11am Choral Eucharist, Sunday, February 12th, 2017

Rite I, Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany

Themes from the Readings: Happy are they who keep the Lord’s Commands, We are the Lord’s vineyard; Christ tells us how to be just and it’s not easy.

Prelude: “A Voluntary for ye Cornett Stop” by: John Blow (1648-1708)

Processional Hymn: 414 God, my King, thy might confessing (Stuttgart), with descant from hymnal

Gloria: S280, Powell

First Reading: Deuteronomy 30:15-20 or Sirach 15:15-20

Psalm: Psalm 119:1-8

Choir: Happy are they who seek God with all their hearts.

All: Happy are they who seek God with all their hearts.

Choir: 1.They are happy whose life is blameless,*

who follow God’s law!

2. They are happy who do God’s will,*

seeking God with all their hearts,

All: Happy are they who seek God with all their hearts.

Choir: 3. who never do anything evil*

but walk in God’s ways.

4. You have laid down your precepts*

to be obeyed with care.

All: Happy are they who seek God with all their hearts.

Choir: 5. May my footsteps be firm*

to obey your statutes.

6. Then I shall not be put to shame*

as I heed your commands.

All: Happy are they who seek God with all their hearts.

Choir: 7. I will thank you with an upright heart

as I learn your decrees.

8. I will obey your statutes;

do not forsake me.

All: Happy are they who seek God with all their hearts.

Second Reading: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9

Before the Gospel: 435 At the Name of Jesus (King’s Weston) Stanzas 1-3

Gospel: Matthew 5:21-37

After the Gospel: 435 At the Name of Jesus (King’s Weston) Stanzas 4-6

Offertory Anthem: A Vineyard Grows, by: K. Lee Scott

Choir: Amid the world’s bleak wilderness

A vineyard grows with promise green,

The planting of the Lord himself, the planting of the Lord.

His love selected this terrain,

His vine with love he planted here

To bear the choicest fruit for him, the choicest fruit for him.

We are his branches, chosen, dear,

And though we feel the dresser’s knife,

We are the objects of his care, the objects of his care.

From him we draw the juice of life,

For him supply his winery

With fruit from which true joys derive,

from which true joys derive.

Vine, keep what I was meant to be:

Your branch, with your rich life in me.

-Text by: Jaroslav Vajda (1919-2008)

Doxology: Hymn 380, stanza 3

Holy: S125, Proulx

Communion Anthem: Here, O My Lord, by Eleanor Daley

Soloist: Here, O my Lord I see Thee face to face,

Here would I touch and handle things unseen,

here grasp with firmer hand th’eternal grace,

And all my weariness upon Thee lean.

Here would I feed upon the bread of God,

here drink with Thee, the royal wine of heav’n,

here would I lay aside each earthly load,

and taste afresh the calm of sin forgiv’n.

This is the hour of banquet and of song,

this is the heav’nly table spread for me,

here let me feast, and feasting still prolong

the brief bright hour of fellowship with Thee. Amen.

Text by: Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)

Communion Meditation: “Prelude on The Ash Grove”, by: William Weinmann

Communion Hymn: 302 Father, we thank thee who hast planted (Rendez à Dieu)

Recessional Hymn: 344 Lord, Dismiss Us With Thy Blessing (Sicilian Mariners)

Postlude: “Paean”, by: John Marsh

Music Notes

By: Ashley Sosis

It’s not quite spring yet, but a fitting time in the liturgical year to include some “Christ=vine, the church= its branches” poetry. Here is hymn text by an anonymous author that first appeared in Southern Harmony which serves as a sweet partner to today’s offertory anthem. Due to space allotted below, each capitalized word below suggests a new line.

"The Lord into His garden came The spices yield a rich perfume, The lilies grow and thrive: Refreshing showers of grace divine, From Jesus flow to every vine, And make the dead revive. O that this dry and barren ground In springs of water may abound, A fruitful soil become. The desert blossom as the rose, When Jesus conquers all His foes,

And makes His people one. Come brethren, you that love the Lord, And taste the sweetness of His word; In Jesu’s way go on, Our troubles and our trials here, Will only make us richer there, When we arrive at home. Amen! amen! my soul replies, I’m bound to meet you in the skies,

And claim my mansions sure. Now here’s my heart, and here’s my hand, To meet you in the heavenly land,Where we shall part no more.”