Music Notes from Denise, December 13, 2025

This Sunday we will light the Advent candle of JOY! In our reading in Isaiah 35 we hear: The wilderness and the dry land shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom; like the crocus it shall blossom abundantly, and rejoice with joy and singing.

Our Processional hymn will be Blessed be the God of Israel which is the Song of Zechariah. In Luke 1, Zechariah had lost his voice during his wife Elizabeth’s pregnancy with John the Baptist. When he hears of his son’s birth, his tongue is loosed for his song of praise to the Lord God of Israel. “The last line of the hymn--with songs that never cease!--would seem to be a hyperbole at first glance, but the text is a literal understanding of eschatology. Our songs will never cease in heaven.” (umcdiscipleship.org) It was written by Michael Perry who initially studied mathematics and physics at Dulwich College in England and was headed for a career in the sciences. However, after one year of study in physics he transferred to Oak Hill College to study theology. Perry was ordained a priest in the Church of England in 1966 and was eventually vicar of Tonbridge in Kent, where he remained until his death from a brain tumor in 1996. (umcdiscipleship.org)

Our Sequence hymn will be “Thy kingdom come!” On bended knee written by Frederick L Hosmer (1840-1929). He became a Unitarian minister in 1872 and served in churches in Quincy, Ill, Cleveland, Ohio, and in St. Louis from 1894-99. He wrote numerous hymn texts including this one that was written in 1891 for the Commencement of the Meadville Theological School in Meadville, PA. (John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, hymnary.org)

For the Offertory, St. Martin’s Choir will sing an arrangement of Savior of the Nations, come by Georgiann Hinchcliffe Toole. Dr. Toole is on the education faculty at Shepherd University. A strong proponent of the value of musical performance activities for people of all ages and ability levels, she has served as singer or conductor for many church music programs and community and professional theater groups. This arrangement is a compelling setting of the famous plainsong melody Nun Komm, der Heiden Heiland, with Ambrose of Milan’s 4th century text paraphrased by Martin Luther in 1524.

Savior of the nations, come; Virgin’s Son, make Earth your home,

Marvel now, O heaven and earth, That the Lord chose such a birth

From the Godhead forth you came And return unto the same,

Captive leading death and hell High the song of triumph swell!

You, the chosen Holy One, Have o'er death the victory won.

Boundless shall your kingdom be;
When shall we its glories see?

(2014 St. James Music Press License #11394)

Our Communion hymn will be a new one written by Mary Louise Bringle, Light dawns on a weary world. She wrote the text after hearing the tune by William P Rowan at The Hymn Society Conference in Independence, MO in 2001. Rowan introduced his tune after a session on interfaith cooperation and bridge-building between Christians, Muslims, and Jews. (umcdiscipleship.org)

The final hymn for this Sunday will be Are You the One who is to come? by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. Carolyn writes in her book, God’s World is Changing, about John the Baptist’s concern about Jesus ministry: “Jesus must have known John’s anxiety and even disappointment about the direction of Jesus’ ministry. Yet he made it clear: God was working through him to bring healing and wholeness, love and forgiveness to a world that needed it so much. In the midst of our disappointments and uncertainties in our lives, when we ask who Jesus is and what God is doing, when we ask if our understanding of Jesus is correct or if we need to change what we believe and do—may we be reminded of the answer: God is still at work. Even when things get off track, God continues to heal, forgive, and bless, day by day.” (2022 God’s World is Changing: New Hymns for Advent and Christmas by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette)