Sunday, February 21, First Sunday in Lent
Almighty God, whose blessed Son was led by the Spirit to be tempted by Satan: Come quickly to help us who are assaulted by many temptations; and, as you know the weaknesses of each of us, let each one find you mighty to save; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Sunday, February 21 is the Last Sunday after Epiphany. Find the readings here.
Dear Friends in Christ,
This week’s worship videos are now available:
Morning Prayer, Rite II
Morning Prayer, Rite I
If you haven't already done so, please take our "Talking About Race" survey. Your response will help our planning team focus their energies on the programming that is most interesting to our congregation. It's important that we hear from everyone, as this is a parish-wide effort, not anyone's pet project. All responses will be kept confidential.
Please join us for coffee hour at noon:
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Here are Mark's music notes:
Our first hymn is 150 “Forty Days and Forty Nights” sets the stage for Lent. SSJE organist and composer James Woodman set this hymn as a “Partita,” 4 short meditations on this same tune which really mark the important journey we begin, this year even more focused on our isolation, brokenness, as well as hopeful. I have chosen to feature these settings to frame our worship today.
For Lent we’ll feature a new Trisagion by Marty Wheeler Burnett, the new Church Music professor at Virginia Theological Seminary (VTS). The Trisagion is an ancient text which literally means “Thrice Holy” and is repeated 3 times. With a simple flute and bell accompaniment I hope you will sing along.
We’ll sing a metrical setting of Canticle 9, the First Song of Isaiah, from Isaiah 12:2-6. Zebulon Highben (who also gets a prize for a great name) adapted the words to one of my favorite hymns in the hymnal, #536 “Open your ears, O faithful people,” AKA: Torah Song. This is fun to sing. And you can dance too, no one (outside of your household) will see you!
Ana Hernandez composed a “meditation,” a paraphrase of Canticle N, “A Song of God’s Love.” The text from 1 John 4:7-11: ”Beloved, let us love one another…” Her setting gently allows us to sing along with new layers adding depth. Check out her website for more music: anahernandez.com.
“When we are tested” by Ruth Duck is our final hymn. It was written to reference Luke 4:1-11, the Gospel for Lent 1C. Although this year’s Gospel reading doesn’t get into the details of Satan’s testing of Jesus so much, this hymn text does seem to comment upon some of the current testing we’ve been living with for the past year. Ruth Duck is a UCC ordained pastor and holds a MA from Notre Dame. For years she was professor of Worship at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston Illinois.
The Choir is singing together Compline via Zoom on Thursday nights during Lent; Perhaps you’d like to join us, just send a note to Mark (mark@stjohnsgloucester.org) and he’ll include you in the Thursday invite. You can listen to the most recent Compline here: https://youtu.be/lb2kdYqv1SI