April 22, 2012: The Third Sunday in Easter

Apr 22 2012

Hymn: Hear the Good News of Salvation

LindaJo McKim writes, “John B. Renville was a Native American Dakota, the first to be ordained to the Presbyterian ministry. He thrived in the latter half of the nineteenth century after being licensed and ordained in 1865. This hymn first appeared in the 1879 edition of Dakota Odowan (The Dakota Hymnal), which was edited by Renville and continues in popular use among Native Americans today.”

Hymn: Blest Be the Tie That Binds

This hymn, whose original title was “Brotherly Love,” was written by Baptist minister John Fawcett to be used after a sermon. The text was comprised of six stanzas, four of which we’ll sing today. The fifth stanza, unpublished in The Presbyterian Hymnal (1990), reads: This glorious hope revives / Our courage by the way; / While each in expectation lives, / And longs to see the day.

Hymn: O Jesus, I Have Promised

John Ernest Bode wrote this hymn for his children’s confirmation. It originally read “O Jesus, We Have Promised,” and contained six stanzas. The four in our hymnal are those in common usage. Stanza 4, omitted in our hymnal, reads: “Oh! let me see thy features, The look that once could make So many a true disciple Leave all things for Thy sake: The look that beamed on Peter when he Thy name denied; the look that draws Thy lovers Close to Thy pierced side.”

8:30 Offertory/Second Hymn at 10:55: Come to Us, Beloved Stranger

Edith Sinclair Downing writes of her text, “When I attended my first hymn-writing school this scripture passage was assigned to small groups. Later I kept working on a text for this scripture and it was expanded to its present form. This soul-nurturing story sings of Christ’s lingering presence to brighten our every day and tomorrow.”

10:55 Offertory: Shepherd Me, O God

Composer Marty Haugen writes about his setting of scripture: “The 23^rd Psalm appears numerous times in the lectionary; it is also appropriate for the Order of Christian Funerals. The language of this setting, especially the refrain, moves away from the familiar biblical text not in order to change the meaning of the psalm, but in an attempt to uncover anew the deep and profound truth of God’s love. The images for God are meant to be both inclusive and evocative of God’s intimate relationship with us.”