SERMON
This Sunday: The Rev. Dr. Mike Harbert

“God’s Gift of New Life”

Bible Passages:

Ezekiel 37:1-14; Psalm 130; John 11:1-44

Lector:
Dave Nee

Crucifer:
Will Jansma

Ushers:
Kathy Gray and Carol Williams

Fellowship:
Peter and Joan McKee

Flowers:
Pam and Dave Tashjian, “In loving memory of Grandma Tash and Nellie Melville.”

Sophia Pyo, flute
Jubal Joslyn, tenor
Cathryn Wilkinson, piano and organ

Prelude

“Poem” for Flute (1918)……….Charles Griffes

Music from Taizé……….Jacques Berthier

My Soul Is at Rest

O Christe Domine Jesu (O Christ, Lord Jesus)

Offertory

Domine Deus, Filius Patris……….Music from Taizé

(O Lord, God, Son of the Father, have mercy on us)

Postlude

Fugue and Chorale, BWV 957……….J. S. Bach

Welcome back to Sophia Pyo, guest flutist. Sophia attends Pacific Grove High School where she is a senior. Under the instruction of her teacher, Jennifer Kennedy, she plays both the flute and piccolo. She enjoys getting lost in a good book whenever she has some time to herself.

Like so much of our life experience, and like Christ’s journey to the cross, today’s music is a reflection of both high and low points. When his “Poem” premiered in New York, Charles Griffes was heralded with praise as the future voice of native-born American composers, but less than a year later, he was taken ill and died in the worldwide influenza epidemic.

The music from the Catholic community of Taizé, France is based on Bible passages and centuries of Roman Catholic sacred texts. Quietly prayerful, almost plaintive and solemn in tone, the music of Taizé has given hope to people across the world for more than fifty years.

The tune of “Passion Chorale” was first composed as a courtly love song, but later set to a funeral text. J. S. Bach used this tune as a unifying theme throughout his musical re-telling of the Passion According to St. Matthew (1727). The closing fugue and chorale in the postlude by Bach is also based on a funeral hymn. But in spite of the nearness of death, Bach’s music is cheerful, inspired by the final lines of the hymn, “In your hands, O God, all will be well because the ending will be good.”