September 11, 2022

Sunday's prelude is a setting of the hymn, "The King of Love My Shepherd Is", which compliments the Gospel reading from Luke; it is a hymn we will sing at communion, and is part of Robert Hobby's huge and appealing output, though I haven't played any for some time. . He is, as you may remember, contemporary American, and along with numerous guest appearances, serving in a large Lutheran Church in Indiana.

Our processional hymn is an old favorite 19th century hymn, "God the Omnipotent", 569.

The Gospel hymn, "Savior, like a Shepherd lead us" (708), is to the same tune (Sicilian Mariners) as "Lord, dismiss us with Thy blessing". This melody dates back to the 18th century as you may note.

Our day's anthem by the highly respected contemporary American, Gerald Near (who studied early on with Leo Sowerby), is "Now the Silence, Now the Peace", a wonderful text by Jaroslav Vajda; do ponder the text in the bulletin insert. We sing this anthem at least twice a year.

At the beginning of communion, Audy Walker will sing the beautiful Franz Schubert "In You, O Lord, We Find Our Refuge". The following hymns will be most familiar, 439 & 645, "What wondrous love is this" and, like the prelude, "The King of Love My Shepherd Is".

Our closing hymn, 470, "There's a wideness In God's mercy", is another text complimenting the Gospel reading from Luke.

Now if you are ambitious, check out the text of Hymn 410, as the postlude by Michael Burkhardt is based on this hymn and relates to the reading from Exodus earlier in the service. Another contemporary American, Mr. Burkhardt has primarily been involved in university teaching. I play this setting every so often, and so you may recognize it.

Choir rehearsals have begun on Wed evenings; if you have any interest in joining us, please see me -- or just appear at 7:15P in the choir room!