September 17, 2023

Sunday's organ prelude is based on a Scottish hymn tune, "Come, O Thou Traveler Unknown", a setting by the prolific Dale Wood (1934-2003), raised as a Lutheran but prominent in both the Lutheran and the Episcopal church, having served many years at the Episcopal Church of St. Mary the Virgin in San Francisco. He was known as a master of melody and sometimes called "Mr. Joy".

What I call a "chestnut" is the processional hymn -- 400 - "All creatures of our God and King", words of Francis of Assisi; it is a centuries old tune adapted by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Also a favorite (I think!) is the Gospel hymn, 577, "God is love, and where true love is God himself is there", known as "Ubi caritas".

The anthem uses one of my favorite hymn tunes as a base -- tune name, "Gardiner", 609, but here uses Psalm 67 as a base for the text. It is a lovely setting by Robert J. Powell, (born 1932), whom I presume still lives in Greenville, SC. We have examples of his writing in our hymnal, AND, as a reminder-- he tuned our organ for a few years when it was new.

Then we have a communion hymn, the text for which is also based on a prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, hymn 593, "Lord, make us servants of your peace". It is most well known to us, but even if you don't sing it, do ponder the text!

Closing, we will sing hymn 376. "Joyful, joyful, we adore thee", the famous Ludwig von Beethoven tune used in his Ninth Symphony.

The postlude is based on the processional hymn, and is a setting by Jacob B. Weber, a very young organist (Emmanual Lutheran Church, Dearborn, MI) cantor, very active composer, and associate editor of Concordia Publishing House. All that requires youthful energy, and I would hope he has a long and distinguished career!