11am Choral Eucharist, Sunday, May 13th, 2018

Ascension Sunday

Prelude: “Sing praise to God who reigns above”, Arranged By: Gerald Near

Processional Hymn: 408 Sing praise to God who reigns above (Mit Freuden zart)

Gloria: S280, Powell

First Reading: 1 John 5:6-21

Psalm: Psalm 68:4--7, 10-11, Setting By: Michel Guimont

Choir: God in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.

All: God in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.

Choir: 4. The just shall rejoice at the presence of God,*

they shall exult and dance for joy.

5. O sing to the Lord, make music to God’s name.*

Rejoice in the Lord, exult before God.

All: God in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.

Choir: 6. Father of the orphan, defender of the widow,*

such is God in the holy place.

7. God gives the lonely a home to live in;*

and leads the prisoners forth into freedom.

All: God in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.

Choir: 10. You poured down, O God, a generous rain;*

when your people were starved you gave them new life.

11. It was there that your people found a home,

prepared in your goodness, O God, for the poor.

All: God in your goodness, you have made a home for the poor.

Before the Gospel: Alleluia 7

Gospel: John 17:11b-19

Offertory Anthem: The Peace of God, By: John Rutter

Doxology: Hymn 380, stanza 3

Holy: S125, Proulx

Communion Anthem: “The Greatest of These is Love”, By: Roberta Bitgood

Choir: Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not love, I am become as a sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not love, I am nothing. And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not love, it profiteth me nothing. Love suffereth long, and is kind, love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; beareth all things, believeth all things. Love never faileth: but whether there be profecies, they shall fail; and whether there be tongues, they shall cease; and whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. For love suffereth long, and is kind; but love never faileth, and now abideth faith, hope, love, these three: but the greatest of these is love.

Communion Meditation: “Hail the Day that Sees Him Rise”, Arranged by: Rebecca te Velde

Recessional Hymn: 214 Hail the day that sees him rise (Llanfair)

Postlude: ”Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above”, By: Helmut Walcha

Music Notes, By: Ashley Sosis

Today’s beautiful communion anthem, “The Greatest of These is Love”, is by Roberta Bitgood (1908-2007), a 1929 graduate of Connecticut College, was an American organist, composer, and choir director. Upon her graduation, she trained at the Guilmant Organ School in New York City, before becoming the first woman to be awarded a doctorate of sacred music from Union Theological Seminary. She was also the first woman to be awarded the Fellowship of the American Guild of Organists and to ascend to the presidency of the AGO. Bitgood's published oeuvre mostly consists of sacred music, including anthems and cantatas for choir and organ, vocal solos, and compositions for solo organ as well as for organ with other instruments.