Pentecost 4
Proper 10
July 10, 2011
Do you think that everyone in our congregation keeps silent and reverent during the organ prelude? Are our people always attentive when the choir sings from the Lofty Pews? Do our clergy catch every nuance of the choir’s message in text and tune? Do we in the Lofty Pews pay close attention every word and action of the liturgy? Do we ever have to call out, “Can I have your attention!” or “Listen!”
Now that just about everybody has been accused and reprimanded, let’s return to reality. Wayne Wold says it is human nature to be selective about our listening habits. What a relief, because I was feeling rather nervous. He says it is the nature of good music and full, rich, spiritual worship to contain more than we can ever appreciate and comprehend. Even in the presence of Christ himself we need to be reminded to listen. And so it has been with disciples of every age.
In this Sunday’s gospel Jesus announces His forthcoming parable by calling out, “Listen!” He concludes the parable with the charge, “Let anyone with ears listen!” In between these two exclamations is the story of seeds that fall on a variety of surfaces. Though we do not hold the power in ourselves to control the kingdom of God, we are blessed as God plants and brings about growth in and through us.
In Germany in the seventeenth century it was customary for the congregation to sing a “sermon hymn,” part immediately before the sermon and part just after the sermon had ended. This would be similar to how we do the Sequence Hymn in our services at Grace Anglican Church. Tobias Clausnitzer published such a hymn, to be sung before the sermon. The direct statements in the first two lines and throughout the hymn express the desire of the people to hear God’s Word, thus preparing their minds to receive the message of the sermon immediately to follow. The translation into English by Catherine Winkworth is our opening hymn for this week as we will be gathered together in song by these words:
Blessed Jesus, at thy word
We are gathered all to hear thee;
…….
Open thou our ears and heart,
Help us by thy Spirit’s pleading.
Hear the cry thy Church upraises;
Hear, and bless our prayers and praises.
Blessed Jesus At Thy Word
Our sequence hymn will be O Christ, the Word Incarnate, by William Walsham How (text) and tune credited to Felix Mendelssohn’s oratorio, Elijah. It is among the best-known hymns for Holy Scripture, and is based on Psalm 119:105. The singers in the Lofty Pews will be chanting this Psalm in Anglican chant form.
Let’s go back to our parable, open our ears and listen to another part. What about that wasteful sower? Shouldn’t he have been more careful with his seeds than to scatter them on bad soil? As we answer the call to minister in our own unique ways, shouldn’t we be careful to not waste the precious gift of the kingdom?
Jesus’ parable is not about smart farming, it is about God’s work and the assisting role we are privileged to share. God supplies the seed and under His management, the seed is so plentiful, the nurturing so effective, and the potential for growth so great that we can be excessive and even extravagant in our sowing.
We may never know where the seeds fall and what becomes of them. But, even in those who are not paying attention to the hymns or musical offerings in the church, maybe a seed is being planted. And just maybe, in those sermons, readings, and prayers whose full impact we may miss (a so-so sermon, a botched chanted Psalm, a glitch in a hymn) seeds have been planted in us and those who hear.
This past week I have been privileged to attend the American Guild of Organist’s Region VIII Convention held in Boise. The opening and closing worship ceremonies were held in St Michael’s Episcopal Church and Cathedral of the Rockies, respectively. The homilies presented for both were ‘music to my ears’ along with all the music that goes with liturgical worship.
At one of the workshops presented by a composer of choral music, Daniel Gawthrop, someone asked what the most important part of composing music is. His answer was “TEXT, TEXT, TEXT.” He said that he spends “significant time choosing text for what he writes, and often it is text from scripture. He further said that time then needs to be spent in the selection and presenting to the congregation our music in hymns and choral music in “searching, practice and performance.”
Because of the unique way that music carries the words of music into our hearts and minds he said that “sometimes the only sermon people will hear in church will be the sermon carried in the music – hymns and or choir.” What a challenge it is to work towards perfecting the worship of the people in the liturgy of Grace Anglican Church as we speak, pray or sing the words to move forward together in perfect harmony.
Last week at Grace Anglican Church the congregation practiced the plainsong version in our Hymnal 1982 of The Lord’s Prayer. We will be chanting it during our Deacon’s Morning Prayer service this week and likely chanting it in future services. I have provided a youtube link to it here for you to listen to. It is from an Anglican church in Scotland and you will need to wait for the chanting of the prayer to start.
http://youtu.be/5bM4xbDUtpc
As we process out into the world this week singing the hymn Spread, O Spread, Thou Mighty Word, we recollect the sower iin the parable. This wonderful missionary hymn is calling us to be doers and hearers, not only in worship, but in every aspect of our lives to spread the MIGHTY WORD.
Sources:
Deacon Ronald Jutzy
Youtube
Companion to the SDA Hymnal
Hymnal 1982 Companion
Tune My Heart to Sing
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