Thursday, March 30, 2017

This Week at Old South Haven Chrch (Resend)


Saturday, April 1            9:30am              Work Day: Yard Clean-up
 
Sunday, April 2             10:00am             Fifth Sunday in Lent/ Holy Communion
                                                                Sermon: "Ground Zero vs. A Valley of Life"
                                                                Lessons: Ezekiel 37: 1-14   John 11:1-15
 
Monday, April 3              5:00pm             Confirmation Class
 
Tuesday, April 4             9:30am             Long Island Council of Churches Board
 
                                       1:00pm             Lunch Bunch Group HOLY  WEEK
 
Sunday, April 9             10:00am                         PALM  SUNDAY
                                                                 Sermon: "Becoming a Part of the crowd"
                                                                 Lessons: Psalm 118:1-2, 19-29'
                                                                                 Matthew 21: 1-11
                                                                 Sunday School
 
Monday, April 10            8:30am              Mid Suffolk Presbyterian Clergy
                                                                           Holbrook Diner
 
Thursday, April 13          7:30pm                       MAUNDY  THURSDAY
                                                                           "Voices at the Table"
                                                                            The Lord's Supper
                                                                              in the Gallery
 
Friday, April 14               7:30pm                           GOOD  FRIDAY
                                                                   Reflections on the Crucifixion'
                                                               at United Methodist Church, Bellport
 
Sunday, April 16                                                    EASTER
                                        6:30am         Sunrise Service at the Bellport Dock
 
                                       10:00am               Morning Worship
                                                                    Sermon:  "No Tomb Can Hold Him"
                                                                    Lessons: Acts 10: 34-43
                                                                                    Matthew 28: 1-10
                                                                           egg hunt for the children

The Church's Newsletter is now avaiable online at http://oldsouthhavenchurch.org/Newsletters/Newsletters.htm

Saturday, March 25, 2017

Music for the OSHC Service of March 26, 2017, the Fourth Sunday of Lent

From: Richard Thomas
Sent: Saturday, March 25, 2017 1:17 AM

                The introit is "Father, Fill Us with Thy Love."  The tune is HORSHAM. http://www.hymnary.org/media/fetch/183457

 

                “This Is My Father’s World,” hymn no. 293, is the opening hymn.

                The words are by Maltbie Davenport Babcock who was born at Syracuse, NY, on 03 Aug 1858.  He was a graduate of Syracuse University in 1879.  He then studied theology at Auburn Theological Seminary, graduating in 1882.  He first served a congregation at Lockport, NY.  He was the pastor of Brown Memorial Church in Baltimore from 28 Sep 1887 until 17 Jan 1900, when he left to serve Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City.  (He succeeded Dr. Henry Van Dyke, who had been the pastor there from 1883 to 1900.  Henry Van Dyke is the author of the words of “Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee.”)

                The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography says, “He was a clear thinker and a fluent speaker with a marvelous personal magnetism which appealed to all classes of people . . .”

                He died at Naples, Italy, on 18 May 1901, at age 42. 

                None of the biographies revealed how he died, but I discovered it by looking up the newspapers of the day.  It was a suicide.  He developed “Mediterranean fever” while on a homeward voyage from Constantinople after visiting the Holy Land.  On 08 May 1901, his group reached Naples, and he was taken to the International Hospital there, suffering from “neurasthenia and gastric fever.”  He became “much depressed in spirits” and was, at times, delirious.  On 18 May 1901, he “was seized with an acute attack of mania. He locked his door” (he had a private room) and then committed suicide by swallowing corrosive sublimate (used to treat wounds before bandaging) and cutting an artery of his wrist with a knife. 

                Another paper said that “homesickness is blamed in part for the suicide,” also saying that he was suffering from gastric fever and “extreme melancholia.”  Mrs. Babcock was called to the hospital, “and on the awful news being broken to her was almost demented with grief.  She threw herself on the body in a paroxysm of weeping, and it was only by the use of force that she was finally compelled to leave it.”

                “Dr. Babcock left no letter or any hint of any reason for the awful occurrence.  The hospital authorities, however, have no doubt that the act was committed while the patient was temporarily demented as the result of the fever.”

                He was to be buried in the British cemetery at Naples, but ultimately his body was shipped back to America on May 30, 1901, and he was buried in Syracuse (Oakwood cemetery) on 13 Jun 1901.  His will bequeathed his estate to his wife, Katherine, but it was found to have a value of only $1,000.  The Brick Presbyterian Church was criticized for having failed to have provided their pastor with life insurance.

       Rev. Maltbie Davenport Babcock

                The tune, TERRA BEATA, is based on a traditional English melody.  It is an arrangement by Franklin Sheppard.  

                In 1915, Franklin L. Sheppard (1852-1930) set the poem of his deceased close friend, Rev. Babcock, to this tune. At the time, Franklin Sheppard was the President of the Presbyterian Board of Publications and Sabbath-School Work. The poem had 16 verses, but only three were selected by Shepherd for the hymn, “This Is My Father’s World.”

                Franklin L. Sheppard was born in Philadelphia and graduated from the University of Pennsylvania as valedictorian in 1872.  He died in Philadelphia on 15 Feb 1930.

                                There are a number of good videos for this piece showing different ways of performing the piece.

                 http://youtu.be/4Fwfdij6HGo  "This Is My Father's World" sung traditionally with only minor accompaniment, lyrics on screen

                 http://youtu.be/SsTjnc2LtMU  "This Is My Father's World" on classical guitar

 http://youtu.be/vAYTeRIkZ3s  "This Is My Father's World" music video with the Prague Orchestra and Tenore (The Christian Tenors) with good accompanying video


                The readings are the same readings as for the service of 14 June 2015, except this time, verses 26 through 37 of the ninth chapter of John are omitted.  (On 14 June 2015, the gospel reading was the whole ninth chapter.)  So I can just copy and paste.

                The Old Testament reading is 1 Samuel 16:1 - 16:13, which is about how Yahweh sees compared to how mortals see.  (People look on the outward appearance , but the Lord looks at the heart.)

                Yahweh speaks as directly to Samuel as he did to Moses—not in some mystical way that requires interpretation, but directly and plainly.

                Yahweh says things to Samuel like, “I am sending you to Jesse in Bethlehem, for I have selected a king for myself from among his sons.  Fill your horn with olive oil and go!”  “And take a heifer with you,” etc., etc., “You will anoint for me the one I point out to you,” –very conversational for the Creator of the universe.

                [This isn’t the only time Yahweh has been so loquacious.  You should check out the verses in Exodus 28 where Yahweh shows off his skills as a fashion designer. In that chapter, Yahweh gives Moses all the details of how to make and decorate the clothes to be worn by the priests.  I especially like Exodus 28:40, where Yahweh additionally says to Moses that not only does he want the High Priest to look impressive, he wants Aaron’s sons to look pretty too: “And for Aaron's sons thou shalt make vests; and thou shalt make for them girdles; and high caps shalt thou make for them, for glory and for beauty.”]

                In this story, Samuel has to figure out which of Jesse’s eight sons is to be the next King.  Yahweh tells Samuel not to be impressed by a guy’s height.  After going through the seven older sons, Jesse has only one son left, the youngest one who is out tending the flock.

So Jesse sent for him. He was dark and handsome, with beautiful eyes. And Yahweh said, "This is the one; anoint him." 1 Samuel 16:12 (New Living Translation)

[I’m not sure why David’s good looks and beautiful eyes are even mentioned if the lesson is supposed to be “People look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.” 1 Samuel 16:7b.]

                     Samuel Anointing David by François Victor Eloi Biennourry, 1842

[Note that one of David’s seven older brothers is standing with legs crossed and heel raised, and he’s holding something behind his back.  I wonder what he’s thinking.]

                The gospel lesson is John 9:1-25, 38-41.  It starts with Jesus and the disciples coming across a blind man, and the disciples wanting to know whether this man is blind because of the sins of his parents or because of his own sins. 
      Jesus replies, “Neither.”  Jesus says this man has experienced a lifetime of blindness in order that “the acts of God may be revealed.”  (One would almost prefer that the man was blind due to sin rather than it somehow being a part of God’s lesson plan so that God might teach humans something.)  Anyway, Jesus only needs a little dirt and spit to cure the blind man  (which the blind man was then instructed to wash off in the pool of Siloam).  The dirt and spit also seems odd.  Couldn’t Jesus have cured the blind man simply by just touching the man’s eyelids with his fingers, and it would also have been more sanitary.  However, it was important that Jesus actually do something physical in order to teach the next part of the lesson.

     Jesus Heals the Man Born Blind

from a collection of paintings produced in the 1970s

in a collaboration between the Mafa Christians of northern Cameroon

and the French Catholic missionary François Vidil

 

     Because Jesus took some dirt and spit on it to make mud and then put the mud on the blind man’s eyes, Jesus got into trouble as that meant he had been working on the Sabbath.

     The Fourth Commandment Is the longest of the ten commandments (Exodus 20:8-11).

 

Remember the Sabbath day to set it apart as holy. For six days you may labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the Lord your God; on it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, or your male servant, or your female servant, or your cattle, or the resident foreigner who is in your gates. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them, and he rested on the seventh day; therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and set it apart as holy.

 

     Strict obedience to God’s laws was very important to the Pharisees because they believed that the kingdom of God would never come upon the earth until a moment arrived  when every Jew was acting in obedience to every one of God’s laws.  So disobedience was frustrating the arrival of the Kingdom.

     At the end of the chapter, Jesus reveals to the man who had been blind that he, Jesus, is the Son of Man, and tells him: “For judgment I have come into this world, so that those who do not see may gain their sight, and the ones who see may become blind.”


                The second hymn is “Open My Eyes that I May See,” no 324.   The words and music are by Clara H. (Fiske) Scott.

 

http://youtu.be/ODDfaAybNKk piano instrumental with lyrics, so you can sing along (relaxing scenic photos accompany the music)

http://youtu.be/UkXIjZERSnE Baptists singing it, with lyrics on screen, with direction, piano, and organ  (In the Southern Baptist Church I attended in Smithville, Missouri, the Director of Music would usually direct the congregation in the singing of each hymn, as happens here in Raleigh, North Carolina.)

 

    The tune was composed by Clara H. Fiske Scott, who died at age 55 on June 21, 1897, in Dubuque, Iowa, when she was thrown from a buggy by a runaway horse.  She is also the author of the words of the hymn.  Her book of anthems, the Royal Anthem Book, was the first book of anthems by a woman ever published.  It was published in 1882.

    Clara Fiske was born on December 3, 1841, in Elk Grove, Illinois. She studied music at the Music Institute in Chicago, then she taught music at the Ladies Seminary in Lyons, Iowa.

    In 1861 she married Henry Clay Scott.

   Clara H. (Fiske) Scott

         1841-1897


Sermon: "Seeing the 'Wow' "


                The closing hymn is “Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound,” hymn no. 280.

 

     John Newton, British sailor and,

       later, an Anglican Minister

                The first four verses of “Amazing Grace” were authored by John Newton (1725-1807, England).  The fifth verse is often attributed to John Rees (1828-1900, USA), but that attribution is incorrect.

                [The hymn first appeared in 1779 (Olney Hymns, vol. 1, hymn no. 41). It had six verses by John Newton.] 

                The Olney Hymns are the combined work of John Newton and the poet William Cowper, a friend of Newton.  “The hymns were written for use in Newton's rural parish, which was made up of relatively poor and uneducated followers.”

                I happened to come across a 1797 edition of the Olney Hymns on the web, so we can see for ourselves the original six verses by John Newton:

The familiar verse that is missing is the one often incorrectly attributed to John P. Rees:

When we've been there ten thousand years,
Bright shining as the sun,
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we'd first begun.

The 1990 blue Presbyterian Hymnal doesn’t attribute that verse to anyone.

                This verse appeared in Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin, Or, Life Among the Lowly (1852).  For reasons unknown, Harriet Beecher Stowe tacked it onto the end of “Amazing Grace” when she has Uncle Tom singing the hymn in her novel.

                We can be sure it wasn’t John P. Rees who wrote it, as I found that verse in Divine Hymns, or Spiritual Songs; for the Use of Religious Assemblies and Private Christians: Being a Collection by Joshua Smith, Samson Occum, and Others, published in Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania, in 1802.  I also find an edition published in Portland in 1803, and a “Sixth Edition—Greatly Improved” published in Albany, New York, in 1804.

                John Rees wasn’t born until 1828, so he certainly didn’t write the verse.  It’s verse 10 of a hymn entitled “The Heavenly Jerusalem.”  Here are verses 7 through 10 of this hymn, which begins “Jerusalem, my happy home, O how I long for thee!” from the 1803 hymnal.

                There were more than twenty different tunes used as a setting for “Amazing Grace” before 1835.

                In 1835, William Walker joined the words with a tune called NEW BRITAIN.  NEW BRITAIN was itself a combination of two other tunes GALLAHER and ST. MARY, which were first published in 1829, but have no known authors.

                Newton’s words first appear with the tune NEW BRITAIN in 1847.  They were published together in Walker’s shape-note tunebook Southern Harmony.

                The Southern Harmony version was considered a bit rustic, so Professor Edwin Othello Excell produced a more cultivated arrangement of NEW BRITAIN in 1900 which is the tune that appears in the hymnal.

Prof. E. O. Excell (1851-1921)

                The tune of “Amazing Grace” is one of those mandatory songs that bagpipers have to learn to play, which they do here:

https://youtu.be/eKKvt8W0zXg “Amazing Grace” performed by the Czestochowa Pipes & Drums (Southern Poland) and the Royal Symphony Orchestra

                I found a video of the massed pipe bands performing “Amazing Grace” at the West Point Military Tattoo, but the audio wasn’t very good.  John and I once played at the West Point Military Tattoo.  (I have the T-shirt to prove it.)  I don’t recall whether we played “Amazing Grace” though.

                Here is a performance with more singing and fewer bagpipers:

https://youtu.be/HsCp5LG_zNE “Amazing Grace,” performed by Celtic Woman (with bagpipes)

Here’s an instrumental version done by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band:

https://youtu.be/GvqBNp_LEqk “Amazing Grace,” performed by the Preservation Hall Jazz Band

If you would rather hear Celtic men sing it instead of Celtic Woman, here is Celtic Thunder:

https://youtu.be/Qni5bIN5qmU “Amazing Grace,” performed by Celtic Thunder

                I was going to put in a link to a version by one of the steel drum bands on YouTube, but I didn’t find any that were especially appealing.


Instrumental Music


                The prelude is “Offertory in E Flat” by Ludwig Van Beethoven (arr. Franklin Ritter, 1987)

                I couldn’t find this piece, but I did find this short piece, “Toccata Festiva” by Franklin Ritter, which is entertaining, and you can watch his feet:

                http://youtu.be/s6WHuZOesrs “Toccata Festiva,” played by Marko Hakanpää at the Grönlund organ of St. Michael's Church in Turku, Finland.

                Other than his being a 20th century American, for a long while I couldn’t find any biographical information on Franklin Ritter either.  I discovered many of his compositions were published by Lorenz.  One source said he was born in 1934. I began to suspect that “Franklin Ritter” was a pseudonym, and it was.

                Franklin Ritter is really Lani Smith, one of Lorenz Publishing Company’s most prolific composers/arrangers.  He used at least six pen names:

                “Because of his large body of work, Smith published compositions under numerous pen names, including Edward Broughton, David Paxton, Franklin Ritter, Tom Birchwood, Gerald Peterson, and Christopher Gale.”

Lani Smith (alias Franklin Ritter)

                Lani Smith died on 24 Jun 2015 in Tucson, Arizona, where he lived with his wife of thirty-five years.  Even in semi-retirement, he wrote several arrangements for organ every week.  He was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, on 09 Jun 1934.

 

From http://www.lorenz.com/Composers/LaniSmith :

                Lani Smith earned Bachelor and Master degrees in composition from the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. From 1967 to 1982 Mr. Smith was a member of the editorial staff of the Lorenz Publishing Company, serving as editor of several choral and organ magazines. Throughout his career, Mr. Smith also served churches in Ohio, Michigan, and California as an organist and choir director.

                Mr. Smith composed and arranged thousands of organ, choral, and piano pieces, as well as over 30 cantatas, special worship services, and youth cantatas. While known primarily for his sacred music, he was equally at home in any musical genre, including rock, pop, jazz, and classical contemporary. He made many musical contributions in the secular field, including works for orchestra, chamber ensembles, solo voice, ballet, and musical theater.

                Commissions from various musical organizations, including the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, were received by Lani and many awards came his way, including an annual ASCAP award in recognition of his compositions efforts and the Bearns Prize in Composition awarded through Columbia University. He was also the recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation grant.


                The music for the offertory is “Andante” by Édouard Batiste.  I believe this may be the “Andante in G” for organ—the “Pilgrim’s Song of Hope.”

                Here is a piano transcription (recorded at a low volume, so remember to turn your volume back down after listening to it):

                                https://youtu.be/QKlWg-VegPc “Andante in G” (transcribed for piano) by Édouard Batiste

                Here it is played on the NBC organ (an electronic organ—I didn’t even know NBC had an organ):

                                https://youtu.be/jTUrTpugPpQ “The Pilgrims Song of Hope, Andante in G” by Édouard Batiste, played by Paul Carson, heavy on the tremolo

                Édouard Batiste was born on 28 Mar 1820 in Paris.  He was a composer and organist.  In 1840, he won the Prix de Rome.  He was the organist at Saint-Nicolas-des-Champs in Paris from 1842 to 1854, then he was organist at Saint-Eustache Church.  When Hector Belioz premiered his Te Deum, April 1855, Édouard Batiste was the organist.  Batiste died in Paris at age 56 on 09 Nov 1876.


                The postlude is "March Pontificale" by William Stickles.

                William Charles Stickles was born in Cohoes, New York, (north of Troy) on 07 Mar 1882.  He was a composer, arranger, teacher, and editor.

                He attended the Utica Conservatory and Syracuse University, then studied abroad.  For five years, he assisted Isadore Braggiotti, a voice teacher, in Florence, Italy.  Then he spent two years as a vocal coach for soloists with Felix Motti at the Hof Theater in Munich.  After that, he taught in Boston and New York. 

                In April 1912, he was the accompanist for Anna Chase of the Metropolitan Opera in her appearance at the White House for President and Mrs. Taft.

                On 01 Dec 1919, he married Clara Hazard of Los Angeles in Trinity Chapel, New York City.  She was a soprano and soloist at St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church in Los Angeles.  He had been touring with her and Theodore Karie (tenor) as their accompanist.

                He produced many arrangements of standard works for chorus, organ, and piano, and also composed original pieces.  He did arrangements of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” (music: Jerome Kerns, words: Otto Harbach), “Bali Ha’i” (music: Richard Rogers, words: Oscar Hammerstein II), “Summertime” (SATB) (George Gershwin and Du Bose Heyward), “easy-to-play piano arrangements” of the songs of Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me Kate,” and also a collection of arrangements of “cowboy duets,” along with arrangements of the songs of many other popular musicals (“Oklahoma,” “West Side Story,” etc.). 

                His Book of Preludes, Offertories, Postludes for all Organs was published in 1957.  It was enlarged and published as The Deluxe Book of Preludes, Offertories, Postludes for all Organs ten years later with Chester Nordman as co-editor and composer.

                He died in Queens, New York, in October 1971.

                I couldn’t find “March Pointificale” but here is William Stickles’ arrangement of another march, the “Triumphal March.”

https://youtu.be/v1hpCOyhoy0 “Triumphal March” by William Stickles

                Perhaps it is an arrangement of the national anthem of Vatican City, “Inno e Marcia Pontificale”:

                https://youtu.be/RDfD24Oc7cc  “Inno e Marcia Pontificale (Pontifical Anthem and March),” also known as the “Papal Anthem,” the national anthem of Vatican City

                https://youtu.be/wKJZSNZ4Zgg “Inno e Marcia Pontificale,” instrumental version

Richard

Saturday, March 18, 2017

FW: Music for the OSHC Service of March 19, 2017, the Third Sunday of Lent

From: Richard Thomas [mailto:richardathomas@optonline.net]
Sent: Friday, March 17, 2017 6:56 PM

 

                The opening hymn is no. 483, “Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above.”  The choir sang it as a mini-anthem in February 2008 when Danny was the choir director. The author is Johann Jakob Schütz; Frances E. Cox translated Schütz’s words.  The German title is “Sei Lob und Ehr dem höchsten Gut,” which is sung to a different tune in Germany.

                Johann Jakob Schütz was born 07 Sep 1650 at Frankfort am Main.  He was educated at Tübingen. After 1686, he became a follower of J. W. Petersen, and left the Lutheran Church to become a Separatist. He died at Frankfort on 22 May 1690.

                There are four other English translations of this hymn, including the translation by A. T. Russell, “All Glory Be To God Most High.”

                The tune, which appeared in the hymnal of the Bohemian Brethren in 1566, is MIT FREUDEN ZART (With Tender Joy).  (The tune appeared with the words of the hymn "Mit Freuden zart su dieser Fahrt" by Georg Vetter of Moravia, before the words of this hymn were written.)

                Samuel Metzger always adds a descant for the final verse for the Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church Chancel Choir, so here is Samuel Metzger’s arrangement:

http://youtu.be/lL0fIgaVZfY “Sing Praise to God, Who Reigns Above,” by Johann Jacob Schütz, Sam Metzger and Coral Ridge Presbyterian

Here is another rendition where it is easier to hear the men’s parts:

http://youtu.be/g95ctmV7b4A  “Sing Praise to God, Who Reigns Above” (clear voices, the singing is good, but the audio quality of the recording is only fair)


                Both readings are from the New Testament.

                The gospel reading is John 4: 5-26.  It is the story of the Samaritan woman at the well, a story found only in the gospel of John.

                                   Christ and the Samaritan Woman (1890) by Henryk Siemiradzki

                This story is told in a gospel songs, “Jesus Gave Me Water,” which is one of my favorites.  The African-American educator, composer, and hymn singer Lucie Eddie Campbell (1885-1963) wrote the song.  At age 19, she had organized a Music Club in Memphis, Tennessee, which later became a thousand-voice choir that performed at the National Baptist Convention. 

Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver perform a “southern gospel” rendition:

https://youtu.be/vCfsbzFXyzc “Jesus Gave Me Water,” by Lucie E. Campbell, sung by Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, a cappella

The Soul Stirrers first recorded this song in 1951 (on a 10” 78 with “Peace in the Valley” on the other side, https://youtu.be/slFSzUzI8c8 ).  Later, the Soul Stirrers did a recording with Sam Cooke which I think I may like even better:

https://youtu.be/3d1jvP8FG1E “Jesus Gave Me Water,” Sam Cooke with the Soul Stirrers

Both the Davis Sisters and B. B. King released LPs which included this number in 1959, but I like the a cappella singing better.

 

                The epistle reading is  Romans 5: 1-11.  The verses are about “justification,” which always reminds me of back in the days when John would type up the Brookhaven NAACP newsletter before it was mimeographed.  In order to have lines that were “justified” (that is, have each line end at the right column margin), he had to type the newsletter twice.  The first time, it was typed with normal single spaces between words, but periods were typed after the final word on each line until the right margin was reached (which on old manual typewriters was a hard stop).  Then the periods were counted on each line, to see how many spaces needed to be inserted at the existing spaces between the words on that line in order to justify it.

                The reading, however, is about a different kind of right alignment, though the meaning of theological “justification” depends on the particular theory of soteriology a denomination decides to be “correct.” 

                In Christianity, justification is not achieved through counting the number of periods at the end of a line.  It is instead achieved through some purported act or works of Jesus.  Denominations tend to disagree, however, regarding upon whose behalf Jesus was acting (for everyone or for only  the chosen) and what acts are required by the believers (if any) to be saved (whether “justification” is a gift from a sovereign God).

                Both kinds of justification are about being rightly aligned, but in theological justification the rightly aligned have been made “righteous.”

                None of it makes any sense unless one can first be made to accept the view that there exists a transcendent being who has created rules of behavior for human beings, and that this transcendent being has also determined that any violation of these rules is sin, for which there is a just punishment, and that just punishment is death.  Then one has to accept the idea that there can be some sort of ill-defined “life” after a physical death, and although “salvation” cannot save one from a physical death, it can give those who have been made “righteous” a spiritual eternal life.  At least, that was the case in the old days.  Many groups now focus on what “deliverance” or “salvation” does for the believer in the present.

                Historically, Christians have disagreed over how to describe what Jesus did that brought about justification and made others “righteous” so that they might be at one with God.  There was the Scapegoat theory, the very popular Penal Substitution theory of the Reformers, (and similar Substitutionary theories), the Ransom theory of the Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Moral Influence theory which gained favor in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, particularly among German theologians.  (As the scapegoat, penal substitution, and ransom theories, are, at their core, morally reprehensible, the moral influence theory was the one favored by liberal Protestants.)

                One soon finds oneself floundering in a swamp of dismal moral distinctions, such as purgatories for rescuing infants—and other bogs of orthodoxy,  if he or she attempts to make sense of religious concepts by way of logic or the use of higher mental faculties.

                When Paul wrote to the Romans, he didn’t have to worry about how people would struggle to make sense of what he wrote over the centuries that followed.  Paul says:

                For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.   . . . But God demonstrates his own love for us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, because we have now been declared righteous by his blood, we will be saved through him from God’s wrath. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, how much more, since we have been reconciled, will we be saved by his life? Not only this, but we also rejoice in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received this reconciliation.

                There are many hymns based on this passage: “Saved by the Blood,” “Nothing But the Blood,”  “Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed,” “And Can It Be,” for example.  Even Bob Dylan and Tim Drummond wrote a song on this theme:

https://youtu.be/MIUNftAi_z4 “Saved, By the Blood of the Lamb, Saved” sung by Bob Dylan

I was blinded by the devil,
Born already ruined,
Stone-cold dead
As I stepped out of the womb.
By His grace I have been touched,
By His word I have been healed,
By His hand I've been delivered,
By His spirit I've been sealed.

Here is “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus,”

https://youtu.be/cJnD272vmns  “Nothing But the Blood of Jesus,” Buddy Greene (harmonica), Bill and Gloria Gaither


                The second hymn is No. 446, “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken” which is sung to Franz Joseph Haydn’s AUSTRIAN HYMN, otherwise known as “Deutchland, Deutchland,” etc.

                When Haydn composed the music, it called the Emperor’s Hymn (or the Kaiser’s Hymn).

                Here is an arrangement written for the Kansas Mennonite Men’s Choir, with brass quintet:

http://www.jwpepper.com/Glorious-Things-of-Thee-Are-Spoken/3700486.item#.Uy34zPldV8E “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” arr. J. Harold Moyer for men’s choir  (Click the “Play” icon)

                Here is a congregation singing the Kaiser Hymn at the funeral of Otto von Habsburg, the last Crown Prince of Austria-Hungary, who died July 4, 2011.  He became the Crown Prince of the Empire in 1916, but two years later, the empire was dissolved.

http://youtu.be/pMMhfR5i9wA  Singing the “Kaiser Hymn” at the funeral of Otto von Habsburg, last Crown Prince of the Empire, son of Charles, last Emperor of Austria and King of Hungary, the last monarch of the House of Habsburg-Lorraine.  The funeral was held at St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, Austria, on July 16, 2011.

   Otto’s father, Charles, became emperor after Charles’s uncle, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the presumed heir to the crown, was assassinated in Sarajevo in 1914, which started World War I.

"Gott erhalte, Gott beschütze,
unsern Kaiser, unser Land,
mächtig durch des Glaubens Stütze,
führt er uns mit weiser Hand.
Lasst uns seiner Väter Krone,
schirmen wider jeden Feind,
Innig bleibt mit Habsburgs Throne, 
Österreichs Geschick vereint,
innig bleibt mit Habsurgs Throne,
Österreichs Geschick vereint."

God save, God protect

Our Emperor, Our Country!

Powerful through the support of the Faith,

He leads us with a wise hand!

Let the Crown of his Fathers

shield against any foe!

Austria's Destiny remains

intimately united with the Habsburg throne!

                When Otto von Habsburg became the Crown Prince, the empire consisted of modern day Austria, Hungary, Bosnia, and Herzegovina.  He was buried in the Imperial Crypt.

                If you want to hear it as an instrumental piece, you can listen to it here:

http://youtu.be/gRtftQ_awac “Glorious Things of Thee Are Spoken,” organ and trumpet, Timothy Moke on trumpet, Georg Masanz, pipe organ


                Sermon:  "Confidence in God's Love"


                Hymn No. 304, “Jesus Loves Me,” is the closing hymn.

https://youtu.be/dpO8rY4VmeM?t=31s “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know,” bluesy version, sung by Jeremy Camp, with Bobbie Lancaster

                “Jesus Loves Me, This I Know” was written by Anna Bartlett Warner.


      Anna Bartlett Warner (1820 – 1915)

                Anna Bartlett Warner was born on Long Island on 31 Aug 1820.  She was the daughter of a wealthy New York City lawyer, Henry W. Warner, and after birth lived in a New York City mansion.  Her mother died when she was young, and her father lost his fortune in the Panic of 1837.  Then they moved to the 282-acre Constitution Island in the Hudson River, near West Point, and lived in an old farmhouse.  The Warners purchased the island.  The Warner House is now a National Historic Landmark, but you can no longer visit it, as the structure has become unstable.

             Warner House, July 2010, Constitution Island, NY

                For income, Anna and her sister Sarah began to write novels in 1849.  Anna’s most popular novel was Glen Luna; or, Dollars and Cents published in 1852, which she wrote under the pen name Amy Lothrop.  They authored some novels together, including Wych Hazel in 1853.

                You can read Glen Luna; or, Dollars and Cents here:

                                https://books.google.com/books?id=fgYCAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false

                Anna Warner was a Presbyterian.  She and her sister held Bible studies for the cadets at West Point for 40 years.
                She died at age 87 in Highland Falls, New York, on 22 Jan 1915, and is buried in the U. S. Military Academy Post Cemetery.

          Anna B. Warner

                The words of the refrain to “Jesus Loves Me” are by William Batchelder Bradbury.  They were added when he wrote the tune for it.  (He wrote “Asleep in Jesus” which is also a fine hymn.)

                William Bradbury was born in York, Maine, on 06 Oct 1816.  In 1830, his parents moved to Boston, and he soon became known as an organist.  Dr. Mason was leading singing classes at the time, which were very popular, and William Bradbury attended.  He was then admitted to Mason’s Bowdoin Street church choir.

                He next taught in singing schools himself in Machias, Maine, and St. Johns, New Brunswick.  Then he became the Director of Music and organist at the First Baptist Church of Brooklyn which was followed by a position at the Baptist Tabernacle in New York City.

                He began teaching singing classes in New York City.  He had a class of over 600 in the Spring Street Church alone.  Then he produced a series of “Juvenile Music Festivals” at the Broadway Tabernacle, with a thousand children singing (two-thirds of whom were girls).  It was said to be quite a sight to see 1000 children, all dressed in their uniforms, rise together at the beginning of the concert.

           William Batchelder Bradbury

                William Bradbury wrote many Sunday School tunes for singing by children, and worked to have music taught in the public schools of New York City, an effort in which he succeeded.

                He also wrote the tune for “He Leadeth Me.”

Whate'er I do, where'er I be,

still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.

Refrain:

He leadeth me, he leadeth me;

by his own hand he leadeth me:

his faithful follower I would be,

for by his hand, he leadeth me.

and the tune for “Just As I Am” (words by Charlotte Elliott).

https://youtu.be/iusYVmuXwzA “Just As I Am” performed by GLAD, a cappella (one of my favorites)

William Bradbury died at age 51 on 07 Jan 1868 and is buried in Bloomfield Cemetery in New Jersey.


Instrumental Music


                The prelude is "Reverie" by William Stickles.

                William Charles Stickles was born in Cohoes, New York, (north of Troy) on 07 Mar 1882.  He was a composer, arranger, teacher, and editor.

                He attended the Utica Conservatory and Syracuse University, then studied abroad.  For five years, he assisted Isadore Braggiotti, a voice teacher, in Florence, Italy.  Then he spent two years as a vocal coach for soloists with Felix Motti at the Hof Theater in Munich.  After that, he taught in Boston and New York. 

                In April 1912, he was the accompanist for Anna Chase of the Metropolitan Opera in her appearance at the White House for President and Mrs. Taft.

                On 01 Dec 1919, he married Clara Hazard of Los Angeles in Trinity Chapel, New York City.  She was a soprano and soloist at St. John’s Protestant Episcopal Church in Los Angeles.  He had been touring with her and Theodore Karie (tenor) as their accompanist.

                He produced many arrangements of standard works for chorus, organ, and piano, and also composed original pieces.  He did arrangements of “Smoke Gets In Your Eyes” (music: Jerome Kerns, words: Otto Harbach), “Bali Ha’i” (music: Richard Rogers, words: Oscar Hammerstein II), “Summertime” (SATB) (George Gershwin and Du Bose Heyward), “easy-to-play piano arrangements” of the songs of Cole Porter’s “Kiss Me Kate,” and also a collection of arrangements of “cowboy duets,” along with arrangements of the songs of many other popular musicals (“Oklahoma,” “West Side Story,” etc.). 

                His Book of Preludes, Offertories, Postludes for all Organs was published in 1957.  It was enlarged and published as The Deluxe Book of Preludes, Offertories, Postludes for all Organs ten years later with Chester Nordman as co-editor and composer.

                He died in Queens, New York, in October 1971.

                I couldn’t find “Reverie” but here is William Stickles’ arrangement of “Somewhere (West Side Story)”

https://youtu.be/8NZSrYFV7GU “Somewhere” by Leonard Bernstein, arranged for women’s choir by William Stickles, sung by Eufonia women’s choir of Torhout, West Flanders, Belgium


                The offertory is “Chanson Mantinale (Morning Hymn)” by Richard Lange.  There is a “Richard Lange” who was a German arranger and composer who lived from 1867 until about 1915, but I don’t know whether that Richard Lange is the arranger of this piece.

                This arrangement of “Chanson Mantinale,” was edited by Dr. William Carl and bears a copyright date of 1916.

                Here is the piece:

https://youtu.be/iBS5m4vJ1C0 “Chason Matinale” by Richard Lange, played by David Christensen


                The postlude is “We All Believe in One God (Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott) (Nous croyons tous en un seul Dieu),” Op. 28, No. 78, by Marcel Dupré.

                        Marcel Dupré

                It is one of his seventy-nine chorales for organ which Dupré wrote to teach organists how to play Bach chorales.

                https://youtu.be/ibXYku1W0qQ   79 Chorales by Marcel Dupré, Op. 28, No. 78, “Wir Glauben All' An Einen Gott” played by Mark Pace, Episcopal Church of the Ascension, Knoxville, Tennessee

Richard

Thursday, March 16, 2017

This Week at Old South Haven Chrch (Resend)

I appears that some received a truncated version of Tuesday's "This Week ..." This is a resend.

Note: Included in the listing of events this week are three programs, offered in the community, to which we would
 draw your attention for they offer a forum to become aware of and address the challenge to citizens of our country
 to speak to issues, concerns, challenges, problems we face as a citizenry.
                                                                                                                    Pastor Tom
 
Thursday, March 16      7:00pm-8:30pm                              "Global Capitalism Today"
                                                                   South Country Peace Group offers a presentation by  economist
                                                              Dr. Paddy Quick on the role of capitalism in today's ever-changing world.
                                                              Dr. Quick is Professor of Economics at St. Francis College, Brooklyn.
                                                             She holds a B.A. from Oxford University and a PhD from, Harvard University..
                                                                          South Country Library 22 Station Road, Bellport
 
Saturday, March 18          10:00am   Carriage House                 " Indivisible Group"
                                                            The initial meeting hosted by Darcy Stevens and B.J. Brown and others of the
                                                            Bellport/Brookhaven communities to speak to concerns of President Trump's
                                                            Agenda to "Make America Great Again"  This meeting will be an informal
                                                            conversation and include what is being done by similar groups across the U.S.
 
Sunday, March 19            10:00am                                    Third Sunday in Lent
                                                                          Sermon:  "Confidence in God's Love"
                                                                          Lessons:  John 4: 5-26  Romans 5: 1-11
 
                                           4:00pm                   Book Study:  "The Spiral Staircase: My Climb Out of Darkness"
                                                                                                        led by Jason Neal
                                                                          You may attend (and benefit) even if you have not read this book!
 
Monday, March 20             5:00pm                   Confirmation Class
           
                                            7:00pm                  Session Meeting
 
Tuesday, March 21            11;30am                 Brookhaven/Bellport Clergy
                                                                          St. James Episcopal Church
 
                                              1:00pm                Presbytery Meeting: Amagansett
 
Sunday, March 28               10:00am                        Fourth Sunday in Lent
                                                                          Sermon: "Seeing the 'Wow'"
                                                                          Lessons: I Samuel 16: 1-13  John 9: 1-25, 38-41
                                                                          Sunday School
       LOOKING  AHEAD  TO  APRIL

Saturday, April 1                       9:30am            Work Day:  Yard cleaning
Sunday, April 2                        10:00am             Fifth Sunday in Lent/ Holy Communion
                                                                           Sermon:  "Ground Zero vs. A Valley of Life"
                                                                           Lessons:  Ezekiel 37: 1-14    John 11: 1-15
 
Friday, April 7                      8:30am-2:30pm                 "Working But Still Poor"
                                                                          2017 Conference of Long Island Jobs with justice
                                                                          Touro Law Center, Central Islip
                                                                          Tickets $30 (by Mar. 24) $35 after
Saturday, April 8                      10:00am             Deacons Meeting in the Gallery