Music for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost: September 1, 2019

Opening Voluntary Prelude on “Nettleton”

setting, John Carter

Time out from a composition lesson for
a selfie with John Carter

If you feel like singing along to this piano setting of the well-known tune, you might be tempted to start singing “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing”; however, when this tune comes up later in the service, we’ll be using a different text. Read more about that later in this post.

The composer of the tune is not known, but the composer of this lively setting is well-known in the world of church music. John Carter’s large catalog of piano and choral music is heard weekly in American churches.  I was honored to have some private composition lessons with him while attending Trinity Lutheran Seminary in Columbus, Ohio.

Gathering Hymn Gather Us In (Gather Us In)

Evangelical Lutheran Worship (ELW) 532

This hymn is a part of our gathering rite and acknowledges the Holy Spirit’s gathering in of believers for communal worship.
Marty Haugen wrote the text and the tune of this hymn. His work is widely known in the church at large and at St. Mark’s. Not only have we sung his hymns, but we’ve also sung his liturgies including Now the Feast and Celebration, Holden Evening Prayer, Beneath the Tree of Life, and Unfailing Light.

Read more about how we use Unfailing Light here: http://smljax.blogspot.com/search?q=unfailing+light

Hymn of the Day As We Gather at Your Table (Nettleton)

Six hymn texts by Carl P. Daw, Jr. are included in ELW. He is an Episcopal priest and Executive Director of the Hymn Society in the United States of America.
“As We Gather at Your Table” is in ELW (522), but I decided to sing it with a different tune this week – Nettleton. (See the opening voluntary.)

Jacksonville Composer Bob Moore

Musical Offering All Who Hunger, Gather Gladly (sung by the Festival Choir)

Bob Moore

Bob Moore is the Director of Music Ministry at the Episcopal Church of Our Savior in Mandarin. He is a prolific composer of liturgical music. I discovered this piece a few years ago in our choir library. Since that time, we have also used it as an assembly hymn.  Not very long ago, Bob rearranged this tune (Grace Eternal) as a more complex anthem for choir. It’s already in our choral library and I’m looking forward to singing it with the Festival Choir.

Communion Hymns

The Trumpets Sound, the Angels Sing (The Feast Is Ready)

ELW 531
Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ (Linstead)

Sending Hymn Sent Forth by God’s Blessing (The Ash Grove)

ELW 547

Closing Voluntary Gather Us In

setting, John Behnke

Somebody walked into the nave while I was practicing the postlude earlier this week and asked, “Irish?”
It certainly has a Celtic feel thanks to Behnke’s open fifths and grace notes in the left hand. There’s even a middle section that could easily be taken for a “jig.” Actually, this is a reprise of Haugen’s tune “Gather Us In.”

Happening This Week

The St. Mark’s Ringers and the Festival Choir begin their regular rehearsal schedule this week on Wednesday, September 4th – weather permitting. (Hurricane Dorian is making its approach to the Bahamas as this post is being written.)

All singers are welcome in the Festival Choir which rehearses from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m.

We have one opening in the St. Mark’s Ringers. Please contact Tony Cruz right away if you would like to join this hard-working group of musicians.