Chapel by the Sea Presbyterian ChurchLincoln City, Oregon

Trinity Sunday/Father’s DayDedication of the Glory to God Hymnal

June 16, 2019

WE GATHER IN GRATEFUL WORSHIP

PRELUDE Jesus, Name Above All Names Hearn

INTROIT Brethren, We Have Met to Worship GTG 396

CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 96:2, 9

O sing to the Lord a new song;Sing to the Lord all the earth.

Sing to the Lord and bless God’s name.Tell of God’s saving power from day to day.

Worship the Lord in holy splendor.Tremble before God, all the earth.

OPENING PRAYER

*SONG OF PRAISE My Life Flows On—How Can I Keep from Singing? GTG 821

CALL TO CONFESSION Matthew 22:16

MOMENT OF SILENT CONFESSION

CONFESSION Matthew 22:15-22

What a debt we owe to you, O God.

You have given us all things in Christ and yet wewithhold from you the honor and glory that are yours.

Instead, we pay tribute to empire, plot to entrap theinnocent, mock your truth with empty praise, andput your patience to the test.

Forgive us, O God, and by your grace restore in usthe image of your face, through Christ Jesus our Lord.Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON Psalm 96:11-12

SONG OF RESPONSE God Is So Good GTG 6581

WE LISTEN TO HEAR GOD SPEAK

ANTHEM What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine GTG 837Hoffman/Showalter

PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION

O God of light, by the power of your Holy Spirit,restore our sight, that in these words of Scriptureand sermon we may see Christ, in whose name we pray.Amen.

SCRIPTURE Ephesians 5:1-2, 15-20

Listen as the Spirit leads for the Word of God

Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children,and live in love,as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us,a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Be careful then how you live,not as unwise people but as wise,making the most of the time,because the days are evil.

So do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

Do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery;but be filled with the Spirit,as you sing psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves,singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts,giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everythingin the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Pastor: The Word of the Lord.People: Thanks be to God.

SERMON The Reverend Dr. Ric NeeseWhy Do We Sing Hymns, Psalms and Spiritual Songs?

Before the sermon, a note in passing about today’s choir anthem, What a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine (GTG 837).

In 1887, A. J. Showalter, who conducted singing schools in many southern states, received a letter in Hartselle, Alabama, from two former students in South Carolina,

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both of whom had buried their wives on the same day. In his condolence letter to them, he quoted a phrase from Deuteronomy 33:27 (in the KJV wording): “Underneath are the everlasting arms.” Showalter fashioned the words and music for the refrain and his Ohio friend Elisha Hoffman composed the three stanzas. The hymn for first published in The Song Evangel for Revival, Camp, and Evangelistic Meetings (Dalton, Georgia, 1887). The hymn does not appear in either the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal or its 1955 predecessor but Mary Louise Bringle, who chaired the Glory to God hymnal committee, is a college professor in North Carolina and may reflect a southern hymn tradition following the reunion of the northern and southern branches of the Presbyterian Church in 1983 after a 122 separation over the issue of slavery during the Civil War (my guess).

Why do we sing hymns, psalms and spiritual songs?

One response given by Augustine of Hippo, one of the fourth century fathers of the Christian church proposes that “Whoever sings to God in worship, prays twice.”

Contemporary hymn writer Brian Wren expands on that thought, suggesting that “when we sing a praise and prayer instead of simply speaking it, we add something important to the utterance.”*

Singing is at the heart of worship and appears at key biblical encounters with the God of Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, Jacob and Leah and Rachel.

As the Israelites flee from Egypt and captivity during the Exodus, Pharaoh’s armies get drownded (in the parlance of the African America Spiritual), and the people rejoice (Exodus 15):

“I will sing to the Lord,for he is highly exalted.

The horse and its riderhe has hurled into the sea.

The Lord is my strength and my song;he has become my salvation.

Then Miriam the prophetess, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand,and all the women followed her, with tambourines and dancing.Miriam sang to them:

“Sing to the Lord,for he is highly exalted.

The horse and its riderhe has hurled into the sea.”

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David, the son of Jesse played his harp to calm King Saul’s tormented mind (1 Samuel 16:23):

“Whenever the spirit from God came upon Saul, David would take his harp and play. Then relief would come to Saul; he would feel better and the evil spirit would leave him.”

David is one of the authors of the Psalms that grace the biblical canon; psalms that became the songbook of the Hebrew temple and the Christian church:

Psalms . . .

Sung in Solomon’s temple until its destruction by the Babylonians (587 BCE)

Sung in the temple rebuilt after King Cyrus releases the Israelites from exile and captivity in Babylon (538 BCE) in the time of Ezra and Nehemiah

Sung in the second temple in Jerusalem that Herod expanded and where Jesus sometimes worshiped and sang Psalms

Jerusalem where Jesus gathers with his disciples on the night of his arrest for a last supper in an upper room and breaks bread and pours a cup of wine and offers these gifts and all partake of them.

That bittersweet gathering where the gospels of Mark and Matthew’s record:

“When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.” (eleven disciples and Jesus; Judas having departed to betray his master).

Following Pentecost and Peter’s address to the crowd, Luke records that

“Every day [the believers] continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere heart, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.” (Acts 2:46-47)

Remember Paul and Silas in a Philippi prison praying and singing hymns to God when around midnight a violent earthquake occurs and later their jailer and his family are baptized as new believers (the choir sang about that experience in our introit, Brethren, We Have Met to Worship: (vs 3) “Is there here a trembling jailer, seeking grace and filled with fears?”

The Bible closes with John in exile on the island of Patmos where he experiences a heavenly vision and hears ten thousand times ten thousand voices singing around the throne of God (Revelation 5:11-14):

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“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strengthand honor and glory and praise!”

Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, singing:

“To him who sits on the throne and to the Lambbe praise and honor and glory and power for ever and ever!”

Why do we sing hymns, psalms and spiritual songs?

From the beginning in Genesis when the heavens declare the glory of God and the skies proclaim the work of his handsto Revelation which closes the biblical canon envisioning every voice singing around God’s throne, we hear and respond with the composer of our opening hymn this morning:

My life flows on in endless song,above earth’s lamentations.I hear the clear, though far off hymn that hails a new creation.

No storm can shake my inmost calm while to that Rock I’m clinging.Since Christ is Lord of heaven and earth, how can I keep from singing?

*Brian Wren, Praying Twice: The Music and Words of Congregational Song, (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000), p. 1.

In that spirit, I invite Jennifer to come and share a hymn by Canadian-American songwriter Civilla Durfee Martin (b. 1866 Nova Scotia, died 1948 in Atlanta) first sung in1905 at an evangelistic service at the Royal Albert Hall in London which opens with the question, “Why should I feel discouraged?”

Then we’ll take a brief tour of the new hymnal and sample a few of its hymns.

SOLO Why Should I Feel Discouraged? GTG 66 Jennifer Hamilton

Nancy and I are privileged and blessing to share this hymnal with the Chapel by the Sea congregation. We were introduced to the Glory to God hymnal in three venues over the past five or six years:

Presbytery of the Cascades gatherings where the new hymnal was adopted soon after its publication in 2013

First Presbyterian Church of Newport where we worshiped for two years after my retirement from Chapel by the Sea and then for another year and a half while I served as interim pastor following Pastor Don Taylor’s retirement, and

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Nestucca Valley Presbyterian Church in Pacific City where I occasionally fill the pulpit

The Glory to God hymnal (2013) features 853 songs; its predecessor, The Presbyterian Hymnal (1990) has 605. Thanks to innovations in printing techniques, paper and ink both books are about the same size and weight

Turn to the INTRODUCTION (Page v)

The Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song (PCOCS) reviewed 10,000 hymn submissions over a three and a half year period with the desire “that Glory to God will serve as an instrument of God’s grace.” The Committee concludes:

This we know:We know this hymnal will change lives.We know this hymnal will inspire the church.We know these songs will enliven worship in powerful ways.We know the familiar songs will sing anew.We know the new songs will speak truth.

This we pray:We pray that as we sing together from this hymnal, we will come to have a

deeper sense of our unity in the body of Christ.We pray that the Holy Spirit will bring surprises and breathe new life into our

churches through this hymnal.

This we hope:We hope the cover imprint fades from greasy fingers.We hope the pages become wrinkled and torn from constant use.We hope our children will sing from this hymnal—

we hope our grandchildren will too.

We praise!We praise God for this resource of song and give God the glory!

Turn back one page from the Introduction to the page headed CONTENTS

SERVICES OF WORSHIP (48 pages; greatly expanded over the previous hymnal)

The Service for the Lord’s DayThe Sacrament of BaptismReaffirmation of the Baptismal Covenant

Daily PrayerMorning PrayerMidday Prayer

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Evening PrayerPrayer for the Close of Day

OTHER TEXTS FOR WORSHIP

Nicene CreedApostles’ CreedLord’s PrayerThe Law of God (Ten Commandments; Exodus 20)Summary of the Law (Jesus: Love the Lord your God with your heart, soul

and mind and love your neighbor as yourself.) Matt. 22:37-40A Brief Statement of FaithSpanish Texts (a translation of the above items)Korean Texts (a translation of the above items)

In South Korea, there are roughly 20.5 million Christians of whom 15 million are Protestants; of those some 9 to 10 million are Presbyterians who worship in over 100 different Presbyterian denominational churches.

The next section heading is:

HYMNS, PSALMS, AND SPIRITUAL SONGS (See Ephesians 5:19 and Colossians 3:16)

The hymns begin with a section entitled “God’s Mighty Acts” sending us on a journey from God’s act of creation to God’s act of bringing about a new heaven and a new earth. To sing these hymns in order is to sing the story of salvation—and to pray and respond to God’s invitation to join in the mission of redemption.

The hymnal reminds us that we are a people of mission and that mission is not about us. It’s about God. And this God loves the world and all those created in God’s image.

(I have listed the first hymn that opens/introduces each hymn section listed below; let’s have a quick glance)

GODS MIGHTY ACTS

The Triune GodHoly, Holy, Holy!

(This would be a traditional hymn for Trinity Sunday; our introit today was a 19th century camp-meeting song: Brethren, We Have Met to Worship)

Creation and ProvidenceImmortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

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God’s Covenant with IsraelThe God of Abraham Praise

Jesus Christ

Advent — Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus (#1 in the Blue hymnal)Birth — Of the Father’s Love BegottenLife — I Danced in the MorningPassion and Death — All Glory, Laud, and HonorResurrection — In the Darkness of the MorningAscension and Reign — A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing!

Gift of the Holy SpiritCome, Holy Ghost, Our Souls Inspire

The ChurchGo to the World!

The Life of the NationsFrom All That Dwell Below the Skies

Christ’s Return and JudgmentLet All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

A New Heaven and a New EarthThis is my Father’s World

THE CHURCH AT WORSHIP

GatheringAll People That on Earth Do Dwell

ConfessionCome, Ye Sinners, Poor and Needy

ForgivenessThere’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy

The WordBe Thou My Vision

PrayerOur Father, Which Art in Heaven

BaptismCome, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

Lord’s SupperJesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts

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SendingWe Will Go Out with JoyService MusicLord, Have Mercy

OUR RESPONSE TO GOD

PRAISING THE TRIUNE GODAdorationO for a Thousand Tongues to SingThanksgivingNow Thank We All Our GodCelebrating TimeChrist, Whose Glory Fills the Skies

JOINING IN THE SPIRIT'S WORKDedication and StewardshipSpirit of God, Descend upon My Heart

Discipleship and MissionTake Up Your Cross, the Savior Said

Justice and ReconciliationCome! Live in the Light!

HOPING FOR CHRIST'S RETURNLament and Longing for HealingI Want Jesus to Walk with Me

Living and Dying in ChristThe Lord’s My Shepherd, I’ll Not Want

Trusting in the Promises of GodWhat a Fellowship, What a Joy Divine (Today’s choir anthem)

INDEXES

Topical (Adoration, Assurance, Baptism, Discipleship, Encouragement, Youth)Lectionary (page 968)ScripturalPsalm (106 of the 150 represented)Authors, Composers and SourcesAlphabetical Index of TunesMetrical Index of TunesFirst Line and Common Titles

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(An excellent set of Indexes. I am particularly impressed with the “Lectionary” index: The three-year liturgical cycle: Years A, B, C anchored by the “synoptic gospels”—Matthew, Mark, Luke, respectively (with the Gospel of John interspersed), list the four texts for the Lord’s Day (and special days, Holy Week for example): Old Testament, Psalms, Epistle, Gospel readings, each followed with a list of suggested hymns. Most helpful for pastors, musicians and worship committees organizing services.)

Represented in the “Hymns Psalms, and Spiritual Songs” are 3,000 years of singing history—some as old as King David’s time (Psalms)—others written by our contemporaries as recently as the decades in which we live.

A quick survey reveals the national origins of the Glory to God hymns:

Germany, Ireland, Italy, England, Wales, Scotland, Spain, France, Austria, Indonesia, Korea, Ghana, Greece, Czechoslovakia, Canada, New Zealand, Tanzania, Nigeria, China, Japan, Israel, Argentina, Cameroon, Taiwan, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Holland, Liberia, South Africa, India, Ecuador, Sweden, Brazil, Bohemia, Swaziland, Cuba, Kenya, Rwanda, Honduras, Jamaica, Latvia, Australia.

And the various traditional strands of the Christian faith journey include:

Latin, Arabic, Moravian, Quaker, Shakers, Jewish, Hasidic, Swahili, African American spirituals (24 selections in GTG), First Nation/Native America hymns or translations: Dakota, Choctaw, Creek, Navaho, Cherokee, Kiowa, Huron (several of these are translations for “Amazing Grace,”) the French ecumenical monastic Christian community Taizé (21 selections in GTG), the Scottish Iona Community.

Among the composers:

Bach, Beethoven, Schubert, Schumann, Sibelius, Liszt, Handel, Haydn; spanning a time frame from Ambrose of Milan (340-397 CE) to contemporary composers

(A little trivia: Unitarian Minister, Edmund Hamilton Sears, composed one of the familiar Christmas carols: It Came Upon the Midnight Clear) GTG 123.

106 of the 150 psalms are included in the Glory to God hymnal.

As Pastor Wendy reflected on the miracle of Pentecost in last Sunday’s sermon, our hymnal features a multitude of diverse voices in many languages affirming that the Spirit and the medium that transcend distance and differences and brings us together is music and singing. As the old adage goes, most worshipers learn more theology from singing hymns than from studying systematic theology (and sometimes the sermon!).

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So, here’s a three-minute oversimplified history lesson to bring us up to date on our journey to the Glory to God hymnal:

Temple, synagogue and church had been singing the Psalms for 2,500 years when the Sixteenth century Protestant Reformation comes along.

Martin Luther (1483-1546) begins to Christianize the psalms and to encourage new hymns—we see this movement in his famous hymn based on Psalm 46, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God (1529).

John Calvin (1509-1564), another leader of the Reformation, takes a different theological path and chooses to continue singing only Psalms (the result is the Geneva Psalter, 1562).

John Knox (1512-1572) comes to study with Calvin in Geneva, returns to Edinburgh to establish the Presbyterian Church of Scotland and brings with him Calvin’s practice of exclusive psalm singing, which requires:

A Cappella Singing (voices only) No instrumental accompaniment

(This despite Psalm 150 encouraging worshipers to praise God with trumpets, lutes, harps, tambourines, strings, pipes and clanging, loud clashing cymbals.)

This psalm-only singing is still the custom and practice of a portion of the Presbyterian family today.

Scottish Presbyterians transport their exclusive psalm singing to the North American British Colonies.

But the excellent hymns of two English composers become so popular that Presbyterians begin to be enticed away from exclusive use of the Psalter and the church’s musical range is expanded.

Those composers were (highlighting several of their familiar hymns):

Isaac Watts (1674-1748), the “Father of English Hymnody,” twelve hymns in GTG

32 I Sing the Mighty Power of God134 Joy to the World (Music attributed to Handel)212 Alas! And Did My Savior Bleed223 When I Survey the Wondrous Cross265 Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun279 Come, Holy Spirit, Heavenly Dove327 From All That Dwell Below the Skies (Psalm 117)681 This Is the Day the Lord Hath Made

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687 Our God, Our Help in Ages Past (Psalm 90)803 My Shepherd Will Supply My Need (Psalm23)

Charles Wesley (1707-1788), author of 6,500 hymns; twelve hymns in GTG

82 Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus119 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing127 Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (Jesus, the Light of the World)232 Jesus Christ Is Risen Today245 Christ the Lord Is Risen Today!299 You Servants of God, Your Master Proclaim348 Lo, He Comes with Clouds Descending363 Rejoice, the Lord Is King!366 Love Divine, All Loves Excelling440 Jesus, Lover of My Soul610 O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing662 Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies703 Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me

John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield of course were leaders in the 18th

century revival movement of The Church of England which came to be known as Methodists.

The Great Awakening which begins in 1738 introduces this English hymnody into American churches. When the stirring British pulpiteer George Whitefield makes his first preaching tour of New England he champions Watts’s hymns, which were more suited to his fervid style of preaching and the wildly emotional responses of the hearers, than were the metrical psalms.

By 1831 we have the first official American Presbyterian hymnal; text only, no music. Not until after the Civil War do we have hymnals that combine music and text on the same page.

And despite the turmoil, tumult and division that the issue of psalms versus hymn singing engendered among Presbyterians the expansion of their musical palette is well on its way by the end of the nineteenth century.

So, where do we end up in the Glory to God hymnal?—where we began with our Scripture reading from Ephesians this morning admonishing worshipers to be filled with the Spirit and to sing psalms, and hymns and spiritual songs.

So let’s do that: From the 853 hymns in the Glory to God hymnal, I’ve picked ten to sample.

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A SAMPLING OF GLORY TO GOD HYMNS

GTG 110 Love Has Come (1996, verses 1 & 3)

Note: The hymn summaries that appear at the bottom of each hymn page provide helpful insights and context.

Hymn tune: “Bring a Torch”a popular 17th century French carolJeanette and Isabella are farm girls who discover Mary and Joseph and the babe Jesus in the manager, rush to tell nearby villagers and bring a torch/light to celebrate the birth.

Composer: Ken Bible (b. 1950)

GTG 161 Woman in the Night (1982, rev. 1995)

I was privileged to met Brian Wren in 1984 while doing some graduate work at San Francisco Theological Seminary. During the six-week summer session he led the daily chapel worship services which was a treat.

Brian Wren (b. 1936) is Emeritus Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia. Born just outside of London in 1936, some of Wren’ s earliest memories include air raid sirens, the drone of bombers, anti-aircraft fire, and bombs exploding all around. He is a writer, preacher, worship and workshop leader, and internationally published hymn-poet, with entries in most recent denominational hymnals in North America, Britain and Australia. Some of his hymn-poems have been translated into Finnish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Korean. Ordained in Britain’s United Reformed Church, Brian moved to the United States in 1991 and lives in Massachusetts with his partner in marriage and ministry, Rev. Susan Heafield, a United Methodist pastor and composer whose last pastoral post before retirement was in New York State. Brian is 83 years old and he and Susan are still making music together.

Brian has eleven hymns in both the blue and red hymnals (seven are new in the Glory to God hymnal). Familiar hymns from the blue hymnal include:

Christ is Risen! Shout Hosanna! (Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy)Christ Is Alive!I Come with Joy (Invitation to Communion)

Let’s look at the words to this poetic and theologically insightful hymn that hightlight a series of women who had important encounters with Jesus life, ministry, death and resurrection.

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GTG 250 In the Bulb There Is a Flower (1986)—(Read the hymn summary at the bottom of the page for each hymn)

Natalie Sleeth is/was a popular composer of choral music.Born in 1930 in Evanston, IL; she died in Denver from cancer in 1992 at the age of 61. Her husband the Reverend Ronald Sleeth was president of West Virginia Wesleyan College (1977).

GTG 418 Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling (1880)

Will Thompson was born in Ohio in 1847.

Softly and Tenderly Jesus Is Calling was sung by the choir of Atlanta’s Ebenezer Baptist Church at the funeral for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in 1968.

Gospel singer Cynthia Clawson's interpretation of the song is used as background music throughout the 1985 movie The Trip to Bountiful for which Geraldine Page won the best actress Oscar.

Horton Foote wrote the screen play for The Trip to Bountiful (also for the 1962 movie To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck playing Atticus Finch, Harper Lee’s beloved novel); his brother Shelby Foote, historian and novelist is featured in Ken Burn’s PBS Civil War Series.

GTG 464 Our Father Which Art in Heaven (call and response)West Indian hymn tuneAppears in both the blue and red hymnalsDr. Bob Herman will sing the “leader” role for the hymn.

I mention in passing a number of contemporary praise choruses (Spiritual Songs) that have made their way into the Glory to God hymnal:

GTG 192 Lord, the Light of Your Love Is Shining (1987)Graham Kendrick (b. 1950) prolific English Christian singer, songwriter and worship leader

GTG 406 We Are Standing on Holy Ground (1983)Geron Davis, born in Louisiana in 1964 is a musician composer.

GTG 443 There Is a Redeemer (1982)Melody Green

GTG 458 Thy Word Is a Lamp unto My Feet (1984)Amy Grant (b. 1960 in Augusta, GA) poplar contemporary Christian singer/composer

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GTG 468 In My Life (Lord Be Glorified), 1978Bob Kilpatrick (b. 1952) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, broadcaster, and inventor born in Louisville, Kentucky.

GTG 469 Lord, Listen to Your Children Praying (1970)Ken Medema (b. 1943 in Grand Rapids, MI)

GTG 613 O Lord, Our Lord (How Majestic Is Your Name), 1981

Michael Whitaker Smith (born October 7, 1957) in Kenova, West Virginia is an American musician, who has charted in both contemporary Christian and mainstream music. In 2018, he sang and played piano at Billy Graham's memorial and funeral service in Montreat, North Carolina and has done concert tours with Amy Grant

GTG 621 I Will Call Upon the Lord (1994)

Michael O’Shields, born in 1948 was a young struggling minister traveling in Oklahoma and Texas in the 1970s and later wrote this hymn.

GTG 626 As the Deer (pants for the water so my soul longs after you), 1984Paraphrase of Psalm42 and parts of Psalm 28

Martin J. Nystrom, born in 1956 in Seattle, a music education graduate of Oral Roberts University, worked as a music director for the New York branch of Christ for the Nations.

And, by the way . . .

GTG 438 Rock of Ages, Cleft for Me (reappears from the 1955 hymnal)Augustus M. Toplady, 1776

We will one sing one of the contemporary praise songs that has some local history:

GTG 627 I Love You, Lord (1978)

Laurie Klein, born in 1950, wrote this praise hymn when her husband was attending Central Oregon Community College in Bend and was away from home all day. She was left in their mobile home beside a highway to tend to their daughter by herself.

Her own words convey the situation best:

“With no friends, money, church home, or driver’s license, the days I spent with our one-year-old seemed endless. My time with the Lord was not only my “life-line”—it was one of my rare opportunities to talk with someone “older”! One extra-lonely morning I found myself

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praying, “Lord, I want to worship you . . . I’m just so empty inside. Please give me something to sing that you would enjoy hearing.” As I picked up my guitar, words and music came effortlessly.”

GTG 726 Will You Come and Follow Me (1987)

John Bell (b. 1949) and Graham Maule (b. 1958)

The text of this hymn comes out of the life of the Iona Community, the small island off the western coast of Scotland (a monastery established in 563 CE, became a center of Celtic Christianity). The contemporary Iona Community had a practice of sending youth volunteers to live for a year or two in impoverished parts of Scotland, supported only by welfare payments and working out their discipleship in hard places. At the end of the agreed periods of ministry, there would be a farewell ceremony, always held in the house where they had been living and for which these authors would often create an appropriate song. This was such a song, originally intended for a one-time use around 1986-87 but has proved meaningful to many people since being made more widely available.

Last Sunday Pastor Wendy spoke of the power of questions at Pentecost (I was listening to the sermon) and the first four verses of hymn is full of Jesus’ questions; the last verse reflects the response of each singer.

GTG 727 Will You Let Me Be Your Servant (1977, vss 1 and 5, repeat 1)

Richard Gillard was born in Malmesbury, Wiltshire County, England on May 22, 1953, the eldest of six children. He emigrated to New Zealand with his family when he was three years old. He writes, “I’ve had almost no formal musical training. I’m a self-taught guitarist and play mostly in a folk style.

GTG 803 My Shepherd Will Supply My NeedIsaac Watts, 1719

We’ve noted Isaac Watts’ role in hymn making. Listen to Psalm 23 as many of us learned in in the King James or Authorized Version (1611 CE):

Psalm 23 (KJV)The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.

He maketh me to lie down in green pastures: he leadeth me beside the still waters.

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He restoreth my soul: he leadeth me in the paths of righteousness for his name's sake.

Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.

Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil; my cup runneth over.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life: and I will dwell in the house of the LORD for ever.

Now, let’s sing Watt’s beloved paraphrase of Psalm 23 set to the flowing shape note melody “Resignation.”

GTG 808 When Memory Fades (2000)

Mary Louise (Mel) Bringle, born in 1953 is Professor of Philosophy and Religious Studies at Brevard College in Brevard, NC. She has served as President of The Hymn Society in the US and Canada and as chair of the Presbyterian Committee on Congregational Song, responsible for creating the Glory to God hymnal. We have 20 of her hymns in GTG.

Mary wrote this hymn for a friend whose mother suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and whose father, the primary caregiver, was becoming progressively frailer. The text is broader than that and allows singers to supply the details of their own situations.

The hymn tune is Finlandia by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) and is most closely associated with the German hymn, Be Still, my Soul.

GTG 852 When the Lord Redeems the Very Least (1991)

Sylvia Dunstan was born in Ontario, Canada in 1955 and raised by her grandparents who had Methodist and Salvation Army backgrounds.

In 1980, she was ordained by the Hamilton Conference of the United Church of Canada. During her career she served as a minister, a prison chaplain, and editor of a Canadian worship resource journal, Gathering.

Sylvia died on July 25, 1993, at age 38 almost four months after being diagnosed with liver cancer. Eight of her hymns appear in the Glory to God hymnal.

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She left behind a ministry that combined a compassionate concern for the needy and distraught with a consuming love of liturgy.

In many ways, this text is an eschatological updating of Psalm 126. Yet rather than being only a celebration for the restoring of the fortunes of Zion, it is an anticipation of how God’s purposes will be fulfilled for all who now suffer.

The text is paired with a gospel tune (“I’ll Fly Away”) composed by Oklahoma born and Missouri-reared southern gospel style writer Albert Brumley, (1905-1977) but with a change of emphasis from the human impulse to escape the world to a celebration of God’s intention to redeem the world and restore it.

A “heads up”: the Doxology that follows the Offering is GTG 609 (Hymn tune is usually sung to All Creatures of Our God and King)

Our closing hymn will be a lively African-American spiritual,I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me GTG 700.

PRAYER OF DEDICATION for the Glory to God HymnalPastor Mark Olson will lead our prayer and the remainder of the service.

The people of God have sung songs from the beginning of time.

Praise the Lord with the lyre; make melody with the harp of ten strings. Sing a new song; play skillfully on the strings, with loud shouts. (Psalm 33:2-3)

We sing as an expression of our joy and thanksgiving:

It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre. For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy. (Psalm 92:1-4)

We sing in times of uncertainty and distress:

I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father’s kingdom. When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Matthew 26:29-30)

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And we sing because it is part of our new life in Christ:

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; teach and admonish one another in all wisdom; and with gratitude in your hearts sing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God. (Colossians 3:16)

This we pray

(Men) We pray that as we sing together from this hymnal, we will come to have a deeper sense of our unity in the body of Christ.

(Women) We pray that the Holy Spirit will bring surprises and breathe new life into our congregation through our new hymnal Glory to God.

This we hope

(Men) We hope the cover imprint fades from greasy fingers.

(Women) We hope the pages become wrinkled and torn from constant use.

(All) We hope our children will sing from this hymnal—we hope our grandchildren will too.

With praise and thanks, we dedicate the Glory to God hymnals.

We praise God for this resource of song and give God the glory. With appreciation, we thank the Neese family for the gift of these hymnals.

And so, O Lord, we dedicate the Glory to God hymnals to you for your glory. Amen.

WE RESPOND WITH GRATEFUL HEARTS

BY SHARING NEWS OF THE FAMILYBY OFFERING PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLEBY GIVING OUR TITHES AND OFFERINGSOFFERTORY Medley on Fathers Traditional/arr. Harlan

*DOXOLOGY Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow GTG 609

WE DISPERSE TO GO AND SERVE

THE BENEDICTION SUNG I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me GTG 700

*THE BENEDICTION SPOKEN

*Indicates STAND if able, Bold indicate all recite

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PARTICIPANTS IN TODAY’S SERVICE

All those gathered—Worshipers of the Living GodThe Revered Dr. Ric Neese, Pastor Emeritus, preachingThe Reverend Mark Olson—Pastor and Worship LeaderDr. Estle Harlan—OrganPaul Beard—PianoJennifer Hamilton—SoloistDr. Robert Herman—Choir DirectorThe Reverend Cathye Wehr—Associate Choir DirectorChuck Stanford—Head UsherBetsey Clarke—AmbassadorsNancy Gault—Fellowship

ATTRIBUTIONS

Music: Word and music used by permission CCLI 1505106Liturgy: Feasting on the Word Worship Companion, Liturgies for Year C,

Vol. 2 (2013) and Liturgies of Year A, Vol 2 (2014), Kimberly Bracken Long, Ed., Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press.

Picture: King David Playing the Harp, Gerard van Honthorst, 1622; Public Domain;https://artsandculture.google.com/asset/king-david-playing-the-harp/dQFEnSBuziiUpQ

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