This Sunday we will continue our journey with Jesus in Luke 5 as he counsels his disciples to be open to throwing their nets into new waters. Our Psalm 138 reminds us to give thanks to the Lord with our whole heart and to glorify the Lord’s name. Our Processional hymn will be Holy, Holy, Holy! This hymn was written by Reginald Heber (1783-1826) who studied at Oxford where he excelled in poetry and became friends with Sir Walter Scott. He later became a vicar and sought to lift the literary quality of hymns. It was the Nicene creed that inspired Heber to write this great hymn of praise to the Triune God. The tune, composed by John B. Dykes for Heber’s text, is also titled Nicaea in recognition of Heber’s text. The words evoke a sense of awe at the majesty of God, and call on all of creation – humans, saints and angels, and all living things – to praise the Godhead three-in-one. (Hymnary.org; Then Sings My Soul by Robert J Morgan 2003)
In our reading in 1st Corinthians 15 we acknowledge the reception of grace and forgiveness of sins. Our Sequence hymn will be Come thou fount of every blessing. In 1752, Robert Robinson attended an evangelical meeting to heckle the believers and make fun of the proceedings. Instead, he listened in awe to the words of the great preacher George Whitefield, and in 1755, at the age of 20, Robinson responded to the call he felt three years earlier and became a Christian. Another three years later, when preparing a sermon for his Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England, he penned the words that have become one of the church’s most-loved hymns: “Come, thou fount of every blessing, tune my heart to sing thy grace.” It was a prayer that the Holy Spirit flood into our hearts with streams of mercy, enabling us to sing God’s praises and remain faithful. Using imagery of Christ as the giver of living water and the shepherd gathering his sheep back into the fold, this hymn reminds the worshipper of the bountiful grace of God. Like Robinson, we too are “prone to wander,” and are quick to seek redemption through our own power. But God continues to bring us back from our wandering, until, songs of praise on our lips, we dance forever before the mount of God’s redeeming love. (Hymnary.org)
The Offertory will be a solo arrangement by Douglas Mears of the Spiritual There is a balm in Gilead, sung by soloist Mars Kavadlo. Mars is a senior at Parkway Central High School and is considering music studies in college. “Yet, in times of even temporary cessation from struggle, or in times of greatest conflict, the dream of peace continues to nourish the hope of the race. The dream persists, even though we do not know what peace on earth would be like because it has never been experienced. . . . hope is fed by a conviction deeper than the processes of thought that the destiny of [humanity] is good. It is this spirit that is captured by this spiritual. Yes, there is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. The day that this conviction leaves the spirit of [humanity, our] moment on earth is over, and the last fond hope of the race perishes from the earth forever, and a lonely God languishes while [. . . God’s] dreams go silently to dust”. (Howard Thurman, Deep River and The Negro Spiritual Speaks of Life and Death (Richmond, IN: Friends United Press, 1975).
Sometimes I feel discouraged, and think my work’s in vain.
But then the Holy Spirit revives my soul again.
There is a balm in Gilead to made the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead to heal the sin-sick soul. (umcdiscipleship.org)
Our Communion hymn also reflects our calling from Jesus, Will you come and follow me, was written in 1987 by John L. Bell and Graham Maule. I first encountered this song at a Presbyterian Women convention when the presenter, Carol Bechtel said, “I first heard this song on an album called God Never Sleeps by John Bell of the Iona Community in Scotland. The words are startlingly direct and the music simple and elegant…we feel like God is looking directly into our eyes and asking, “What are you going to say? What are you going to do?” (Horizons Jan/Feb 2001)
Our final hymn will be a response to Christ: Here I am, Lord written by Daniel Schutte in 1981. Schutte studied at St. Louis University and eventually joined the Jesuits and is currently director of music at University of San Francisco. “This is a hymn of transformation. God transforms the darkness into light, melts hearts of stone with love and nourishes the poor and lame with the finest bread.” (C. Michael Hawn) Each stanza ends with the question, “Whom shall I send?” and we must answer the call with our own unique offering. (umcdiscipleship.org)