Every Sunday in the liturgical year is a celebration of the Resurrection. While music in a typical worship service can range from joyous to stately to reflective to solemn, it is always offered in celebration of Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Be it a congregational hymn, choral anthem, or organ voluntary, music in worship is always an expression of faith. I find it especially poignant, almost humbling, that immediately following a most joyful and triumphant celebration of one hundred years of worship in our sanctuary, we shift gears completely by moving into the season of Lent.
Easter is April 20, just over a month away. It will be a day of great rejoicing with triumphant music and shouts of “Hallelujah, He is risen!” And it should be. We must first go on the Lenten journey to Easter: the forty days and forty nights beginning with Ash Wednesday. While the Sundays in Lent are not counted among the forty days, they are equally as important in this season of penitence. Lent should be a time of self-reflection in addition to penitence, as people and as Christians. In our lives, it can be easy to focus solely on the pomp and celebration. However, it is crucial to hold space for the full journey which can encompass a range of emotions and experiences. This is true for our Christian journey. It is difficult to know the full joy of Easter without experiencing the full scope of Lent and Holy Week.
Our Lenten journey will be especially reflected in the words we sing and the music that accompanies them. Among the choir’s offerings during Lent will include settings of familiar texts such as There is a Balm in Gilead, When I Survey the Wondrous Cross and Jesus Walked This Lonesome Valley.
Our worship will include many hymns relevant to the season with some being intentionally introspective. Hymn 382, Forgive Our Sins as We Forgive, uses words from the Lord’s Prayer as its crux in a most introspective fashion. The third stanza is particularly poignant the way the clear image of the cross is compared to our dim knowledge of the truth; the truth being that any earthly debt owed to us pales in comparison to the debt owed to Jesus.
Every year during Lent we sing What Wondrous is Love (Hymn 257), a text that dates to the early 19th century. The opening line can be viewed as a statement or question. The idea of this “wondrous love” serves as a starting point for the writer who goes on to reference Christ laying aside his crown for their soul. The third and fourth stanzas are inspiring statements by the writer who commits to singing the news of the great “wondrous love” both in this mortal life and “when from death I’m free.” A common theme in this hymn is repetition of words. Repeated lines in music are often a tool for heightening drama in a poem or story. As put by Dr. Michael Hawn, formerly of the Perkins School of Theology, these are not carefully crafted words, but rather utterances from one’s soul.
Our Lenten season will include music and words familiar to many of you, and music and words that may be less familiar. I hope that our various musical offerings will serve as valuable components of your worship and provoke a deeper appreciation or understanding of their importance during this season.
Stephen
From the Director of Music
(910) 295-6003
info@tvcpinehurst.com
