at 11AM will include the hymns “Now thank we all our God” (NUN DANKET ALLE GOTT); “Lord, you give the great commission” (ABBOT’S LEIGH); and Come, ye thankful people, come” (ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR). The Aerie Singers will sing “Jubilate Everybody" as the introit, complete with choreography. We’ll use WESTMINSTER ABBEY at the confession, and “Let all things now living” (THE ASH GROVE) at the benediction. The choir anthem is Allen Pote’s setting of Psalm 46, “God is our refuge and strength.” We will welcome trumpeters Anna McC. And Will S. to help with the performance. Anna is also going to play the Bach setting of NUN DANKET at the prelude. The will be an improvisation on KELVINGROVE at the offering and Paul Manz’ setting of NUN DANKET for the postlude.

Carol Singing

The January 2009 issue of British Heritage magazine has a nice article on carol singing in Britain. It discusses the development of carols and carol singing, their repression under Puritan rule and restoration after 1700. Also discussed are some favorite secular and sacred carols. The article reveals some historical tidbits: the word "waits" associated with carolers is the early word for the town watchmen. Wassail come from two old Anglo-Saxon words, waes hael, meaning "be healthy." The articles of the issue are not yet on-line, but likely will be in a few weeks here. Thanks for Mary V. for sharing the magazine. She wouldn't be satisfied unless I also mentioned that there is an article on John Rutter which includes a picture of the maestro holding a cat, of all things! Choral singers especially will find both article interesting.

Obama's Music

An interesting article about what music President-elect Obama might bring to the White House. Howard Reich suggests that Barack Obama might set a positive tone for the arts and jazz in particular were he to bring a jazz event to the White House following his inauguration. The author makes mention of a famous jazz event during Carter's presidency, and a similar event during Clinton's tenure. Obama's Chicago connection makes the jazz tie-in obvious, but a similar event in support of choral singing would also be most welcome by many.

What a day

From Telemann to Ed Lojeski, and from Buxtehude to Michael Burkhardt. Not every music music program can span the ages and musical spectrum like we did at 11AM this morning. We even managed to have Caribbean and Korean music represented to make it a global celebration. At FirstLight, our rendition of Ken Canedo's "Jesus Christ is Lord" was absolutely mesmerizing. Andy broke in his new drum (what do you call it, Andy?) in fine fashion. We introduced a new (to them) song to someone who had not heard it before and made a profound impart on their faith (Keith Getty's and Stuart Townend's In Christ Alone). The message of the scripture, to put absolute trust in Jesus and to trust in his sovereignty over all things, was manifest in many musical elements in worship. Perrin put his nerves on the shelf and the frozen chosen experienced a significant thaw. Wade set the pace on the choir anthem and everyone of the Tune Weavers soared. We had everything from recorder to double bass, with a little tambourine thrown in for good measure!

One of my favorite lines from one of my favorite children's musicals for church (Terry Kirkland's Through the Roof) is, "it was a great day!" That's a most appropriate summary for the music today, and for the entire worship experience at both services. Thanks, everyone, for the hard work and commitment to musical excellence and heartfelt communication of the gospel. Our Lord was honored and the worshiping community blessed by your efforts.

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.

Latin 301

The Tune Wavers are working on Hans Leo the Hassler's Cantate Domino. One of the lines is "Et benedicite nomini ejus." One of the singers (Lamar W.) asked why it's "nomini" with an "i" instead of "nomine" with an "e." He states that it seems to be a plural form in the present instance ("and bless his {God's} names"). We know that it really translates as, "and bless his name." I assured him that it likely has to do with how the word is being used in the phrase, but I am not up on my Latin enough to be specific. Anyone else have a precise definitive answer?

Boy did I get what I asked for! Thanks to colleagues in America, Canada, Italy, New Zealand and Finland! I have gotten permission to add the more detailed replies (and the most humorous) in the combox. You really need to read through the comments. Thanks everyone for writing! And thanks, Lamar W., for asking!

Chirst the King Sunday 23 November

We will celebrate Christ the King Sunday on November 23. This particular day is one of only two Sundays in the church year that are not based on the life of Christ or an event in Jesus' life (the other being Trinity Sunday). Christ the King Sunday is the last Sunday of the church year, the last Sunday in the ordinary season that began after Pentecost and the last Sunday before Advent begins.

In his Companion to the Book of Common Worship, Peter C. Bower has this to say about our observance of Christ the King Sunday:

The day centers on the crucified and risen Christ, whom God exalted to rule over the whole universe. The celebration of the lordship of Christ thus looks back to Ascension, Easter and Transfiguration, and points ahead to the appearing in glory of the King of kings and Lord of lords. Christ reigns supreme. Christ rules in peace. Christ's truth judges falsehood. As the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, Christ is the center of the universe, and ruler of history, the judge of all people. In Christ all things began, and in Christ all things will be fulfilled. In the end Christ will triumph over all the forces of evil.

What a powerful statement of faith, as well as a concise summary of the theology implicit in our celebration of this day in the church year!

Christus vincit, Christus regnat, Christus imperat