Notes for Sunday, February 25

Sunday is the First Sunday in Lent.

It is the 4th Sunday that we celebrate Black History Month with music.

During Lent, we will give up music at the end of the service - no departing hymn, no postlude. In some traditions, during Lent, the organ and other musical instruments may be used only for accompaniment - no prelude, no offertory, or other solo pieces are offered. We will not go this far. But music will be more subdued during the season, both to encourage a meditative and introspective spirit, as well as to make our joyful noises on Easter morning all the more jubilant by contrast.

SCRIPTURE:

The First Reading: Deuteronomy 26:1-11
The Second Reading: Luke 4:1-13

ANTHEM:

We will sing "Sometimes I Feel Like A Motherless Child."
We sing just before The Prayer of Confession. Mary Gene has incorporated the text and spirit of the anthem into The Prayer.

The despair in this song is instantly obvious - what can be more painful than the experience of a child who has lost her mother. Note though, that the text is "sometimes" I feel like a motherless child. Which implies that sometimes I don't. Sometimes we feel clearly that we are children of God, not lost, but found.

HYMNS:

#457, I Greet Thee, Who My Sure Redeemer Art #80, Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley
Response: Lead me, guide me.
#581, Sanctus - communion response

Please take a look at the hymns prior to warm-up, and let me know if you would like to rehearse them.

OTHER ITEMS:

Prelude: Fantasy in A Minor, J.S. Bach
Offertory: Herzliebster Jesu (Beloved Jesus), J. Brahms

Until Sunday, Bonnie

Notes for Sunday, February 18

Sunday is Transfiguration of the Lord Sunday.

It is the 3rd Sunday that we celebrate Black History Month with music.

SCRIPTURE:

The Psalm: Psalm 99
The Hebrew Scripture Reading: Exodus 34:29-35 The Gospel Reading: Luke 9:28-36

The sermon title is: The Mystery on the Mountains

ANTHEMS:

We will sing Tandi Tanga Jesus right after the Welcome and News, and right before the Invitation to Worship.

We will sing Freedom Come after the Hebrew scripture and before the Gospel.

So far, we have sung traditional African-American sprituals each Sunday in February. This week, we turn to two African songs.
Tandi Tanga Jesus is a traditional Namibian and Tanzanian tune, which we sing first in Otji-vambo (from Namibia), then in Swahili (from Tanzania), and then in English.

We should indeed thank Jesus from the bottom of our hearts.

This is the last Sunday before lent. We will let the joyful Hallelujahs rip with Freedom Come! And then they will be heard no more, until Easter, when we celebrate their return.

HYMNS:

#446, Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken
#73, Swiftly Pass the Clouds of Glory
#481, Praise the Lord, God's Glories Show

OTHER ITEMS:

Prelude: When the Saints Go Marching In, African American Spritual
Offertory: Adagio, Mozart
Postlude: The "Fanfare" Fugue, Bach

The prelude will "swing," though a bit harder than we will swing Tandi Tanga Jesus. A few people asked me what it means to "swing." The genre of swing music developed in the 20s-40s, and features the syncopated timing of African American and West African music. Swing features a hybrid concept of time and rhythm - which produces a mixing of triple meter (from West Africa) and Western European duple meter. With swung notes the duration of the initial note in a pair is generally augmented and that of the second is diminished.

"To swing is when an inidivdual player or ensemble performs in such a rhythmically coordinated way as to command a visceral response from the listener (to cause feet to tap and heads to nod); an irresistible gravitational bouyancy that defies mere verbal definition." Which I suppose is just a fancy way of saying, "It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing."

The offertory was written for the glass armonica - Mozart apparently loved the instrument. I don't have enough glasses for it, so I will play it on the organ. (The piece is often found in organ as well as piano books.)

I will try to remember to announce on Sunday: There is indeed dinner on Wednesday evening - at 5:45.

Until Sunday, Bonnie

Notes for Sunday, February 11

Sunday is the 6th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

It is the 2nd Sunday that we celebrate Black History Month with music. (I have not yet seen a copy of the bulletin, but I anticipate the following:)

SCRIPTURE:

The Psalm: Psalm 1
The Hebrew Scripture Reading: Jeremiah 17:5-10 The Gospel Reading: Luke 6:17-26

Jim Dowd will be preaching and leading us in worship.

ANTHEM:

We will sing "Ain'-A That Good News!"

News is new information. Information not previously known or heard. We have heard and know the "Good News," of course. But let us hear it "anew," as news, as we sing.

William Dawson has composed a piece full of musical effects: accents (a stronger attack than normal), marcato (a "marked" note, or very heavy attack), sforzando (another sort of strong accent), staccato (short and detached). There are even staccato-marcato notes! All perhaps used with the purpose of helping the "Good News" to be heard, and to be heard anew.

Mary will also sing a few lines of "Over My Head." The logic underlying this "proof" of God might not be consistent with the principles of reason. But I'd wager it's still hard for those inspired by music to reject: "Over my head, I hear music in the air. There must be a God somewhere."

HYMNS:

#262, God of the Ages
#289, O God of Every Nation
#563, Lift Every Voice and Sing

Lift Ev'ry Voice and Sing is known as "The Black National Anthem."
It was first sung in public as part of a celebration of Lincoln's birthday, in 1900, by a choir of 500 schoolchildren at the segregatd Stanton School, in Jacksonville, Florida. The words call for earth and heaven to "ring with the harmonies of Liberty." Singing this hymn was a way for African Americans to speak out against racism and Jim Crow laws at the turn of the century. During the civil rights movement, the song experienced a rebirth, and by the 1970s was often sung immediately after The Star Spangled Banner at events attended by African-Americans.

In honor of Black History month, please also permit me a moment of pride in the discipline I spend most of most of my days thinking about: economics. Economics is often referred to as the "dismal science." Conventional wisdom suggests that Thomas Carlyle dubbed economics the dismal science in reference to Malthus' pessimistic theory of population. However, Carlyle actually used this phrase in an attack on John Stuart Mill, Adam Smith, and other classical economists. The classicals believed that people are just people - that all men are equal. They thus advocated for liberty for all, and supported the emancipation of slaves. Carlyle, in contrast, was a staunch supporter of slavery. He thought the notion of freedom for all "dismal." Perhaps now you can understand why many economists are in fact proud to practice the dismal science.

OTHER ITEMS:

Prelude: Lord, I Want to Be a Christian, G. Young
Offertory: O God of Every Nation, E. Diemer
Postlude: God of the Ages, E. Diemer

Until Sunday, Bonnie

Notes for Sunday, February 4

It is the 5th Sunday in Ordinary Time.

It is the 1st Sunday that we celebrate Black History Month with music.

SCRIPTURE:

Psalm 138
Isaiah 6:1-8

The sermon title is "Experiencing the Holy"

ANTHEMS:

We will sing "Three About Jesus," after the Psalm.

After the reading of Isaiah, Patty McClerking will sing "God Is."

After the Prayers of the People, we will sing "Every Time I Feel the Spirit."

The songs in Three About Jesus are traditional African-American spirituals. Musically, spirituals are simple, "low-tech" pieces. Slaves were generally prohibited from playing instruments, and often were not allowed to sing in groups.

As we sing, let us remember that spirituals were created by people with few to no resources, under horrible circumstances. The slaves' sheer will to live and to communicate in song triumphed over despair in the marvelous legacy of music they left for us.

"Every time I think about Jesus" is based on CALVARY. The words capture the mood and feeling of Christ's passion - "surely he died on Calvary."

"Give Me Jesus." How alone must the spiritual writers and singers have felt - separated from their humanity through bondage, miserable and alienated. Yet, they found comfort in Jesus. "O, when I am alone, give me Jesus. You may have all the rest. Give me Jesus." The wonder, solemnity, joy and humility of this simple piece are unmatched. It is deeply personal.

"Ride On King Jesus" is most often heard in the setting of a triumphant masterpiece. Our simple and quiet setting makes for a wonderful contrast to the usual sound, and a wonderful contrast to the final excitement-building round and ending in six-part harmony!

HYMNS:

#138, Holy, Holy, Holy
#525, Here I Am, Lord
#411, Arise, Your Light Is Come!


OTHER ITEMS:

Prelude: We Are Climbing Jacob's Ladder, G. Young
Offertory: It Is Well With My Soul, W. Held
Postlude: The Old-Time Religion, G. Young

The prelude and postlude are both based on African American spirituals. The offertory is not based on a spiritual, but seems fittingly inspired: it is based on a hymn written by Horatio Spafford. The hymn was written after the death of Spafford's four daughters at sea. Several weeks after their death, Spafford sailed near the spot where his daughters died, and was inspired to write this beautiful hymn - a hymn that speaks to the eternal hope that all believers have, no matter what pain and grief befalls them on earth.

Until Sunday, Bonnie