Liturgy Lessons: March 5, 2017 (First Sunday Lent)
Call to Worship: Daniel 2:20-22; Psalm 72:17-19
Hymn of Adoration: Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven (#76)
Confession: “O For a Closer Walk with God” (William Cowper)
Sung Response: Jesus, Lamb of God (Agnus Dei)
Assurance of Pardon: Ephesians 1:3-10
Song of Assurance: “Jesus, Master, Whose I Am” (Morton)
Catchesism/Congregational Prayers
Tithes and Offerings
Doxology: #733
Sermon: Rev. Casey Bedell
Meditation
Supper: “My Shepherd Will Supply My Need,” “Wonderful, Merciful, Merciful Savior”
Closing Hymn: “On Jordan’s Stormy Banks”
Benediction
“Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love.”
–Joel 2:13
“O for a closer walk with God, a calm and heavenly frame;
A light to shine upon the road that leads me to the Lamb!
Where is the blessedness I knew when first I saw the Lord?
Where is the soul-refreshing view of Jesus and His word?
What peaceful hours I once enjoyed! How sweet their memory still!
But they have left an aching void the world can never fill.
Return, O Holy Dove, return, sweet messenger of rest;
I hate the sins that made Thee mourn, and drove Thee from my breast.
The dearest idol I have known, whate’er that idol be,
Help me to tear it from Thy throne, and worship only Thee.
So shall my walk be close with God, calm and serene my frame;
So purer light shall mark the road that leads me to the Lamb. Amen.”
–William Cowper
Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven
Text: Henry Francis Lyte (1834)
Music: LAUDA ANIMA, John Goss (1869)
The 89th Academy Awards were this past week. It is common to compare the winners, not only against each other, but against the great movies of the past. There are hundreds of lists, ranking the best movies in the history of cinema, the most prestigious being The American Film Institute’s (AFI) “100 greatest films of all time,” and though there is ongoing discussion about the rankings, there seems to be consensus opinion on a handful of finalists that unanimously deserve votes for the top spot. Citizen Kane, Gone with the Wind, The Godfather, and Casablanca are all giants in the genre. Well, if there was an organization that existed to rank hymns (perhaps we could call it H.Y.M.N. – Hymns Your Ministry Needs), then I believe that in the Anglican churches, there would be unanimous agreement on this hymn as one of the greats. However, for some reason, it is lesser-known in American churches, probably because we are spending all our time watching those great movies. Anyway, my fellow Americans, I’d like to argue the case for this song before the HYMN committee. In American political terms, I’d like to “make this hymn great again.” Consider this: “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven” has the auspicious honor of being the first hymn included three times in the prestigious and world-renowned weekly Liturgy Lessons of Covenant Presbyterian Church in Issaquah, WA. A high honor, indeed! But, in all seriousness, it is the marriage of text and tune that creates a lasting hymn. Melody and lyrics are the two legs that all great songs walk on. If one or the other is lacking, then the song limps along. If both are strong on their own, but do not work in stride, then the hymn won’t stand up against the winds of time. However, when you find excellent poetry that is complemented by a singable tune, wherein both components support each other, then the song can skip, run, or sprint on ahead without much effort at all. This hymn has great balance, probably because composer John Goss wrote this tune specifically for Lyte’s text. It is a stately melody, one of the finest to come out the Victorian era. Its regal and processional rhythm marches ahead in steady quarter notes, emboldening the spirit that is being called forth to “praise the king of heaven.” The text was written by the Anglican poet Henry Francis Lyte, whose story is worth noting.
Henry Francis Lyte’s father abandoned his family while Henry was still a boy. Then Henry’s mother and brother died, leaving Henry an orphan at age nine, at which point he was taken in by a Christian couple. Lyte studied for the ministry, was ordained, and served several small churches; the last in Brixham on the English Channel where he served for 23 years. While at Brixham, he formed a Sunday School that enrolled 800 children, and wrote many hymns based on the Psalms. “Praise, My Soul, the King of Heaven,” based on Psalm 103, is one of those. The other famous hymn from Lyte is “Abide With Me.” Lyte suffered ill health for most of his life, and died at age 54.
The final line of each stanza in the original hymn text is “Alleluia, Alleluia,” instead of “Praise him, praise him, praise him, praise him.” I’m not sure why it got switched in the Trinity hymnal, but for the record, I like the original. Perhaps we could all just pencil that in. You have my permission to sing “Alleluia” instead if you prefer, and if your neighbor in the pew gives you funny looks, just tell them to stop watching so many movies and instead read the Liturgy Lessons.
Link to sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/96182
Suggested recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2Fzm3z5SDo
Jesus, Master, Whose I Am
Text: Francis Havergal (1865)
Tune: Luke Morton (2012)
“Take my life, and let it be consecrated, Lord, to thee”! Those are the most famous words of Frances Havergal, daughter of Anglican clergyman William Havergal, who himself was a composer and hymn writer. Despite Frances Havergal’s output of some other fine hymns, not many are sung. This is probably because, despite being beautifully crafted verse, they never were set to good melodies. Even the melody that became associated with “Take my life” is, in my opinion, a bit inferior, and sounds more like a playful children’s song than a prayerful submission to Christ. You may not know this, but there is a renaissance of hymns in the contemporary church, which I find very encouraging. A large portion of this resurgence in hymn-writing is re-tuning of old or ancient hymn texts. This “old wine in new wineskins” approach is responsible for resurrecting some beautiful poetry from the past and bringing fresh theological depth to the lyrical content of our songs (Bob Kauflin at Indelible Grace is a leading champion of this). There is no escaping the fact that guitars and pianos have replaced organs as the principal instruments in the younger generation’s musical language of praise and worship. For every organist reading Bach harmonizations in the church, there are now probably at least 100 pianists following chord charts by ear, and 500 guitar players. Replacing the old guard of conservatory-trained, sheet-music-reading, classically informed choir directors and music ministers is a new breed of singer/songwriter, self-taught, off-the-page, folk/pop-inspired lovers of Jesus who are producing and practicing a new language within the church. It is a slow shift from fine art to folk art. This change has its pros and cons, and I think that the church needs a balance of both, but that is a thesis for another time. The good here is that, when done well, these re-tuned hymns bring renewed vitality and emotional accessibility. In a familiar musical genre, with sonorities and chords that are in the common language, the heart is able to respond without any mental or musical hurdles. Luke Morton has given us a new setting of a devotional Havergal text that was languishing in a bad melodic marriage. By lending his particular skill and rhythmic drive to this song, he illuminates this beautiful prayer, lifts it back onto our lips, and into our hearts. Thank you, Luke!
Link to recording: https://lukemorton.bandcamp.com/track/jesus-master-whose-i-am