19th Sunday After Pentecost
This week's Gospel touches on two important themes. The first is marriage, which is also touched on in at least one of the other readings. For the second, Jesus continues his focus on the importance to children, telling his disciples "Let the little children come."
PRELUDE
Improvisation on All Are Welcome
In "All Are Welcome," Marty Haugen has fashioned a text and tune that is singable, culturally relevant, and for us at St. Paul's, very relevant to our current situation. The tune is being used as the prelude in order to introduce it to the congregation before it is used as the opening hymn.
Some tunes of this length have melodic motives that repeat. This tune is actually through composed, which means that nothing is repeated or brought back through the entire tune. However, through the careful use of rhythmic motives and contour, Haugen has created a very singable, memorable melody.
OPENING HYMN
All Are Welcome
Everything I previously said about the prelude can also be applied here. The opening half of the first line, "Let us build a house..." is obviously very crucial to us at St. Paul's as we approach our congregational vote.
Regardless of the outcome of said vote, the message of this hymn is crucial and important no matter what house of worship we are occupying. We want love to dwell, a place where saints and children gather, built from faith and grace, where the love of Christ shall end divisions. Each stanza goes through a different portion of the fourfold pattern of worship... stanza one is the gathering, stanza two focuses on the Word, stanza three on the meal, stanza four on the sending, and finally, stanza five as a strong conclusion.
CHORAL ANTHEM
The Greatest Gift Is Love- Mark Hayes (9:00 AM only- Chancel Choir)
Due to the connection to love and marriage found in our Gospel reading this week, I've chosen a paraphrase of the famous 1 Corinthians passage commonly used at weddings. Mark Hayes' sensitive setting of this text for choir and organ featuring flowing lines and inventive harmonies that work to color the text. The piece grows to a wonderful climax and concludes with a modulation into D major on a wonderful suspended chord where the altos wait until the final second to resolve.
HYMN OF THE DAY
O Christ Our Heart Compassionate (7:45 AM only)
Herman G. Stuempfle died in 2007. He spent the majority of his career as president of the Lutheran Theological Seminary at Gettysburg. After his retirement in 1989, he spent the rest of his life as a guest preacher, theologian, and hymn writer.
In "O Christ, Our Heart, Compassionate," Stuempfle touches on themes of justice, compassion, and peace. The example Christ shows by his actions of bearing every human's pain and sin should be replicated by us. To do so, Stuempfle begins by describing this syncing of God's heart with Jesus, instilling God in Christ.
In stanza three, we ask that our hearts be re-created so that they be passed to us from Christ, just as God passed his heart to Christ. Finally, the concluding stanza once again talks about our servant church doing deeds of love that rise to heaven.
O Christ, Our Hope (9:00 AM only)
The original version of this hymn traces all the way back to the 8th century. It was translated and brought into wider use in the mid 19th century, set to an early German chorale.
Similar to "O Christ Our Heart," it touches on the idea that Jesus accepted the burden of all of our sins and sacrificed himself for us.
The bulk of the message comes in stanza four. As a result of Jesus breaking the bonds of death and ascending to heaven, our love should then be permeated by the love of God and serve the world for all of eternity.
OFFERING
Do, Lord!- John Ylvisaker (Cherub Choir- 9:00 AM only)
Our Cherub Choir (K-2) will sing in worship for the first time this Sunday. Under the direction of Heidi Harms, they will sing "Do, Lord!" a John Ylvisaker paraphrase of Psalm 27. Through singing, movements, and clapping, they will demonstrate the wonderful musical work they have done thus far in the year.
COMMUNION/CLOSING HYMN
Jesus Loves Me
This timeless text by Anna B. Warner (1820-1915) follows the ideals of how Jesus is a comforting presence for not only the children of the world, but for everyone. The hymn was originally written as a poem to comfort a dying child, and in its full form, contains seven stanzas. The stanzas referring directly to the illness of the child are generally omitted in most hymnals, that though our ELW hymnal doesn't, other hymnals use additional stanzas composed by other poets.
POSTLUDE
We All Believe In One True God- John Hirten
John K. Hirten, a contemporary American composer, is a prolific writer and setter of Lutheran Chorale melodies. This chorale, by Martin Luther, is set to a paraphrase of the Apostle's Creed. It can be found in our hymnal on ELW 411.
Hirten's setting is rather straightforward, but at the same time, contains a significant amount of harmonic interest through various clashes with the pedal points throughout the piece.
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