Lofty Pew Notes by Lana

Pentecost 5

Proper 11

  July 17, 2011

Jesus often used the metaphor of seeds to teach important lessons about God’s kingdom.  This week the gospel contains yet another “seedy” story.  An enemy has sown weeds among the wheat, and the hungry sprouts threaten the success of the crop.  The workers are ready to pull out all the weeds, but the wise householder points to a different solution.  Eliminating the weeds will endanger the wheat, he fears.  Let them grow and ripen together; the harvest will be the time for separating the wheat and the weeds.

There is much wisdom in this teaching, but we may wish Jesus’ message had been more definitive.  We get that we need tolerance and patience, how do we go about separating the wheat from the weeds? What is the key to wise discernment?  It is hard to define and even harder to obtain and administer.

Just as the farm hands had to be guided by their master’s wisdom, the discernment we seek most is the will of Christ.  We are reminded in this story that the most important answers in life are seldom easy to do or even easy to understand.  Zeal and quickness are not always virtues.  And those that claim to speak for God must be cautious and ever open to change lest they stifle or deny the continuing creativity of the Holy Spirit.

Blessed Jesus, At Thy Word, the processional hymn will be familiar to our ears because, if you were here last week, it was our opening hymn.  We just thought we’d have another chance to learn this lovely hymn, and since it was paired with the Gospel, why not?  Last week I wrote about the author of the text.  This week, I’ll tell you about the author of the hymn tune, Johann Rudolph Ahle (1625-1673).

Johann Ahle was born in Muhlhausen in the Thuringian Forest of East Germany.  Ahle was an accomplished organist and composer who copied the Italian school of rhythm and ornate melody in an attempt to break away from the dull and stodgy German church music of the time.  His sacred arias, however, were subjected to much criticism and were considered as introducing too lively a secular influence into sacred singing.  I wonder if they were using the parable of the weeds and the wheat to determine what was good music and what was bad?  Seems they were having the same issues with music and musicians 400 years ago!

The Lofty Pew Choir will chant Psalm 139:1-11, 22-23 in Anglican Chant.  We will sing the anthem, Thou Knowest, Lord, by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) during Eucharist.  The music is paired with the Psalm.  Henry Purcell wrote this anthem for the funeral of Queen Mary in 1694. He died himself a year later.  Here is a link to a beautiful rendition of it:

                                 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pf_84OQgZSg&NR=1

                                                           

Our sequence hymn will be another “mission” hymn.  We have sung several in these weeks after Pentecost.  Christ is the World’s True Light first appeared in the Hymnal 1940 and was matched with the present tune written at a later time and now included in the Hymnal 1982.  The text is the work of George Wallace Briggs, a major British hymn writer of the second quarter of the twentieth century.  Erick Routley describes him as “one of the most sought-after of the writers of his time”.  This hymn is paired the Epistle reading of Romans 8:12-25.

 John Fawcett (b January 6, 1740) was converted by the evangelist George Whitefield at the age of 16.  He eventually became a Baptist minister, serving at Wainsgate, England.  In 1782 he published a collection of 166 of his own hymns.  In his preface to this book he wrote:  “When I have digested my thoughts on some portion of God’s Word, I have frequently attempted to sum up the leading ideas, in a few plain verses, to be sung after the sermon; that so they might be more impressed on my own heart and on the heart of my hearers”

After our sermon today, let us keep the Gospel scripture in mind along with our closing hymn, Lord Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing, written by John Fawcett  in 1773.Here we have it paired with Matthew 13:24-30,36-43, in reference to the last line of the first stanza.  The original text has been changed to “wilderness” from “in this dry and barren place.”  These may have been more fitting words for the parable of the wheat and the tares. 

May we work, pray, and struggle for the skills, artistry, insights, patience, and humility to be faithful caretakers of the seeds growing in and about God’s kingdom.

Sources:

Deacon Ron Jutzy

Erick Routley

YouTube

SDA Hymnal Commentary

1982 Hymnal Commentary

Tune My Heart to Sing