Good Shepherd Sunday (5/12/19) - Easter 4

By Walter Baxter, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=12966113

This Sunday's music is inspired by the bucolic setting of Psalm 23. The Fourth Sunday of Easter is sometimes known as "Good Shepherd Sunday" for the traditionally prescribed reading of this famous psalm and its message of assurance and comfort. And it does appear the local weather will cooperate offering us a nice backdrop during the services...

"Pastorale" by British organist and composer Alec Rowley opens the morning services. A pastorale is a traditional music form, usually in a compound triple meter, meant to evoke nature: a pastoral scene. The apt "Toccata for a Joyful Day" by eminent American composer Emma Lou Diemer sends us out on an exciting and jubilant note at the 11:00 a.m. service.

This Sunday is also the last of the season for Plymouth's hand bell choirs. At 9:00 a.m., the Youth Bells will ring a setting of "Here I Am, Lord" by Arnold Sherman during communion and "A Time for Joy" by Cynthia Dobrinski at the postlude. The Plymouth Ringers offer "All Things Bright and Beautiful" by Susan Geschke at the 11:00 a.m. service.

Also at 11:00, the Chancel Choir sings a beautiful setting of Psalm 23 by composer and virtuoso vocalist Bobby McFerrin. The composition is dedicated to the memory of his mother, who also was an accomplished singer. Sara Copper had served as a Metropolitan Opera judge and chaired the vocal department at Fullerton College in California. McFerrin's psalm paraphrase incorporates an abundance of feminine imagery.

At 6:00 p.m., Bobby and Blair are joined by harpist Alaina Bongers and flutist Rebecca Quillen for further explorations of bucolic imagery in Celtic musical offerings and an arrangement of Mack Wilberg's choral setting "My Shepherd Will Supply My Need."