Notes on the Notes – September 17, 2023
Second Sunday of the Season of Creation
Communion
This week’s music:
“God is Here” (VU #389)
“God is here! As we your people meet to offer praise and prayer,
May we find in fuller measure what it is in Christ we share.
Here, as in the world around us, all our varied skills and arts
Wait the coming of the Spirit into open minds and hearts.
Here are symbols to remind us of our lifelong need of grace;
Here are table, font, and pulpit, here the cross has central place.
Here in honesty of preaching, here in silence, as in speech,
Here, in newness and renewal, God the Spirit comes to each.
Here our children find a welcome in the Shepherd’s flock and fold;
Here as bread and wine are taken, Christ sustains us, as of old.
Here the servants of the Servant seek in worship to explore
What it means in daily living to believe and to adore.
God of all, of church and kingdom, in an age of change and doubt
Keep us faithful to the gospel; help us work your purpose out.
Here, in this day’s dedication, all we have to give, receive;
We, who cannot live without you, we adore you! We believe!”
Fred Pratt Green wrote the powerful words of this hymn in 1978, for the closing of a conference on worship. The first verse of the hymn draws us together in our search for what it means to be a Christian as we wait for the Spirit to move within our minds and hearts. The second verse shares some of the symbols of our faith, and that God will be found for those who are seeking. The third and fourth verses acknowledge the challenges in our search for faithful understanding in today’s complicated world, closing with the affirmation that, through it all, “We believe!” William Rowlands composed the tune BLAENWERN during the Welsh revival of 1904-05.
Hear the hymn played on pipe organ at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L0rAtG4vCpQ
“Make a Joyful Noise” (VU #820)
“Make a joyful noise all the earth!
Worship your God with gladness.
Make a joyful noise all the earth!
Come to this place with a song!
Know that your God has made you.
Know it’s to God we belong.
And come to this place with joyfulness and praise.
Worship your God with a song!
Enter these gates, thanks giving.
Enter these courts with praise.
Sing thanks to your God and bless the holy Name.
Worship your God with a song!
Ages through endless ages,
Seasons of endless years,
The love of our Maker ever shall endure.
Worship your God with a song!
Both the tune and text of this upbeat, joyful psalm are from Stickpeople (1992) by the Vancouver composer Linnea Good. The tune was arranged by David Kai of Gloucester, Ontario. The words are a setting of Psalm 100.
“Precious Lord, Take My Hand” (VU #670)
“Precious Lord, take my hand, lead me on, let me stand,
I am tired, I am weak, I am worn;
Through the storm, through the night,
Lead me on to the light;
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
When my way grows drear, precious Lord, linger near,
When my life is almost gone,
Hear my cry, hear my call, hold my hand lest I fall:
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.
When the darkness appears, and the night draws near,
And the day is past and gone,
At the river I stand, guide my feet, hold my hand:
Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home.”
This hymn comes from the African-American gospel blues tradition. It was written by Thomas A. Dorsey in 1932. Dorsey started writing gospel songs after what he called “a definite spiritual change” – the deaths of his wife Nettie during childbirth and of their newborn child.
The three verses capture the grief not only of Dorsey, but also of any who have suffered significant loss. The opening verse indicates a suffering soul that is reaching out. When referencing the storm and night, Dorsey may have been referring to Matthew 8:23-27, the narrative where Christ stills the physical storm, as well as the storm of grief and loss.
The second verse draws upon the imagery of a journey, one in which the “way grows drear.” The traveler cries out, and once again reaches for the hand of Christ. The third verse begins, “When the darkness appears,” reminiscent of Psalm 23:4: “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death . . ..” By the time we reach the third verse, the singer has moved through the stormy sea, down the long road, to a river of hope, the symbolic Jordan River. Each verse ends with the refrain, “Take my hand, precious Lord, lead me home,” perhaps an image of the Good Shepherd in the Gospel of John.
The melody is Dorsey’s arrangement of the hymn tune MAITLAND, composed by George N. Allen in 1844.
Mahalia Jackson sang this hymn at Martin Luther King’s funeral in 1968. It was also sung at her funeral by Aretha Franklin. Hear Mahalia Jackson sing the hymn at: https://youtu.be/Z0a8RNdnhNo
Hear Jim Reeves sing the hymn at: https://youtu.be/Z0a8RNdnhNo
“Sing a New World into Being”
“Sing a new world into being. Sound a bold and hopeful theme.
Find a tune for silent yearnings. Lend your voice and dare to dream:
Dream a church where all who worship find their lives and loves belong.
Sing a new world into being. Sing as Christ inspires your song!
Sing a new world into being where each gender class and race
Brings its rainbow gifts and colors to God’s limitless embrace;
Where the lines that once divided form instead the ties that bind.
Sing a new world into being – risk transforming heart and mind!
Sing a new world into being where the homeless find a home.
Where no children ever hunger but are filled with God’s shalom;
Where all people work for justice, where all hate and vengeance cease.
Sing a new world into being – raise the harmonies of peace.
Sing a new world into being. Join the ancient prophets’ cry
For a time of health and plenty when all tears have been wiped dry;
When compassion flows like waters, pouring balm for all who grieve.
Sing a new world into being – live the promise you believe!”
Mary Louise Bringle wrote the text for this hymn in 2005. Through the four verses, the words encourage us to join in the creation of a world where all belong and can live in peace and justice. The hymn is set to the tune, NETTLETON (found at VU #559).
Hear the tune played on organ at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W4AghcUS9Xk
“For the gift of Creation” (VU #538)
“For the gift of creation, the gift of your love,
And the gift of the Spirit by which we live,
We thank you and give you the fruit of our hands.
May your grace be proclaimed by the gifts that we give.”
Our offering is from the United Methodist Book of Worship (1991). The composer, Steve Garnaas-Holmes is a United Methodist pastor in Montana. During this Season of Creation, we offer our time, talent and treasure in thanks to God for all of God’s gifts.
“You Call Us Out” (VU #569)
“You call us out to praise you, the God who gave us birth,
To gather in communion, and treasure your whole earth;
We are your living story, to hear and to be heard;
We praise your name, who writes us,
The author and the word.
For varied hues and textures, new patterns, still you search,
To weave your seamless garments, the fabric of your church;
Our tattered faith you cherish, reclaim from wear and moth;
We praise your name, who twines us,
The weaver and the cloth.
The church that speaks forgiveness, confesses its own need;
The church that feels its hunger, finds grace to care and feed;
Our famished world is crying, its future filled with dread;
We praise your name, who fills us,
The baker and the bread.
The church that offers healing, discerns its wounds and loss;
The church that faces dying, shares life beyond the cross;
To people torn and broken, your mercy is revealed;
We praise you name, who loves us,
The healer and the healed.
Our feeble voices struggle, to sing your justice clear;
The world has sunk in silence, each discord echoes fear;
One voice alone is ragged, together we are strong;
We praise your name, who breathes us,
The singer and the song.”
The words for our closing hymn were written by Anna Briggs in 1991.
“This hymn is for the Church, and it is about the Church, but it remains primarily a hymn of praise to God,” wrote one member of the Singing the Faith Reference Group about Anna Briggs’s thought-provoking text. “It is a hymn which is meant to invite theological reflection on the meaning and purpose of Church,” Anna writes – and it certainly raised a discussion amongst members of the group, about the imagery and about the use of the verbs in the penultimate line of each verse (“who write us”, “who twine us” etc.). Source: https://www.methodist.org.uk/our-faith/worship/singing-the-faith-plus/posts/you-call-us-out-to-praise-you-website-only/
The opening of each verse describes our role as church and starting at verse 2, each verse introduces a new way of seeing the church as woven textile, food for the world, healers and the voice of the Spirit. The closing of each verse then reminds us that it is God who we praise for being both sides of metaphor (the author AND the word, the weaver AND the cloth, etc.). The words may also speak to the Trinity, with the verses ending with reference to God and Jesus or God and the Holy Spirit.
The tune is THORNBURY, which was written by Basil Harwood, an English composer, in 1898.
“Jesus, Lord, Our True Example”
“Jesus, Lord, our true example, you have shown how we must live.
Teach us how to share with others everything we have to give.
Let our days be spent in service: bring us by your grace to know
Healing is the church’s calling, and the path that we must go.”
As we go into the coming week, we ask Jesus to be with us and guide us in our living, both as individuals and as a church community. Our benediction response is sung to the tune “Ode to Joy.”
Bonus video: Sung by The Praise Singers in 2021
