This Sunday our Gospel reading in Mark 10 will be about Jesus teaching his disciples after they began arguing about who is the greatest, saying: …whoever wishes to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you must be slave of all. For the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a ransom for many. Our music will reflect the Love that we share with God, the call of Jesus to follow in his ways, and about our understanding of what it means to serve others.
Our Processional hymn will be God is Love, let heaven adore him, written by Timothy Rees (1874-1939) who was appointed Bishop of Llandaff in 1931 in South Wales. He became bishop at the most acute stage of the industrial depression, facing widespread unemployment in the mining communities. He wrote several hymns including Holy Spirit, ever living and this week’s hymn about the love of God. (Wikipedia.org)
Our Sequence hymn will be Jesus calls us; o’er the tumult written by Cecil Frances Alexander in 1852. As a small girl, Cecil Frances Humphries wrote poetry in her school's journal. In 1850 she married Rev. William Alexander, who later became the Anglican primate (chief bishop) of Ireland. She showed her concern for disadvantaged people by traveling many miles each day to visit the sick and the poor, providing food, warm clothes, and medical supplies. (Bert Polman, hymnary.org)
St. Martin’s Choir will sing a new anthem for the Offertory, Sing to the Lord a new song, words and music by Diane Hannibal. It has a lilting and lively rhythm with an almost neoclassical style reminiscent of Handel, and is based on Psalm 96. The composer, Hannibal, also wrote our anthem for Sept. 29th, To You, I lift my soul, and the choir has enjoyed learning it. The text reads:
Sing to the Lord a new song, for He has done marvelous things.
Come make a joyful noise to the Lord; break forth into songs of praise.
Trumpet and horn, cymbal and drum, come make a joyful noise.
Lute and the harp, psalter and lyre, come make a joyful noise!
Let the sea roar and all that is in it. Let rivers clap their hands to the Lord!
Let the hills and valleys proclaim their praise in one accord! Praise the Lord!
Our Communion hymn is a favorite one of the congregation, The Servant Song, written by Richard Gillard. Born in 1953, Gillard emigrated to New Zealand with his family when he was three years old. He writes, "I've had almost no formal musical training. I'm a self-taught guitarist and play mostly in a folk style." Regarding "The Servant Song," he says it "was first published in 1978 on a record album by Scripture in Song called "Father Make Us One" and has appeared subsequently in other Scripture in Song publications including a song book entitled "Songs of Praise" which is widely used by New Zealand congregations. (hymnary.org) Dr. C. Michael Hawn describes the meaning of Gillard’s text: “stanza three speaks of holding the Christ-light…in the night-time of your fear. We are called to reflect Christ’s light in the world. Stanza four is one of empathy—weeping, laughing and sharing together. Stanza five provides an eschatological perspective, as we sing to God in heaven. The joy of making harmony together offsets the agony of all that suffering on earth.” (History of hymns, umcdiscipleship.org)
Our final hymn is a discipleship hymn to celebrate our Stewardship Ingathering: They’ll Know We are Christians by our Love, by Peter Scholtes. Scholtes was a Catholic priest when he wrote this folk song in 1966 and it soon become popular among Protestant congregations also. In her book, Holding Faith: A Practical Introduction to Christian Doctrine (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2018), Cynthia Rigby says: “What sense can we make of this moment, as a moment of discipleship? What are we being called upon to do and to be right now, today? For it is right now - today - that the Messiah asks us to join him in doing power differently, in hoping against hope, and in holding nothing back for the sake of those whom God so loves…Will we join in what God is up to, or will we just get in the way? (umcdiscipleship.org) May we find our own call to reach out to each other and especially to support the mission of St. Martin’s by turning in a Pledge of Giving for the coming year. Our Music Ministry relies upon your willingness to give of both your time and money to support the music that has become an integral mission of our church.