O Blessed Spring

Paul Granlund • "Life Tree"

Our hymn during communion on Sunday is by the hymn writer Susan Palo Cherwien.  It is a hymn that centers in the Christian idea of the Tree of Life as Christ the Vine and source from which all  life grows.  Her poetry is beautiful; layering the different stages of human life, the seasons of creation, and Christ presence and centrality throughout our life cycle.   


Susan describes her inspiration for this hymn in this manner:

Above the baptismal font in Lutheran Church of the Good Shepherd in Minneapolis hangs a striking bronze sculpture by the late Paul Granlund, a sculpture which embodies the image of John 15:5 ‘I am the vine; you are the branches.’ Granlund cast a tree with four branches depicting the four ages of human life, with Christ as the central trunk. This bronze provided the structure for the text ‘O Blessed Spring,’ the words of which are woven around a central Christ image.  (History of Hymns: O Blessed Spring, Michael Hawn). 

You can read more from Susan about this hymn in this article in The Christian Century.

I love this hymn (and this sculpture), and hope you do too.  Meredith and I had this hymn at our wedding. For us the idea of being grafted to Christ the Vine throughout all the seasons of life, was not only a beautiful image to behold, but one of unmeasurable comfort, joy, and hope.  It is one that reminds us of the importance of faith and being involved in a faith community.  A reminder of Christ's ever-presence, and the power of Christian community.   What does this hymn mean to you?  Please comment below!
 
Susan Palo Cherwien has written numerous hymn texts that appear many denominational hymnals in the United States and Canada.  Her hymnody is familiar to us at St. George’s, as she was commissioned to write our hymn, “All embracing God” a few years ago.  You can find more of her hymn collections at Augsburgfortress.org, including our hymn in the collection Peace, be still.   She lives in St. Louis Park, Minnesota, with spouse David and sons Jeremiah and Benjamin.

Soli Deo Gloria!
Ben Keseley, Minister of Music

The King of Love My Shepherd Is

Sir Henry William Baker

unday is the Fourth Sunday of Easter, also known as “Good Shepherd Sunday.”   On this Sunday, across the world, many will be singing the beloved hymn, “The King of love my shepherd is.”  Just the fact alone that millions across the world will be singing this beloved and beautiful hymn on Sunday is a beautiful and powerful thing to behold.

Sir Henry Williams Baker (1821-1877), the author of this hymn and also the vicar of Monkland Priory Church in Herefordshire, England, wrote many hymns with “fine emotion and intellect.”  Baker is said to have uttered stanza three of this hymn as his last words before dying: 
 
Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
But yet in love He sought me,
And on His shoulder gently laid,
And home, rejoicing, brought me. 
 
A great passion of his Baker’s life was the production of the innovative Hymns Ancient & Modern (1861), a monumental milestone in the history of English hymnody. It was a collection of great variety and musical effectiveness.   At the time this hymnal was released, most congregations in Anglican churches devoted their congregational singing to metrical psalms, not hymnody.  The singing of hymns soon spread from the Methodists and Evangelicals in England to the Anglicans.  A notable feature of this landmark hymnal was the printing of text and tune for each hymn on the same page.   Tune and text were distinctively paired so that the poetic text was enhanced by the music. Up until this time, hymnals usually only contained the text of hymns with a limited number of tunes.
 
 “The King of Love my Shepherd Is,” a metrical paraphrase of Psalm 23, was written by Baker for the Second Edition of Hymns Ancient & Modern in 1868, and included in the appendix. His friend John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876), musical editor of the hymnal, wrote the tune DOMINUS REGIT ME specifically for it Baker’s paraphrase.  (Take a listen to this beautiful tune here!)   The tune we sing today, ST. COLUMBA, was paired with the text by Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958). He was denied use of Dykes tune for inclusion in his English Hymnal (1906), and so paired the text with his own arrangement of this Irish air.  ST. COLUMBA was originally published with the caption, “an Irish hymn sung at the dedication of a chapel”.  The tune is named for St. Columba, who brought Christianity to Ireland and is said to be the first to report a sighting of the Loch Ness monster.
 
As we sing this hymn on Sunday or you read or listen to the text below, notice the beautiful imagery, the ways in which the shepherd cares through the actions of leading and feeding.  I love stanza five – “From thy pure chalice floweth.”  The imagery of Christ’s body and blood holding out grace, healing and forgiveness of our sins, is a beautiful one.  What is your favorite imagery?  What do you love about this hymn? Comment if you wish to share.

The King of love my shepherd is,
whose goodness faileth never;
I nothing lack if I am his,
and he is mine for ever.

Where streams of living water flow, 
my ransomed soul he leadeth,
and where the verdant pastures grow,
with food celestial feedeth.

Perverse and foolish oft I strayed,
but yet in love he sought me,
and on his shoulder gently laid,
and home, rejoicing, brought me.

In death's dark vale I fear no ill
with thee, dear Lord, beside me;
thy rod and staff my comfort still,
thy cross before to guide me.

Thou spread'st a table in my sight;
thy unction grace bestoweth;
and oh, what transport of delight
from thy pure chalice floweth!

And so through all the length of days
thy goodness faileth never: 
Good Shepherd, may I sing thy praise
within thy house for ever. 
 
Soli Deo Gloria!
Ben Keseley, Minister of Music

In quiet joy

This past week as I was helping my daughter practice her violin, I found myself discussing with her the importance of silence in music.  “Yes, Julia, the rests are very important – you can’t just skip over them. They must have their full value...”  While she didn’t quite understand the finer points of my “speech” on the importance of silence, she at least grasped that it is something about which we should take great care.  
 
Our discussion reminded me on how important silence is – not just in music, but in our worship, and in our daily lives.  For me, I find myself thinking about silence the most during Eastertide.  For me there is something unspeakable, even unsingable about the power of the resurrection.  

In worship, we know that words alone cannot express the fullness of God, so we use nonverbal elements in our worship to complement the spoken.  We use music to open our hearts and help our community lift praises to God, pray, and proclaim God’s Word.  We use actions in our worship, such as gestures, ritual movement, dance, drama, along with our visual and architectural environment to communicate and enhance the words and music they accompany.  But we also use silence.  Perhaps it is here where we have our deepest encounters with the Holy.

Silence in our music, worship, and life is more than a pause. It is a time for the prayers of the heart, a time for deep listening, a time for being still in the presence of God, allowing us time to reflect on t 

Musical Human Beings

Musical Human Beings
 
This week after Holy Week and Easter Sunday, I find myself reflecting on the music and hard work of our musicians (thank you!) this past week and how the music we sang – both as a choir and as a congregation together – was integral to helping us more fully and deeply enter into the story of our salvation.  I think it goes beyond the simple singing of beautiful music in an excellent manner.
 
At the core, human beings are singing, musical beings.  We are beings who need music in order to tell and hear the whole truth.  Music helps us to be what God means for us to be.   Whether are creating music or experience it, it helps us live into the Imago Dei.  Music helps us - a people created in the image of God - to live a creative and beautiful life.

I find it remarkable, that even though we all do not love music equally; respond to it in an equal manner, or appreciate the same music, music provides us all with something of extraordinary value.  What would the quality of our humanity be like if music did not exist?  It is difficult to see anything good in the loss of music.  Music helps us to find ourselves and express ourselves and connect us deeper to the truths of humanity and they mysteries our faith, 

wise person once said, “The gift of music offers us the message of scripture on wings of song that find nesting places in our hearts where words alone cannot go.”   
 
            For the music of creation,
            For the song your Spirit sings,
            For your sound’s divine expression,
            Burst of joy in living things:
                  God, our God, the world’s composer,
                  Hear us, echoes of your voice –
                  Music is your art, your glory,
                  Let the human heart rejoice!
 
                        -- Shirley Erena Murray
 
Soli Deo Gloria!
Ben Keseley, Minister of Music
 

Best. Music. Of the Year

 

ands down, this week’s services are the best liturgies of the year.  Hands down, the services this week contain the best music of the church year.  Worship and music that is not to be missed…for many reasons.  The music of Holy Week and Easter, particularly of our Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and Vigil services, are not only stirring, but works of sheer and simple beauty that bring us deeply into the mysteries of our faith. 
 
The simple beauty of this music is directly tied to bold liturgical action it accompanies, and it is because of this, that this music is powerful and especially moving.  From the anthems sung during the washing of the feet to the chanting of Psalm 22 as the altar is stripped on Maundy Thursday, to the Reproaches sung on Good Friday and the four-part singing of the Passion Chorale, to the ancient Exultet chant, psalms, and first Easter song of praise at the Vigil – this music and the liturgies to which it is tied, bring us fully into the story, and make it alive within us.  It ushers in the numinous – that which is holy, the presence of divine beauty - and allows us to encounter in a more complete way the mysteries of God’s love for us and the world. 
 
We have all been given a special and profound gift in our Holy Week liturgies and its music.  It is a gift that will change us.  It is a gift that will help us to know God’s love more fully and spread that love into the world.  It is one that I hope we all will take advantage, and allow ourselves to truly experience this profound love that is made present in our time of worship together as we journey through the great story of our salvation. 
 
Soli deo Gloria!
Ben Keseley, Minister of Music
 
 
Saint George’s Hymn Project
 
What we sing our lips, we show forth in our lives
 
Hymn 657   - Love divine, all loves excelling
 
Allison Otto, writes:
As pretty much all Episcopal hymns are new to me since attending St. George's, this one has my favorite combination of tune and (especially the last verse) lyrics that evoke an ethereal feeling.
 
Hymn - Thee I love with all my heart  (from Evangelical Lutheran Worship)
 
Matt Waring, writes:
I don't think it's in the Episcopal hymnal, but this is a great German Reformation hymn with beautiful English-translated lyrics. It has those marvelous harmonies that distinguish all the great Lutheran hymns, and it sounds gorgeous sung a capella.
 
I sang in the choir at the Lutheran church where I grew up, and we would use the third verse of this hymn as a postlude to evening services during Lent. That verse is a prayer to God that we may abide in Him after our death and behold His glory at the last. When we sang those words in a quiet church as darkness closed around us, I was always deeply moved. For me, this hymn is a reminder of the power of music and hymnody to give voice to the hopes and fears of our hearts and to help us experience God's real presence.
 
 
St. George’s Favorite Hymn Project:
We are collecting YOUR favorite hymns.  Submit yours today.
Tell us what it is here and why.