March 22

The prelude Sunday is J. S. Bach's "O Man, Bewail Thy Grievous Fall", one of his many settings of chorales, and a piece the famous Widor said once was the finest piece written. In it Bach does use all of his techniques to express sadness.  I try to play the setting every year, and will play the actual chorale upon which it is based, first.  

Our beautiful processional hymn, "Come down, O Love divine" (516), was written by Ralph Vaughan Williams, as you may note in the hymnal notes, but uses a 15th century text.  The Gospel hymn, "O bless the Lord,  my soul" (411), is equally beautiful in my opinion but as you will note is from the 18th century, the text being a paraphrase of Psalm 103: 1-5.

Our day's anthem, "I Will Sing of Thy Mercies", is an arrangement by Carlton Young, from Felix Mendelssogn's most successful oratorio, "St. Paul," performed first in 1836 and modeled to some extent after Handel. 

Communion hymns are "I am the Way, to Thee alone from sin and death we flee" (457), and "Breathe on me, Breath of God" (508).

Closing, we will sing the long time favorite, "O for a thousand tongues to sing my dear Redeemer's praise, 493, text by Charles Wesley, and loved for about 2 centuries now.

The postlude is a setting by David Lasky (20th c. American) of hymn 151, "Out of the depths I cry to You," both text and melody by Martin Luther.