Elements of the Celtic, folk, and jazz traditions color the music offered at the 9:00 a.m. contemplative service.
At the 11:00 a.m. traditional service, music by female composers will be featured on this last Sunday of Eastertide. Libby Larsen's contemporary setting of the hymn of community "Blessed Be the Tie That Binds" opens worship. The Chancel Choir sings an arrangement of the American folk hymn "Simple Gifts" by Anna Page and Jean Shafferman. The service concludes with a vibrant echo of the final hymn in "And Again I Say, Rejoice!" by Brenda Portman, a former colleague of mine at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
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At 9:00 a.m., a contemplative service will be offered including chants and songs bringing us together into a space of prayer, reflection and peace.
At 11:00 a.m., the creation story continues from Earth Day Sunday into this Sixth Sunday of Eastertide. Another movement from Flor Peeters' nature-inspired "Lied Symphony for Organ" (Lied pronounced 'leed,' German for 'song') opens worship in "Lied for the Flowers." The work is a series of variations on an original chant-like melody employing the varied colors of the organ. The Chancel Choir reminds us of the Paschal season in "My Alleluia" by Heather Sorenson. An exhilarating "Toccata for a Joyful Day" by Emma Lou Diemer sends us out into this wonderful creation we call home. We are where the light begins. Perhaps it does not begin. Perhaps it is always. - text by Jan Richardson from the Susan LaBarr choral composition "Where the Light Begins" Guitarist Alan Skowron joins us for both morning services offering his composition "Journey Throughout Life" adapted for organ and electric guitar. We may even "take five" to close our worship time together...
Music for the 11:00 a.m. Confirmation Sunday service was selected in collaboration with the confirmands themselves! The beautiful musical setting of Jan Richardson's text by Susan LaBarr in "Where the Light Begins" will be presented as a duo vocal arrangement by Plymouth Staff Singers Alex Young and Lucas Jackson. Guitarist and vocalist Noah Kayl brings his "Offering" during our communal time of prayer in a song by Paul Baloche. On this Earth Day Sunday, we experience music celebrating the wonders of creation while honoring our role as stewards in this world — like shepherds watching over their flock.
At the 9:00 a.m. "eclectic" service, ukulelist Stuart Yoshida joins the chancel musicians in presenting songs from around the world including Jamaica, Hawaii, and the American songbook. At the 11:00 a.m. traditional service, we hear an ode to the majesty of peaks and valleys from the organ in a lied (German for "song") to the mountains by Belgian composer Flor Peeters. The Chancel Choir are joined by the Plymouth Ringers and violinist Amy Welsh in a setting paraphrasing Psalm 23 utilizing the early American tune "Resignation" by David Ashley White. (As a "pick-up" choir Sunday, feel free to join us for rehearsal at 10:10!) The organ concludes worship with a gigue (a French Baroque dance based on the English jig) on the closing hymn tune "Dix" (sung to the text "For the Beauty of the Earth"). At 9:00 a.m., vocalist and guitarist Bill DeMarco joins the team for a Celtic and folk-inspired collection of songs rejoicing in the resurrection.
At 11:00 a.m., two contemporary organ settings on traditional Easter carols by James Biery are offered. A trio on the 17th century Dutch tune "Vreuchten" ("This Joyful Eastertide") begins the worship hour. A toccata on the 16th century German tune "Gaudeamus Pariter" ("Come, You Faithful, Raise the Strain") closes the service. The Chancel Choir sings "A Gaelic Easter Celebration" by Patti Drennan with fiddler Harmony Tucker. "You make beautiful things out of the dust. You make beautiful things out of us." - from the song "Beautiful Things" by Michael and Lisa Gungor On this Second Sunday of Eastertide, we enter into a space of a "quiet joy" — a reflection on the risen Christ and the hope of new life.
Morning worship begins with a meditation on this new life in "Beautiful Things" by Gungor. Vocalists Lucas Jackson and Alex Young with violinist Harmony Tucker present this passionate hymn of promise. Easter chants from the Taizé Community offer a time of introspection and joyful reflection led by our string quartet of violinists Harmony Tucker and Alex Young, violist Mateo Dunigan-AtLee and cellist Aaron Dunigan-AtLee. The Paschal celebration concludes with an exuberant Baroque-style setting of the hymn "That Easter Day with Joy Was Bright" by 19th century composer Heinrich von Herzogenberg. At 9:00 a.m., staff singers Lucas Jackson and Alex Young, along with her violin, join bassist Peter Strening and me on this last Sunday of Eastertide. Spiritual songs from the rock/pop idioms and an offering from the organ will be heard at this eclectic early morning service.
At 11:00 a.m., a tango for organ on the Ralph Vaughan Williams hymn tune to the Spirit "Down Ampney" opens worship in a setting by Mark Sedio. The Chancel Choir sings a rousing arrangement of the spiritual "I Wanna Be Ready" by esteemed composer Rosephanye Powell featuring soloists Lucas Jackson and Alex Young. Flor Peeters' "Festival Voluntary" closes the service on a note of majestic joy and triumph. At 9:00 a.m., a little morning chamber music by cellist Lucas Jackson, double bassist Ovella Huddleston, and yours truly.
At 11:00 a.m., organ works by French Romantic composer César Franck and Tudor-era English composer John Redford, also organist of St. Paul's Cathedral, London. The Chancel Choir offers the pop-centric anthem "You Sing Over Me" by Heather Sorenson. At 9:00, we share the spiritual essence of songs by George Harrison and Paul McCartney and others. Guitarist Alan Skowron joins us for a service of Easter Alleluias and thanks.
At 11:00, the organ offers two works inspired by dance: a jig and minuet by composers Dietrich Buxtehude and Léon Boëllmann. The Chancel Choir sings a contemporary setting of the George Herbert hymn text "Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life" by Thomas Keesecker. On our yearly walk down Emmaus Road we seek to encounter the Risen Christ in our own lives as those disciples experienced long ago. An Easter flashback this Sunday morning.
At 9:00, cantor/cellist Lucas Jackson and violinist Harmony Tucker and I explore the life-giving message of Eastertide with songs from the English folk and Italian traditions with a touch of eccentricity. At 11:00, the organ ushers in worship with a neo-baroque setting of the 16th century German Easter hymn "Erschienen ist der herrlich Tag" (Appeared Is the Splendid Day) by Heinrich von Herzogenberg. The Chancel Choir sings of the resurrection in an ambitiously eccentric hymn setting from the Episcopal 1982 hymnal in "Look There! The Christ, Our Brother, Comes" by idiosyncratic American composer William Albright. The organ speaks one final time in a blistering toccata on the hymn tune "Gaudeamus Pariter" most associated with the Easter text "Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain." |
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