Liturgy Lessons, Nov. 20, 2016
Prelude: Nun Danket Alle Gott (“Now Thank we all our God”)
Call to Worship: Psalm 145
Hymn: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart (#604)
Confession: We Have Not Known Thee as We Ought (#493)
Assurance of Pardon: Psalm 32
Songs of Assurance: Depth of Mercy; Our Great God (Ortega)
Catechism/Prayers
Tithes/Offerings
Doxology: #733
Sermon: Eric Irwin
Supper Hymn: Of the Father’s Love Begotten (#162)
Closing Hymn: There is a Higher Throne (Getty)
Benediction
This is their temple, vaulted high. And here, we pause with reverent eye,
With silent tongue and awestruck soul; for here we sense life’s proper goal:
To be like these, straight, true and fine, to make our world like theirs, a shrine;
Sink down, Oh, traveler, on your knees, God stands before you in these trees.
From “The Redwoods,” by Joseph Strauss
While I was down in California on a gig this past Sunday, I had the chance to take an afternoon hike through a grove of ancient old growth sequoia trees, whom Jon Muir described as “the very god of the woods.” John Steinbeck was awestruck by their grandeur, calling them “ambassadors from another time.” Some were already saplings before Christ was born. The largest tree that I saw was 25 ft. in diameter and weighed an estimated 6,000 tons. That’s the equivalent bulk of over 40 blue whales. One tree, entitled the “Palace Tree” had been hollowed out by fire, and the room inside the trunk could hold up to 50 people. As I walked through the tunnel-like length of another fallen sequoia trunk, I extended my arm overhead but did not touch the “ceiling” in the interior. In the mid-19th century, legends of these giant patriarchs out west, and the threat from those who wished to log or exploit them for profit, led to a groundswell movement to protect them. This was the seed of what would eventually blossom into the National Park System. Several decades later, the great champion of the national parks, president Teddy Roosevelt, said “there is nothing more practical than the preservation of beauty.” That’s a fitting credo for our hymns as well, some of which are quite ancient, and stand like sentinels stretching toward the Son. Their poetry and melody have been shared by generations of believers, and our worship is bolstered by their beauty.
Beauty is inseparably related to truth and goodness, and its uncontained splendor can enchant and enrich the church in very practical ways. It functions not as an end in itself, but as an allusive sign that awakens wonder, kindles the imagination, and pricks the soul with a longing. C.S. Lewis said it well, “The sweetest thing in all my life has been the longing — to reach the Mountain, to find the place where all the beauty came from”. And, we must make that journey, lest we craft golden idols in the valley. It was on the mountain that Moses got the best tan ever by the resplendence of the Lord; and, in like manner, we must pray that our pale efforts are colored by His countenance. May our hearts turn and face the very flame of love. The summit of all our songs, the pinnacle of our praise, is found in the Lord, the Great Other, the Holy One. After all, Psalm 29 tells us to “worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness.” It does NOT say “worship the Lord in the holiness of beauty.”
It is my prayer that the beauty of our music and its use in our worship may be used in transformative ways to till the soil of our hearts so that the Lord my plant the seeds of His word as He desires. Then, growing together as the body, may we be like the “tree planted by streams of living water” in the first Psalm, which “yields its fruit in season, and whose leaf does not wither.” May our adoration of Christ never wither, nor be choked off by competing allegiance to lesser things. May we offer, in unwearied praise, “hymn and chant, and high thanksgiving. Evermore and evermore. AMEN”
We Have Not Known Thee as We Ought (#493)
Text: Thomas Benson Pollock (1889) Tune: ST. CHRYSOSTOM, Joseph Barnby, 1872
No pertinent background info found on this hymn. But since we are using it for confession, refer to this link for sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/page/fetch/TH1990/514/high
Of the Father’s Love Begotten (#162)
Music: Plainsong Chant, 12th Cent. Text: Aurelius Clemens Prudentius, 4th cent.
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348-c. 413) was a Spanish poet and lawyer who began writing poetry at the age of 57. Hymnologist Albert Bailey, who considers Prudentius “the earliest Christian writer who was a real poet,” calls this is a “fighting hymn.” During the 4th century, the theology of the early church was under attack by heretical perspectives. A teacher named Arius (c. 250-336) was arguing that God the Father and the Son did not co-exist throughout eternity, that Jesus did not exist through all time. Under this false teaching, Jesus was a creature that, though divine, was not equal to the Father. So, In the 4th century, Emperor Constantine called together the First Council of Nicea to discuss the Church’s official stance on the nature of the Trinity. The council condemned the teaching of Arius, and produced The Nicene Creed, written as a statement of faith which clarified and codified the Trinitarian theology for the church.
Prudentius’ hymn, “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” written shortly after the Council of Nicea, opens with “Corde natus ex parentis ante mundi exordium (literally “Born from the parent’s heart before the beginning of time”). Starting from this point, the lawyer-poet Prudentius sets forth his argument that the Son has always, is always, and will always be with God and us. It is very clear from his text that Christ is both human and divine, and was “begotten” of the Father.
The textual themes of transcendence are supported beautifully by the melody, which is a plainchant from the 12th century. It is a meditative and meter-less chant that is quite haunting. As we sing it, may we remember this truth from the Gospel of John:
‘In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. All things were made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shines in darkness; and the darkness has not understood it….and the Word was made flesh and made his dwelling among us and we beheld His glory (the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.”
Link to sheet music: http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/100371
Link to original chant: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=orSBS9l0jd8
Link to instrumental version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_4MkT7WrMw