May 27, 2012: Pentecost

May 27 2012

Hymn: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart!

Edward Hayes Plumptre wrote this hymn for the Peterborough Choral Festival of 1865. The full text contained ten stanzas that were condensed and edited over the years. Written as a processional hymn, it works well with our Pentecost procession this morning as the children wave their “festal banners—“ in this case, it’s their streamers of fire!

Hymn: On Pentecost They Gathered

LindaJo McKim writes, “The text by Jane Parker Huber was written for the celebration of Pentecost. There are some hymns that mention the person and work of the Holy Spirit but few speak of the Pentecost event as ‘the birthday of the church.’ This hymn contains several direct references to Pentecost from the second chapter of Acts. It ends with hope that the singular event which inspired the disciples to ‘turn the world upside down’ (Acts 17: 6) will move modern-day Christians to do the same.”

Hymn: Listen, Sisters! Listen, Brothers!

Hymn writer and Presbyterian minister Carolyn Winfrey Gillette was inspired to write this text after attending a conference where the Bible study series focused on 1 Corinthians. She writes in her book Songs of Grace, “The central theme of this hymn can be found in the third line: ‘We have life in Jesus’ name.’ Everything else about faith hinges on what is found in 1 Corinthians 15.”

Introit: Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song

Carl Daw wrote “Like the murmur of the dove’s song” for the The Hymnal 1982, the Episcopal Church’s songbook. Paul Westermeyer writes, “It is a litany-like prayer to the Holy Spirit to come. The first stanza identifies the Spirit with images of the Spirit’s likeness, the second stanza indicates to whom the spirit comes with images of the church, and the third stanza unpacks some of the gifts that the Spirit brings.” In writing this hymn, Daw had in mind “Isaiah 38:14 and 59:11, which use the moaning dove as images of praying in distress.”

Anthem: Gracious Spirit, Dwell With Me

The tune for this anthem, ADORO TE DEVOTE, is a beautiful melody that comes from seventeenth-century French songbook. It has changed little over the centuries, and its chant-like quality makes it very singable. The American composer K. Lee Scott set the tune with a text from Thomas Lynch, an English minister who published a nineteenth-century songbook (The Rivulet), which almost caused a split in the Congregational Church. The “Rivulet Controversy,” as it was called, centered on Lynch’s frequent references to nature in his hymn texts, but the controversy was probably exacerbated by his fresh poetic style. “Gracious Spirit, Dwell With Me” doesn’t contain examples of his controversial imagery, but does demonstrate Lynch’s creative poetic style. 

May 20, 2012: Youth/Graduate Recognition Sunday

May 13 2012 Youth Sunday

Hymn: I Danced in the Morning

LindaJo McKim writes, “This hymn was written by Syndey carter and has become his most famous song. It uses an American Shaker melody which is often sung to ‘’Tis a Gift to Be Simple.’ Carter adapted it and harmonized it for this text. SIMPLE GIFTS is a Shaker tune deriving from the Shaker movement, which originated during an English revival in 1747. The name “Shaker” came from the shaking that occurred during the stress of the spiritual exaltation the members experienced in their meetings. Aaron Copland famously set the tune in his “Appalachian Spring” orchestral suite.

Hymn: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

The English Baptist minister Robert Robinson wrote this hymn about 1758 and had it published a year later. Methodist hymnologist Carlton Young notes that hymn was originally four stanzas long, but, hymnal editors in the eighteenth century eliminated the final “apocalyptic climax,” a pattern which has been followed to present day. The fourth stanza reads as follows: “O that Day when freed from sinning, I shall see thy lovely Face;/Clothèd then in blood-washed Linnen [sic] How I’ll sing thy sovereign grace;/Come, my Lord, no longer tarry, Take my ransom’d Soul away; Send thine Angels now to carry/Me to realms of endless day.” In the hymn, it is helpful to know that “Ebenezer” means “Stone of Help,” as found in 1 Samuel 7:12, and a “fetter” is a kind of chain or manacle. The tune NETTLETON is an American folk hymn, named after the famous nineteenth-century evangelist, Ahasel Nettleton. Young writes, “The hymn’s strong evangelical themes and its singable and rousing tune have made this one of our most beloved hymns.”

Hymn: Here I Am, Lord

Daniel L. Schutte wrote the text and tune of this hymn in 1981 for a diaconate ordination. Paul Westermeyer writes, “It plays off the potency of Isaiah 6:8—“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’”—followed by God’s hard words, “Say this to the people: ‘Keep listening but do not comprehend.’” These potent and hard words are blunted in the latter part of the twentieth century by hymns like this that place the words of God in the congregation’s mouth. This is further complicated by the first-person pronoun in the refrain, where it no longer refers to God but to the singer.”

May 6, 2012: The Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 5 2012

Gathering Song: Come Sing to God

Fred Anderson wrote this paraphrase of Psalm 30 for use in Pine Street Presbyterian Church, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was published in Singing Psalms of Joy and Praise (1986), a collection of Anderson’s metrical psalms.

Hymn: O Worship the King, All Glorious Above!

A free paraphrase of Psalm 104, this hymn was written by Robert Grant and was first published in 1833. The text of stanza 2 was altered by the Presbyterian Hymnal Committee to reflect the language of the psalm more completely.

Hymn: Christ, the Vine, and God, the Gardener

Author Edith Sinclair Downing writes, “At a workshop led by Flora Wuellner I was reminded that we are to be the branches, not the vine! Sometimes, becoming overzealous in our ministry to others, we forget that Christ is the vine. As we live in him, and he lives in us we can share the fruits of the Spirit.”

Hymn: Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

The author of this Latin hymn which begins “Angularis fundamentum” is unknown, and has been traced back to the eighth century, although its origins may be even earlier. It is based on several passages from scripture (1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 21; and Ephesians 2:20) and was used in medieval rites for the dedication of a church. Paul Westermeyer writes, “Neale’s translation address Christ the sure foundation and cornerstone ‘who, the two-fold walls surmounting, binds them closely into one.’ There is good reason to sing the hymn as we have it, ‘binding all the church in one,’ but the hymn’s intention was probably more precise, the ‘two-fold walls’ being a reference to Jews and Gentiles.”

Response: Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ

LindaJo McKim writes, “This lively ‘Communion Calypso,’ as Fred Kaan titled the hymn, was written at the request of Jamaican composer Doreen Potter. Mrs. Potter, whose family lived on the same street in Geneva as the Kaans, brought the adaptation of a Jamaican folk melody to him and asked him to write a text. He decided on a hymn of celebration for the Lord’s Supper.”

Anthem: Christ the Way of Life Possess Me

American composer K. Lee Scott set British minister Timothy Dudley-Smith’s text for the Chancel Choir of First Baptist Church, Monroe, NC in 2002. Dudley-Smith penned the words based on four images from the Book of Proverbs: the way of life, the well of life, the tree of life, and the path of life.