Sunday, August 30th
Rite II, 14th Sunday after Pentecost
Themes from the Readings: Be pure of heart, Song of Solomon, be doers of the word and not hearers only
Sermon on: First Reading, Intoxicating love, Christ’s love for the church
Prelude: Prelude on “Aurelia” (The Church’s One Foundation) by: James Pethel (b. 1936)
Processional Hymn: 525 The Church’s one foundation
Gloria: S280, Powell
First Reading: Song of Solomon 2:8-13
Psalm: Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10, Plainchant tone VIII.1
Choir Antiphon: Grace flows from your lips, O king, because God has blessed you for ever.
Congregation joins the choir in singing the verses in bold print.
1 My heart is stirring with a noble song;
let me recite what I have fashioned for the Kińg;*
my tongue shall be the pen of / a śkilled writer.
2 You are the fairest of mén;*
grace flows from your lips,
because God has blessed / you for éver.
7 Your throne, O God, endures for ever and éver,*
a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of your kingdom;
you love righteousness and /hate iníquity.
8 Therefore God, your God, has anóinted you*
with the oil of gladness a/bove your féllows.
9 All your garments are fragrant with myrrh, aloes, and cássia,*
and the music of strings from ivory pal/aces mákes you glad.
10 Kings’ daughters stand among the ladies of the cóurt;*
on your right hand is the queen,
adorned with the / gold of Óphir,
Choir Antiphon: Grace flows from your lips, O king, because God has blessed you for ever.
Second Reading: James 1: 17-27
Before the Gospel: 492 Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness, stanzas 1-3
Gospel: Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
After the Gospel: 492 Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness, stanza 4
Offertory Anthem: Come away to the Skies, Arranged by: Richard Erickson
Offertory Anthem: Come Away to the Skies, Tune: Middlebury Choral Setting by: Richard Erickson
Choir: Come away to the skies,
My beloved, arise
And rejoice in the day you were born:
On this festival day,
Come exulting away,
And with singing to Zion return.
For thy glory we were
First created to share
Both the nature and kingdom divine;
Now created again,
That our lives may remain
Throughout time and eternity Thine.
We with thanks do approve
The design of that love
Which has joined us to Jesus’ name;
So united in heart,
Let us nevermore part,
Till we meet at the feast of the Lamb.
Hallelujah we sing to our Father and King,
And our rapturous praises repeat:
To the Lamb that was slain, hallelujah again;
Sing, all heaven, and fall at His feet.
-Charles Wesley (1707-1788), includes Song of Solomon 2:13
Doxology: Hymn 380, stanza 3
Holy: S125, Proulx
Communion Anthem: Arise, My Love, and Come away, by: Mark Hayes, Soloist: Janet Haigh
Soloist: Arise, my love, my faire one, and come away.
Arise, my love so beautiful, and come away.
For lo, the winter is past.
The rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth.
The time for singing has come! Ah!
The voice of the turtledove is heard in our land.
The fig trees are bursting with buds
and the promise of fruit.
The grapevines are fragrant with blossoms.
How delicious they smell!
Spring is here and my heart is filled with love!
Set me as a seal upon your heart,
as a seal upon your arm.
For love is as strong as death,
and passion, fierce as the grave.
Many waters cannot quench love.
All the world’s riches cannot buy love.
Arise, my love, my fair one, and come away…
-Song of Solomon 2:10-14, 8:6-7, adapted by Mark Hayes
Communion Meditation: Hymn for the Elevation, by: Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Communion Hymn: 701 Jesus, all my gladness
Recessional Hymn: 420 When in our music God is glorified
Postlude: Toccata, by: Hector Berlioz (1803-1869)
Music Notes
By: Ashley Sosis
You may be able to spot a “music person” by their socks. I have received many pairs of music-note-emblazoned socks as teacher gifts throughout my career. Of the many tchotchkes made for musicians that I have come across (all manner of house-hold items, school supplies, and clothing) my very favorite was a tote bag with the following quote by Franz Liszt, from an essay about a Symphony by Hector Berlioz.
“Music embodies feeling without forcing it to contend and combine with thought, as it is forced in most arts and especially in the art of words. If music has one advantage over the other media through which a person can represent the impressions of the soul, it owes this to its supreme capacity to make each inner impulse audible without the assistance of reason. Reason, after all, is restricted in the diversity of its means and is capable only of confirming or describing our affections, not of communicating them directly in their full intensity. To accomplish this even approximately, reason must search for images and comparisons. Music on the other hand, represents at once the intensity and the expression of feeling. It is embodied and intelligible essence of feeling, capable of being apprehended by our senses. It permeates them like a dart, like a ray, like a mist, alike a spirit, and fills our soul.”
From Berlioz and his “Harold” Symphony (1855) by Franz Liszt, adapted from the translation in Strunk Source Readings in Music History, 1st ed. P. 849
Of course, the quote on the tote bag is surrounded by incorrectly-drawn G clefs and eighth notes, but the sentiment is right-on. This first choir Sunday, may the music we create together today permeate your senses, “like a dart, like a ray, like a mist, alike a spirit,” and fill your soul.