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

Trinity Sunday June 19, 2011

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:

The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Children: Encyclopedia - The Prayer of Azariah and Song of the Three Holy Ch.

          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:

                                          http://youtu.be/457nVpxJDkA

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