Pentecost 10, August 21 2011
Exodus 1:8-2:10
Psalm 124 from BCP
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20
In this Sunday’s gospel we will hear a dialogue between Jesus and His disciples. Jesus asks them, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” The disciples repeat what they have heard as they report, “Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” But then Jesus digs deeper and asks, “But who do you say that I am?”
Matthew does not indicate how much time passes before Peter responded with his famous confession, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” “Blessed are you,” Jesus responds. He goes on to pronounce Peter’s confession as a divine revelation and that on this rock will be built His church; hell itself will not be able to prevail against it. This insight must have been of phenomenal importance to elicit such a response from Jesus.
There is nothing warm and fuzzy about a rock. And there is nothing sentimental about the keys of the kingdom and the power to bind and loose which Jesus grants to His disciples. How can we ever with a clear conscience proclaim Christ in minimizing or marginalizing language? Peter has given us an example to follow. Get past what others say; proclaim boldly in word and deed that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of the living God. We want to stay close to that which is rock-solid, and we pledge our loyalties to a faith so strongly rooted in the living God.
“Rock solid” is a term we often use to describe someone’s personality, dependability, or emotional stability. It is also used in music when describing someone with a strong sense of rhythm. They can keep the beat no matter what others are doing around them. Far from being boring, a steady beat provides the basis from which endless variations can be created. A rock-solid beat is the common language, the steady support, the living pulse.
GRANT WE BESEECH THEE, merciful God, that thy Church, being gathered together in unity by the Holy Spirit, may manifest thy power among all peoples, to the glory of thy Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the same Spirit, one God, world without end.
Those traditional words of Sunday’s opening collect is the inspiration for our processional hymn, Put Forth, O God, thy Spirit’s Strength. The text is a prayer for the Church, written by Howard Chandler Robbins, published in 1937. Robbins was an Episcopal priest and member of the Joint Commission on the Revision of the Hymnal. This text first appeared in the Episcopal Hymnal in 1940. The tune, CHELSEA SQUARE, was hummed by the author of the text to Ray Francis Brown at the General Theological Seminary, Chelsea Square, New York City in 1941. General Theological Seminary in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City was where both the author/composer and harmonizer were all faculty members so the seminary is memorialized in the name of the tune that honors the location of the school.
The sequence hymn will be Take My Life and Let It Be by Frances R. Havergal (1836-1879). Miss Havergal, whose brief life was devoted to religious and philanthropic work, wrote the hymn in 1874 in thanksgiving for the conversion of backsliders and recalcitrants in her church circle. Frances frequently used this hymn in her own devotions. On one occasion, as she pondered the words, “Take my voice and let me sing/ Always only for my King,” she felt she should give up her secular concerts. Her beautiful voice was in demand, and she frequently sang with the Philharmonic. But from that moment, her lips were exclusively devoted to the songs of the Lord. Reflecting the evangelical fervor of the era this hymn has become the most widely accepted of her hymns.
Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken will be our recessional hymn. This famous poem is from the Olney Hymns (1779). The tune, AUSTRIAN HYMN, was composed for the birthday of Francis II, last of the Holy Roman Emperors, on February 12, 1797. The functionary who ordered it wanted an Austrian equivalent of “God Save the King”—and Franz Josef Haydn did not disappoint him. Subsequently, Haydn used the melody with variations as the second movement of a string quartet in C major, now always called “The Emperor Quartet.” Still later, the Germans used it for “Deutschland uber alles.” There is a lovely soprano descant printed in our hymnal that you will hear sung from the Lofty Pews on the last verse.
Psalm 124 will be chanted in SATB Anglican Chant by the singers in the loft. Join the choir in the refrain as printed in your scripture insert.
The Eucharist anthem will actually be a combination of two hymns. Bread of the World, in Mercy Broken and Father, We Thank Thee Who Hast Planted. They are both listed in our hymnal (#301 and #302) as Holy Eucharist hymns and they have the same hymn tune, RENDEZ A DIEU. The first part of Bread of the World, is a brief but evocative hymn based on John 6:51, 54-58 and addressed to Christ as revealed through the elements of the Eucharist and then as the one who has given us the words of life and died for our sins. The second half is a prayer to Christ for mercy to be granted to sinners and for God’s sustenance in the Eucharistic feast. In its earliest printing, the words “Before the Sacrament” were placed above this hymn.
Father, We Thank Thee is a metrical paraphrase of several brief traditional prayers found in the ninth and tenth chapters of the Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, an important manual of the early Church. It was an attempt to write in apostolic language an account of the customs of the Montanists, differing from the Apocryphal Gospels in that there is no fictitious setting, no attempt to convey the impression that Christ and the Apostles are speaking. The prayers that were used in the paraphrase are considered still older than the main work and may very well date to the first century, from which the Gospel Canticles are also derived.
Is it not interesting that our gospel lessons --old as rocks and solid as stone-- as well as some of our prayers and hymns date back to the first century and are still being sung in churches around the world and here in Boise, Idaho. However, note that our processional hymn is contemporary—we continue to create prayers and praise based on our rock solid faith as we proclaim Christ to a needy world.
May our music, our worship, and our lives find their foundation and inspiration in the solid presence of the living God.
Sources:
Hymnal ’82 Companion
Companion to the SDA Hymnal
Deacon Ron Jutzy
Then Sings My Soul
A Treasury of Hymns
Tune My Heart to Sing
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