Bach to Christmas

 As I told you last month, my favorite and I believe most Biblical based holiday time for Christians is Thanksgiving.  Although the advertising and marketing arm of every retailer has been here well ahead of us, we have finally arrived at the Christmas season.  While historically Christmas has, at best, a checkered past I can't ignore the potential for ministry inherent in the Christmas season.

True, there is no command to celebrate the birth of Jesus.  There is nothing linking the birth of Christ with the week of the winter solstice.  There is no Biblical basis for the trappings of the season.  If you want to get down to the truth, there is a very messy and embarrassing history behind everything from caroling to those gingerbread man cookies.  There are even a number of famous historic incidents in which the season and antisemitic actions were linked together.  It is no wonder that our Puritan forefathers banned the celebration.

We live in a world that has become increasingly ignorant of its own history.  The season, though pagan in its origins has, for most of our population, transcended most of its dark roots and is recognized either as a time to celebrate the birth of Christ, or a time to indulge in materialism.  Admittedly, for most of us modern Christians, we do a little of both.  The season is a time in which the secular world notices the Christian world. We have reached a point now in which I believe we are better served to not only celebrate the season, but to celebrate it in the extreme when possible.  Entertainment media, proponents of other recently made up holidays, influences from the Mideast, and others would like to erase Christ from Christmas.  Retailers instruct sales staff to wish patrons, "Happy holidays," rather than, "Merry Christmas."  One could argue quite easily that the best thing for believers to do is separate ourselves from the pagan celebration completely as the Puritans tried and ban all vestiges of it from our churches and our homes. I believe, however, that more good can come from a pagan celebration that has been "salted" with Christianity.

The words of Christ teach us to be the salt of the world.  We know that salt influences flavor, acts as a preservative, and is a purifier.  But for salt to work it has to come into contact with what it is affecting.  Kept in the shaker, salt has not influence or affect.  We too have no effect on the world unless we contact it. Christmas, however tainted it may be, is one of the key contact points we have with the world.  If we remove our influence from the holiday, what would be accomplished?  I believe the work of the church, and the spread of the gospel is better served by claiming what we can of the holiday and keeping it as ours.

Now, like a long winded preacher (which I am actually guilty of having been), that was all introduction.  What I really want to tell you about is how we in the adult choir intend to claim the season through music this year.  First, as your choir provides leadership and encouragement to worship in congregational song I hope you will join your voice singing the familiar songs of the season.  Second, as we sing the various introits and anthems celebrating the coming of the Savior into our world, I hope you will not view them as elevator music or filler time. These are not performance pieces for your entertainment, but are songs of worship being lifted up to the Lord that you can participate with in your heart.  Instead of checking your email on your phone, let the words and the music lift your heart and encourage your spirit and help you tune your mind onto the things of Christ rather than the things of the world.

Our Christmas season begins officially on December 1, the first Sunday in the Advent Season.  The choir will share, "Air for Advent".  "Air" is a music term that means melody or tune.  This particular piece is an arrangement by Tom Fettke that uses the melody from J.S. Bach's (1685-1750) Overture No. 3 in D major,BWV 1068, more commonly known as the "Air on G".  Fettke took the various melodies of this instrumental piece and assigned text from the Hymns, "Come Thou Long Expected Jesus" (written by Charles Wesley 1707-1788), and "Come O Come Emmanuel" (an ancient Latin hymn translated b John M. Neale 1818-1866).  The result is a beautiful haunting call pleading for the Jewish Messiah to come and make His appearance in the world.  What a way to prepare your heart to hear the message that will be delivered following the offering that Sunday!

Next, we will share on December 8, a favorite of the congregation, "In the Bleak Midwinter" by Gustav Holst (1874-1934) with text from a poem by Christina G. Rossetti (1830-1894).  While the text of the poem is in error in its attempt to present the nativity in a winter setting, poetically it accurately describes the cold harsh world Christ was born into.  It paints a most wonderful and artistic word picture of the humility of Christ's birth, and the wonder that the simple stable held He Whom neither heaven nor earth could possibly contain. I have been told on more than one occasion by individuals in our congregation that Christmas has not come until we sing this song.

The following two Sundays Bach will provide brief chorales for our introits. Our anthem, "A Joyful Noel" utilizing Bach's "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring", and the text of "The First Noel" will be sung on the 15th of December. Finally on December 22 our anthem will be a Lloyd Larson arrangement of "Angels We Have Heard on High".  The resounding, "Gloria in excelsis Deo" is of course the famous Latin phrase that means, "Glory to God in the highest!".  As an old preacher once told me, "Singing that gets me so excited it makes me want to charge hell with a water pistol!"

What our choral music is all about is worshiping God through song.  It is about getting excited about the things of God.  It is about lifting your heart high and expressing genuine joy for the Creator of all things who chose to take upon Himself the cruel punishment that was due His creation.  He did so by coming into this world through the indignity of human birth.  Fittingly, we will end the season with the prayerful anthem by David S. Gaines and Ruth Elaine Schram, "Be Born in Us."  Even as Christ changed the world by being born into it, living a perfect life, and dying on the cross, so this song lifts a longing prayer that He would do the same thing in our hearts as individuals.

As the retail world, the secular world, the world that hates us, and the world that tolerates us all vie to keep the season of Christmas in their way, I pray we, like the reinvented Ebeneezer Scrooge will know "how to keep Christmas well" in our lives and our church. In closing I would like to quote from that final planned anthem mentioned above, "Be born in us, O Prince of Peace, let the hope You bring this world be born in me."  God bless you as you keep the season.  Yes, I think it is a good idea, let's keep the season.

Something to Be Thankful For

When it comes to selecting choral music for worship, I believe it is advantageous to make use of the various holidays that fill our calendar. Granted, most of our holidays are not "Biblical", and the few that arguably ever were have drifted far in their observance from any scriptural anchor they may have once had. The fact is however, our hearts and minds become predisposed to the themes and ideas of those seasons as we are assaulted by the secular music, imagery, lawn decorations, and predawn sales events culturally linked to those holidays giving us the opportunity to address the subjects of those seasons with little or no introduction. Ironically enough, the one holiday for which I personally feel there is more scriptural and theological basis tends to get the least attention. That holiday is Thanksgiving.

Throughout history many cultures have observed periods of thanksgiving at the end of harvest season. Our Judeo-Christian roots are no stranger to this practice. The Old Testament is replete with instructions for the celebration of feasts that God commanded of His people, Israel. Of the seven high feast celebrations, three are specifically set aside as times of thanksgiving among the people. The celebrations of Firstfruits, and Pentecost commemorated the beginning of the time of harvest of barley and wheat respectively. These two events fall on our modern calendar between the months of March and June. The celebration of Tabernacles or Sukkot followed at the end of the harvest time in our September or October. Specific instructions for the types of sacrifices and required procedures for these holidays are given throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.

Admittedly, the New Testament gives us no instruction to celebrate any holidays other than the Christian Sabbath. We have no commands regarding Christian holy days or feasts. Although I adore the Christian themes they inspire, the holidays of Christmas and Easter have a checkered past and are basically the result of attempts at cleaning up pre-existing pagan rites and rituals and incorporating them into the Christian world. Our modern mythologies regarding a red dressed demigod and magical egg bearing rodents have done little to aid in that clean-up. Nevertheless, those holidays get more attention in and out of church than does a celebration intended to simply remind us to be thankful to God.

Since we no longer live in an agrarian society, our culture has become increasingly oblivious to the concept of harvest celebrations. The school calendar which prevails to this day serves as a reminder of how farm life one shaped our culture. As we have moved away from agriculture as a society, and have embraced consumerism, it seems to me that we have become less dependent on God and therefore less thankful to Him for His provision. When we relied upon Him to provide the rain and appropriate weather to make our crops grow we were more aware of his blessings. Now we pray for weather conditions that meet our travel and recreation desires more often than we pray for conditions on our crops.

No, there is no eleventh commandment to celebrate a feast of Thanksgiving in the month of November. But the idea of being thankful to a sovereign God who meets our needs as He sees fit is quite appropriate . Don't be surprised over the next few weeks when you hear music of thanksgiving and appreciation for what God has done in our lives. This month try praying for farmers and for God's blessing upon the harvest. What blesses the harvest does bless us. Be reminded this month that God has been good to us even though we don't deserve His goodness. Gather together to ask the Lord's blessing. Be amazed at the goodness of God.

Not Another Recruitment Attempt!

I don't have a problem admitting that I am a lousy recruiter when it comes to recruiting new choir members.  Through the years I have tried all the different methods I can think of and that the various leadership books tell you to try. I have had the recruitment suppers, breakfasts, and lunches.  I have done the impassioned appeals from the pulpit.  I have done the mail-outs to new church members.  I have even tried the church member interests surveys to pinpoint potential targets... I mean candidates for choir membership.  On occasion one of these has actually drummed up a new choir member.  For some reason, those I managed to conjure up using any one of these methods eventually disappeared.

Now from my perspective, I cannot imagine why everyone is not in the choir.  There is something very special about the connection people in the choir have.  Of course, the first connection they have is their shared faith in Christ.  The automatic sense of brotherhood that comes from the shared experiences of walking in Christ is like no other.  The environment of the choir rehearsal allows for opportunities for members to spontaneously share prayer requests, family concerns, personal victories, and personal anecdotes. There is also something very special about the fellowship that comes from working side by side week after week in rehearsal time.  As you get more and more familiar with the people you are working with week after week toward a common goal, a natural affinity and comradery develops that I have seldom experienced outside of this special group.  Through the years I have heard people talk about the experience of joining a church but never really feeling a part of that church.  I have often asked them, "Did you try joining the choir?"  The answer has always been, "No," usually followed by the question, "What's that got to do with it?"

The fact is people join the choir because there is a song in their heart.  In the Old Testament, the prophets using picturesque language described times of oppression by Israel's enemies as times where music and singing ceased.  Isaiah 24:8 and Ezekiel 26:13 respectively describe such a occasions as a time in which, "the joy of the harp ceaseth," and "...shall be no more heard." Psalm 137 describes the journey into Babylonian captivity as a time in which they hung up their harps and could not muster the songs of Zion.  It is hard to sing without a song in your heart.  Likewise, if you have a song in your heart it is hard not to sing.  People who join the choir do so because you really can't keep them out.

So, all this rambling is really about one thing.  If you have not yet found your place of service where you are being used effectively by the Lord, you have a longing for a closer fellowship with your brothers and sisters in Christ, and you do have a song in your heart, then maybe choir is the place for you.  We meet every Sunday morning at 9:00 A.M.  Yes, that is early, but that time has been selected by our Choir members because with all our various work schedules and church activities, it was the most convenient for all.  We work each week not only on the anthem for that day, but also on those for the coming weeks.  We look at the hymn selections for that Sunday and go over those we think will be challenging to ourselves or the congregation.  We do have time to share prayer requests, usually some devotional thoughts or history associated with the songs and we pray.  In the middle of all this there is usually a lot of hard work, and hard laughing and a whole lot of fun.  I can say that at 9:00 A.M. in the morning, it is the most fun you can have at church.

If you are interested then talk with me or one of our choir members, or even better yet, show up Sunday at 9:00 AM upstairs in the choir room.  I promise it won't hurt, and you might even like it.

A Very Belated Father's Day Message

This past Father's Day was the thirty-first on which I have failed to send my Dad a Father's Day Card.  Of course that is because it is the thirty-first in which I have been fatherless.

I was blessed to have two wonderful parents who raised me in as traditional an American home as anyone ever had.  I had all the blessings of home, love, security, and family one could possibly wish for.  Though my father had been married before, the idea of divorce or the fear of it in our home was something I do not recall ever seriously considering a threat.  My two older brothers were from his previous marriage, and although 15 and 16 years older than me,they were simply, my brothers.  We never used terms like, "half-brother".  We were a family.  Of all the nightmarish childhood fears and insecurities one may have, I can remember only one genuine anxiety beyond the usual, "What's living in my closet or under my bed," and that was the fear of loosing one or both of my parents to death.  I was doubly blessed to be able to finish high school before I had to face that fear.

Boeing B-17 (Flying Fortress)

My father, Olen B Simpson, known to all who knew him as simply, "B", was a World War II Veteran.  Yes, I say that with great pride.  While not an armed soldier, he served in the Army Air Corp as a Master Sergeant over a team of mechanics responsible for keeping a group of B-17 (Flying Fortress) bombers in the air reigning terror down on the Axis.  I have always been fond of the fact that I am in the last of the Baby Boomers.  I fit the definition both by the fact I was born in early 1964, and my father was a WWII Vet. While he was also particularly proud of his contribution to the war effort, that experience was not what defined him as a man.

B Simpson was also not defined by the fact he had lived through the great depression and had memories of that experience.  Born in 1919, and raised in rural Mississippi, he knew what poverty was and had experienced his share as most of his generation.  His memories of the experience were quite clear often telling stories about hunting for small game to survive and being chastised by his father whose repeated instruction to "Peg 'em in the head!" so as to not ruin the meat of the squirrel, or rabbit.  Though he taught me to shoot, we never went hunting.  I would ask him why he did not hunt.  His response was always the same, "I had to hunt to survive when I was a kid, and now I don't." He had no problem killing an animal to have something to eat. One year he bought some live turkeys which he killed, dressed and prepared for Thanksgiving.  I remember him shooting some ducks at my grandfather's pond once because he got a notion to cook duck, which he had not had in years. But B did not find enjoyment in the killing of anything.

Though he was a believer and in later life a leader in his church, I would have to say that while his religion was quite real and genuine, it did not define him.  It was a great part of him, and I was thrilled to see him become a very good lay Bible scholar and a respected teacher at our church.  When he was asked to become a deacon he agreed, although he was always concerned that the stigma of his divorce; though many, many years behind him and unknown to most people; would impair his work as a deacon, or reflect badly on the church.

I suppose the over-riding thing that defined my father was probably his work ethic.  He served our community as an installer repairman for South Central Bell.  He was The Telephone Man.  As the article below from the CWA (Communications Workers of America) newsletter shows, for at least 17 years he was the only telephone repairman in the community.  He was known by his co-workers as a man who would do anything to get the job done.  I remember him coming home hot, cold, dirty, smelly, and exhausted.  It was not unusual for him to step inside the kitchen door, drop his clothes, and walk straight to the bathroom to clean up.  I remember clearly the smell of creosote, and sweat.  One of the favorite stories he would tell and often shared by his co-workers was of an occasion in which an identified case of trouble was on a pole near a railroad track.  The pole was in a low spot and high water from recent rains had created a waist high reservoir around the base of the pole.  The gathered workers could not figure out how to get to the pole to get the work done.  My father, reportedly, stripped down, carried his tools over  his head, and then climbed the pole to fix the trouble to the laughter of his co-workers.  His favorite part of the story was the part about the train passing by while he was on top of the pole doing the repair.  When I would ask him, "What did you do then?" he would laugh and say, "I kept the pole between me and the train."  Even at his funeral, one of the men he worked with took time to reminisce with me about that story.

Article from October 8, 1976 CWA newsletter.

I graduated from high school in 1982.  That same spring Dad retired from the phone company and took a part time job at the local post office as a janitor.  He had always said that the reason so many men died soon after retirement was because they quit doing anything.  He had it all figured out.  He would retire from the phone company, but would continue to work.  We had no idea that he would soon get sick that November, spend about 9 weeks in the hospital, and then die February 14, 1983.  

For many years I resented greatly those who have had the blessing of their father in their adult life.  I suppose I still do. I appreciate greatly the blessing it is to have my mother still with me.  But when I see those who don't appreciate what they have in having both parents there for their adult life I can't help but get angry.  As an 18 year old, I had only begun to make plans and set a direction for my life.  I never got to discuss the call to the ministry I was beginning to experience at that time.  I never had the chance to talk to my father about the woman I planned to marry or how much it hurt me when we divorced.  I never got to share with him the birth of my son, or the thrill and the redemption I experienced with a second chance with a new wife and new family and change of career.  I know he would be proud of all three of my boys, but of course I never got to introduce them.  He would be proud to know one who is in college working diligently on finishing his first degree and making plans for his next step to prepare for his future.  He would be proud of the other about to launch out into the Navy, starting life even as he did in the military.  He would be proud of the other, though autistic and challenged, diligent at his work at the local center and a blessing to be around.

I have, however, had to learn to accept and not resent.  I find comfort in the fact I was blessed with a good father and I had him for 18 years.  That is far much more than many people can claim.  I was blessed to have him pass on that work ethic that so defined him, and I hope I have been able at least in part to do it for my boys.  He was by no means perfect, and often frustrated me with his narrow viewpoint.  He was quite a man.  If I have been able to be half the man he was, then I know my life has been a blessing too.  

Thanks Dad.  We miss you.  I miss you.  Happy belated Father's Day.  I love you.

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

The anthem we are preparing for Sunday, June 2, 2013 is a bit of a departure from most of our repertoire.  Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled, by Tina English (copyright 1983) has the feel of a 1970's or 80's youth musical, and the incomparable beauty of a text lifted right out of John 14 in the King James Version.  We have chosen this piece for this service because the preacher, Dr. Guy Waters, will be bringing a message from the very same text.

Tina English, born 1952 is an ASCAP composer with over 200 published choral anthems, musicals, hymns, children's songs and works recorded by the Imperials, Larnelle Harris and other artists. (Shawnee Press)
This particular composition has a very natural flow, which is particularly astounding when you notice that her text is the first 11 verses of John 14, with only minimal changes to the text.  But, the text flows right with the music.

While the composition calls for a solo, we have chosen to have our ladies sing in unison the lengthy solo which comprises 28 of the pieces 94 measures (approximately 30% of the piece).  The men join in singing with the ladies in unison, "I am the way, the truth and the life."  Then in measure 37 the first utilization of vocal harmony is provided by the men on the phrase, "No one comes to the
Father but through me."  Primarily a two part piece, four part harmony is used in key areas to emphasize the message of the text. Finally the piece climaxes as the two part choir sings a two part text.  The ladies sing, "I am in the Father and the Father in me. The words I speak the Father speaks through me." while the men sing another melody for the text, "I am the way, the truth and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me.  Finally the choir comes together on the text, "From now on you know Him and have seen Him."

While not the most challenging of choral compositions, truly it has a unique beauty and worshipful feel which the composer has intentionally brought to the piece that truly allows the text to take center stage and proclaim the peace, love, and comfort the Savior surely intended we hear in these words.

Let not your heart be troubled, 
you believe in God believe also in me.
In my Father's house are many mansions. 
If it were not so, I would have told you, 
for I go to prepare a place for you. 
And if I go to prepare a place for you, 
I will come again and receive you to myself.
That where I am there you may be also,
and you know the way where I am going.

I am the way, the truth and the life,
no one comes to the Father but through me.
If you had known me, you would have known my Father.
From now on you know Him and have seen Him.

I am in the Father and the Father in me.
The words I speak the Father speaks through me.
I am in the Father and the Father in me.
He abides in me, and I in Him.

From now on you known Him and have seen Him.

Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness

From time to time I come across what I call a forgotten hymn or a lost jewel.  Usually, it is one I have never heard of, and few or none of the people in my immediate life are familiar with.  Many such hymns have been pushed aside and, to our loss, lost from our church worship repertoire.   Located in the Trinity Hymnal on page 421, Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness, is one such lost jewel.  The text of this hymn, our April 7, 2013 anthem, was authored by 17th century poet and hymn writer, Johann Franck (1618-1677) with music composed by his friend, Johann Cruger (1598-1662). The website, hymnary.org lists 76 different hymn texts associated with Franck and 27 tunes associated with Cruger.  Only one other of Franck's text made it into our Trinity Hymnal, while 7 of Cruger's tunes made the 1990 cut.  The one other Franck text in our hymnal, #656, Jesus, Priceless Treasure, is another example of a  Franck-Cruger duo.

Johann Franck

Sources I have read indicate that while Frank was theologically sound, his poems tended to depart from a rigid objective text and often allowed his pen to paint emotive pictures of his subject matter, which made his hymn material unique in his day.  Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness is such a hymn.  He paints a beautiful picture of the marriage supper of the Lamb.  In his first verse the lawyer from Guben, Brandenburg, Germany encourages the reader to adorn himself with gladness and abandon the haunts of sadness.  "Come into the daylight's splendor," he calls to us.  Why? Because, the founder of this banquet has condescended to such as we are and desires to dwell among us.  The figurative language depicts a bride hastening to her groom, a marriage feast complete with bread and wine, and a day when we will be with our Lord in heavenly bliss forever.

Johann Cruger

Praxis pietalis melica, the most
influential Lutheran songbook
of the second half of the
17th century.

Cruger's tune, officially cataloged as Schmucke Dich varies from many of his other hymn tunes which tended to be simple and contemplative in style.  Apparently he thought Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness, needed to be much more celebrative.  With a Baroque flair the piece explodes sounding more like a piece of chamber music to be played on a harpsichord rather than a chorale to be sung in a cathedral.  Truly the artist and editor of Praxis pietalis melica, achieved the goal of bringing a tune of jubilation to a text that so beautifully paints a picture of the church reunited with the Lord in holy festivity forever.  This is a far cry from the tune Cruger is most well known for, Nun Danket, our Hymn#98, Now Thank We All Our God.

It is a shame that hymns of such richness in music, poetic beauty, and theological content can become lost jewels.  I don't have anything against new beautiful theologically rich hymns.  But I am concerned when  the big overhead screen, modern pop-worship flavor of the week ditties threaten to take the place of our worship heritage. 

---

Sources:

hymnary.org

A History of Western Music, Donald Jay Grout, W. W. Norton & Co., 1980

My Eternal King

My God, I love Thee;

not because I hope for heav'n thereby,

Nor yet because who love Thee not

Must die eternally,

Thou, O my Jesus, Thou didst me

Upon the cross embrace;

For me didst bear the nails, the nails and spear,

And manifold disgrace.

Why, then why, O blessed Jesus Christ,

Should I not love Thee well?

Not for the hope of winning heav'n,

Or of escaping hell;

Not with the hope of gaining aught,

Not seeking a reward;

But as Thyself hast loved me,

O ever-loving Lord!

E'en so I love Thee, and will love,

And in Thy praise will sing;

Solely because Thou art my God,

And my Eternal King.

Jane Marshall
b. 1924

 The first time I ever heard  Jane Marshall’s My Eternal King, was while attending Blue Mountain College whose music degree program required participation in the College Choral.  As could be expected, the music in a college choir full of music majors was often beyond challenging.  I was introduced to styles, settings, and texts I never imagined existed.  While all of the styles and selections were extremely educational and useful in a collegiate setting not all would have been desirable in every church setting.  My Eternal King, however, stood out as an incredible sacred piece any theologically sound church would embrace but, due to its wondrous complexities, few would be able to experience.

Before going further, I must take a brief moment to brag on our choir.  I have had the privilege to serve in both music and pastoral leadership duties in a number of churches for over 30 years.  In all that time, the only choir I have ever had privilege to work with who had the technical proficiency to rehearse and present a piece as challenging as My Eternal King is our own adult choir here at Main Street Presbyterian Church.  The evidence of that proficiency and ability long precedes my involvement with this special group and its extensive history.  They continue to amaze me week after week.  They are the reason our church will have the opportunity to experience My Eternal King on Easter Sunday, March 31, 2013.  Though I do not mean to state this is the most difficult piece our choir has ever presented, it does rank very high on the list.

Rev. Edward Caswell
(1814-1878)

You may wonder what makes this choir piece by Jane Marshall (b. 1924) so special.  Although it will sound somewhat silly, I’d have to say, “Everything!” The text of the piece is based on a 17^th century Latin prayer/poem of response to the work of Christ on the cross translated into English by Rev.Edward Caswell (1814-1878).  The music, while maintaining a very classical style utilizes a wide range of modern music composition elements.  The time signature, tempo, and chord structures seem to be in constant shift and change as the piece progresses through a minefield of accidentals and dynamic changes.  A cappella sections are used to highlight the text as well as intensify the emotive elements throughout the piece.  This is not a piece of music for the novice choir.  There are a multitude of details to not only work out in preparation but remain mindful of through the duration of the piece.

Accompanied best with organ, the piece opens with a fairly simple sounding introduction that builds and grows to the first of many climaxes, and then the first surprise. In a cappella the voices in awe barely whisper the thesis of the text, “My God I love thee.”

So in awe of God and overwhelmed by the need to make this declaration, the music and text quickly move forward, almost apologetically clarifying that this declaration is not an attempt at gaining special favor from God, or dodging any impending judgment.  Then a near heartbeat-like pulse of the organ is set in motion.  The male voices, who begin to paint the picture of Christ upon the cross, are then joined by the female voices, all enraptured at the image of Christ embracing our sinful nature while hanging in disgrace.

Without any sort of transition the pulse of the accompaniment changes in texture and is augmented with the voices of the choir and the text to simulate the sound of a hammer declaring, “For me didst bear the nails and spear and manifold disgrace.”

In response to the image of Christ paying for our sins on the cross, in an a cappella section the choir whispers, this time asking a rhetorical question, “Why, O blessed Jesus”, should I not love thee?”  The text further clarifies that the love being expressed has nothing to do with gaining or loosing heaven or hell or with some vile attempt at obligating God to us.  The one and only foundation of this pronouncement of love for God is simply because He first loved us and gave himself on the cross.  The final declaration of the text states, “Solely because Thou art my God, and my Eternal King!”

For those of you who will be with us Sunday Morning, I hope you experience as much joy in worshipping our Lord and expressing love to him as we will as we share this piece.  May God bless you and your family as we worship God in awe and wonder.