Music Notes from Denise, May 25, 2025

This Sunday we will read Jesus’ comforting words in John 14: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.”  Our processional hymn will be How wondrous and great thy works, God of praise. It was written by Henry Ustick Onderdonk (1759-1848) who was Bishop of Pennsylvania in 1836. He was a member of the committee that compiled the American Prayer Book Collection of 1826 and wrote several hymns. (The Hymnal 1940 Companion)

Our Sequence hymn was written by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette in honor of Memorial Day. Carolyn writes: “This hymn for Memorial Day is a prayer thanking God for our nation, recognizing the tragedy of war, and giving thanks for people who have sacrificed their lives for others. It is a prayer that we, the living, may honor those who have died by working for the "Four Freedoms" lifted up in President Franklin Roosevelt's Annual Message to Congress in 1941: freedom of speech, freedom of worship, freedom from want, and freedom from fear. As we remember those we love, may we seek to follow God's way and build a more just and peaceful world.”  (Copyright 2023 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette. All rights reserved. Used with permission carolynshymns@gmail.com)

This Sunday we will have an ensemble of guest singers from Parkway Central High School. They have just graduated from high school after singing together as a sextet for the past three years: Mars Kavadlo, Clare Brady, Mackenzie Miller, Ava O’Bryan, Shane DeJesus, and Evelyn Seeley. The songs they will be singing were the ones that they received a Gold Award for at the State Music Festival.

For the Offertory, the ensemble will sing the spiritual, Walk in Jerusalem, arranged by Rollo A. Dilworth. Dilworth writes: “This particular African American spiritual, throughout its oral history, has existed in various forms. Scholars have uncovered several titles for this work, including “I Want to Be Ready,” “Walk in Jerusalem,” and even “Jus’ Like John.” Although the words and phrase structure for these arrangements are slightly different, historically, this particular spiritual has always stood out among the repertoire as an anthem for freedom, liberty, and social justice.” (Copyright 2004 by Hal Leonard Corp. All Rights Reserved)

I want to be ready. I want to be ready. I want to be ready to walk in Jerusalem jus’ like John.

Are you ready to walk? Are you ready to walk? Are you ready to walk in Jerusalem jus’ like John?

John said the city was jus’ four square. And he declared he’d meet me there.

O John, O John, what do you say? That I’ll be there in the comin’ day.

I am ready to walk. Yes, I’m ready to walk in Jerusalem jus’ like John.

During Communion, the ensemble will sing I Long for the Green Hills by Greg Gilpin. It’s a lovely song that describes the beautiful world that we each find in the fond memories throughout our lives.

I long for the green hills where I used to play. Where warm winds of summer would tease me all day.

And ripples of a stream would tickle rocks between each bend and each turn.

What joy, oh, what fun, when I was so young.

Show me the meadow where I used to play in sweet, golden flowers that danced in the hay.

And giving shade to me so very quietly, silent and strong, An oak reaching high as if touching the sky.

Take me there, take me where I used to dream. Oh, how those memories come running to me.

I long for the green hills of childhood again. Where meadows of innocence surround me and send

My heart and my mind and my very soul to a place long ago. Remembering, remembering.

                        (Copyright 2010 by Alfred Music Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved)

To go with Jesus’ words about peace, we will sing Put Peace into each other’s hands, by Fred Kaan (1929-2009) as our Communion hymn. Kaan’s hymns sought to address issues of peace and justice. He was born in Haarlem in the Netherlands in July 1929 and was baptized in St Bavo Cathedral. He lived through the Nazi occupation, saw three of his grandparents die of starvation, and witnessed his parents’ deep involvement in the resistance movement when they took in a number of refugees. He was ordained in 1955 at the Windsor Road Congregational Church in Barry, Glamorgan. In 1963 he was called to be minister of the Pilgrim Church in Plymouth. It was in this congregation that he began to write hymns. (hymnary.org by Dianne Shapiro, from obituary [www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/fred-kaan-minister-and-celebrated-hymn-writer-1809481.html])