Music Notes from Denise, March 29, 2025

This Sunday we will read Jesus’ parable about two brothers: the prodigal son and the faithful son and their father in Luke 15. When one son returned from his life of turmoil, the father told his stalwart brother, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”  Sometimes those of us who are here with the church resolutely and constantly can become angry and bitter when others who aren’t always here step up to claim their part in the kingdom. Thankfully, God provides us the ability to celebrate and rejoice whenever new life comes into our church.

Our Sequence hymn will be the lovely hymn My song is love unknown, written by Samuel Crossman, an Anglican priest in the 17 century. In his book, Listening to the Sacred Seasons, Jeff Held writes about the text, “It imitates George Herbert’s poem, The Sacrifice which explores the Passion from a personalized perspective of Christ…structured in 63 verses, each ending with Was ever grief like mine?” Crossman meant for this poem to be a love song—sung to Jesus who had pure love, even to the loveless so that they might “lovely be”. The tune was written by John Ireland who composed it in only fifteen minutes. The congregation will enjoy singing some of the stanzas to this heart-felt hymn. (Listening to the Sacred Seasons, copyright 2024 by Jeff Held; jeff-held.com)

We will have a guest soloist for our Offertory and Communion music, Kiera Anderson-Pittman. Kiera is a junior at Parkway Central High School who will be singing the songs that earned her a gold rating at MSSHA solo & ensemble festival and she qualifies for State Contest. She has had leading roles in many of Parkway’s theatrical productions and is a member of Standard Time, our vocal jazz ensemble that has performed at Webster University. Her offertory will be Jay Althouse’s arrangement of the Spiritual, Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. In his book, Were You There?, Luke Powery writes that the slave who might have sung this song had experienced the ups and downs of life, but also knew God. “This slave singer knows that our trouble will not terrorize us forever. This singer knows that hope will have the final word. This singer knows God will win and triumph over all of our trouble!” (Were You There? Lenten reflections on the Spirituals 2019 Luke A Powery, Westminster John Knox Press) Sometimes I’m up, sometimes I’m down. Oh yes, Lord. Sometimes I’m almost to the ground. Oh yes, Lord. If you get there before I do, Oh yes, Lord. Tell all my friends I’m comin’ too. Oh yes, Lord. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen. Nobody knows but Jesus. Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen, Glory hallelujah! (1994 by Alfred Publishing Co.)

Our final hymn will be the classic, Amazing grace! How sweet the sound. The text was written by John Newton. According to Robert J Morgan in his book, Then Sings My Soul, Newton was raised by a devout mother who died early and he subsequently tried to live a good life while falling deeper and deeper into sin. “Pressed into service with the British Navy, he deserted, was captured, and flogged …More voyages, dangers, toils, and snares followed. It was a life unrivaled in fiction. Then, on the night of March 9, 1748, John, 23, was jolted awake by a brutal storm and descended too suddenly for the crew to foresee. The next day, in great peril, he cried to the Lord. He later said that the 10 of March was a day remembered as the date the Lord came from on high and delivered him out of deep waters.” (Then Sings My Soul 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories 2003 by Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers) If America had a national folk hymn, this would probably be it, and is a powerful assurance and declaration of the grace of God working in all our lives. When Newton was just eleven, he joined his father at sea and began a tumultuous life in the Navy, eventually becoming captain of a slave ship. In a period of four years, however, his life was drastically turned around: he nearly drowned, he married a very pious Mary Catlett, and he read through Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation of Christ. In 1754 he gave up the slave trade and joined forces with the great abolitionist, William Wilberforce. A number of years later, he was ordained for ministry, and soon after wrote this great text, declaring that we are saved only the grace of God. Newton wrote, “I can see no reason why the Lord singled me out for mercy…unless it was to show, by one astonishing instance, that with him 'nothing is impossible'” (Newton, The Life of John Newton). As we sing the very familiar words of this hymn, how powerful it is to think of ourselves as an “astonishing instance” of God’s grace and mercy.  (Hymnary.org)

Do You Feel Lucky?

We are currently running a 50/50 "Bet on the Baby" Contest to help raise funds for the Priest Discretionary Fund and have some fun.

How it works:

$5.00/per square from a board of 84 numbers.  You will Purchase/Pick a number from a bucket, which will correspond to a day in the week and hour of the day.  When Rev. Leslie and Bill become grandparents (Official Day and Time), owner of that time square will be awarded the CHOICE of ½ of the collected $$$ or if preferred, the prize hidden behind door number 2 (current due date is May 8).

See Mike Kelly before or after Sunday Services to join in on the anticipation.  Cash, Check (made out to St. Martin's Church), credit or debit card will be accepted.  Squares will be sold until all are selected (total 84), or when the contest ends upon the arrival of their bundle of joy.  There is no limit to the number of available squares you may purchase. You can also call or text for more information or how to participate.

Rector's Reflection: Lost and Found, March 29, 2025

Beloved Members of St. Martin’s,

Sometimes, stories are so familiar that we no longer hear them when they appear in front of us. The words rattle by, but rather than listening deeply, we have a narrator’s voice in our heads speaking over the story line, and we fail to hear the true details of the story. This came to me as I was pondering again that familiar story in this weekend’s gospel, The Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15. For instance, I wonder if everyone knows what the word “prodigal” means? When I taught in the parochial school for my first two years of teaching, the word appeared on my students’ vocabulary list in English class once, and most of my kids surprised me by saying that “prodigal” meant “lost.” If you only encountered that word in the title of this parable, that would be a reasonable assumption. But it is also incorrect. Someone who is “prodigal” is actually someone who is wasteful or extravagant with their money. Most of my students admitted that the only time they had ever heard the word was in the context of this parable. And so we pulled the Bibles down from the tippy top of the shelf where they were stored in my room, blew off the inch-thick coating of dust on them, and cracked them open to where this story appears in Luke’s gospel. The first surprise my students got is that this parable comes hot on the heels of two other, shorter parables—and if you look, you will see that they are omitted in our gospel reading today, as well. But I think it’s helpful to hear those, too, so here they are. Right after the grumbling about Jesus welcoming sinners and eating with them, we get not one but THREE parables. The first two are the Parable of The Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin. THEN Jesus finishes up with the story of the Prodigal Son.

The eliminated stories make very clear that all three parables are about rejoicing when the lost is found—for relationships that are restored. The application for our behavior then also has to do with rejoicing over the one who has repented instead of judging them and refusing to forgive them for their mistakes. These stories are about accepting repentance freely, rather than demanding punishment from those who have done wrong so that they “earn” forgiveness.

The point of this parable is grace and mercy. It is an insistent declaration that God is not a God who stands aloof from us, but loves us unceasingly and calls us to return, again and again. This is a God who calls us to repent—to turn away from what separates us from God, and to turn away from what separates us from each other. It also reminds us that we depend on God’s help always in living our very best life, in which we ourselves are called to love and care for those around us without questioning whether they are worthy.

Judging worthiness is not our jobs.

Loving and caring for people IS, as disciples of Jesus and pilgrims on his Way of Love. No matter who “they” are, or how different “they” are from “us.”

We ourselves have been recipients of an abundant grace— forgiveness from God that rejoices each time we turn, but a forgiveness we have to realize can never be earned by us.

In Christ’s love,

Mother Leslie+