Music for October 18, 2015 + Choir Dedication Sunday + The Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• Jubilate Deo – Michael Bedford (b. 1949)
• Oh, Sing to the Lord a New Song – John Leavitt (b. 1956)
• Bless, O Lord, Us Thy Servants – John Harper (b. 1947)

Instrumental Music

• Andantino – Jean Langlais (1907-1991)
• Fugue in C Major, BWV 846 – Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
• Scherzo – Alan Ridout (1934-1996)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of those marked “R” which are from Renew.)

• Hymn 420 - When in our music God is glorified (ENGLEBERG)
• Hymn R 112 - You who dwell in the shelter of the Lord (ON EAGLES WINGS)
• Hymn 495 - Hail, thou once despised Jesus (IN BABILONE)
• Hymn R 289 - Jesu, Jesu, fill us with your love (CHEREPONI)
• Hymn 492 - Sing, ye faithful, sing with gladness (FINNIAN)

Sunday, October 18 has been designated as Music Sunday by RSCM America. RSCM America is the branch of the Royal School of Church Music in the United States, whose goal is to uplift the spiritual life of religious communities through high quality choral music. On this day, we celebrate the music and musicianship that are a vital and beloved part of church life. On this day we will dedicate new choristers into our choir and reaffirm the ministries of those who have already been singing in the choir. Music Sunday is also a time when we offer a special prayer for our music and musicians--the young and old, professional and amateur, singer and instrumentalist, administrator and practitioner--most of whom work without expectation of recognition but who nonetheless deserve our awareness and thanks.

One of the anthems we will sing is a setting of The Chorister's Prayer.

Bless, O Lord, us Thy servants,
who minister in Thy 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.

The Chorister's Prayer in its most common form was first published by the School of English Church Music (as the RSCM was then called) in 1934 in the Choristers' Pocket Book. It has origins which extend back at least to the 4th century, for the tenth canon of the fourth council of Carthage (c 398 AD) decrees that cantors should be blessed with the words Vide, ut quod ore cantas, corde credas, et quod corde credis, operibus comprobes (“See that what thou singest with thy lips thou dost believe in thine heart, and that what thou believest in thine heart thou dost show forth in thy works”)

John Harper

This prayer is used each week at the beginning of our Children's Choirs. We who pray these words weekly carry on a tradition of many centuries and hopefully we both ‘steadfastly fulfil’ and also ‘show forth’ the tenets of our faith in our lives and music.

John Harper composed this setting of The Chorister's Prayer for the 80th anniversary of the RSCM. It was sung at St Paul's Cathedral, London on Easter Monday 2007, to mark the beginning of the RSCM's 80th anniversary celebrations. Harper is RSCM Research Professor of Music and Liturgy, and Director of the new International Centre for Sacred Music Studies (ICSMuS) at Bangor University in Wales. He is Emeritus Director of The Royal School of Church Music.

John Leavitt

The other anthem the Good Shepherd sings this day is a contemporary setting of Psalm 96 with a rippling piano accompaniment with violin obbligato. It is by the American composer, choral director and teacher John Leavitt. A native of Kansas, Dr. Leavitt received the Kansas Artist Fellowship Award from the Kansas Arts in 2003 and in 2010 he was the recipient of a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts’ American Masterpieces to commission a new choral work in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the State of Kansas.  His music has been performed in 30 countries across the globe and his recordings have been featured nationally on many public radio stations. His compositions are represented by nearly every major music publisher in this country. In addition to his academic posts, he has served Lutheran churches in the Wichita area.

The St. Gregory Choir will sing an anthem by the Oklahoma composer and church music Michael Bedford. Bedford retired last year from St. John's Episcopal Church in Tulsa after a twenty-five year tenure as director of music and organist. This anthem, Jubilate Deo, is a setting of Psalm 100 in both Latin and in contemporary English.