Music for April 18, 2021 + The Third Sunday of Easter

Vocal Music

• Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain – R. S. Thatcher (1888-1957)
• Come, Risen Lord – Alfred Morton Smith (1879-1971)

Instrumental Music

• Partita on Middlebury – Charles Callahan (b. 1951)
• Hymn 213 - Come Away to the Skies
• Hornpipe – George Frederick Handel (1685-1759)

Congregational Music (all hymns from the Hymnal 1982 with the exception of the canticle which is from Wonder, Love, and Praise.)

• Canticle Christ our Passover (Pascha nostrum) (SINE NOMINE)
• Hymn 182 Christ is alive! Let Christians sing (TRURO) (stanzas 1,2,5)
• Hymn 180 He is risen, he is risen! (UNSER HERRSCHER) (stanzas 1,2,4)

The anthem this Sunday morning is by Reginald Thatcher, an English musician and educator who lived in the first part of the 20th century. From all accounts, he was an unassuming man, though he held leadership positions at several fine schools before becoming principal of the Royal Academy of Music in London in 1944. He was also the assistant director of music for the BBC during the early war years in the late 30s until 1943. 

His anthem, Come, Ye Faithful, was written when he was director of the Harrow School, one of the most prestigious schools for boys in the world. It uses the text by eighth-century Greek poet John of Damascus (c. 675- c. 754) who is especially known for his writing of six canons for the major festivals of the church year. (A canon is a form of Greek hymnody based on biblical canticles. Greek canons demonstrate how Old Testament prophecies were fulfilled in Christ's resurrection.) This text was written around 750 and inspired by the Song of Moses in Exodus 15.

The communion motet is simply a hymn straight from our hymnal. I’ve chosen it because it is perfect for today’s Gospel and the celebration of the Eucharist. It is a fine text which celebrates the presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper. Stanzas 1 and 4 allude to the part of the Emmaus story (Luke 24:28-35) in which the two disciples invite Jesus to be their guest, but then Jesus becomes their host. Stanza 2 focuses on our partaking of the sacrament and stanzas 3 and 4 on the oneness we share with all believers in this world and in heaven.

Originally written as "Come, risen Lord, and deign to be our guest," the text by George W. Briggs (1875 -
1959) was first published in the original edition of the British hymnbook Songs of Praise (1925). Briggs was a well-known twentieth-century hymn writer. A clergyman in the Church of England, he served a number of parishes and was a chaplain in the Royal Navy. He was especially interested in promoting meaningful worship in the British schools and consequently wrote Prayers and Hymns for Use in Schools (1927) and Prayers and Hymns for Junior Schools (1933). Briggs was a founding member of the Hymn Society of Great Britain and Ireland.

This tune was written by the Rev. Alfred M. Smith, an Episcopal priest from Pennsylvania whose avocation was music. He has written three hymn-tunes, two of which are in our hymnal.