SERMON
This Sunday: The Rev. Dr. Mike Harbert

“Living in the Light of Life”

Bible Passages:

Genesis 12:1-4; Psalm 121;
John 3:1-17

Lector: Sis Connolly

Crucifer: Mick Connolly

Ushers: Peter McKee and Bob Janzen

Fellowship:Marge Moore and Rae Janzen

Flowers:Howard Colehower, “In memory of Linda Colehower.”

Sophia Gonzalez, mezzo soprano

Cathryn Wilkinson, piano and organ

Prelude

Morgen (Tomorrow), Opus 27, No. 4……….Richard Strauss
And tomorrow the sun will shine again
And on the path I will take,
It will unite us again, we happy ones,
Upon this sun-breathing earth….
(Text by Mackay, English translation copyright © by Emily Ezust, from the LiederNetArchive. Copied with permission.)

Allerseelen (All Souls’ Day), Opus 10, No. 8……….Strauss

“Place on the table the fragrant migonettes,

Bring inside the last red asters,

And let us speak again of love,

As once we did in May.

(Text by Rosenegg, English translation copyright © by Emily Ezust, from the LiederNetArchive. Copied with permission.)

Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) from Mass in B Minor……….J.S. Bach

Bright Morning Stars Are Rising……….Traditional Appalachian

Offertory

“Air” from Water Music……….G.F. Handel

Communion

Green Requiem……….Joe Hisaishi

The Twilight Shore

Organ Postlude

In You Have I Put My Hope, O God……….J.S. Bach

Welcome back to Sophia Gonzalez, a mezzo soprano with a versatile presence in opera, musical theater, and art song. In addition to singing frequently at Church in the Forest, her recent solo engagements include performances with I Cantori di Carmel, the Central Coast Chamber Choir, Vivaldi’s Gloria (2024), and The Creative Voice’s Baroque & Unknown concert series. She is the Executive Director of California Flow Music Studio, a Gilroy-based school dedicated to cultivating strong musical foundations and artistic excellence for young voice, piano, and guitar students.

The songs she has selected by Richard Strauss are two of his most moving miniatures, capturing the power and emotion that is apparent in his masterful operas and tone poems. Bach’s B Minor Mass is one of the few works he set in Latin, instead of his native German tongue, perhaps as a nod to the longstanding tradition of the Catholic church. Bach compiled the Mass in Leipzig one year before he died and never heard it performed in its entirety. The first complete performance was not until 1859 in Leipzig more than one hundred years later.

Happy Birthday, Handel! The composer of the wonderful Messiah was born February 23,1685 in Halle, Germany.