Music Notes: Pentecost 1 – Trinity Sunday, May 30^th is the Church’s celebration of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit – The Trinity. What other hymn could we sing but, Holy, Holy, Holy! … (you know the rest), Hymnal 1982, # 362 and later in the service, #370, ‘I bind myself today…,’ St. Patrick’s Breastplate, (a preview of Celtic Fire to come, June 13^th). For our worship, we’ll sing Stanzas 1, 2 and 7 of 370; stanzas 3-6 while very beautiful and filled with deep meaning, make the hymn more adaptable to a longer period of meditation and we will hear more of it in Celtic Fire, June 13^th. And this weekend, also called ‘Memorial Day’ weekend, is a time of commemoration when we remember the fallen in service to our country, that we and all faiths, might live and worship in spiritual freedom and peace, unlike any other place in the world, especially when we hear witness from people like Canon White who ministers in Iraq. It is difficult for us to imagine what it must be like when suddenly parishioners you know disappear just because they have been newly baptized, in the name of the Father, Son & Holy Spirit, which we confessed and reaffirmed just last week on Pentecost. With the gift of the Web, Canon White’s work can be followed at this link: www.frrme.org. But continuing with Sunday’s music; we will chant the psalm one last time as part of celebrating the Trinity feast day before we turn to reciting the psalm on Sundays to come. At the Sequence, Hymn 686, ‘Come, thou fount of every blessing,’ will lead us from the very short Epistle to an even shorter Gospel, but two readings, each of which present powerful words, first from Paul: ‘Since we are justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,’* and then, Jesus: “He (the Holy Spirit), will glorify me, because he will take what is mine and declare it to you. All that the Father has is mine. For this reason I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you." As we commune, Hymns 711 and 716 will be self-explanatory in their simple message & prayer to remember the fallen** and as we depart the service, Hymn 718, the National Hymn written by George William Warren in 1876 for the July 4^th centennial of the U.S. Constitution will refresh our musical insights as we have just been refreshed in the Eucharist communing with God. Mr Warren was, during his career, organist at St. Thomas, N.Y.C. and was so revered, it is said, ‘No music was played at his funeral, attended by thousands, as the mourners believed, they could find no finer organist.’ And in Finale, a Postlude on the National Anthem, the origin of which is actually unknown; oh, everyone knows, Francis Scott Key wrote the words, but he did not write the song. The Hymnal reads ‘source unknown,’ but was that to be polite? One report says the poem was set to the tune of a popular British drinking song, written by John Stafford Smith for the Anacreontic Society, a men's social club in London and that it was already popular in the United States when Key sang his poem to it; who would of thought, accept when one remembers Luther also took a bar song and set words to it, which we now sing as, ‘O Sacred Head, sore wounded, #168.’

*I bring to your attention for expansion on these words, which Luther emphasized over and over when he discovered them in scripture during his quest to gain God’s forgiveness, a video documentary for those of you who have Netflix. An historical look at ‘Martin Luther,’ the video’s title, which originally aired on British television, (then, on PBS in the United States), serves as a wonderful educational primer of the fascinating religious epoch in world history we call the Reformation.

**Then, I am reminded of the text inscribed on the back of the Reredos, which no one can see (but God sees), unless you walk back there, which memorializes those who served in WW I. If you can, make the trip behind the altar to read the words inscribed there.

Peace and see you at worship – AJH

The Chorister Creed & Prayer

‘I will sing with the spirit and with understanding also’

The First Letter of Paul to the Corinthians 14:15

Bless, O Lord, us your servants who minister in your temple;

Grant that what we sing with our lips we may believe in our hearts,

And what we believe in our hearts we may show forth in our lives;

Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen

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Music Notes - May 30, 2010 Pentecost 1 - Trinity Sunday

Psalm 8, George Mursell Garrett Emmanuel Choir