Notes on the Notes – June 4, 2017

This week’s theme:

What is Love?

This week’s scripture readings:

Acts 2:1-21           1 Corinthians 13:1-13

This week’s music:

“Let Us Build a House” (MV #1)

“Let us build a house where love can dwell and all can safely live,
a place where saints and children tell how hearts learn to forgive.
Built of hopes and dreams and visions, rock of faith and vault of grace;
Here the love of Christ shall end divisions:
All are welcome, all are welcome,  all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where prophets speak, and words are strong and true,
Where all God’s children dare to seek to dream God’s reign anew.
Here the cross shall stand as witness and as symbol of God’s grace;
Here as one we claim the faith of Jesus:
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where love is found in water, wine and wheat;
A banquet hall on holy ground, where peace and justice meet.
Here the love of God, through Jesus, is revealed in time and space;
As we share in Christ the feast that frees us;
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where hands will reach beyond the wood and stone
To heal and strengthen, serve and teach, and live the Word they’ve known.
Here the outcast and the stranger bear the image of God’s face;
Let us bring an end to fear and danger;
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.

Let us build a house where all are named, their songs and visions heard
And loved and treasured, taught and claimed as words within the Word.
Built of tears and cries and laughter, prayers of faith and songs of grace;
Let this house proclaim from floor to rafter;
All are welcome, all are welcome, all are welcome in this place.”

Our opening hymn of welcome and inclusion was written by Marty Haugen in 1994.

Hear the song at:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAZC65CwTEA

“We are Called”

“Come! Live in the light!
Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord!
We are called to be light for the kingdom,
To live in the freedom of the city of God.
Come! Open your heart!
Show your mercy to all those in fear!
We are called to be hope for the hopeless
So hatred and blindness will be no more.

Sing! Sing a new song!
Sing of that great day when all will be one!
God will reign, and we’ll walk with each other
As sisters and brothers united in love.

We are called to act with justice,
We are called to love tenderly;
We are called to serve one another,
To walk humbly with God.”

This song, based on the book of Micah, was written by David Haas in 1988. “We are called” (1988) captures the energy and enthusiasm of the folk song style. Each of the three stanzas exhorts the singer with an imperative verb: “Come! Live in the light!” “Come! Open your heart!” “Sing! Sing a new song!” Folk songs, especially those growing out of the 1960s and 1970s, urge us to action. The action here is inspired by Micah 6:8: “. . . what the Lord really wants from you: He wants you to promote justice, to be faithful, and to live obediently before your God” (NET).

The first stanza invites us to “Live in the light” of God’s grace and freedom and to reflect that light with “joy and . . . love.” Stanza two, following naturally in the spirit of the first stanza, invites us to “Open our hearts” to “mercy” for all who live in “fear,” “hatred,” and “blindness.” The final stanza invites us to an eschatological vision of the future when “all will be one!” (Source:  Discipleship Ministries – The United Methodist Church)

See the song sung by the Notre Dame Folk Choir:

“Spirit, Open My Heart” (MV #79)

“Spirit, open my heart to the joy and pain of living. As you love may I love, in receiving and in giving, Spirit, open my heart.

God, replace my stony heart with a heart that’s kind and tender. All my coldness and fear to your grace I now surrender.

Write your love upon my heart as my law, my goal, my story. In each thought, word, and deed, may my living bring you glory.

May I weep with those who weep, share the joy of sister, brother. In the welcome of Christ, may we welcome one another.”

The words for this hymn were written by Ruth Duck in 1994. Many hymn-writers are passionately committed to developing a language whose style and tone is as reverent as it is relevant. One of the leaders in this movement is Ruth Duck, professor of worship at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois. Her powerful texts have emerged as the major part of the cutting edge of language that speaks of God in universal terms and in poetry that is as poignant as it is stoic. Before coming to Garrett in 1989, she served as pastor at United Church of Christ parishes in Illinois, Wisconsin, and Massachusetts. (Source: GIA publications). The words are sung to the traditional Irish melody WILD MOUNTAIN THYME, which was arranged by Arthur G. Clyde in 1997.

Hear an instrumental version of the tune at: https://youtu.be/5UnHsbWZss4

Hear the hymn sung at Geneva Presbyterian Church at:  https://youtu.be/SrxqxL4_2qM

“Wind of Change”

“Come, O Holy Spirit, set the Church on fire;
Strike it as the lightning hits a posing spire.
Burn away the structures and consume the sham
Of our holy systems: Come, in Jesus’ name!

Blow away the cobwebs of our stubborn past.
Come, send flying from us myths unfit to last.
Wind of change, refresh us and disturb our calm;
Teach us what true love is,
Take our hearts by storm.

Free us from the babble of our Babel mind;
Spark in us a language all can understand.
Lighten then our darkness,
Come and show us how all the world lies open;
Pentecost is now!

Come, come, come, in Jesus’ name!
Take our hearts by storm.
All the world lies open:
Pentecost is now!
I said a -come, come, come in Jesus’ name!
Take our hearts by storm.
All the world lies open:
Pentecost is now!”

This rousing Pentecost song will be this week’s anthem  It was written by Fred Kaan with music by Ron Klusmeier.   Hear an audio clip of Ron playing the song at:  http://www.musiklus.com/anthology/item/360/wind-of-change

“A Welcome Guest”

“Lord Jesus, come, at this table be our host,
Let all who gather here be blest.
May we see your face in the face of all we meet
And may others see in us the face of You, a welcome guest.”

This communion song was written by song-writer Linnea Good based on Celtic sources.  It was written in 2009 for McDougall United Church in Calgary Alberta.

“There is Room for All”  (MV #62)

“There is room for all in the shadow of God’s wing;
There is room for all, sheltered in God’s love.
And I rejoice and sing, ‘My refuge and my rock, in whom I trust.’
There is room for all,
There is room for all!”

This song of the inclusive love of God echoes the opening verses of Psalm 91. The words and music are by Bruce Harding (2004).

“With One Voice”

“Take the Word and go out to every land:
Shine the light of Christ for all to see!
May the lives of those we touch sing praise to God above.
Let us sing, we’ll sing:

With one voice we’ll pass the Word along;
With one voice, bring justice to the world.
And with all the angels we’ll spread the goodness of God.
With all power and glory the World of God shall reign.

Take the Word to our neighbourhoods and street:
Shine the light of Christ for all to see!
May we all set out to live in peace and harmony.
They will see and sing:

Take the Word to the people in despair:
Shine the light of Christ for all to see!
May our actions and our deeds bring comfort to their needs.
And they’ll know and sing:

Take the Word to the nations everywhere:
Shine the light of Christ for all to see!
May the witness of our lives transform the world anew.
And we’ll shine, we’ll shine:

With one voice…”

This song by Ricky Manalo (1998) commission us to take God’s Word out into the world.