Sunday, Feb. 12, 2012 - Prepare for Worship

Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

 

In our gospel reading for this Sunday, a leper is confident in Jesus’ power to heal. However, in the Old Testament reading, the Syrian general Naaman is comically hard to convince that he can be healed by such an unlikely foreigner as Elisha, who directs him to wash in such a sorry excuse for a river as the Jordan. Jesus’ healing power is here among us in the ordinary water of the font, in the ordinary bread, in the ordinary people who make up the body of Christ. We would be well-advised to take the advice of the least powerful among us (like the servant girl in Naaman’s household) if we want to find the one who will heal us.

 

The readings are 2 Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and Mark 1:40-45. The hymns will be ELW 310, “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise,” hymn of praise, ELW 853, “When Morning Gilds the Skies,” ELW 612, “Healer of Our Every Ill,” offertory, ELW 483, “Here Is Bread,” and ELW 604, “O Christ, Our Hope.” The offering and communion music at both 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. will be provided by the St. John’s Chamber Orchestra. Guest organist will be Nancy Stafford.

February 2012

Sunday, Feb. 5, Fifth Sunday after Epiphany

In Isaiah, it is the one God who sits above the earth and numbers the stars – it is that God who strengthens the powerless. So in Jesus’ healing work we see the hand of the creator God, lifting up the sick woman to health and service. Like Simon’s mother-in-law, we are lifted up to health and service too. Following Jesus, we strengthen the powerless; like Jesus, we seek to renew our own strength in quiet times of prayer.

 

The readings are Isaiah 40:21-31, Psalm 147:1-11, 20c, 1 Corinthians 9:16-23 and Mark 1:29-39. The hymns will be ELW 314, “Arise, Your Light Has Come!” ELW 843, “Praise the One Who Breaks the Darkness,” offertory, ELW 460, “Now the Silence” and ELW 665, “Rise, Shine, You People!” At 8:45 a.m. the offering music will be Cathy Skogen-Soldner’s “Baptized and Set Free,” sung by Larry Christensen, and music during communion will be “Eagle’s Wings,” by David Haas, sung by Megan Hartwig. At 11 a.m. Cathedral Choir will sing “I’m So Glad,” by Michael Hassell, for offering. Francine Griffith will be the guest organist Sunday.

 

Sunday, Feb. 12, Sixth Sunday after Epiphany

In our gospel reading for this Sunday, a leper is confident in Jesus’ power to heal. However, in the Old Testament reading, the Syrian general Naaman is comically hard to convince that he can be healed by such an unlikely foreigner as Elisha, who directs him to wash in such a sorry excuse for a river as the Jordan. Jesus’ healing power is here among us in the ordinary water of the font, in the ordinary bread, in the ordinary people who make up the body of Christ. We would be well-advised to take the advice of the least powerful among us (like the servant girl in Naaman’s household) if we want to find the one who will heal us.

 

The readings are 2 Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 and Mark 1:40-45. The hymns will be ELW 310, “Songs of Thankfulness and Praise,” hymn of praise, ELW 853, “When Morning Gilds the Skies,” ELW 612, “Healer of Our Every Ill,” offertory, ELW 483, “Here Is Bread,” and ELW 604, “O Christ, Our Hope.” The offering and communion music at both 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m. will be provided by the St. John’s Chamber Orchestra. Guest organist will be Nancy Stafford. 

 

Sunday, Feb. 19, Transfiguration of Our Lord

The Sundays after Epiphany began with Jesus’ baptism and end with three disciples’ vision of his transfiguration, and they hear the same voice Jesus heard at his baptism: “This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!” We, like those disciples, see the God-light in Jesus face, and that same light shines through us for others to see. 

 

The readings are 2 Kings 2:1-12, Psalm 50:1-6, 2 Corinthians 4:3-6 and Mark 9:2-9. For the third year in a row, we are celebrating “Transfiguration of our Lord” and God’s light in Jesus with our friends, “Tropical Steel,” and their conductor, Stan Dahl. That Caribbean steel-pan band will join with Cathedral Choir, Cantorei and Kisasa on four sections of “St. Francis in the Americas: a Caribbean Mass” and with the assembly on a hymn. Remember to wear your sun glasses and your tropical shirts as we head “off to the islands” for one winter Sunday. The hymns will be ELW 671, “Shine, Jesus, Shine,” ELW 838, “Beautiful Savior,” ELW 531, “The Trumpets Sound, the Angels Sing” and ELW 866, “We Are Marching in the Light.” Guest organist will be Francine Griffith.

 

Wednesday, Feb. 22, Ash Wednesday

Two services: 12:05 and 7 p.m.

Lent begins with a solemn call to fasting and repentance as we begin our journey toward baptismal immersion in the death and resurrection of Christ. As we hear in today’s reading, now is the acceptable time to return to the Lord. During Lent the people of God will reflect on the meaning of their baptism into Christ’s death and resurrection. The sign of ashes suggests our human mortality and frailty. What seems like an ending is really an invitation to make each day a new beginning in which we are washed in God’s mercy and forgiveness. With the cross on our brow, we long for the spiritual renewal that flows from the springtime Easter feast to come.

 

The readings are Joel 2:1-2, 12-17, Psalm 51:1-17, 2 Corinthians 5:20b-6:10 and Matthew 6:1-16, 16-21. At the 7 p.m, service the music will be: entrance music, “Canticle of Joel,” Psalm 51:1-17, “Have Mercy on Me, O God,” offering music, “Dust and Ashes,” by David Haas, sung by Cantorei and Cathedral Choir, and, during the imposition of Ashes, “Remember That You Are Dust.” The preservice prayer, sung by Kisasa Choristers and Joyful Noise, will be “A Lenten Prayer,” by Robert Powell.

 

Sunday, Feb. 26, First Sunday in Lent

This year the Sundays in Lent lead us to focus on five covenants God makes in the Hebrew scriptures and to use them as lenses through which to view baptism. This Sunday Peter connects the way God saved Noah’s family in the flood with the way God saves us through the water of baptism. The baptismal covenant is made with us individually, but the new life we are given in baptism is for the sake of the whole world. 

 

The readings are Genesis 9:8-17, Psalm 25:1-10, 1 Peter 3:18-22 and Mark 1:9-15. The service music will be: processional litany, “Lord, Save Your People,” gospel acclamation, “Return to the Lord,” ELW 517, “Lord, Keep Us Steadfast in Your Word,” offertory, ELW 483, “Here Is Bread” and ELW 454, “Remember and Rejoice.” Nancy Stafford is the guest organist.

January 2012

Sunday, January 1, The Name of Jesus - One service at 10 am

From the beginning, by virtue of our baptism, we are called Christian. We were “Christ-ened” at the font. Bearing his name, we share the same Father and are invited to address him intimately: Abba! Jesus bears our sings in humble obedience to the will of the Father. Today we pray that the mind of Christ, whose name we bear, would be our own. It is a good way to begin, again, another year.

 

The readings are Numbers 6:22-27; Psalm 8; Galatians 4:4-7; and Luke 2:15-21. The hymns will be ELW 292, “Love Has Come”, ELW 634, “All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name” vs. 1, ELW 620, “How Sweet the Name of Jesus Sounds”, ELW 416, “At the Name of Jesus” vs. 1 and ELW 867, “In Thee is Gladness”. Since it is New Year’s Day there will only be one service Sunday morning at 10 am. There will also be a 5pm Saturday evening service in the chapel on New Year’s Eve, December 31st. 

 

Sunday, January 8, Epiphany of Our Lord

Epiphany means “manifestation.” On this day we celebrate the revelation of Christ to the Gentiles – that is, to all nations. Some Christian traditions celebrate three great epiphanies on this day: the magi’s adoration of the Christ child, Jesus’ baptism in the Jordan River, and his first miracle, in which he changes water into wine. The word and sacraments are for us the great epiphany of God’s grace and mercy. We go forth to witness to the light that shines brightly in our midst. 

 

The readings are Isaiah 60:1-6; Psalm 72:1-7, 10-14; Ephesians 3:1-12; and Matthew 2:1-12. The hymns will be ELW 300, “The First Noel”; ELW 308, “O Morning Star, How Fair and Bright!” ELW 302, “As with Gladness Men of Old”; and ELW 314, “Arise, Your Light Has Come!” 

 

Sunday, January 15, 2nd Sunday after Epiphany - Martin Luther King Jr. Sunday

All the baptized have a calling in God’s world. God calls not just the clergy but also the youngest child, like Samuel. In fact, God most frequently sends the marginalized and out-cast to be the messengers of the Gospel, probably because they are the ones who, needing it the most, understand it best. We celebrate the ministry of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. this Sunday and honor his voice for God’s justice and inclusion in a world from which African Americans were marginalized and excluded.

 

The readings are 1 Samuel 3:1-20; Psalm 139:1-6, 13-18; 1 Corinthians 6:12-20; and John 1:43-51. The hymns will be ELW 513, “Listen, God is Calling”; ELW 798, “Will You Come and Follow Me”; ELW 314, “Arise, Your Light Has Come!” and ELW 549, “Send Me, Jesus”.

 

The offering music at 8:45 and 11 will be the “Gloria,” from St. Francis in the Americas: A Caribbean Mass, Glenn McClure. The tunes used in this setting come from the spiritual “Sometimes I Feel Like a Motherless Child” and “Amazing Grace,” songs written by slaves and a former slave trader, John Newton. The juxtaposition of these two sources in one piece brings to our attention the tensions of sin and grace in our own, American history.

 

Sunday, January 22, Third Sunday after Epiphany

Stories of the call to discipleship continue as the Time after Epiphany plays out the implications of our baptismal calling to show Christ to the world. Jesus begins proclaiming the good news and calling people to repentance right after John the Baptist is arrested for preaching in a similar way. Knowing that John was later executed, we see at the very outset the cost of discipleship. Still, the two sets of fisherman brothers leave everything they have known and worked for all their lives to follow Jesus and fish for people. 

 

The readings are Jonah 3:1-5, 10; Psalm 62:5-12; 1 Corinthians 7:29-31; and Mark 1:14-20. The hymns will be ELW 720, “We Are Called”; ELW 815, “I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light” ELW 810, “O Jesus, I Have Promised”; and ELW 696, “Jesus Calls Us; O’er the Tumult”. The music during communion will be ELW 817, “You Have Come Down to the Lakeshore”.

 

Sunday, January 29, Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

In Deuteronomy God promises to raise up a prophet like Moses, who will speak for God; in Psalm 111 God shows the people the power of God’s works. For the church these are ways of pointing to the unique authority people sensed in Jesus’ actions and words. We encounter that authority in God’s word, around which we gather, the word that trumps any lesser spirit that would claim power over us, freeing us to follow Jesus. 

 

The readings are Deuteronomy 18:15-20; Psalm 111; 1 Corinthians 8:1-13; and Mark 1:21-28. The hymns are ELW 507, “O God of Light”; ELW 519, “Open Your Ears, O Faithful People”; ELW 311, “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed”; ELW 510, “Word of God, Come Down to Earth”; and ELW 665, “Rise, Shine, You People!”

December 2011

Sunday, Dec. 4, Second Sunday of Advent

 

John called people to repent, to clear the decks, to completely reorder their lives so that nothing would get in the way of the Lord’s coming. The reading from Isaiah gives the context for this radical call: the assurance of forgiveness that encourages us to repent; the promise that the coming one will be gentle with the little ones. Isaiah calls us all to be heralds with John, to lift up our voices fearlessly and say, “See, your God is coming!” We say it to one another in worship, in order to say it with our lives in a world in need of justice and peace. 

 

The readings are Isaiah 40:1-11, Psalm 85:1-2, 8-13, 2 Peter 3:8-15a and Mark 1:1-8. The hymn of the day is ELW 264, “Prepare the Royal Highway.” Throughout Advent the gathering song is “Maranatha: Advent Processional,” led by Asphalt & Stained Glass, and the sending song is ELW 247, “Come Now, O Prince of Peace.” At 8:45 a.m. the Kisasa Choristers will be joined by the Joyful Noise to sing “Keep Your Lamps,” by Andrea Thomas, with Brian Joy playing congas. The communion music will be “Agnus Dei” from Caribbean Mass, by Glenn McClure, sung at 8:45 a.m. by Cantorei and at 11 a.m. by Cathedral Choir.

 

Sunday, Dec. 11, Third Sunday of Advent

 

“Rejoice always,” begins the reading from First Thessalonians. Isaiah and the psalmist make clear that God is turning our mourning into laughter and shouts of joy. “All God’s children got a robe,” go the words of a spiritual. It is not so much a stately, formal, pressed outfit as it is a set of party clothes – clothes that make us feel happy just to wear. We receive that robe in baptism, and we gather in worship for a foretaste of God’s party. 

 

The readings are Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11, Psalm 126, 1 Thessalonians 5:16-24 and John 1:6-8, 19-28. The hymn of the day is ELW 261, “As the Dark Awaits the Dawn.” At 8:45 a.m. the offering music will be a duet from Bach Cantata No. 140, “Thy Love is Mine, and I am Thine,” sung by soprano Susan Stageberg and baritone Mark Garner, with Sue Odem taking the oboe obbligato. At 11 a.m. Cathedral Choir will sing “There’s a Voice in the Wilderness Crying,” by Michael Larkin. Communion music at both services will be ELW 715, “Christ, Be Our Light,” with choir on the verses and the assembly on the refrain. 

 

Sunday, Dec. 18, Fourth Sunday of Advent

 

God keeps the promise made to David, to give him an everlasting throne. The angel tells Mary that God will give David’s throne to her son, Jesus. She is perplexed by Gabriel’s greeting and by the news of her coming pregnancy, but she is able still to say, “Count me in.” We, who know that Jesus is called king only as he is executed, still find it a mystery hard to fathom, but with Mary today we hear the news of what God is up to and say, “Count us in.”

 

The readings are 2 Samuel 7:1-11, 16, Luke 1:46b-55, Mary’s “Magnificat,” Romans 16:25-27 and Luke 1:26-38. The hymn of the day will be ELW 258, “Unexpected and Mysterious.” Offering music will be “A Dove Flew Down from Heaven,” by Johannes Brahms, sung by Cantorei at 8:45 a.m. and Cathedral Choir at 11 a.m.

November 2011 Prepare for Worship

Sunday, Nov. 6, All Saints

 

“All Saints” celebrates the baptized people of God, living and dead, who are the body of Christ. As November heralds the dying of the landscape in many northern regions, the readings and liturgy call us to remember all who have died in Christ and whose baptism is complete. At the Lord’s Table we gather with the faithful of every time and place, trusting that the promises of God will be fulfilled and that all tears will be wiped away in the New Jerusalem. 

 

The readings are Revelation 7:9-17, 1 John 3:1-3 and the beatitudes, Matthew 5:1-12. The hymns will be ELW 422, “For All the Saints,” ELW 426, “Sing with All the Saints in Glory,” and ELW 632, “O God, Our Help in Ages Past.” St. John’s has the tradition of reading the names of the newly baptized (in the past year) at the beginning of the service as well as the names of those who have died (in the past 12 months) while tolling a bell at the “prayers of the people.” 

 

At 8:45 a.m. and 11 a.m., in place of the psalm, Kisasa will sing the piece they commissioned this year, “Blessed Are You”, by Julia Simon, using a bequest from the Richard Warming memorial funds. During the offering, Cantorei, Cathedral Choir and full orchestra with organ will perform “How Lovely is Thy Dwelling Place,” and during communion those forces will support Jennifer Horak-Hult on “Ye Now are Sorrowful.” Both are from “A German Requiem,” by Johannes Brahms. 

 

Sunday, Nov. 13, Time after Pentecost

 

Our readings during November speak of the end times. Zephaniah proclaims that the coming day of the Lord will be filled with wrath and distress. Paul says it will come like a thief in the night and urges us to be awake and sober. Jesus tells the parable of the talents, calling us to use our gifts, while we still have time, for the greater and common good. In a world filled with violence and despair, we gather around signs of hope – word, water, bread and wine – eager to welcome the good news of Christ’s coming among us. 

 

The readings are Zephaniah 1:7, 12-18, Psalm 90:1-12, 1 Thessalonians 5:1-11 and Matthew 25:14-30. The hymns will be ELW 707, “Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us,” ELW 688, “Lord of Light,” and ELW 543, “Go, My Children, with My Blessing.” At 8:45 a.m. oboist Sue Odem will play movements from “Sonata in A minor,” by Georg Philipp Telemann, for offering and communion, and at 11 a.m. Cathedral Choir will sing “God Has Called Us,” by Robert Hobby, for offering. Anointing with oil and laying on of hands for healing will be offered at the communion rail this weekend. 

 

Sunday, Nov. 20, Christ the King

 

On this final Sunday of the church year, our gospel is Jesus’ great story of judgment. In the end, the faithful are those who served Christ by ministering to those who are poor, hungry, naked, sick or estranged. In the first reading, God is the shepherd who seeks the lost, weak and injured and feeds them with justice. We gather this day to celebrate the reign of Christ and his victory over death, yet awaiting the consummation of all things yet to come. Acknowledging Christ as our merciful ruler, we go forth that his reign may be known in our loving words and deeds.  

 

The readings are Ezekiel 34:11-16, 20-24, Psalm 95:1-7a, Ephesians 1:15-23 and Matthew 25:31-46. The hymns will be ELW 855, “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” ELW 707, “Lord of Glory, You Have Bought Us,” ELW 531, “The Trumpets Sound, the Angels Sing,” and ELW 705, “God of Grace and God of Glory.” Cantorei at 8:45 a.m. and Cathedral Choir at 11 a.m. will sing Aaron David Miller’s exciting “Laudate Dominum” for offering music. Our Chamber Orchestra will accompany each choir to John Rutter’s setting of “The Lord is My Shepherd” during communion. 

 

Thursday, Nov. 24, 10 a.m., Day of Thanksgiving

 

At harvest time, we join the psalmist in offering thanksgiving to God: “You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty.” We are grateful for the abundance of the good things of God’s creation. Paul reminds us that our thanksgiving overflows into generosity. As the body of Christ in the world, we give ourselves away as bread for the hungry. 

 

For this national day of thanksgiving, the readings are Deuteronomy 8:7-18, Psalm 65, 2 Corinthians 9:6-15 and Luke 17:11-19. We will use Marty Haugen’s “Now the Feast” Holy Communion liturgy, and the first hymn will be ELW 693, “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come.”

 

Sunday, Nov. 27, First Sunday of Advent

 

Stir up your power, and come! The psalmist’s plea in Psalm 80:2 has become familiar to us in the Advent prayers. Isaiah wants God to rip the heavens open. Both cry out for an apparently distant, angry God to show up, to save, and to restore. When we hear Jesus describing the coming of the Son of Man with stars falling from heaven, it can sound dire and horrible, not like anything we would ever hope for. But when we really look at the suffering people God loves, we can share the hope that God would tear open the heavens and come. 

 

The readings for this first Sunday in the new Church Year are Isaiah 64:1-9, Psalm 80:1-7, 17-19, 1 Corinthians 1:3-9 and Mark 13:24-37. The feeling of the liturgy shifts during this season to a more quiet, contemplative and watchful tone. The entrance rite includes the procession of a flame from which the Advent Wreath is lighted.