Dear Friends:

My friend Wendy is one of my best churchy buddies in—we love comparing notes on worship and liturgy details that others might miss, and we care deeply about the liturgy and music.

Wendy is a music minister at her church in several different roles, including choosing hymns. She sent me musical notes earlier this month written for her congregation that I’ve copied below. At Saint Andrew’s we use the same three hymnals Wendy references except that Saint Andrew’s has copies of Wonder, Love, and Praise (the green hymnal) in our pews and we make inserts of LEVAS (red and black binding) as we only have a few copies of that hymnal, the inverse of Wendy’s church. We also use hymns from the Lutheran Book of Worship and from the Lutheran supplement, With One Voice.

Our organist Nick Voermans has an extensive knowledge of hymns from many sources and eras and chooses hymns that match scripture and represent a wide swath of the Christian musical tradition. We balance his expansive selections with one or two well-known beloved hymns each service for communion and the recessional. (BTW: we are very happy to have your requests.) On July 26 we sang “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling” (Wendy’s church sang it early July); the tune Kingsfold that she mentioned is the tune for one of my favorite hymns, “When Jesus left his Father’s throne” (#480).

In seminary, Chris and I took a class on hymnody with David Hurd, one of the great Anglican/Episcopal church composers and musicians of our time. We loved hearing his stories about the hymns’ creation, the process for selections for Hymnal 1982, and some info and maybe inside scoop about the people who wrote them. When we share services with other denominations, as we have with Gobin in the last year, we hope to find hymns in common so that we can sing with gusto. Hymn singing is a great part of worship to share.

Wendy’s message about church music is below. She’s also included some links to recordings of the hymns mentioned.

Enjoy the music–and hope to hear your voice this Sunday.

Jen+

Did you know that the songs we sing at church are drawn from three different hymnals? These hymnals bring together a remarkable and rich reflection of sacred music from many diverse strands of music history. We have the “red book” [note from Jen+: this is the same as our “the blue hymnal”—Hymnal 1982 comes in both colors] – The Hymnal 1982 – and the Lift Every Voice and Sing hymnal (aka LEVAS.) The LEVAS hymnal gathers music from the African American sacred music tradition. It has black and red binding. Both of these books you’ll find in the pews. Our priest also likes to select from a third source called Wonder Love and Praise: Supplement to the Hymnal 1982. Each of these collections are considered official hymnals of the Episcopal Church. This week, we will sing from all three. In these music notes, I highlight two of the hymns – each one from a very different branch in the history of sacred music.

The gospel reading appointed for Sunday is from Matthew 11 and ends with “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” This text inspired some of the hymn choices you’ll find at worship at the 10AM service.

For example, “Softly and Tenderly Jesus is Calling,” (LEVAS 101), composed by Will L. Thompson – an Ohio-based composer of secular, patriotic and religious music. “Softly and Tenderly,” first published in 1880, is one of the most famous of American Christian songs. It was sung at the funeral of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., in 1968. It has been performed by Johnny Cash, Reba McIntyre, Carrie Underwood, the Andrews Sisters, and has been heard in the soundtrack of many movies. In the refrain you’ll hear the promise of rest in Jesus that Matthew described: “‘Come home, come home! You who are weary, come home!’ Earnestly, tenderly, Jesus is calling, calling, ‘O sinner, come home.’” Johnny Cash sings: Softly and Tenderly

At the Offertory, we will sing “I heard the voice of Jesus say, ‘Come Unto me and Rest.’” The words appear in Hymnal 1982 number 692, but we’re borrowing the tune from number 480. We thought it might be a bit more “singable.” The words are from the 19th C Scottish poet and churchman, Horatius Bonar:

I heard the voice of Jesus say, Come unto me and rest

And in your weariness lay down your head upon my breast

I came to Jesus as I was so weary worn and sad

I found in him a resting place and he has made me glad.

You can see in these lyrics, also, a direct line to our Gospel promise of rest from Matthew. I find that I “hear” the scripture in multiple ways – in my heart, breath, and spirit – (not only with my head) – when we also get to sing it. The tune we chose is from an old English folk melody called “Kingsfold;” it was adapted and harmonized by the famous English composer, Ralph Vaughan Williams. Williams had a passion for English folk music, and was one of the many late 19thC folklorist composers all over the U.S. and Europe who went out to collect orally transmitted folk tunes and capture them into writing. Trinity College choir at Cambridge University sings: I heard the voice of Jesus say (‘Kingsfold’)| The Choir of Trinity College Cambridge

Rev. Jen has set her office drop-in day as Wednesday of each week from 9:30 – 11:30 a.m. and 1:30 – 3:30 p.m. for anyone who would like to stop in and visit. You are always invited to make an appointment for a time convenient for you. Mondays are her Sabbath day.

CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER

On Wednesdays at 1:00, we gather for about a half hour in quiet contemplative prayer. A leader introduces the prayer and a bell is chimed; we sit in prayer for twenty minutes until another chime sounds and then close with a spoken prayer. Feel free to come in any time between 1:00 and 1:20 to pray in silence in a lovely sacred space.

ALTAR FLOWER CALENDAR

An altar flower calendar is posted in Hamilton Hall. Sign up to sponsor the altar flowers to commemorate a birthday or anniversary, remember a loved one, or in thanksgiving for an important event. We ask a donation to help offset the cost of the altar flowers and other worship expenses. Be sure to tell the office your dedication so that it can be printed in the bulletin. Please make checks payable to St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church and in the memo field please put this information: Altar Flowers, person’s name, occasion, Sunday date you’d like for the flowers to be on the altar.

VESTRY MEETING MINUTES

If any of you are interested in what your Vestry is doing, there are two copies of each month’s minutes on the music stand in Hamilton Hall. Feel free to read and return!

SHOPPING LIST FOR NON-FOOD PANTRY

Please see the Non-Food Pantry Latest section of the newsletter for items most in need for this month. Meals and conversation in Hamilton Hall are going well. Patrons are now able to pick out items they most need. Your contributions help our budget go farther in helping meet the needs of those in Putnam County. Please scroll down to view the distribution dates and latest updates. If you can help with this ministry in any way, please contact Harriet Moore or Carl Huffman.

KROGER COUPONS

If you have any unwanted Kroger coupons, please bring them to Hamilton Hall and place in the window ledge near the “Little Library”. We would like to make them available to our Non-Food Pantry recipients so that they might be able to take advantage of them to help extend their food budget. Thanks in advance!

FREE DAILY DEVOTIONAL

We have some large print Day by Day daily devotionals in the sanctuary that you are free to take home for your personal devotions–and if we know that people would like copies, we can order the right amount. Many of you may also appreciate the on-line version of Day to Day. Click here.

Your prayers are asked for:

Haile Bane, grandson of Joanne Haymaker
Beth Benedix, friend to many at St. Andrew’s
+Tom Breidenthal
Jennifer Clarke, friend of Patti Harmless
Cindy Crawley, cousin of Karen & Jim Mannon
Arielle Hirt, daughter-in-law of Karen & Jim Mannon
Tom Kaiser, friend of Jen+ & Chris
Lynda, friend of Sarah Finlay-Black
Teresa Masten, friend of Karen & Jim Mannon
Trevor and Christy Moore, friend of Karen and Jim Mannon
Sally Motsch, friend to many at St. Andrew’s
Gene Shaw, brother-in-law of Patti Harmless
Elizabeth & Natalie Sheffler, daughter & granddaughter of Page & Narda Cotton
Deloris Smith, friend of Emily Knuth
Jenny Smyth, niece of Patti Harmless
Luke Smith, son of Mark Smith
Skip Sutton
Eugene Swanger, friend of Jen+
Larry Taylor, former member of St. Andrew’s
Donald Voermans, father of Nick Voermans
Edwina Vose, friend of Jen+
Catherine Waggoner, friend of Jen+
Dwight Ziegler, uncle of Stephanie Gurnon

Diocesan Cycle of Prayer: St. Michael’s, Noblesville, The Rev. Daniel Layden