Jacob Humerick

Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir, sermon by the Rev’d Hope Eakins.

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Service Music:

Voluntary     Prelude on Hyfrydol      June Nixon (b. 1942)

Processional Hymn 494    Crown him with many crowns    Diademata

Song of Praise S236    Glory to you    John Rutter (b. 1945)

Sequence Hymn 608    Eternal Father, strong to save    Melita

Offertory Anthem   God is gone up with a merry noise    Ned Rorem (b. 1923)
Words: Alleluia Verse of Ascension

American composer Ned Rorem composed the first of his Seven Motets for the Church Year in 1977 on a commission from Christ Church Cathedral, Trinity and St. James’s in Hartford/West Hartford; the cycle was completed in 1986 for the 75th anniversary of All Saints Episcopal Church in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This fifth movement is a joyous acclamation of the belief in Jesus’ ascent into heaven.

Sanctus S125   Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Fraction Anthem   Christ our Passover    Jeffrey Rickard (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem    Sing me to heaven     Daniel Gawthrop (b. 1949)
Words: Jane Griner

In my heart’s sequestered chambers lie truths stripped of poet’s gloss.
Words alone are vain and vacant, and my heart is mute.
In response to aching silence memory summons half-heard voices,
And my soul finds primal eloquence and wraps me in song.

If you would comfort me, sing me a lullaby.
If you would win my heart, sing me a love song.
If you would mourn me and bring me to God,
Sing me a requiem, Sing me to heaven.

Touch in me all love and passion, pain and pleasure,
Touch in me grief and comfort; love and passion, Pain and pleasure.

Sing me a lullaby, a love song, a requiem,
Love me, comfort me, bring me to God:
Sing me a love song, Sing me to heaven.

Sing me to heaven is perhaps the most written-about choral work of the 20th century, as many different meanings can be derived from the beautiful text.  Composed by American Dan Gawthrop, he says of its commission: “The director said she wanted something which speaks to the way that we, as singers, feel about music in our lives.”  Choral director Dan Wagner sums it up best: “I believe the Sing me to heaven text is really about music’s ability best express life’s deepest mysteries, greatest joys, and deepest sorrows. It is an ode to musical mysticism, in my opinion. I listen to it and am moved from my own point of view. My personal life experience – too much talking, not enough music! – leads me to affirm this piece and its text…when I die, I hope there’s more singing than talking!”

Closing Hymn 460    Alleluia! sing to Jesus!    Hyfrydol

Voluntary    Toccata in F     Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)

 

Full Sermon Text:

The United Kingdom grieves – we all grieve – after the terrorist attack at a concert in Manchester.  St. John’s grieves too, after four deaths in our community: Marie Montas’ daughter Carol, who was only 57 years old and Nathan-Edward, the son of Faith Weidner and Jim Miller who died in a cycling accident at 30.  We lament the loss of long time parishioners Bill Faude and Wende Taylor, firmly fixed in the heart of St. John’s over their many years in this community.  The sadness and loss multiply.  Fear and anxiety creep into our hearts and lodge there as we face the fragility of life.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” says Jesus.

There is a certain peace that comes from remembering these lives and the gifts they brought to this world, a peace that comes from believing that, “to your faithful people, O Lord, life is changed, not ended.”  There is also much peace in seeing grief conquered by faith and pain eased by hope and love.

On a dark night ten years ago, a young woman was on her way back to college with her boyfriend John when they stopped on the side of the road to switch drivers.  As she stepped from the car, a drunk driver swerved and killed her while John watched helplessly at the carnage.

“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you,” says Jesus.  The young woman’s parents have come to that peace. They celebrated John’s marriage to another young woman this year, and they work for Mothers Against Drunk Driving.  They have forgiven the driver and they pray for him.  They have all known anguish and loss, anger and pain, but they have gained a peace that allows them to entrust their daughter to God and start to smile again.

Their peace is not a cheap peace.  They do not believe that “God’s in his heaven; all’s right with the world.”  You have heard such platitudes.  I have said them myself.  “Everything will be all right.  He is better off now that his suffering is over.  You always have your memories.  It will all work out for the best.”  In the midst of life’s tragedies, such pious pronouncements fall flat.  When someone you love dies, your heart will never be the same shape again.  When the disease is terminal, when the divorce is final, when the last paycheck has been cashed, everything is not going to be all right.  And it is then that we need to hear, we need to believe in something bigger and stronger than we are.  We need to trust Jesus’ words, “Do not let your heart be troubled and do not be afraid.  My peace I give to you.  Not as the world gives, give I unto you.”

The peace the world gives always falls short. The world’s idea of peace is the absence of struggle and tension and pain.  Peace, we are assured, can be had when we pop a pill, take a drink, buy a car, or go on vacation.  The world’s peace always leaves us frustrated when we realize that these anodynes don’t work because there will always be discord and pain in this life, we will all die, and there is no perfection this side of heaven.

Those who know the peace of Christ know this.  They know the discouragement and anguish in this “real” world, but they face it and live it with the confidence that God is present and powerful and that God is working God’s purpose out and bringing healing and reconciliation.

Christians know the story of Christ’s peace come in the middle of defeat.  A week after the crucifixion, Jesus comes to his disciples with his wounds still raw and proclaims peace to them.  It is as if he is saying, “Look, here are my hands and my feet, marked by the signs of betrayal and shame and pain, by death itself.  And now look again.  Here I am standing among you as living proof that God’s power is greater than any evil.  Therefore, peace be with you.  Be not afraid.”

In the valley of death and desolation, nothing can save us but the peace of God.  Alcohol, activity, possessions, vengeance – none of these can bring peace.  We can – and should – get help from support groups, therapists, and the passing of time, but these can never bring the full and true peace that our hearts ache for.  It is only God’s peace that can break through the walls we erect and shine light into our dark nights and blow open the windows of our closed rooms.  A long time ago, St. Augustine said it another way, “You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you.”

There would be little hope for us if there were not a difference between the world’s peace and Christ’s peace.  We have heard the vain promises, “This is a war to end all wars.”  And still we live in the fear of bombs falling and Memorial Day lists grow longer each year.  We have invested our hopes in social programs like the War on Poverty, and still the homeless lie under the bridges of our city.  Now we are fighting the War on Terrorism and 22 are dead after the suicide bomb exploded at the rock concert in Manchester.

Cast all your anxiety on [God], says today’s Epistle.  Sometimes that is hard to do.

It was hard to trust in God during the London blitz in World War II.  Bombs fell nightly obliterating house and families.  After one bombing raid, a father found his wife and daughter buried under the rubble.  He searched frantically for his son and found him in the garden looking up at the sky.  Silently the father stood by the son and held him close as they wept.  After a long while, the boy pointed up and said, “Look Father, it’s going to be all right.  God is hanging out the stars again.”

Nothing could ever fill the hole torn in the heart of that family, but God’s stars say that tragedy doesn’t get the last word, that we are in God’s hands even when we can’t stop crying.  It is a peace that allows us to live in the midst of violence, in a world where Coptic Christians are murdered for their theology, and people are mowed down by runaway cars in Times Square, and where Bill Faude and Wende Taylor and Carol Montas and Nathan Miller have died.

How can some walk in that peace while others are prisoners of their own fear and anger.  How can some grow beyond tragedy when others allow snarled traffic to ruin their day?

As we listen to Jesus, we hear the answer.  The problem is not so much in the tragedies of life as in our response to them.  Jesus tells us to fear not and we bind ourselves up in fearful worry.  Jesus tells us to trust that there IS life eternal, and we are too scared and sad to believe it.  Jesus tells us to forgive and we insist on getting even.

The Bible promises that “after you have suffered for a little while, the God of all grace … will himself restore, support, strengthen, and establish you.”  And somehow we don’t believe it or can’t believe it and so we don’t open our hearts to receive God’s comfort and God’s love and we stay anxious and afraid.

 

The people who have great gardens are not those who spend their time paging through catalogues but those who get out and weed and till the soil and dig in fertilizer and water their seeds.  The people who are filled with God’s peace are no different.  They are those who practice keeping God’s word.  What the risen Lord offers us is not a safe place to snuggle down but the command, “Be not afraid.  Follow me.”  He says if you feel weak, bear the burdens of others and I will strengthen you.  If you are poor, share what little you have and I will give you more.  If you are lonely, open your heart and I will fill it up.  If you are afraid, put your trust in me.”

 

The family who lost their daughter on the highway found a way to do that.  They put their trust in God. They came to church because they always came to church, and they heard the words of faith and stories of faith’s power. They came, but they left early because they didn’t trust themselves to talk without weeping.  As they sat there they heard stories of faith and they began to remember that this was their faith too.  The family who lost their daughter began to pray for the drunk who killed her, not because they were especially pious or religious but because they didn’t know what else to do.  At first they prayed that he would go to hell and they prayed that he would know just as much pain as they did.   And as they prayed through clenched teeth, they began to pray that he would find sobriety and know what he had done and they prayed that he too would find peace.

 

As they found faith, they found their own peace in Christ’s promise that nothing, no weakness, no pain, no conflict, no terrorism can ever separate us from the love of God.

 

The peace of the Lord be always with you.

Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth Choir, sermon by the Rev’d Susan Pinkerton, and Youth Presentations.

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Service Music:

Voluntary for Organ     Morning has broken    Fred Bock (1939-1998)
Voluntary for Viola and Cello     Morning has broken    Elsa Ciscel and Britt Emerick

Processional Hymn 287    For all the saints, who from their labors rest     Sine Nomine

Song of Praise     Morning has broken    St. John’s Children and Youth

Sequence Hymn 293    I sing a song of the saints of God    Grand Isle

Gospel Procession    When the saints go marching in     Youth Orchestra

Offertory Anthem   I sing a song of the saints of God    Michael Bedford, 2004
Words: Lesbia Scott, found at hymn 293

Sanctus S125   Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Fraction Anthem   Christ our Passover    Jeffrey Rickard (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem    O Gracious Light    David Hogan (1949-1986)

Post-communion Anthem     The Lord is my shepherd    Children’s Choir

Closing Hymn 405     All things bright and beautiful     Royal Oak

Voluntary    Offertorio     Domenico Zipoli (1688-1726)

 

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Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs, sermon by the Rev’d Helen Moore.

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Service Music:

Voluntary   Jesu, joy of man’s desiring    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Berceuse     Louis Vierne (1870-1937)

Louis Vierne was the blind organist of Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris from 1900 until 1937 (where he died during a recital 80 years ago this month). His tender Berceuse, an arrangement of a traditional French lullaby, was written in 1913 and dedicated to his daughter.

Processional Hymn 366 1-4    Holy God we praise thy Name    Grosser Gott

Song of Praise S236    Glory to you    John Rutter (b. 1945)

Sequence Hymn 487    Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life    The Call

Offertory Anthem   Antiphon: Let all the world in every corner sing    Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
from Five Mystical Songs
Words: George Herbert (1593-1633), found at Hymn 402

Sanctus S125   Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Fraction Anthem   Christ our Passover    Jeffrey Rickard (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem    Ein Blümlein wenn’s die Sonne spüret    Jan Berger (1909-2002)
Words: Maria Brubacher, 1825

Ein Blumlein wenn’s die Sonne spuret Sich offnet stille, sanft und froh;
Wann Gottes Gnade dich beruhret, Lass auch dei Herz bewirken so.
A rose touched by the sun’s warm rays, all its petals gently do unfold;
So you, when touched by God’s great mercy, let joy and gladness win your soul.

Jean Berger was a German-born American pianist, composer, and music educator. He composed extensively for choral ensemble and solo voice. This setting of a Pennsylvania German hymn is miniature gem – light, transparent, and beautiful. Special thanks to Olivia Tummescheit for coaching our German pronunciation.

Communion Hymn 455    Let us break bread together on our knees    Let Us Break Bread

Closing Hymn 455    O Love of God, how strong and true    Dunedin

Voluntary    Voluntary in D     William Croft (1678-1727)

Assisting Organist: Kari Miller

 

Full Sermon Text:

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Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Adult Choir, sermon by the Rev’d Susan Pinkerton.

Worship at Home:

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Service Music:

Voluntary   Sheep may safely graze    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Prelude on Dominus regit me    June Nixon (b. 1942)

Dr. June Nixon is Organist Emerita at St Paul’s Cathedral, Melbourne, Australia, where she was Director of Music for 40 years. She now divides her time between composing, teaching, examining, mentoring, and looking after her cat Tottie. She is a widely-published composer, writing music which is accessible and enjoyable for both musicians and listeners. Her works have been recorded by several English and American cathedral choirs, and her arrangement of the traditional carol The Holly and the Ivy was included in the Nine Lessons and Carols from King’s College Cambridge in 2010.

Processional Hymn 495    Hail, thou once despised Jesus    In Babilone

Song of Praise 417    This is the feast   Festival Canticle

Sequence Hymn 646    The King of love my shepherd is    Dominus regit me

Offertory Anthem    The Lord is my shepherd     Thomas Matthews (1915-1999)
Words: Psalm 23

Sanctus S125   Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Fraction Anthem   Christ our Passover    Jeffrey Rickard (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem    Lord, lead us still    Johannes Brahms  (1833-1897)
Words: Helen A. Dickinson, 1916

Along the varied paths of life,
Through hours of joy and sorrow keen,
In grim temptation’s mortal strife,
In doubt or confidence serene,
Lord, lead us still, O lead us still.

Through all the changes of the years,
Whate’er of good or ill betide,
In laughter gay or bitter tears,
O keep us ever at thy side;
Lord, lead us still, O lead us still.

And when at last the tale is told,
The vict’ry won by thy good grace,
May we thy glory, Lord, behold,
In that blest homeland see thy face;
Lord, lead us still, O lead us still.

Closing Hymn 205    Good Christians, all, rejoice and sing!    Gelobt sei Gott

Voluntary    Fantasy on Gelobt sei Gott    Healey Willan (1880-1968)

 

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Choral Evensong at 5 p.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs.

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Holy Eucharist Rite II at 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs, sermon by Deacon Walter McKenney.

Worship at Home:

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Service Music:

Voluntary    Aria    Flor Peeters (1903-1986)

This Aria was originated in 1943 as the slow movement of a Sonata for trumpet and piano, and it is still a permanent fixture on exam syllabuses for aspiring young trumpeters. Peeters himself arranged it for organ. The expressive melody unfolds above an accompaniment of soft repeated chords. As in so much of his finest work, there is a simplicity and sincerity in this music that speaks directly to the heart. (Notes courtesy David Gammie)

Processional Hymn 432    O praise ye the Lord! Praise him in the height    Laudate Dominum

Song of Praise 417    This is the feast   Festival Canticle

Psalm 116:1-3, 10-17    Sung by the choir; Anglican chant by Thomas Pavlechko, 2010

Sequence Hymn 296    We know that Christ is raised and dies no more    Engelberg

Offertory Anthem    They that go down to the sea in ships    Herbert Sumsion (1899-1995)
Words: Psalm 107:23-30

They that go down to the sea in ships:
and occupy their business in great waters;
These men see the works of the Lord:
and his wonders in the deep.

For at his word the stormy wind ariseth:
which lifteth up the waves thereof.
They are carried up to the heaven,
and down again to the deep:
their soul melteth away because of the trouble.

They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man;
and are at their wits’ end.
So when they cry unto the Lord in their trouble:
He delivereth them out of their distress.

For he maketh the storm to cease:
so that the waves thereof are still.
Then are they glad because they are at rest:
and so he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be.

Herbert Sumsion was born in Gloucester, and sang in the choir of the cathedral as a chorister. He gained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists at the age of only 17. He was organist of Gloucester Cathedral from 1928 to 1967 and is remembered as a cathedral musician, organist and teacher. They that go down to the sea in ships (1979) was written for the choir of Repton Preparatory School. The piece unfolds with a remarkable economy of material: a rippling, listless organ part suggests the sea, with an attractive solo melody over it; and rising and falling choral writing depicts the movement of the ship and the staggering of its sailors.

Sanctus S125   Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Fraction Anthem   Christ our Passover    Jeffrey Rickard (b. 1942)

Communion Motet    Ubi caritas    Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)
Words from the Maundy Thursday liturgy

Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est. Congregavit nos in unum Christi amor.

Exsultemus, et in ipso jucundemur. Timeamus, et amemus Deum vivum.

Et ex corde diligamus nos sincero.

Where charity and love are, God is there. Christ’s love has gathered us into one.

Let us rejoice and be pleased in him. Let us fear, and let us love the living God.

And may we love each other with a sincere heart.

Closing Hymn 180    He is risen, he is risen!    Unser Herrscher

Voluntary    Toccata on I Believe This Is Jesus     Spiritual, setting by Dennis Janzer (b. 1954)

Assisting Organist: Kari Miller

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Holy Eucharist Rite II at 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. sung by Daaé Ransom, soloist, sermon by the Rev’d Hope Eakins.

Worship at Home:

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Service Music:

Voluntary    Short Prelude & Fugue in F Major, BWV 556     Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

Processional 208    Alleluia! The strife is o’er, the battle done    Victory

Song of Praise 417    This is the feast   Festival Canticle

Sequence Hymn 178    Alleluia, alleluia! Give thanks    Alleluia No. 1

Offertory Anthem   He shall feed his flock (Messiah)   George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)
Words: Isaiah 40:11
Daaé Ransom, soloist

He shall feed his flock like a shepherd; and he shall gather the lambs with his arm, and carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

Sanctus S125   Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Fraction Anthem   Christ our Passover    Jeffrey Rickard (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem   How beautiful are the feet of them (Messiah)   George Frideric Handel
Words: Romans 10:15
Daaé Ransom, soloist

How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!

Closing Hymn 182    Christ is alive! Let Christians sing    Truro

Voluntary    Toccata     Flor Peeters (1903-1986)

Full Sermon Text:

Sermon by the Rev. Hope Eakins

Holy Eucharist Rite II at 8:00 and 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs with brass and timpani, sermon by the Rev’d Susan Pinkerton.

The Adult Choir sings alone at 8:00 a.m.

Worship at Home:

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Service Music:

Voluntary    Sonata III in A Major   Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
Con moto maestoso  –  Andante tranquillo

Worship begins this Easter with a “resurrection” Sonata by Felix Mendelssohn. It’s opening fugal theme builds in turmoil and intensity, set on top of the hymntune Aus tiefer not (Out of the depths). In the end, however, the clouds are parted in a triumphal hymn, and our antiphonal Trompette en Chamade (which has been silent in worship during the Lenten season) heralds a bright new day.

Introit    Break forth into joy!    Daniel Pinkham (1923-2006)

Processional Hymn 207    Jesus Christ is risen today   Easter Hymn

Song of Praise 417    This is the feast   Festival Canticle

Sequence Hymn 199   Come, ye faithful, raise the strain     St. Kevin

Offertory Anthem   Hallelujah (Messiah)   George Frideric Handel (1685-1759)

Sanctus S125   Richard Proulx (1937-2010)

Fraction Anthem   Christ our Passover    Jeffrey Rickard (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem    Agnus Dei (2010)    Ola Gjeilo (b. 1978)

Composed for the Phoenix Chorale, Gjeilo’s Agnus Dei is symphonic in nature, and is one of those pieces where the text is a servant of the music, not the opposite. Images of the Arizona desert bring the text to life, similar to works by Samuel Barber (Adagio) and Elgar (Nimrod from Engima Variations). 

Communion Hymn 305   Come, risen Lord   Rosedale

Closing Hymn 210   The day of resurrection   Ellacombe

Voluntary    Toccata (Symphonie V)    Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)

Music: The St. John’s Adult Choir (8:00), The Saint John’s Youth and Adult Choirs (10:30)
Organist/Choirmaster: Scott Lamlein
Assisting Choirmaster: Nicholas Filippides
Trumpeters: Tom Hintz, Jeff Higgins
Timpani: Bill Solomon

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