With choir we are preparing a program for a concert in early 2011. The music is written by contemporary composers, of which one lives in our own Vancouver area (Larry Nickel). This summer I have been checking out many pieces and it was difficult and slow process. The selection criterium was song texts that were true to Scripture. The final result was the following songs (for now, as I am still looking for more).

Kyrie Eleison

Lord grant us peace, have mercy on us.
Lord, hear my prayer.

To Whom would we go?

Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. (John 6: 68)

So you've given up the fight to be faultless one worthy lesson to learn.
Those with Christ was the same aptly seen concern.
If you dark clouded vision tells you to give up the fight, look up to the One who cares.
Be bewildered but still say:

Lord to whom would we go? You have words of eternal life.
We believe and have come to know: You are the Son of the living God.

When you fantasy becomes an obsession you'd better let that lie fly.
Lest you find at the end of the dream you die.
When the role you are playing begins to fool even you, get down from those trodden boards,
sit down and wonder with the few...

Lord, to whom would we go? You have words of eternal life.
We believe and have come to know: You are the Son of the living God.

You like methaphors and religious images symbols and shadows and signs.
You will sing not the truts of the song but lines.
As your devilish simile pulls tight its scaley coils around, cry out while you still have breath.
Make full and heartfelt sound:

Lord, to whom would we go? You have words of eternal life.
We believe and have come to know: You are the Son of the living God.

Come unto me

Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light. (Matt. 11: 28 - 30)

Come unto me if you are weak and laden, I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for my yoke is easy and my burden is light.

Leaning on Everlasting Arms

What a fellowship, what a joy divine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
What a blessedness, what a peace is mine,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Refrain
Leaning, leaning, safe and secure from all alarms;
Leaning, leaning, leaning on the everlasting arms.

What have I to dread, what have I to fear,
Leaning on the everlasting arms;
I have blessed peace with my Lord so near,
Leaning on the everlasting arms.

Refrain

No more fear of dying

Since we, His children, have flesh and blood, He too shared in our humanity so that by His death, He might destroy him who holds the power of death - that is, the devil - and free those who, all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. (Hebrews 2:14,15) and also Phil. 2.

Jesus has arisen, joy and hope are given
Those who call upon His Name.
He shall be exalted through the endless ages;
Name above all other Names.

Refrain
No more fear of dying - no more need to doubt.
Every one shall answer, every knee shall bow.

Jesus has ascended,
Not like He descended - in a low and humble way.
He has been victorious, lifted up and glorious
Now He holds His rightful place.

Jesus is returning, joy and hope are burning
In the true believers heart.
King of all creation, come with celebration,
May we never more depart!

No more fear of dying - no more need to doubt.
Every one shall answer, every knee shall bow.

God be with you till we meet again

God be with you till we meet again;
by his counsels guide, uphold you,
with his sheep securely fold you;
God be with you till we meet again.

Refrain:

Till we meet, till we meet,
till we meet at Jesus' feet;
till we meet, till we meet,
God be with you till we meet again.

Considering the number of people that are dealing with a life-threatning sickness in our local churches, these texts suddenly speak a powerful message. When I selected these songs over the summer we did not know about several of these people's sickness.

We hope to perform this program in Jan/Feb 2011, DV.

 

The Lord commanded us to celebrate the Lord's Supper. We have a beatiful document in the form that we read before the Lord's Supper. Because it is read every time we celebrate the Lord's Supper, we know most of it by heart.

The opening paragraph quotes from 1 Cor. 11: 23-29.

 ²³ For I received from the Lord what I also passed on to you: The Lord Jesus, on the night he was betrayed, took bread, ²⁴ and when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, “This is my body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of me.” ²⁵ In the same way, after supper he took the cup, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood; do this, whenever you drink it, in remembrance of me.” ²⁶ For whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until he comes.

 ²⁷ So then, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of sinning against the body and blood of the Lord. ²⁸ Everyone ought to examine themselves before they eat of the bread and drink from the cup. ²⁹ For those who eat and drink without discerning the body of Christ eat and drink judgment on themselves.

I look at this part of Scripture as the summary of the rest of the form. It is an opening statement that is very clear about what we are about to do and it gives a clear warning too.  

Tomorrow we will be celebrating the Lords Supper again. Although it is called "celebrating", I do not experience the Lord's Supper a celebration. The Lord's commanded us do this in remembrance of Him. His life on earth was suffering, and He paid for our sins. His

It says "...you proclaim the Lord’s death...". What that means for us, is beautifully worded in the form:

We remember in particular that the weight of the wrath of God caused by our sins pressed out of Him sweat like drops of blood falling on the ground in the garden of Gethsemane.

There He was bound that He might free us from our sins.
He suffered countless insults that we might never be put to shame.
Though innocent He was condemned to death that we might be acquitted at the judgment seat of God.
He even let His blessed body be nailed to the cross that He might cancel the bond which stood against us because of our sins.
By all this He has taken our curse upon Himself that He might fill us with His blessing.
On the cross He humbled Himself, in body and soul, to the very deepest shame and anguish of hell.
Then He called out with a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Mt 27:46) that we might be accepted by God and nevermore be forsaken by Him.

Sometimes I have the feeling that we forget that quickly. We would like to proclaim the Lord's Resurrection. We would like to skip his death and the wrath-part. We like to sing upbeat Psalms and Hymns around the Lord's Supper, about forgiveness, and power and glory.

How do you prepare for the Lord's Supper as church organist/pianist? What music do you choose to play before the service, when the congregation comes in and prepares for worship? Is it fitting to play music that proclaims the Lord's death? Or should we play music that proclaims the Lord's resurrection?

It becomes even more challenging when you receive the song selection, and you see "Hallelujah! Praise the LORD, and exalt his holy name.", "Christ has risen! Hallelujah! He is our victorious Head. Sing his praises! Hallelujah! Christ has risen from the dead.", "O give the Lord wholehearted praise! In thankful song my voice I raise within the righteous congregation.". Sure, someone can probably explain how you proclaim the Lord's death through these songs, but for the average church member it appears to be a stretch.

It is not easy - how to prepare the congregation for worship, with the celebration of the Lord's Supper??! How should your music support the pastor's message and tone he tries to set, by selecting certain songs? I don't have an answer other than communication with the pastors.

I admit that I have not followed the indication from the pastors based on their song selection. Instead I have played Lent chorales and preludes from J.S. Bach and other German composers, parts of the St. Matthews Passion, selections from the Messiah, parts from Stainer's Crucifixion, variations on Psalm 22, etc. In 8 out of 10 services people take the effort to let me know how much they appreciated the selections. Sometimes I ask them why... They don't like it because they recognize it, but because of the deeper meaning behind the selections.

Tomorrow in Langley we will proclaim the Lord's death and celebrate the Lord's Supper again. The service starts with Psalm 146, "Praise the Lord who reigns forever! O my soul, bring him your praise" and before the service we hear Bach chorales and arias... about suffering... about death... to remember...

 

On Saturday, October 30, 2010, the Opera Company of Philadelphia brought together over 650 choristers from 28 participating organizations to perform one of the Knight Foundation's "Random Acts of Culture" at Macy's in Center City Philadelphia. Accompanied by the Wanamaker Organ - the world's largest pipe organ - the OCP Chorus and throngs of singers from the community infiltrated the store as shoppers, and burst into a pop-up rendition of the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's "Messiah" at 12 noon, to the delight of surprised shoppers.  

This event is one of 1,000 "Random Acts of Culture" to be funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation over the next three years. The initiative transports the classical arts out of the concert halls and opera houses and into our communities to enrich our everyday lives. To learn more about this program and view more events, visit www.randomactsofculture.org. The Opera Company thanks Macy's and the Friends of the Wanamaker Organ (www.wanamakerorgan.com) for their partnership, as well as Organ Music Director Peter Conte and Fred Haas, accompanists; OCP Chorus Master Elizabeth Braden, conductor; and Sound Engineer James R. Stemke. For a complete list of participating choirs and more information, visit www.operaphila.org/RAC. This event was planned to coincide with the first day of National Opera Week.

 

 

Our Psalm CD was reviewed by Christopher Dawes in the July 2010 issue of Organ Canada, the official publication of the Royal Canadian College of Organists. He did not review this CD purely based on what he heard and what he read in the CD booklet: Mr. Dawes did his research and addressed also the context, our reformed churches, the style of singing and highlighted a few aspects of the position of the Genevan Psalter in North America (and more...). 

I appreciate his comments about the playing and singing... I paid extra attention to his comment that this form of musical orthodoxy (e.g. Genevan Psalms) is tied tightly to a certain doctrinal orthodoxy (i.e. of the Canadian and American Reformed churches). He refers to the Anglican chant for the (conservative) Anglicans and the Scottish Psalter for the (conservative) Presbyterians.

I am wondering what Canadian/American Reformed church members think about this... is there a relation between the music and the doctrine of the church? Could you generally predict the docrine when you hear the music of a church? To stretch it futhter: is music part of the identity of the church? Is it realistic that the (conservative) Angican church remains Anglican and says good-bye to the Anglican chant? The Lutheran church stays Lutheran without the hymns of Luther? The conservative Presbyterians stay presbyterians and replacing the Scottish psalter?

Over the last few years I have thought about this too, also considering what history does to reformed churches that practically replaced the Genevan Psalms (and subsequently the indiscriminate singing of Psalms) in the church life and in the personal life of their members. Mr. Dawes does not indicate if his personal experience as organist of a Christian Reformed church or his visits to the Netherlands have shaped this comment.

Enjoy the reading of this CD review.

 

Other CD reviews:
Review - Clarion by Rev. Theo Lodder (Cloverdale BC, Canada)
Review - Una Sancta by Rev. John Smith (Albany, WA, Australia)
Review - The Messenger by Rev. Joel Overduin (Mitchell, ON, Canada)

 

FOR A LIMITED TIME YOU (AS MY BLOG READER) MAY USE
THE BUTTON BELOW TO ORDER A CD FOR JUST
CAD 12.50 INCL. SHIPPING!

In Langley we are now broadcasting all worship services and most other activities online through the church website live.

LINK

The main purpose is to provide the elderly in Manoah Manor with this connection so that they can follow the service real time.

Moms (and dads) that are taking care of little children and the sick are also benefiting from this.

With the elementary school graduation several grandparents in Ontario appreciated this functionality as well.

 

Making things fun makes people change their behaviour... in this case with music...

Our church has installed a new computer for live broadcasting of the church services. This is especially nice for the sick and elderly people and the parents that are taking care of little children at home: they can follow the service live through the Internet.

Although this is in experimental stage and there are many opportunities for improvement, here is the recording that was automatically made of this afternoon's broadcast.

To play click the play-arrow on the bottom left...

The city of Victoria BC has a musician on the payrol. This person plays the Netherlands Centennial Carillon in the city. This is common in the Netherlands, where cities often have paid musical positions.

This started with J. Pzn. Sweelinck in the 16th century. He was paid by the city and the city gave him a house to live in for free! In turn he played the organ during the week, while people were walking through the church as a common meeting place. The Oude Kerk in Amsterdam has this position of city organist still today.

Also Haarlem, with its famous organ in the Bavo (Mozart, Handel), has an organist paid by the city. Below an interview with the organist, Jos van der Kooij, as published by the Reformatorisch Dagblad. I copied it and added the English subtitles so that you can follow the conversation.

The recent publication of the revised Goudimel harmonies of the Genevan Psalms, has been received with great enthusiasm world-wide. The original edition was published in Indonesia, and the quality of this edition has been acknowledged worldwide. Many decades this book was unavailable, but the editor has improved and released a new edition.

This book includes a CD with all Psalms recorded (Organist Dick Sanderman). The sound is from the old organ of the St. Michaels church in Zwolle. This included CD is a great product by itself - but it comes with the book. See sound samples below. - By the way: it is not written for organ, it is maybe even more suitable for piano!

Nicely bound in a metal (!) spiral so that it stands open and stays open with a nice cover and good quality paper, the price of 40 Euros is pretty good.

I ordered several books for the Reformed Church in Korea and I have extra copies. If you would like a copy , I am offering a book (incl CD) for $ 50 pickup or $ 55 by Canada Post.