Notes from the Lofty Pews
TRINITY SUNDAY June 19, 2011
This Sunday we celebrate unity and diversity in God’s Trinitarian presence. It is a pivotal point in many ways, because God’s self-revelation has reached an apex with the sending of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost. There is a new chapter beginning in Jesus’ story. His separateness from the Father and the Spirit has been blurred. The One from Galilee now transcends all time and space and is in unity with the Creator and Sanctifier. Things can never be quite the same.
One more turning point is reached this Trinity Sunday as we hear the final verses of Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus assumes full authority and delivers the great commission to go and make disciples to baptize them in the name of this Holy Trinity, and to teach them what it means to be a created, redeemed, and sanctified people of God. This should sound familiar to the ears of us at Grace Anglican Church, since our purpose statement had all those elements, when we created it! As Matthew’s proclamation of the good news is coming to an end, ours is just beginning.
Has Jesus left us with a “commission impossible?” What lofty ideals for such weak and faulty people. How can we do all those things that He has commanded of us? Will He settle for just a few of them?
In truth, we have a greater chance of doing everything Jesus commanded of us than of doing only a few. His commands throughout scripture are usually coupled with the means to bring them about. The great commission concludes with a plan equal to the task. “Remember” is the command; “I am with you always” is the power; “…to the end of the age” is the promise.
Our first and most important duty is to remember. And we remember, savoring the presence of the Holy Trinity in worship and in fellowship, in song and solitude, and in prayer and praise with the community of believers in all times and places.
This Trinity Sunday, we join that community in our processional hymn, Come Thou Almighty King, singing this in the last stanza:
To Thee, great One in Three,
The highest praises be,
Hence evermore;
Thy sovereign majesty
May we in glory see,
And to eternity
Love and adore.
Psalm 8 will be chanted by the singers in the loft in four part Anglican Chant. You will have opportunity to join them in singing the Antiphon that will be handed to you in your worship folder.
The Lofty Pew Singers will chant Canticle 2 in plainsong during the Offertory. You will find the words in your insert under Canticle 2, (Song of the Three, 29-34). There will not be an added antiphon response.
What is a Canticle? A canticle (from the Latin canticulum, a diminutive of canticum, song) is a hymn (strictly excluding the Psalms) taken from the Bible. The term is often expanded to include ancient non-biblical hymns such as the Te Deum and certain psalms used liturgically
Here is a link to read more about the canticle we will do on Sunday:
I Sing the AL-mighty Power of God will be our sequence hymn. I grew up singing these words to a much livelier and different tune , named VARINA, than the one that is in the Hymnal ’82, FOREST GREEN. The words by Isaac Watts appear in his Divine Songs attempted in Easy Language for the use of Children (1715) under the heading “Praise for Creation and Providence.” ? The thoughts for the hymn are taken from the Creation account in Genesis 1 and we will hear Genesis 1:1-2: 4 read as our first lesson. What better hymn to sing in opening our service to sing praises to God our Creator!
2 Cornithians 13:11-13 will be the second reading on Sunday. You will recognize it immediately as the verses often read at weddings. In our hymnal #606 you will find the words set to music in plainsong chant, Mode 6. The singers in the loft will sing this in Latin from a motet by Maurice Durufle, Op. 10, no.1. This translation in our hymnal is by Joyce MacDonald Glover (b. 1923)
Where true charity and love dwell,
God himself is there.
Since the love of Christ has joined us in one body,
Let us all rejoice and be glad now and always.
And as we hear and love our Lord, the living God,
So let us in sincerity love all people
As we are all of one body, when we gather
Let no discord or enmity break our oneness.
May all our petty jealousies and hatred cease
That Christ the Lord may be with us through all our days.
Now we pray that with the blessed you grant us grace
To see your exalted glory, O Christ our God,
Our boundless source of joy and truth, of peace and love,
For ever and for evermore, world without end.
Amen.
Here is a link to Ubi Caritas sung by the Cambridge Singers:
Our recessional hymn, Alleluia! Sing to Jesus, was written in 1866 by William Chatterton Dix, in praise of Jesus’ ascension to heaven after the Resurrection. Unusual for a hymn about Jesus’ victorious ascension, this one, with the third line of the final stanza, “Intercessor, Friend of sinners, earth’s Redeemer, plead for me,” follows the Savior into His ministry in the Heavenly sanctuary.
The tune HYFERDOL means “good cheer” and was written before Rowland Pritchard was 20 years old. Born in Graienyn, near Bala in the Cambrian Mountains of north Wales, he was privileged to be raised in an atmosphere of song. Rowland was blessed with a good voice and was much in demand as a soloist and song leader. A number of his hymn tunes appeared in Welsh periodicals, but this one is considered his best. It has gone around the world in the hymnals of nearly all churches, with at least a dozen different texts. The tune encompasses only five notes yet is strong and a joy to sing.
ALLELUIA! ALLELUIA!
Sources:
Tune My Heart to Sing, Wold
Hymnal 1982 Companion
Companion to the SDA Hymnal
Wikipedia.com
Youtube.com
Deacon Ronald Jutzy
Manual of Rites and Prayers – The Priest’s Pocket Book, Anglo-Catholic Archdiocese of the Southwest
Notes of interest for Grace Anglican Church
We have been pleased to welcome Terresa Doering as the organist in our loft the past 2 weeks while Pat O’Neil has been away caring for her father. Pat’s father, Rowland Howlett passed away June 8, 2011 in St Helena, California.
Next Sunday, Dr Glenn Pool will, once again, be at the organ in our loft. We are very fortunate to have such fine organists willing to add to our worship services at Grace Anglican Church. All of our organists have been a pleasure to work with.
June 24, 25 & 26 our own Gretchen Ediger will be the featured piccolo in the Shrine Circus Band at Qwest Arena. You might like to gather your children, grandchildren or neighbor children, or maybe just yourself to watch the parade on Friday or take in the circuse. Gretchen tells me they will have elephants in the parade with the band playing as they go! How fun! LJ
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