10:30am Choral Eucharist, Sunday, November 18th, 2018
ACNA Ancient Text, 26th Sunday after Pentecost
Themes from the Readings: The Lord commands the Israelites to leave Sinai; In Mark, Jesus warns us of a day of judgment.
Sermon on: Exodus 33:1-3, 12-23 or 33:7-11
Prelude: “Now Thank We All Our God”, Arranged By: Lloyd Larson
Processional Hymn: 637, How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord (Lyons)
Gloria: S280, Powell
First Reading: Exodus 33:1-3, 12-23 or 33:7-11
Second Reading: Hebrews 5:7-10
Gospel Hymn: 433, We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing (Kremser)
Gospel: Mark 13:14-23
Offertory Anthem: Now Thank We All Our God, By: Johann Pachelbel, Arranged by: Austin C. Lovelace
Choir: Now thank we all our God,
With heart and hands and voices.
Who wondrous things hath done,
In whom His world rejoices;
Who from our mother’s arms
Hath blessed us on our way.
With countless gifts of love,
And still is ours today.
Doxology: Hymn 380, stanza 3
Holy: S125, Proulx
Communion Anthem: Harvest Song, By: Austin C. Lovelace
Choir: Sing to the Lord of harvest, sing songs of love and praise;
With joyful hearts and voices your alleluias raise!
By Him the rolling seasons in fruitful order move;
Sing to the Lord of harvest a joyous song of love.
By him the clouds drop fatness, the deserts bloom and spring,
The hills leap up in gladness, the valleys laugh and sing.
He filleth with His fullness all things with large increase;
He crowns the year with goodness, with plenty, and with peace.
Bring to His sacred altar the gifts His goodness gave,
The golden sheaves of harvest, the souls He died to save.
Your hearts lay down before Him when at his feet you fall,
And with your lives adore Him, who gave His life for all.
Communion Meditation: “We Gather Together”, Arranged By: Lani Smith
Processional Hymn: 397, Now thank we all our God (Nun danket alle Gott)
Postlude: “Now Thank We All Our God”, Arranged By: Sigfried Karg-Elert
Music Notes
By: Ashley Sosis
This morning’s hymns are #637, How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord; #433, We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing; and #397, Now thank we all our God. Not bad tunes to have stuck in your head this coming Thanksgiving week! Our two anthems, “Harvest Song” and Pachelbel’s “Now Thank We All Our God” are either by or edited by Austin C. Lovelace. The same composer may also receive credit for inspiring much of my hymn background info with his book, Hymn Notes for Church Bulletins.
“How firm a foundation,” is a bible lesson in itself! The first stanza sets up the rest of the readings, “Your foundation is laid in His excellent word.” Stanza 2 is based on Isaiah 43:1-3, outlining the promises of God. “1 But now says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: ‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. 3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy one of Israel, your Savior.” The final promise is vaguely like II Timothy 2:19 and Hebrews 13:5. I love how our hymnal places quotation marks around the exact places one of God’s promise is cited, stanzas 2, 3, 4 and 5, as if it is the voice of God speaking to us (and/or Israel).
“We Gather Together” was originally a Folk Hymn from the Netherlands originally printed in 1626, later given a different English text by Theodore Baker (1851-1934). The original Dutch text was a patriotic song written at the end of the 16th century to celebrate the release of the Netherlands from Spanish rule. Edward Kremser, director of a male choral society in Vienna, first arranged the old folksong for men’s voices, so the tune bears his last name.
Upon hearing, “Now Thank We All Our God,” one would not realize that this hymn of praise was written by a Lutheran pastor during the Thirty Years’ War (1618-1648). Martin Rinkart (1586-1649), the author of the hymn’s text, was one of the only remaining Lutheran minister in Eilenberg, Germany during the war and overlapping periods of plague. He wrote a total of sixty-six hymns during this time, many hymns of praise, while celebrating as many as fifty funerals a day. The first stanza of “Now Thank We All Our God” is a general expression of gratitude to God for His “countless gifts of love.” The second verse is a petition for God’s continued care and keeping, with perhaps a hint of Rinkart’s own personal hardships, “Guide us when perplexed, and free us from all ills...” The final stanza is the doxology of praise to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, “the one eternal God.”