Music for January 8, 2016 + The First Sunday after the Epiphany

The Baptism of our Lord Jesus Christ

Vocal Music

• Christmas Joy – Mark Schweitzer (b. 1956)

Instrumental Music

• Christ Our Lord to Jordan Came, BuxWV 180 – Dietrich Buxtehude (1637-1707)
• When Christ’s Appearing Was Made Known,– attributed to Dietrich Buxtehude
• Præludium in C Major BuxWV 137 – Dietrich Buxtehude

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

• Hymn 76 - On Jordan’s bank, the Baptist’s cry (WINCHESTER NEW)
• Hymn R157 - We believe in God Almighty (DIVINUM MYSTERIUM)
• Hymn 135, st. 1&2 - Songs of thankfulness and praise (SALZBURG)
• Hymn - Shall we gather at the river (HANSON PLACE)
• Hymn 132 - When Christ’s appearing was made known (ERHALT UNS, HERR)

The first Sunday after the Epiphany is the Sunday when we remember Christ's own baptism. It marks the beginning of his ministry on earth, and reminds us of our own call to be his followers. Epiphany itself marks the end of the Christmas Season. It is fitting and proper to remove all Christmas decorations.

But the spirit of Christmas should not be taken down. That's why we are singing this beautiful anthem by composer, author, and publisher Mark Schweitzer, using a text by African-American author, theologian, and educator Howard Thurman. He served as dean of Rankin Chapel at Howard University from 1932 to 1944 and as dean of Marsh Chapel at Boston University from 1953 to 1965. It was his theology of radical nonviolence that influenced and shaped a generation of civil rights activists, including Martin Luther King, Jr. The text  follows:

When the song of the angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky has withdrawn,
When the kings see their prophesy rightly fulfilled,
When the princes and shepherds have gone;

 Then the true work of Christmas begins.

To find the lost,
To heal the broken hearts,
To feed the hungry,
To rebuild the nations,
To bring peace among all brothers,
To make music in the heart.

All of the organ music today is by Dietrich Buxtehude, the North German organist who served as an inspiration to a young Johann Sebastian Bach.
Two of the pieces are based on German chorales that refer to Christ's baptism. The communion voluntary is based on a hymn that is not well known among Episcopalians, but is in our hymnal. You'll discover the tune and a contemporary translation of the hymn at number 139 in the Hymnal 1982. The other hymn is also in our hymnal, but is better known among us Anglicans. Hymn 132, When Christ's appearing was made known, is set to the tune ERHALT UNS, HERR, which we also use for the Lenten hymn The glory of these forty days (hymn 143) and the baptism hymn Descend, O Spirit, purging flame (hymn 297).
The setting which I am playing has been attributed to Buxtehude, but many authorities doubt that claim, thinking it may by by Samuel Scheidt or another long-forgotten church musician.