This Sunday we will read in Psalm 27, The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom then shall I fear? In our gospel lesson in Luke 13, Jesus says, “Jerusalem, Jerusalem the city that kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to it! How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!” We will consider how the present world collides with the new world that Jesus is promoting, even though it can be uncomfortable. Our music will reflect the multifaceted themes of discord and peace.
Our Sequence hymn will be My Jesus, I love Thee from our Lift Every Voice hymnal. Born and raised in Montreal, Quebec, William Featherston most likely wrote this hymn at the age of sixteen on the occasion of his conversion and/or baptism. It was published anonymously in the London Hymn Book to a now forgotten tune. Adoniram Judson Gordon found it, wrote a new tune for it, and also published it anonymously in The Service of Song for Baptist Churches. It wasn’t until around 1930, fifty years after its publication, that enough research had been done to establish Featherston as the author, who had died at the young age of 28. Today, it is a much loved hymn of assurance and confession of faith, with words of comfort and peace. And perhaps bolstering the power of the text is Featherstone’s story itself. A young man with no connections, who simply wrote a poem one night about his own faith, has, unbeknownst to him, come to bless millions. God certainly works in mysterious ways to use the gifts and talents of his people. (Hymnary.org)
St. Martin’s Choir will sing a lovely arrangement by Michael Scott titled Grant Us Peace, or in Latin: Dona Nobis Pacem. (1999 Studio 224 Alfred Publishing Co. all rights reserved) The words are simple: Dona nobis pacem, pacem. Grant us peace on earth. They are taken from the Agnus Dei, or Lamb of God song of the Eucharist, but they entered into the Catholic mass in the seventh century. The wish for peace can be found in most religious traditions. For Hindus in India, shanti-shanti-shanti commonly ends prayers, addressing the peace in three worlds, physical, psychological and spiritual. Buddhists use the threefold shanti to greet the Buddha, the Dharma and the Sangha. In the Jewish tradition, the Sabbath is the doorway to Shalom at the beginning of creation that can return as the end times bringing everlasting Peace of Paradise. The Sufis claim Salam as the highest state of the soul-self journeying to be close to the One. We emphasize the role of Jesus as both forgiver of our sins and also one who invokes the Latin pax, peace in harmony both within and without. (peaceinmotion.info)
Our Communion hymn will be the same one that we sang last Sunday, There is a longing in our hearts, by Anne Quigley. As a prayer of brief petitions and responses, this hymn is like a litany with an ostinato refrain. There are a wide range of petitions: in sorrow, grief, weakness, fear and sickness; also a wide range of intercessions: for justice, freedom, mercy, wisdom, courage, comfort, healing, wholeness, and new life. The composer and liturgist Anne Quigley lives in England and is a member of the St. Thomas More Groups of composers that has attracted several well-known composers of music for the church. (Voices Found hymnal supplement Leader’s Guide by Marilyn L. Haskel and Lisa Neufeld Thomas, 2004 by Church Publishing Inc.)
Our final hymn will be another well written one by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette, Lord, we confess we turn away. In her study book, I Sing to My Savior, Gillette reflects: “How frustrating it is for a loving parent—or for a grandparent who is raising a grandchild—when the child consistently doesn’t listen and turns onto a dangerous path. How frustrating it must have been for Jesus to speak a message of love and to have people constantly trying to undercut his teaching or—perhaps worse—to simply ignore it. I wonder if Jesus weeps today, seeing how we turn away—in the words of this hymn, ‘drawn to other things’.” This hymn calls for us to sit up and take notice of what God is trying to say to us, and how we can begin to incorporate Jesus’ teachings into our daily lives. (I Sing to My Savior, New hymns from the stories in the Gospel of Luke, Copyright 2022 Carolyn Winfrey Gillette