Sunday, August 23, the Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost
Dear Friends in Christ,
This week’s worship videos are now available:
Morning Prayer, Rite II:
Morning Prayer, Rite I:
Please support our ministries, if you aren't already doing so.
Thank you to everyone who filled out our regathering survey — 27 of you, as I write this. If you haven't done it yet, please take a few minutes to share your thoughts on our church resuming in-person worship. Even if you're not sure how you feel — we need to know that too! We'll start reaching out to members who haven't completed a survey later this week.
In case you missed it, Festina's offering of the Angelus is a bite-sized way to add some sacred beauty and peace to your day.
Please join us for our virtual coffee hour at noon:
• To join in the Zoom app, use the Meeting ID: 852 8633 0838 (no password).
• To join in your browser, click here: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85286330838
• To join from a smartphone, tap here: +16465588656,,85286330838#
• To join from a conventional phone, call (646) 558-8656 and enter the Meeting ID.
Hope to see many of you then!
Here are Mark's music notes:
We sing “Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken” with words by the famous clergyman/hymnwriter John Newton (famous for immensely popular, but theologically questionable “Amaing Grace!”). Newton worked on slave ships during his early life, and after conversion to Christianity renounced the trade and became an abolitionist. He was ordained in the Church of England and wrote hymns as often as he preached for most of his church career. “Glorious Things” is based on Isaiah 33:20-21, a companion to a sermon preached sometime before February 1779.
This sturdy tune was written by Haydn as the Austrian national anthem. Haydn was impressed with the fervor that the English sang “God Save the King/Queen” during his trips to the island. The original German words were more written along the English anthem, but addressed to “Franz der Kaiser.” But by the time of WWII, the association of the updated text “Deutschland, Deutschland, uber Alles” made the tune problematic. The really fine tune “Abbot’s Leigh” was introduced in 1941 for this text in England.
René Vierne was the younger brother of Louis Vierne, organist of Notre Dame de Paris. He was a promising musician and composer who was mobilized in 1914 to fight in WWI and died tragically in 1918. The “prière” was used extensively in composition form in France as well as other Catholic countries, as the organist would improvise during the time when the priest recited the Roman Canon (prayer of consecration) quietly.
The music of the closing voluntary, written by Haydn is the more famous subject of Brahms’ “Variations on a theme by Haydn” available in a version for 2 pianos as well as orchestra. There is a controversy as musicologists cannot agree that it is indeed by Haydn. O well.
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The Rev. Bret B. Hays
Rector
Saint John’s Episcopal Church
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