Music for June 21, 2020 + The Third Sunday after Pentecost

Vocal Music

• God Help the Outcasts from The Hunchback of Notre Dame – Alan Menken (b. 1949), Camryn Creech, soprano

Instrumental Music

• Faith of Our Fathers/Precious Lord, Take My Hand/ God Will Take Care of You/We Shall Overcome – Bernice Satterwhite, pianist
• Poco Vivace – Hermann Schroeder (1904-1984)

Congregational Music (The hymn is from Lift Every Voice and Sing. The Gloria is from the Hymnal 1982, and the Sanctus is from Wonder Love and Praise.)

• Hymn - Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine (BLESSED ASSURANCE)
• Song of Praise - Glory to You (Canticle 13) – John Rutter (b. 1945)
• Sanctus 858 - Holy, holy, holy (LAND OF REST)

Bernice Satterwhite, who regularly plays piano at our 8 AM service (in the good old days!), plays a medley of hymns and spiritual songs appropriate to the events and people we remember this weekend. 

Sunday is, of course, Father's Day, so she opens with the hymn Faith of our Fathers.  Precious Lord, Take My Hand and God Will Take Care of You remind us that, during these troubling, trying times, we have a God who will take our hand and take care of us through all of this. And Friday, June 19th, is Juneteenth, the day celebrated annually throughout the United States to commemorate Union army general Gordon Granger announcing federal orders in the city of Galveston, Texas, on June 19, 1865, proclaiming that all slaves in Texas were now free. We Shall Overcome reminds us that we have a way to go before all are truly free.

This week we have another example of the works of musical theatre composer/lyricist Stephen Schwartz, whose works, including his first big hit, Godspell, contain more than a hint of the Gospel (which is pretty good for a Jewish man from New York City).

Sunday we'll hear Camryn Creech sing the song God Help the Outcasts from the Disney animated film The Hunchback of Notre Dame. I remember the first time I heard this song, thinking that it would make a great church piece.

God help the outcasts, hungry from birth
Show them the mercy they don't find on Earth
The lost and forgotten, they look to you still
God help the outcasts, or nobody will
I ask for nothing, I can get by
But I know so many less lucky than I
God help the outcasts, the poor and downtrod
I thought we all were the children of God (1)

There are still so many that are considered outcasts in our country, state, and community. Some are outcast because of homelessness, mental health, race, or sexuality. I pray that we can be moved by God to help the outcast, too.

(1) God Help the Outcasts lyrics © Walt Disney Music Co. Ltd., Walt Disney Music Company, Trunksong Music Ltd., Menken Music, Heelstone Parc Prod., Wonderland Music Co. Inc., Wonderland Music Company Inc., Wonderland Music Company Inc, Wonderland Music Co., Inc., Walt Disney Music Co Ltd