First Sunday after Epiphany “As with Gladness Men of Old” (DIX) descant

Yesterday was the First Sunday after Epiphany.

Our recessional hymn at St. Bartholomew’s was “As with Gladness Men of Old” (hymn tune: DIX). Click here for the  descant for the final stanza (with modulation and new key of G). This is  free to reproduce and use in your church.

My music files are now posted on ScoreExchange, the new music sharing from Sibelius Music Notation Software in the free SCORCH format (think of SCORCH as PDF for Music).

Christ the King Sunday

Today was the last Sunday of the Christian Year, when we observe Christ the King Sunday.  It is a fitting conclusion to the Church year, and also a wonderful prelude to Advent, where we look back at the first coming of Christ, as well as look forward to his return to reign as King in the new heaven and earth.

At St. Bartholomew‘s we began our service today with the first two verses of “Rejoice, the Lord Is King! (tune; GOPSAL) segueing to “Crown Him with Many Crowns (vs. 1, 3, 5 in The Hymnal 1982) as our processional.

“Jesus, Our Mighty Lord” Tune: MONKS GATE

Tomorrow morning during communion we are singing a hymn I recently introduced to St. Bartholomew‘s, “Jesus, Our Mighty Lord“. The text is a paraphrase by F. Bland Tucker (1895-1984) from the writing of one of the early church fathers, St. Clement of Alexandria, who lived ca. 170-220. The basis of this text is considered the first hymn text whose author is known and was previously translated as “Shepherd of Tender Youth” by Henry Dexter in 1846.

Tucker, an ordained Episcopal priest, was on the committees of both the 1940 and 1982 hymnals of the Episcopal church,

New hymn: “Come, Let Us Rise and Sing God’s Praises” & New Hymn Tune: POST OAK

I recently composed a new hymn tune, (which I’ve named POST OAK for the street we live on), for a metrical Psalm setting for a Sunday service at St. Bartholomew’s. The tune garnered good feedback from both musicians in the loft and parishioners. The meter of the tune is 9.9.8.8.8.8 for which very few texts exist with which I could pair the tune. So… I took the liberty to adapt a Charles Wesley text, “Come, Let Us With Our Lord Arise” to this rather obscure meter, for which few texts exist, keeping the basic form and thought of the original but updating some language, and adding a doxological forth verse. I’ve used the first three verses as our Sequence hymn the past few weeks, and the new 4th verse as our Presentation Hymn (the congregation stands and sings as the ushers take the offering to the front).

Here is Wesley’s original text:

1. Come, let us with our Lord arise,
our Lord who made both earth and skies,

A Theology of Music in Worship

I’ve been teaching at the Center for Worship at Liberty University this week with my pastor, Fr. Jerry Smith at the invitation of Dr. Vernon Whaley. It has been a wonderful week, so far, with great interaction with other visiting instructors, as well as the students.  In preparation for the first session which I presented yesterday, I revisited the “Vision for Worship” I developed for St. Bartholomew’s back in 2001 when we went from two distinct services (Traditional, Contemporary) to one integrated in style service repeated twice each Sunday morning. I spent several hours on the document – refining, adjusting based on the contextual changes in our parish in 10 years, expanding, and revising for clarity. I used it as the basis for teaching about Worship Planning, and the need for a clearly defined The0logy of Worship as the starting point for planning.

Here is the revised document. I welcome any questions or comments.

A Theology of Music in Worship

St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church • Nashville, Tennessee

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At St.  Bartholomew’s, the rector (Fr. Jerry Smith) serves as the worship leader for the parish; the music director I assists the rector in matters of music. Our vision for music in worship at St. Bartholomew’s is one of worship of the Triune God with all our beings, with all of our emotions, and with all of our intellect–hence we worship joyfully and exuberantly, as well as meditatively and reverently.

HymnSing Sunday, Sept. 11 6:30 PM St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church Nashville

This Sunday evening I am leading a Hymn Sing at our church Sunday evening 6:30 – 7:30. This is the first time we’ve done an event like this. I polled the congregation for favorite hymns from which to base our selections, and had nearly 100 responses. Top hymns (more than one request) were:

7 – Be Thou My Vision

5 – Great Is Thy Faithfulness •  How Great Thou Art

Passion Sunday “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross”

This Sunday is Passion Sunday (also known by many as Palm Sunday). We will close our service singing “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” to the tune HAMBURG. Our hymnal (The Hymnal 1982) uses the tune ROCKINGHAM which I also like, and often use. But for the recessional this week, which we will sing a cappella, the tune HAMBURG seems a better choice