September 5, 2024
As the summer heat subsides and showers soften the parched soil, we look forward to renewed growth in cooler autumn climes and better weather to be outside enjoying God’s creation all around us!
The two choir anthems this Sunday celebrate the beauty found everywhere in creation and the message it sends to us of God’s abundant and reckless love.
Psalm 34 has always been one of my favorite Psalms because it reminds us that our senses are meant to be a reminder of our Creator’s boundless love. We could survive on only bamboo like the Panda, or eucalyptus like the Koala, but the God who gave all to save us created a feast for our palate and all our senses as constant evidence of that unchanging love. Our faith in that love makes us bold to approach the throne of grace with our most urgent needs, our heartfelt thanks, and joyous praise.
O taste and see how gracious the Lord is. Blest is the one that trusteth in Him.
The great English composer Ralph [Raif] Vaughan Williams was asked to compose a brief motet for the Anointing of Elizabeth II at her Coronation, and this is the inspired gem he created: “O Taste and See”.
The Choir’s Anthem is John Rutter’s setting of the famous Cecil Frances Alexander hymn “All Things Bright & Beautiful”. The hymn was first published in 1848 in Alexander's Hymns for Little Children, and its intent was to elaborate upon the clause in the Apostles' Creed that describes God as "maker of heaven and earth…of all things visible and invisible."
Rutter’s syncopated setting of 1983 is memorably tuneful and climaxes in the summation of all the hymn in Alexander’s Verse 7 text: “God gave us eyes to see them, and lips that we might tell how great is God almighty who has made all things well.”
Once again, the breathtaking beauty of creation is loudly proclaiming God’s love for us – if only we use our senses to taste, see, hear, and smell the magnificent world that surrounds us.
Our Opening Voluntary and Offertory Hymn are settings of the text sung at the Footwashing on Maundy Thursday “Ubi Caritas”. The Organ Prelude by Gerald Near sets the ancient Gregorian Chant, and at Offertory the Choir invites you to
join them in singing Jacque Berthier’s setting for the Taize Community of France.
The organ piece I have chosen for Communion sets the well-known chant “Adoro te Devote” which is often sung to “For the Beauty of the Earth” in addition to the original Eucharistic text. During our recent Gospel journey through John 6, you have heard the tune sung by the choir and deployed in an organ prelude, and this Sunday’s setting is a beautifully varied setting by American composer Alfred Fedak which includes 3-part Canon between both hands and the feet, cascades of descending and ascending motifs which weave a glorious meditation as we share in Christ’s great Feast.
Fedak also composed the jaunty “Chanty” or Sea Shanty on the tune of our Closing Hymn “Beach Spring”. This lively American hymn tune is set with many texts, but my favorite is today’s text by Albert F. Bayly from 1961 “Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service”. The final verse is our daily call to care for and minister to all God’s Creation:
Called by worship to your service, forth in your dear name we go
To the child, the youth, the aged, love in living deeds to show;
Hope and health, good will and comfort, counsel, aid and peace we give,
That your children, Lord, in freedom, may your mercy know and live.
My constant prayer is that the inspired words we sing and music we meditate upon will strengthen us to serve our Creator every day by being present to all around us.
With a Thankful Heart,
Kenton
Vaughan Williams: O Taste & See
Rutter: All Things Bright & Beautiful
Near: Ubi Caritas
Taizé: Ubi Caritas
Fedak: Adoro te Devote
Fedak: Chanty [Shanty] on Beach Spring