Wednesday, December 31, 2014

This Week at Old South Haven Church



Thursday, Jan 1 NEW YEAR'S DAY

Sunday, Jan. 4 10:00am Morning Worship
Sermon: "A Vision Leading to a Venture
Lessons: Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2: 1-12
Ephesians 3: 1-12
Take down tree and decorations after Service

Monday, Jan.5 7:00pm Special Session Meeting
Work on 2015 Budget

Looking Ahead

Sunday, Jan. 25 10:00am Morning Worship
11:30am Annual Meeting

Saturday, Jan 31 2:00pm Memorial Service for
Ann Wiswall

Sunday, Feb. 1 10:00am Morning Worship
Installation of Elders and Deacons

Wednesday, Feb. 18 Ash Wednesday
Beginning of Lent

This Week at Old South Haven Church



Thursday, Jan 1 NEW YEAR'S DAY

Sunday, Jan. 4 10:00am Morning Worship
Sermon: "A Vision Leading to a Venture
Lessons: Isaiah 60:1-6 Matthew 2: 1-12
Ephesians 3: 1-12
Take down tree and decorations after Service

Monday, Jan.5 7:00pm Special Session Meeting
Work on 2015 Budget

Looking Ahead

Sunday, Jan. 25 10:00am Morning Worship
11:30am Annual Meeting

Saturday, Jan 31 2:00pm Memorial Service for
Ann Wiswall

Sunday, Feb. 1 10:00am Morning Worship
Installation of Elders and Deacons

Wednesday, Feb. 18 Ash Wednesday
Beginning of Lent

Saturday, December 27, 2014

This Week at Old South Haven Church


M E R R Y C H R I S T M A S

Sunday, Dec. 28 10:00am Morning Worship
Sermon: "The Beginning is Nothing:
It's the End that Counts"
Lessons: Isaiah 61: 10- 62:3
Luke 2: 22-40

Thursday, Jan 1 NEW YEAR'S DAY

Sunday, Jan. 4 10:00am Morning Worship
Take down tree after Service)

Sunday, Jan. 25 10:00am Morning Worship
11:30am Annual Meeting

Saturday, Jan 31 2:00pm Memorial Service for
Ann Wiswall

Sunday, Feb. 1 10:00am Morning Worship
Installation of Elders and Deacons

We have received several requests for addresses of the Wiswall children. The are:
Sons:

Thomas S. Wiswall
1421 W River Rd
Grand Island, NY 14072-2420

John D. Wiswall
12 Moulton Rd
Southborough, MA 01772-1951

Richard H. Wiswall III
135 Cate Farm Road
Plainfield, VT 05667

Son-in-law:

Tom Armentrout-Wiswall
3780 Red Hawk Cresent
Simi Valley, CA  93063-214



Sunday, December 21, 2014

Music for the Fourth Sunday of Advent Service at OSHC, December 21, 2014

  
From: Richard Thomas
Sent: Saturday, December 20, 2014 1:20 AM
Subject: Music for the Fourth Sunday of Advent Service at OSHC, December 21, 2014

The introit is “Jesus, Name Above All Names” (or, nearly above all names, if you count “Yahweh”)

The opening hymn is No. 8, “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates” which was written by Georg Weissel in 1642 (“Mach hoch die Tür, die Tor macht weit “) and translated in 1855 by Catherine Winkworth.

The familiar tune TRURO was published by Thomas Williams in 1789.  The tune is also used with “Christ Is Alive! Let Christians Sing.”

                http://youtu.be/IOoEeMEi1XE  “Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Might Gates” sung by a choir at Calvary Pandan Bible-Presbyterian Church, 201 Pandan Gardens, Singapore
(This is a very good arrangement for an a cappella performance.)

The original German words are sung to a different tune  entirely.

The Love candle will be lit by Kappy Tilney.
Then the choir will sing about lighting one candle of love.

The lighting of the Love Candle is followed immediately by the choir anthem, “Amid the Cold of Winter.”
The anthem is particularly appropriate for the day of the Winter Solstice.  (The solstice will be at 6:03 pm EST on Sunday, so we’ll be a few hours early.)
I don’t know why the first day of the winter season is also known as Mid-Winter’s Day.  (Mid-Winter’s Day was June 21, 2014, in Australia, but for the northern hemisphere, it is December 21 this year.)
Due to thermal lag, the coldest part of winter is usually four to six weeks after the solstice, which would seem a more appropriate time for “mid-winter.”
There is disagreement over whether the day of the winter solstice is the first day of winter.  The day of the Winter Solstice is the beginning of astronomical winter. 
NOAA considers December 1 to be the first day of meteorological winter, which runs from December 1 through February 28 (or 29).  (As far as the weather bureau is concerned, winter is over on March 1.)
That still gives 90 days for winter (in non-leap years), so December 21 wouldn’t be the middle of meteorological winter either.
I don’t know whether the founders of the South Haven Church engaged in the mid-winter celebration of Christmas. 
Most of the founding families of the Town of Brookhaven were from Connecticut or Massachusetts, and the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas.
The time when the days begin to lengthen again, and it becomes evident that the Sun has not abandoned humankind, has always been a time of celebration, which often included partying, gambling, drunkenness, and even reversal of roles (Saturnalia).
The Puritans considered Christmas too closely associated with these pagan festivals, and in any case, the Puritans had determined that Christamas was unbiblical.
Whatever may have been the position of the founders of the church, we know that on Christmas Eve,  December 24, 1878, the South Haven Church had both its first evening service and its first Christmas tree.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle, Thursday Evening, January 9, 1879, p. 3.
City News and Gossip
A Church Wonder.
In 1827 there was a church erected in South Haven, L. I., in which there had never been a light nor an evening service, until last Christmas evening, when the children were given a Christmas tree.

We know that it had to be a candlelight service, as the Minutes reveal that electricity was not put into the church between July 1, 1933, and July 8, 1934. A vote of thanks was given to Charles Robinson "for his generous assistance” in getting electricity installed.

The choir anthem is then followed by the children’s pageant, starring the children of the Sunday School.

The Old Testament lesson is Micah 5:2-5. 
It is a prophecy that Israel will be handed over to its enemies until the birth in Bethlehem of a descendant of King David.  Judah and Israel will be re-united.  The King will “shepherd his people” and “they will live securely.  . . . He will give us peace.”
The verses state that the coming King will “rescue us from the Assyrians” and defeat them.
Unfortunately, the prophecy makes no mention of the Romans and how the re- united nations of Israel and Judah will fare against that enemy.
The Gospel lesson given in the bulletin is Luke 1:39-56.  It overlaps the lesson from last week (Luke 1:46-55).

The second hymn is No. 19, “To a Maid Engaged to Joseph,” written by Gracia Grindal in 1984.  We sang one of her hymns last week, “The Desert Shall Rejoice.”  The music, ANNUNCIATION, is by Rusty Edwards.
Rusty Edwards is both a composer and a hymn writer.  We sing his words when we sing “We Are All One in Mission,” which we did on July 20 and August 10 of this year.
Here is “To a Maid Engaged to Joseph” sung at “St. Peter’s in the Loop”:

                http://youtu.be/CxRHmKchJAY “To a Maid Engaged to Joseph” sung by Schola Cantorum of “St. Peter’s in the Loop”

St. Peter’s in the Loop is at 110 W. Madison St. in Chicago.

After the sermon, there is an Affirmation Hymn,  “Song of Mary,” No. 600. 
Miriam Therese Winter paraphrased the words.  The music, MORNING SONG, is a shape-note tune from Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, 1813.
You can hear the tune here:

                http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/148570 MORNING SONG,

The tune has been attributed to Elkanah Kelsay Dare (b. 15 Jan 1782, New Jersey; d. 26 Aug 1826, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania). He was a Presbyterian minister.  He served as the Dean of Boys at Wilmington College, Delaware.
Others attribute the tune to the editor of the volume in which it first appeared, John Wyeth.  The tune appeared in Part II of Repository of Sacred Music.
The tune also goes by the names CONSOLATION and KENTUCKY HARMONY.
You can hear it as a shape-note tune here.  The melody was originally in the tenor line.

                http://youtu.be/DJDrERqicuY tune CONSOLATION sung as a shape-note tune

Here is a fine arrangement, using words by Isaac Watts:

                http://youtu.be/x7vaUsZ-4LA tune CONSOLATION, choral arrangement by Margaret Boudreaux

Another musical work on the same topic is this a cappella anthem:

                http://youtu.be/6F33Y7OgXzM “Magnificat” by Randy Gill, performed by The Zoe Group


“Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence,” No. 5, is the closing hymn. 
It is sung to the tune of a seventeenth-century French carol, PICARDY.  The words are from the fourth century, The Liturgy of St. James.  The original words were in Greek.  The liturgy is the principal liturgy of the Syriac Orthodox Church.

                http://youtu.be/JfLWK4aphcg “Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silent” sung by the Millennium Youth Choir  (very good)

The Millennium Youth Choir is a choir for singers between the age 16 and 23 that is an organization of the British Royal School of Church Music.

Instrumental Music

Prelude:  "Gottes Sohn ist Kommen" by J.S. Bach
Bach wrote at least four works with this name, BWV 318, BWV 600, BWV 703, and BWV 724.  Here are two:

                http://youtu.be/0z84AeBbboA Chorale by J. S. Bach, "Gottes Sohn ist Kommen," BWV 318

                http://youtu.be/GUElnUjaMQw "Gottes Sohn ist Kommen,” BWV 703

Offertory:  "Diapason Movement" by John Keeble.   This piece was used as a prelude for the service of March 30, 2014.

                You can hear it here played on a "virtual organ" (four-parts on one manual, largo tempo, some expression, rolling bass line) with the following "virtual" ranks:
                                SW Open Diapason 8' + Gedact 8' (Bass) + Principal 4'

                http://zionorgan.com/vb/mp3/keeble_dm_f_lwd.mp3  "Diapason Movement in F" played on a virtural organ           
or you can hear it here played on an actual organ:

                http://youtu.be/yfvrZiXmQEo  "Diapason Movement" by John Keeble

                The "Diapason Movement in F Major" was first published in 1777.

Postlude:  "Cornet Voluntary" by Henry Heron.
Henry Heron wrote ten for the organ or harpsichord.
I found an audio recording of Heron’s “Cornet Voluntary” here:

                http://zionorgan.com/vb/mp3/heron_cv_bos+.mp3 “Cornet Voluntary” by Henry Heron, two movements. 
The second movement, which begins at 1:22 is at a much faster tempo than the first movement.

Henry Heron was born in 1730 and died about 20 Jun 1795.  He was an organist at Ewell in Surrey, and composed a tune of that name while there. After 1745, he was the organist at St. Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge (a church and parish within the City of London which still exists today). [Some sources say he went to St. Magnus in 1768 rather than 1745.]
In addition to his ten voluntaries for organ, he wrote the music for an arrangement of:

‘All on the pleasant banks of the Tweed, I wish I’d ne’er had seen him,’ which was sung by Mrs. Weichsell at Vauxhall Gardens (in Kennington on the south bank of the River Thames).

All on the pleasant banks of the Tweed,
Young Jockey won my heart;
None tun’d so sweet his oaten reed,
None sung with so much art;
His skillful tale
Did soon prevail
   To make me fondly love him;
But now he hies,
Or heeds my cries;
    I wou’d I ne’er had seen him!

When first we met, the bonny swain
    Of nought but love cou’d say;
Oh! Give, he cry’d, my heart again;
    You’ve stole my heart away;
Or else incline
To give me thine
    And I’ll together join ‘em;
My faithful heart
Will never part;
    Ah! Why did I believe him?

Not now my slighted face he knows,
    His soon forgotten dear;
To wealthier lass, o’erjoy’d, he goes,
    To breath his falsehood there;
Mistaken Kate,
The swain’s a cheat;
    Not for a moment trust him;
For shining gold
He’s bought and sold;
    I wou’d I had not seen him.

Then, all ye maidens, fly the swain,
    His wily stories shun;
Else you like me, must son complain,
    Like me must be undone;
But peace, my breast,
Nor break they rest;
   I’ll try clean to forget him;
I soon shall see
As good as he;
   I wish I ne’er had seen him.

Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a score for Henry Heron’s arrangement.
Henry Heron’s psalm tunes were included in William Riley’s Parochial Music Corrected: Plain and Distinct Rules for the More Pleasing and Correct Performance of Psalmody, to Which is Added an Easy Introduction to Singing, which was published in  London in 1790.
I also found Henry Heron’s trumpet voluntary.  Although the “Cornet Voluntary” above was played on an organ, the “Trumpet Voluntary” below is played by a brass quintet:

                http://youtu.be/ovaR02kE_iQ “Trumpet Voluntary” by Henry Heron

Richard

Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Special Announcement

SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Ann Wiswall died in her sleep at 5:30 this morning. Son Tom and his wife arrived from Buffalo at 1:00 am this morning and were present for his Mother's death.
Funeral arrangements have been made with Ruland Funeral Home, 500 North Ocean Avenue in Patchogue (475-0098) Visitation will take place there this Saturday, Dec. 20, from 2-4 and 7-9. A Memorial Service will take place at the Old South Haven Church either at the end of January or in February. We look forward to celebrating her life at that time.
We anticipate the obituary appearing in Newsday this Friday

Pastor Tom

Monday, December 15, 2014

This Week at Old South Haven Church


Thank you to all who have contributed toys for children being ministered to by Thursday's Child of Patchogue. The large box is full, a sign of the generosity of our people. It was delivered to Thursday's Child on Monday.

Friday, Dec. 19 7:00pm Church Officers Christmas Party
at the Manse

Sunday, Dec. 21 10:00am Fourth Sunday of Advent
Sermon: "Insignificant Places and Insignificant People"
Lessons: Micah 5: 2-5 Luke 2: 1-15
Text: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is ruler in Israel" Micah 5: 2

3:00pm "The Messiah"
Choral Society of the Moriches
Presbyterian Church of the Moriches
263 Main Street, Center Moriches
Tickets: $10, available through Sandy Asselta

Wednesday, Dec. 24 11:00pm CHRISTMAS EVE
Candlelight Service
Lessons and Carols
Guest Soloists: Daryl Jordan, Soprano
Joseph Porcelli, Trumpet

Opportunity to give to the "Faith Guides" Christmas Joy offering on either Sunday, Dec. 21 or Christmas Eve. Money received by our denomination to both the Assistance Program of the Board of pensions and to support leadership development at Presbyterian-related schools and colleges.

Saturday, December 13, 2014

FW: Music for the OSH Service of Sunday, December 14, 2014

From: Richard Thomas
Sent: Friday, December 12, 2014 11:44 PM
Subject: Music for the OSH Service of Sunday, December 14, 2014

 

Here is the music for the Third Sunday of Advent:

 

The introit is "Jesus, Name Above All Names." 

 

Does that mean the name "Jesus" is above the name "Jehovah" or "Yahweh"? 

 

One thing I like about the Jerusalem Bible is that they translate " יְהֹוָה " (Y H W H) as "Yahweh." 

 

Most translations write LORD in all caps instead. 

 

So to know whether the Hebrew word was "Lord" or "Yahweh" you have to notice whether the word is printed as "Lord" or "LORD."

 

For I am Yahweh, your Elohim, who takes ahold of your right hand and says to you, "Do not fear, I will help you."  Isaiah 41:13.

 

This was also the introit for the first Sunday of Advent.  The piece was written by Naida Anita Hearn of North Palmerston, New Zealand. 

 

She thought of it "while doing her family's laundry on a December day in 1974."

 

Here's the dance version:                 http://youtu.be/8_HgcQ1ktEA "Jesus, Name Above All Names," dance version by Hypersonic


The Advent Candle meaning and sequence used by our pastor has the third Sunday of Advent being the Sunday of the Joy Candle, so the opening hymn is "Joy to the World."

 

This is not "Joy to the World" as sung by "Three Dog Night" in 1971 (when it reached No. 1 on the charts). 

 

That song might more appropriately called "Joy to the World (Jeremiah was a Bullfrog)" to avoid confusion.

 

                http://youtu.be/dFypAB7nYGA "Joy to the World," by Three Dog Night

 

Here it is the other "Joy to the World" (the one without the bullfrog) sung by the Calvary Mennonite Youth Group of Paris, Tennessee.

 

                http://youtu.be/F63kp3l0zBI "Joy to the World," Calvary Mennonite Youth Group, Parish Tennessee, a cappella

 

                http://youtu.be/5IH8A86FLs0  "Joy to the World," sung by Josh Turner (bass), Jim Turner (tenor), and Leah Turner (soprano), and Alex Kastanas, (alto)

 

The words are by Isaac Watts (1719) which are sung to the tune ANTIOCH in our hymnal. 

 

The tune is attributed to Handel, but was actually more "inspired by the music of Handel."  Lowell Mason composed it in 1836.

 

Here's how the Presbyterians in Davenport, Iowa, sing it:

 

                http://youtu.be/tlF8XYWsNmQ "Joy to the World," sung by the choirs of the First Presbyterian Church of Davenport, Iowa

 

Maybe Old South Haven should make a video too.

 

If you would like to sing it in parts here they are:

 

                http://youtu.be/uuS41MmTwnQ alto

 

                http://youtu.be/2uq3mWPINY4 tenor

 

                http://youtu.be/fCNEzPqmZVk bass


After the "Passing of the Peace," Sean Moran will light the pink Joy Candle, and the choir will sing the section of "Candles of Advent" about the "Light one candle of FAITH" but say "JOY" wherever "FAITH" appears.


We will then immediately go into singing the "Advent Peace Canon" an arrangement of Johann Pachelbel's "Canon in D" by Ruth Elaine Schram.

 

Ruth Schramm has written a lot of Advent music, including an anthem for the "Joy Sunday" of Advent.  In her sequence, it is the fourth Sunday instead of the third, but she doesn't include that in her anthem.  You can hear it sung here by clicking on the speaker icon:

 

                http://www.sheetmusicplus.com/title/there-will-be-joy-sheet-music/19534577


The Old Testament lesson is from Isaiah 35, verses 1-10.  It is about "joy."

 

Joy is an emotion that may be evoked by many different circumstances, and this passage happens to be about being joyful because your enemies are going to get their just deserts.

 

Let the desert and dry region be happy;

let the wilderness rejoice and bloom like a lily!

Let it richly bloom;

let it rejoice and shout with delight!

It is given the grandeur of Lebanon,

the splendor of Carmel and Sharon.

They will see the grandeur of the Lord,

the splendor of our God.

Strengthen the hands that have gone limp,

steady the knees that shake!

Tell those who panic,

"Be strong! Do not fear!

Look, your God comes to avenge!

With divine retribution he comes to deliver you."

Then blind eyes will open,

deaf ears will hear.

Then the lame will leap like a deer,

the mute tongue will shout for joy;

for water will flow in the desert,

streams in the wilderness.

 

This follows Chapter 34, where Isaiah writes:

 

. . . the Lord is angry at all the nations

and furious with all their armies.

He will annihilate them and slaughter them.

Their slain will be left unburied,

their corpses will stink;

the hills will soak up their blood.

. . .

For the Lord has planned a day of revenge,

a time when he will repay Edom for her hostility toward Zion.

 

Christian commentators have somehow seen Chapter 35 as a prophecy about the "approach of the Messiah" who will "take vengeance on the powers of darkness."

 

Matthew Henry asserts that the verse about the "desert" refers to the soul being a "wilderness" that will "blossom abundantly" due to the converting grace of Christ.

 

At the time the passages were written (701 BC), King Hezekiah had led a rebellion against Assyria with backing from Egypt and Babylonia, but things hadn't gone so well.

 

The armies of King Sennacherib of Assyria had captured every one of the fortified cities of Judah and his armies were now outside the walls of Jerusalem, where  King Hezekiah was holed up.

 

King Sennacherib of Assyria had just sent his chief advisor to tell Hezekiah that if he surrendered and joined with him against Hezekiah's former allies, he and the people of Judah would be treated well.

 

King Hezekiah, however, was resolute, and kept telling everyone to trust in the Lord, "The Lord will certainly rescue us." 

 

The advisor to King Sennacherib then told the people on the walls of Jerusalem (speaking to them in Hebrew) that they would be much better off if they were to make a deal with him, for if they didn't, the siege against the city would continue, and they would soon find themselves eating their own excrement and drinking their own urine. (Isaiah 36:12) 

 

So one might think the verses actually had something to do with the dramatic and dire situation at hand rather than being about Christ, but who knows?

 

The Gospel lesson (Luke 1:46-55) is, at least, joyful in a more conventional sense. 

 

Mary goes to visit her relative Elizabeth, and when Mary arrives at Zechariah's house, the baby in Elizabeth's womb (John the Baptist) leaps for joy.  Then Mary sings a hymn of praise, the Magnificat.

 

Here is an a cappella anthem based on the reading:

 

                http://youtu.be/6F33Y7OgXzM "Magnificat" by Randy Gill, performed by The Zoe Group

 

For a grander (and much longer) musical interpretation of the passage, you can listen to:

 

                http://youtu.be/r4zvjV4_sAY "Magnificat" by J. S. Bach (BWV 243).


The second hymn is No. 18, "The Desert Shall Rejoice."

 

I don't recall ever singing this hymn before.  It was written in 1983 by Gracia Grindal and is set to music composed by Joy F. Patterson, a Presbyterian elder who lives in Wassau, Wisconsin.  

 

The tune is called STERLING, and Joy Patterson composed it in 1988.  She was on the committee that prepared the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal we use, and three of her hymns made it into the hymnal.

 

Joy Patterson was born in Lansing, Michigan, in 1931 and grew up in LaGrange, Illinois.  She has a masters in French from the University of Wisconsin.  After teaching college French, she worked for the Social Security Administration.

 

The author of the hymn, Gracia Grindal, was born on May 4, 1943, in Powers Lake, North Dakota.  She lived in Tioga and Rugby, North Dakota, until age twelve, when the family moved to Salem, Oregon.  She has degrees from Augsburg College (B.A., 1965), the University of Arkansas (M.F.A., 1969), and Luther Seminary (M.A., 1983).  She is a Professor of Rhetoric at Luther Seminary, Decorah, Iowa.

 

Gracia Grindal is an author and poet.  Her first book of poetry, Pulpit Rock, was published in 1976.  Her publications include Scandinavian Folksongs (1984) and Sketches Against the Dark (1982).

 

You can hear the hymn tune here:

 

                https://www.riteseries.org/preview/W/W722/W722.Q099.Piano.VH.06.mp3  STERLING by Joy Patterson.

 

                https://www.riteseries.org/preview/W/W722/W722.Q099.Piano.VM.06.mp3 STERLING by Joy Patterson (melody only).

 

The rhythm is a bit unusual, so you may want to listen to it before we try to sing it.


The closing hymn, No. 205, is "All Hail to God's Anointed" with words authored by James Montgomery in 1821, and a tune composed by Thomas Tertius Noble in 1938, ROCKPORT.

 

Though he later lived in the U.S., T. Tertius Noble was born in Bath, England on May 5, 1867.  He studied at the Royal College of Music in South Kensington, London.  He was organist and choirmaster at Ely Cathedral from 1892 to 1898.  From 1898 to 1913 he was at York Minster, and while there he founded and conducted the York Symphony Orchestra.

             T. Tertius Noble

 

In 1913, he was at St. Thomas Episcopal Church in New York City, where he remained until 1943.  He died ten years later in Rockport, Massachusetts, one day before his eighty-sixth birthday. 

 

While at St. Thomas Episcopal he founded the Saint Thomas Choir School for boys in 1919.

 

One of the organists at Old South Haven, Herbert R. Hannon, was headmaster of the Saint Thomas Choir School from 1923-1925.  Mr. Hannon was the organist when I first started attending Old South Haven in 1977.  He lived near Sayville.  He was quite old, nearly blind, and no longer able to drive, so one of our parishioners would bring him to Old South Haven to play the organ.  (He knew all the hymns in our old 1933 green hymnal by heart, so it didn't matter that his sight was failing.)

 

This tune we have sung before:

 

                http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/148427 ROCKPORT by T. Tertius Noble

 

James Montgomery (b. 04 Nov 1771, Ayrshire in southwest Scotland; d. 30 Apr 1854 at The Mount on Glossop Road, Sheffield) was the son of a Moravian Brethren pastor.  He wrote much poetry, including heroic couplets (The World Before the Flood, 1812), and he authored 400 hymns, 100 of which are still being commonly used in 1907, according to the Dictionary of Hymnology.  "Angels from the Realms of Glory" is one of his more popular hymns.  He also wrote "Go to Dark Gethsemane" and "Song of Praise the Angels Sang."

 

If you would like to read some heroic couplets, you can read the 1819 edition of James Montgomery's The World Before the Flood here:

 

                https://books.google.com/books?id=uVg2AQAAMAAJ&pg=PR1&dq=the+world+before+the+flood+James+Montgomery&hl=en&sa=X&ei=7buLVN-4EInbsASi2YGYCA&ved=0CC8Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=the%20world%20before%20the%20flood%20James%20Montgomery&f=false

 

The poem is 184 pages long, beginning with the invasion of Eden by the descendants of Cain and ending with the prophecy of Enoch.


Instrumental Music


"Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes Sohn," BWV 601, by J. S. Bach is the prelude.

 

                http://youtu.be/L9K6zmj-bEA "Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes Sohn," BWV 601, by J. S. Bach, played by Luca Raggi (with his hat on).

 

                http://youtu.be/-I6qtqxs814 Francisco Javier Jiménez of Spain plays  "Herr Christ, der ein'ge Gottes Sohn," (without a hat)


The music for the Offertory is "Andante in G" by Robert Morrison Stults.

 

Robert Stults (1861-1933) was a composer who lived in New Jersey.  He was born at Hightstown.  His family moved to Long Branch in 1872.  He graduated from Long Branch High School in 1880 and became the music teacher there while, at the same time, he studied under Frederick Brandeis.

 

In 1886, he moved to Baltimore and entered the piano business and studied organ while he was there.  Then, about 1898, he was head of a piano shop in Philadelphia.

         Robert Morrison Stults

 

He also ran a newspaper which he founded, The Long Branch Daily Record

 

One of his more popular tunes was "The Sweetest Story Ever Told," which he composed in 1892.  It sold over 3 million copies.

 

I didn't find "Andante in G," which Stults wrote in 1932, but I did find "The Sweetest Story Ever Told."

 

                http://youtu.be/iMNVRx3imxM "The Sweetest Story Ever Told," Robert M. Stults's blockbuster hit of 1892, played on a 1916 player piano

 

You are probably saying to yourself, "I wonder what the words are to that tune."  Well, here they are:

 

                http://youtu.be/-x3_b1RIBZw  "The Sweetest Story Ever Told" sung by  Nelson Eddy. (It's a love song, "Whisper once again, the story old, the dearest, sweetest story ever told," "Tell me do you love me? Tell me softly sweetly as of old, Tell me that you love me, for that's the sweetest story ever told.")

 

               Nelson Eddy (1901-1967)

 

 

Stults also wrote "A Bit of Nonsense," "Clover Bloom," "Once in the Bygone Days," and "Sing Me Some Quaint Old Ballad."


The postlude is "Vater Unser Im Himmelreich" by J. S. Bach.

 

There are at least seven works by Bach with this name, BWV 682, BWV 683, BWV 762, BWV 760, BWV 737, BWV 636, and BWV 635.

 

It's Latin for the beginning of the Lord's Prayer.

 

                http://youtu.be/9UlCPjPtQoQ  "Vater unser im Himmelreich," BWV 683, played by the Danish organist Daniel Bruun

 

                http://youtu.be/gPKbYPGApXE "Vater unser im Himmelreich," BWV 737

 

                http://youtu.be/Ilr0r0kWE0k  "Vater unser im Himmelreich," BWV 762

 

Richard

Thursday, December 11, 2014

Special Alert


Thank you to Ken, Rennie, and Richard for erecting our beautiful Christmas tree. Thank you to Darcy, Kevin, Janet, Kappy, Richard and John for decorating the tree. It is probably the largest and fullest tree we have had. Thank you also to Claudia for providing greenery and decorating the windows.

Friday, Dec. 12 7:00pm Patchogue Theater
120 voices singing "Hallelujah Chorus"
accompanied by 13 piece brass ensemble
Benefit for Patchogue Neighbors INN Soup Kitchen
Emceed by Rev. Dwight Lee Wolter
Tickets: $9:00-$25.00 (Pastor Tom has 4 comp)

Saturday Dec. 13 3:00pm Piano recital in Sanctuary

Sunday, Dec. 14 10:00am Third Sunday of Advent
Sermon: "Blossoms in the Desert:
The Survivor's Tree at the World Trade Center"
Lessons Isaiah 35: 1-10 Luke 1: 26-33
Text "…the desert shall rejoice and blossom" Isaiah 35: 1b

Monday, Dec. 15 7:00pm Session Meeting

Friday, Dec. 19 7:00pm Church Officers Christmas Party
at the Manse

Sunday, Dec. 21 10:00am Fourth Sunday of Advent
Sermon: "Insignificant Places and Insignificant People"
Lessons: Micah 5: 2-5 Luke 2: 1-15
Text: "But you, O Bethlehem Ephrathah, who are little to be among the clans of Judah, from you shall come forth for me one who is ruler in Israel" Micah 5: 2

3:00pm "The Messiah"
Choral Society of the Moriches
Presbyterian Church of the Moriches
Tickets: $10, available through Sandy Asselta


Wednesday, Dec. 24 11:00pm CHRISTMAS EVE Candlelight
Lessons and Carols
Guest Soloists: Daryl Jordan, Soprano
Joseph Porcelli, Trumpet


We are still collecting toys for Thursday's Child. This Sunday is the last day for making a donation. Thank you to all who have contributed. This is another indication of the generosity of this Congregation.

Sunday, December 7, 2014

Special Alert


SPECIAL ALERT
Sunday, Dec. 7

I goofed.
Relying on past experience, I assumed that individuals would be present today, to put the lights and decorations on the tree once it was erected or at 2pm. That did not happen. Four people were present at 2pm but none of them knew what was involved in both stringing lights on the tree and setting up the switch situation Therefore we need to come up with an alternate plan.
As I am typing this e mail I received a call from Darcy indicating that she would be willing to do the stringing of lights if someone could indicate how the switch apparatus is to be done. She will be at the Church at 6:30pm on Tuesday , Dec. 9. I assured her I would have the heat up in the sanctuary.
Perhaps a few others would volunteer to be available to finish decorating the tree that same evening.
Either e mail me or telephone me.

Tom

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Music for the OSH Service of Sunday, December 7, 2014

From: Richard Thomas
Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2014 12:53 AM
Subject: Music for the OSH Service of Sunday, December 7, 2014

 

The introit is “Be Still and Know that I am God,” by J. Jerome Williams of North Carolina.


 

“O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” is the opening hymn for this service of the second Sunday of Advent.

 

The hymn and tune come from an ancient chant, “Veni Emmanuel.”  It was translated by John Mason Neale in 1851.

 

                http://youtu.be/Mn7iFxvfn3A “Veni, Veni Emmanuel” sung by the Paderborn Cathedral Choir of Paderborn, North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.

 

The Brigham Young University group Vocal Point does an interesting rendition of this hymn:

 

                http://youtu.be/AdR79P-2ewo?t=12s “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” BYU Vocal Point

 

Here is an instrumental version that is hauntingly longing:

 

                http://youtu.be/iO7ySn-Swwc “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel,” instrumental: piano and cello, by the PianoGuys

 

Now for a truly spectacular performance, here it is done by the Stonebriar Community Church with full orchestra, a children’s choir, and a very large adult choir.  (The Stonebriar congregation does a better job of decorating their church than we do at Old South Haven.  They even have a big blue Star of Bethlehem.)

               

                http://youtu.be/sID0vyENNBU  “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” arrangement by Paul Thompson (who posted it to YouTube), Stonebriar Community Church

 

Stonebriar Community Church is a “a nondenominational evangelical Christian church in Frisco, Texas, a fast-growing suburb north of Dallas, Texas.”  It was founded by a small group in 1998 and now has 4,000 worshippers every Sunday.  I wonder how Barbara Brown Taylor, the author of Learning to Walk in the Dark, the book of our book study, would explain that.


 

The Peace Candle will be lit by Brian Mullahy, and the choir will sing about the peace candle.


According to the bulletin, our singing the little bit about the Peace candle from Candles of Advent will be followed immediately by the choir singing the communion anthem:

 

Invitation to the Table by Mary Kay Beall.  The practice file from October 2003 is attached.


The Old Testament lesson is from Malachi, the last book of the Protestant Old Testament. 

 

It’s the part that is a prophecy of one who is coming:

 

                “Who can endure the day of his coming?”  For he will be like a refiner’s fire, like a launderer’s soap.”

 

The New Testament lesson from Luke, chapter 3.  The reader will have an opportunity to try to pronounce a lot of proper names (Trachonitis, Lysania, Annas, Caiaphas, etc.). 

 

It’s the part about John the Baptist, quoting Isaiah, a “voice shouting in the wilderness, ‘Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.  Every valley . . .”

 

                                http://youtu.be/4J9EaVeyKVA Bogdan Mihai, “Comfort Ye/Ev’ry Valley Shall Be Exalted,” Bucharest, National Radio Chamber Orchestra and Academic Radio Choir

 

(Bogdan Mihai is good at pronouncing his end consonants.  He’s a Romanian tenor who trained in Italy.)


The second hymn is “Comfort, Comfort You My People,” by Johannes Olearius, 1671, to the tune from the Genevan Psalter (1551) used for singing Psalm 42. The translation is by Catherine Winkworth.  Some attribute the tune to Louis Bourgeois (~1510-1559).

 

Johannes Olearius attended the University of Wittenberg and received an M.A. in 1632 and later, a D.D.  He was an adjunct professor in the Wittenberg philosophy department.  The Duke of Sachsen-Weissenfels, Duke August, appointed Olearius his “chief court preacher” in 1643 and private chaplain at Halle.  Olearius died 24 April 1684.

 

                http://youtu.be/rTOeAl-Ph8I “Comfort, Comfort O My People” sung by the Conrad Grebel College Chapel Choir

 

Here is how the Presbyterians do it at the West Side Presbyterian Church of Ridgewood, NJ:

 

                http://youtu.be/z1BeKHq2LIQ “Comfort, Comfort You My People” with organ, drum, and tambourine (audio quality only so-so)

 

There is also a small orchestra, but you can’t hear it---at least I couldn’t.

 

Both Bach and Pachelbel wrote choral works for the same tune [“Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele (Rejoice Greatly, O My Soul)”].

 

            http://youtu.be/Xlb_zrCZdQw “Freu dich sehr, o meine Seele” by J. S. Bach


The communion hymn is “Become to Us the Living Bread” with words authored in 1970 by Miriam Drury.

 

The tune is the French melody O FILII ET FILIAE, (O Sons and Daughters).

 

Here is a high school choir in Santa Barbara singing a piece by the same name as the tune (but it’s not the tune of the hymn).  However, it is a very good video (and it’s short):

 

                http://youtu.be/ys-Kl_gFddA O Filii Et Filiae (O Sons and Daughters), San Marcos High School Choirs, Santa Barbara, California

 

Young people should dress up more often.

 

This is the tune we’re singing (which is the tune of “O Sons and Daughters, Let Us Sing”):

 

                http://youtu.be/wsjFezL5KdY O Filii Et Filiae (O Sons and Daughters), sung by the choir of Notre Dame de Paris.

 

The words we will be singing were written by Miriam Drury (1900-1985) who was born in California and lived there most of her life.  Her husband taught at the San Francisco Theological Seminary.  At the end of her life, she lived in the Presbyterian Retirement Home in Monte Vista Grove, Pasadena, California, http://www.mvgh.org/ a faith-based, multi-level retirement community.


“Watchman, Tell Us of the Night” is the closing hymn.  The words date from 1825 and were authored by John Bowring

 

In the U.S., the words are most frequently sung to the tune WATCHMAN by Lowell Mason, but in our hymnal, it is set to the tune ABERYSTWYTH by Joseph Parry.

 

Here’s the tune played by the Tredegar Town Band:

 

                http://youtu.be/t47CxHXtRMc ABERYSTWYTH by Joseph Parry

 

Joseph Parry was born in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, Wales, in 1841.  He died in Glamorganshire on 17 Feb 1903.  From that, you might think he lived his whole life in a small region in Wales, but that is not the case.

          Joseph Parry

 

From the Psalter Hymnal Handbook, 1998:

 

At the age of nine he was “sent to work in the puddling furnaces of a steel mill.”  His family emigrated to Pennsylvania in 1854, and he was an ironworker in Danville, Pennsylvania.  He started a music school there, then in 1865, he returned to Great Britain to study music in London and at Cambridge.  In 1873, he became a professor of music at the Welsh University College in Aberystwyth, Wales, a seaside resort.

 

ABERYSTWYTH is also the tune for “Jesu, Lover of My Soul.”

 

You can also hear parts of the tune in the National Anthem of South Africa:  http://youtu.be/Gr0414FrN7g  and http://youtu.be/TdG7pEgzV5Q .

 

The author of the words of “Watchman! Tell Us of the Night,” Sir John Bowring (17 Oct 1792 – 23 Nov 1872), was the 4th Governor of Hong Kong.  He was very proficient in languages.

        John Bowring

 

According to Wikipedia, he was born in Exeter, “the son of a wool merchant from an old Unitarian family” and the daughter of Thomas Lane, vicar of St. Ives, Cornwall.

 

He was known as a hyperpolyglot.  He said he knew 200 languages and could speak 100.  He translated many Eastern European poems into English, including the poems of the Magyars (Hungarians), Polish poems, and poems of Russia.

 

He is the great-great grandfather of the English actress, Susannah York.


Instrumental Music


The prelude is "Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf (Lord God, now unlock Heaven)" which the bulletin shows as being by Marcel Dupre.

 

I found a piece of the same name by Bach:

 

                http://youtu.be/2ao66kfTwFE   "Herr Gott, nun schleuß den Himmel auf (Lord God, now unlock Heaven), BWV 617”  by J. S. Bach, played by Jonas Roman


The Offertory Is a waltz by Chopin played on the piano by Annika Johnsen.

 

Chopin wrote many waltzes.  The Offertory music is probably based on one of these:

 

                http://youtu.be/MEmIuXgfpTM Chopin, Waltzes.


Communion music is not listed in the bulletin.


John Stanley’s “Voluntary in E Minor” is the postlude.

 

Here it is played on an audio reproduction of an organ in the Netherlands:

 

                http://youtu.be/kQ7HZU7xNjQ “Voluntary in E Minor” by John Stanley (1712-1786).

 

By watching the video you learn about John Stanley too.  (In 1779, he became Master of the King’s Music.)

 

But if you would like to see and hear it played on a Hinners Organ, try:

 

                http://youtu.be/HWfG8Fd9gk8 John Stanley’s “Voluntary in E Minor” played by David Christensen on a Hinners Organ

 

The organ is at the Christ Episcopal Church in Ontario, California. 

 

It is a two-manual organ, very similar to Old South Haven’s organ.

 

The long pipes that had to be mitred (or Haskellized) in the OSH organ are simply mounted lower on the organ in California.

 

Richard