August 30, 2024

This Sunday's Worship reminds us that we are called to be doers of the Word, and not just hearers of the Word - living our faith in all we do and say. Our music this Sunday includes two settings of Psalm 51 in which the Psalmist asks God to create a clean heart and renew a right spirit, so that we may do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly in this world.

Our Voluntary by Johann Sebastian Bach sets the German Lutheran Chorale "Erbarm Dich" in the pedal with harmonies that begin dark and minor and move toward lighter, major chords as we receive God's grace and that promised "new and right spirit."
   Click here to hear "Erbarm Dich"  

The Choral Prelude "Create In Me, O God" is a brief but profound setting by Dallas' own Jane Marshall whom I studied with at SMU, and it also moves through penitence to a renewed spirit and brighter future filled with God's Grace.

Our Anthem is a beautiful and moving setting of the familiar text "Just As I Am" in an anthem by my mentor Richard DeLong who started his Church Music Career at East Dallas Christian Church next door. 
  Click here to hear "Just As I Am"

During the Offertory, I will be playing "The Chosen Tune", a miniature gem by the great English Church Composer Herbert Howells which he dedicated to his wife and named after their favorite "hill at Chosen" in the Gloucestershire countryside. Some of the harmonies sound incredibly "modern" for a composition of 1917, with some of the chords comprising 6 notes per hand.

  Click here to hear "The Chosen Tune" 

It is my constant prayer that the music at Sunday Worship focuses the mind, enables your praising, and strengthens your spirit.

With a thankful heart,
Kenton