Music for Sunday, September 22, 2019

Vocal Music

• Psalm 113 – Edward Bairstow (1874-1946)
• I Choose Love – Mark A. Miller (21st Century)

Instrumental Music

• Solemn Melody – H. Walford Davies (1869-1941)
• Prelude in B-flat – Clara Schumann (1819-1896)
• Toccata in D Minor – Max Reger (1873-1916)

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

• Hymn 475 - God himself is with us (TYSK)
• Hymn 605 - What does the Lord require (SHARPETHORNE)
• Hymn R 255 - Give to our God immortal praise (DUKE STREET)
• Hymn 488 - Be thou my vision (SLANE)
• Hymn 676 - There is a balm in gilead (BALM IN GILEAD)
• Hymn 390 - Praise to the Lord, the Almighty (LOBE DEN HERREN)

This Sunday the choir is singing a very simple but powerful anthem written by Mark A. Miller, a Associate Professor of Church Music and Composer In Residence at Drew University in Madison, New Jersey. Written in response to the tragic massacre at the Mother Emanuel A.M.E. Church in Charleston, South Carolina in June 2015, this anthem represents our solidarity to love in the midst of pain, of war, of brokenness. We choose love. We choose community. What better way to share this message than through powerful song?  I have been humming the tune all week, and allowing the words to wash over me and nurture my soul. I hope they will do the same for you:

In the midst of pain, I choose love.
In the midst of pain, sorrow falling down like rain,
I await the sun again, I choose love.

In the midst of war, I choose peace.
In the midst of war, hate and anger keeping score,
I will seek the good once more, I choose peace.

When my world falls down, I will rise.
When my world falls down, explanations can’t be found,
I will climb to holy ground, I will rise.

In addition to his post at Drew, Miller is a Lecturer in the Practice of Sacred Music at Yale University and Minister of Music of Christ Church in Summit, New Jersey and Composer in Residence of Harmonium Choral Society in NJ. From 2002-2007 he was Director of Contemporary Worship at Marble Collegiate Church and from 1999-2001 was Assistant Organist and Music Associate at the Riverside Church, both in New York City. Since 1999 he has travelled to every part of the country delighting congregations with the power and joy of music making. Mark received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Yale University and his Master of Music in Organ Performance from Juilliard.