Notes for Sunday, March 25

Sunday is the fifth Sunday in Lent.

We welcome Rick Nutt, who will join us in worship and offer thoughts from the pulpit.

SCRIPTURE: The Gospel Reading: John 12:1-8.

SERMON: An Extravagant Devotion.

ANTHEMS: James Harr will sing "Song of Penitence," L. Beethoven, as the Call to Confession. The women of the choir will sing Charles Collins' "Tuuti, Tuuti, Tummaistani," fittingly and subtly placed by Mary Gene to follow the Sacred Space for Children.

The women will sing in Finnish. Charles writes, "The text means something like this: 'Hush, hush my little dark one, lying in the hush of darkness by the dark one who gently rocks you in your dark cradle.' The entire poem makes it clear that this lullaby is being sung by a peasant mother to her dead child, wishing it safe passage to the afterlife. In centuries past when infant mortality rates were globally very high, this would not have been an uncommon situation."

Charles' composition captures this image beautifully, in a quietly stunning setting. Listen to the bass line in the piano accompaniment - the rocking of the cradle that holds the mother's dead child. Listen to the dissonance between the treble line in the piano and the opening vocal lines - the pain of a mother who quietly suffers a loss that is oh so familiar to her, and yet still devastating. Listen further into the piece as the dissonance between piano and voices disappears - the mother's acceptance, in the knowledge that her child is safe and not alone. And be grateful - grateful that the death of our children is rare; more grateful still that those who die too soon are resurrected through Jesus Christ.

I found a complete translation of the poem that inspired Charles' work in the library. It reads:

Rock, rock my dark one
In a dark cradle -
A dark one rocking
In a dark cabin!
Rock the child to Tuonela
The child to the planks' embrace
Under turf to sleep
Underground to lie
For Death's children to sing to
For the grave's maidens to keep!
For Death's cradle is better
And the grave's cot is fairer
Cleverer Death's dames, better
The grave's daughter-in-law, large
The cabin in Tuonela
And the grave has wide abodes.

HYMNS:
#516, Lord, We Have Come at Your Own Invitation
#520, Here, O Lord, We See You Face to Face

OTHER ITEMS:
Prelude: Partita on Picardy, A. Zabel.
Offertory: Communion Prelude on Picardy, G. Martin

Picardy is a French carol melody - the tune to "Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence" - perhaps from the 17th century, though it is traceable only to the 19th. The hymn is based on the Prayer of the Cherubic Hymn, from one of the earliest extant liturgies of the Christian Church - the 4th century Liturgy of St. James. It is an advent hymn - check the words in a hymnal and you will see why. The hymn also uses the word "Alleluia." Arguably, this selection is poorly placed in the Lenten season. However, it is not uncommon for the hymn to be used during Lent. I discovered several references to its use on Good Friday in the Greek Orthodox Church. Moreover, the tune has a somber and dignified feel that is appropriate for the current season. The opening words of the hymn also tie into the mortality so vividly on display in Charles' anthem. And it is a season when we seek to turn our focus away from "earthly minded" things. (I will not play the last movement of the Zabel Partita - a toccata. But it reminds me that when sung/played at a fast tempo, this tune displays an uncomfortable fierceness. Let our mortal flesh keep silence indeed; with fear and trembling stand!)

Until Sunday, Bonnie