Purple, representing both royalty and penitence, is traditionally used during Advent and Lent.
Blue symbolizes hope and may also be used during Advent.
White and gold are used at Christmas and Easter to symbolize joy and festivities.
Red symbolizes the color of fire to represent the Holy Spirit on the Day of Pentecost and times when the work of the Holy Spirit is emphasized. During Holy Week it represents the blood of Christ. Red is also used for ordinations, church anniversaries and civil observances such as Memorial Day and Thanksgiving.
Green represents growth and is used during Ordinary Time (the season after Epiphany and the season after Pentecost.)
Let’s start with a word about liturgical colors. You can see listed here that the official color of the long season of Ordinary Time is green. This makes sense for lots of reasons: Ordinary Time is about growing in our faith, about accepting the gifts that we’ve been given, and producing the fruit not just as individual Christians but as the body of Christ. Green is the color of growth and of fruitfulness. There are other reasons why the season claims the color green. Perhaps you and your team can come up with some more and use them to inform the congregation who may never have given thought to why the green paraments are used throughout this season.
We started here, however, because there are those who get bored with a single color in this long season that runs from Pentecost through Reign of Christ/Christ the King Sunday at the end of November. There are so many colors, so much beauty in worship art and God’s creation, why use only one color for this long season? Isn’t this the season after Pentecost? Why can’t we use red for at least a part of the season?
The season of Ordinary Time (or the Sundays after Pentecost—there is no “Pentecost Season”) calls for creativity and artistry. Even if you are using green as a foundational color, there is no reason why you can’t bring in a host of other colors over the season. Green represents life, and life is colorful. So, use more colors; use both/and; use a whole palette of colors to bring to life the worship in Ordinary Time. Think ahead for changing series or themes and find ways to enhance the liturgy with visual expressions of color, not just in paraments, but in banners, worship centers, projected or posted images, and colors. There are ways to move beyond the plain green altar or pulpit fall. Call on artists of all sorts to enhance the space.
Chuck Knows Church — Episode 1 – LITURGICAL COLORS. Ever walk into your Sunday morning worship service and realize the colors have changed around the sanctuary? That’s why Chuck is talking about Liturgical Colors on his FIRST SHOW!
“Come, Christians, Join to Sing” was the closing hymn at Pender’s Music Appreciation Sunday on June 11, 2023. It was sung by Pender’s congregation and Sanctuary Choir, accompanied on piano by Heidi Jacobs and combined handbell choirs (Joy and Carillon Ringers) directed by Brian Stevenson.
“Come, Christians, Join to Sing” was the opening hymn at Pender’s Traditional Service on May 29, 2022. It was accompanied by piano (Liz Sellers) and organ (Brian Stevenson).
“Come, Christians, Join to Sing”
Christian Henry Bateman UM Hymnal, No. 158
Come, Christians, join to sing:
Alleluia! Amen!
loud praise to Christ our King:
Alleluia! Amen!
Let all, with heart and voice,
before his throne rejoice;
praise is his gracious choice.
Alleluia! Amen!
Christian Henry Bateman (1813-1899) was ordained into the Church of England after being a Congregational minister.
His ministerial studies were under the auspices of the Moravian Church, where he served for a time before changing to the Congregational Church at age 30. Following his ministry at Richmond Place Congregational Church in Edinburgh, Scotland, and successive Congregational parishes in Hopton, Yorkshire, and Reading, Berkshire, he took Holy Orders in the Anglican Church at age 56 and served as a curate and vicar in several Anglican parishes.
Australian hymnologist Wesley Milgate (1916-1999) noted that Bateman’s hymn is actually a rewritten version of the hymn “Join Now in Praise, and Sing” by William Edward Hickson (1803-1870). Hickson’s text uses the same melody, MADRID (SPANISH HYMN), and is structured in much the same way. Compare Bateman’s text at the beginning of this article with the first stanza of Hickson’s hymn:
Join now in praise, and sing
Hallelujah, Amen!
Praise to our heavenly King,
Hallelujah, Amen!
By love and gratitude
Still be the song renewed,
And be our hearts subdued,
Hallelujah, Amen!
Bateman probably found the earlier hymn in the collection Hickson published, Singing Master (1836). Hickson’s five stanzas were reduced to three by Bateman and first appeared in a collection published in Edinburgh, Sacred Melodies for Children (1843). The original “Hallelujah, Amen!” was changed by the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A., in their 1933 hymnal, to “Alleluia! Amen!” It has remained that way ever since.
Each stanza begins with an exhortation—an imperative command to “Come” or “Praise.” In stanza one, Bateman provides the children with the reason for singing: We offer “loud praise to Christ our King . . . before his throne. . . .” Christ desires our praise: “praise is his gracious choice. . . .”The original incipit (opening line of the hymn) was “Come, children, join to sing.” Though changed in the Presbyterian hymnal to include all age groups, Bateman’s text contains direct, uncomplicated language suited for children. Since very few of the words have more than two syllables and “Alleluia! Amen!” is interjected three times in each stanza, the hymn is easy for children to learn and sing.
Stanza two reassures the children (and all of us) that this King is also “our guide and friend” and that “his love shall never end.” This King will “condescend” to be a friend to the children. To condescend surely did not mean to patronize as it tends to mean today, but implies that Christ the King humbles himself to be in a personal relationship with us.
Stanza three ends on an eschatological note. The author reassures children that they need not fear death. Beyond life, our songs will continue on “heaven’s blissful shore . . . singing forevermore: Alleluia! Amen!”
Dr. Hawn is professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology.
During the Postlude at Pender UMC’s Traditional Service on June 11, 2023, we were treated to “Military Polonaise Op. 40 No. 1 in A Major”by Frédéric Chopin played by Heidi Jacobs.
The Polonaise no. 1 in A major, often nicknamed Military, has been described as a symbol of ‘Polish Glory’: it is almost entirely played forte or louder, which makes for a bombastic performance.
Pender’s current Doxology is “Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow”.
On May 28, 2023, Pender Pianist, Heidi Jacobs played a prelude which incorporated the Doxology into a medley of hymns.
In general usage, the Doxology is a short statement of praise, glory, and thanksgiving to God. It is often a short hymn designed to be sung by the worshiping congregation. Pender sings it to give thanks after the offering.
Chuck Knows Church — Doxology.
Chuck sings! Kinda. Bet you can’t guess the name of the most played piece of music in Protestant churches each Sunday? You looked at the title of this episode, didn’t you?
Chuck sings and explains on this his show!
“Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow”
by Thomas Ken The United Methodist Hymnal, 95
Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heav’nly host; Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.
Born in Hertfordshire, Bishop Thomas Ken (1637–1711) was orphaned as a child and raised by his sister Anna and her husband Izaak Walton. They enrolled him in the all-boys school at Winchester College (1651–1656). After his education there, he attended Hart Hall, Oxford, and New College, Oxford (B.A., 1661, M.A., 1664).
Ken was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1662, serving as rector to several parishes and as a chaplain to Princess Mary of Orange (1679–80), King Charles II (1683), and the Tangier Expedition (1683–84). In 1685, he was appointed Bishop of Bath and Wells. During the reign of King James II, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to sign the Declaration of Indulgence (1687), a decree designed to promote the king’s Catholic faith. Ken was acquitted of the charge. When, however, King William III ascended to the throne, Ken refused to swear loyalty to him and resigned his office, living the rest of his life at the home of his friend, Lord Weymouth, at Longleat, Wilshire (Doyle, Canterbury Dictionary, n.p.).
The original date of composition by Ken for the text of “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” is unknown. The first mention of the hymn is in 1674 as the presumed final stanza of two longer hymns: “Awake, My Soul and with the Sun” and “Glory to Thee, My God, this Night.” These two hymns were referenced along with a third as Morning, Evening and Midnight Hymns in a later edition of a pamphlet written for his students titled A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Scholars of Winchester College (1695). The following directive is from the first edition:
. . . be sure to sing the Morning and Evening Hymn in your chamber devoutly, remembering that the Psalmist, upon happy experience, assures you that it is a good thing to tell of the loving kindness of the Lord early in the morning and of his truth in the night season (Ken, 1675, n.p.).
This directive is most often interpreted to mean that the hymns were meant for private devotion, not the gathered assembly, and yet these four lines, often referred to as The Lesser Doxology, have “been sung more often than any other lines ever written” (Gealy, 1993, 200). The hymn texts were published later as an appendix in his 1695 pamphlet as “revised” versions.
Much of the beauty of these four lines lies in its reflection of the joyous outbursts of the psalms. Here we see both the “host” of heaven and the “creatures here below” of earth praising God as in Psalm 96:11-12a and the final jubilant line of Psalm 150:6:
Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice;
let the sea roar, and all that fills it;
let the field exult, and everything in it. (Psalm 96: 11-12a, NRSV)
Let everything that breathes praise the Lord!
Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150:6, NRSV)
Commonly called “The Doxology,” Ken’s acclamation of praise is actually one of many doxological declarations that appear in many hymns, often in final stanza. See, for example, the last stanzas of the fourth-century hymn “Of the Father’s Love Begotten,” William Draper’s versification (c. 1919) of a thirteenth-century poem by Francis of Assisi, “All Creatures of Our God and King,” and Catherine Winkworth’s translation (1858) of Lutheran pastor Martin Rinkart’s “Now Thank We All Our God” (1647). Though less common now, the pattern for many mainline Protestant congregations has been to sing another doxological acclamation, the “Gloria Patri,” earlier in a worship service, and Ken’s stanza at the time of the offertory. Of note is the cosmic character of Ken’s praise—“all creatures here below” and “above ye heavenly hosts”—calling on the entire cosmos to praise God.
The Trinitarian structure of Ken’s hymn has also led to its common liturgical use. The first line describes the person of God the Father as the source of all blessings (Ephesians 1:3; 2 Corinthians 1:3). The second line, though, speaks to God the Spirit through whom all creatures praise God (Psalm 104:24-30; 1 Corinthians 2:10-13). The third line points to God the Son, who is begotten of the Father, firstborn of heaven and superior to angels and the heavenly host (Hebrews 1:4). The fourth line summarizes the stanza and all of praise in general, since all praise is directed toward God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The United Methodist Hymnal pairs this text with the hymn tune OLD 100th, which is attributed to John Calvin’s composer, Louis Bourgeois (c. 1510–1559). The first two lines of Ken’s text were later adapted with additional inclusive words by United Methodist pastor Gilbert H. Vieira (b. 1926) to be sung with LASST UNS ERFREUEN from Ausserlesene Catholische, Kirchengesänge (1623), harmonized by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Pastor Vieira’s use of inclusive language reflects his continuing strong stands for inclusive and carefully chosen language (see Vieira, 2020, n.p.).
The hymn tune MORNING HYMN was composed by François Hippolyte Barthélémon (1741–1808) for the text of “Awake, My Soul, and With the Sun.” The appropriateness of the tune works well for this final stanza, where the words of the second phrase, “Praise him, all creatures here below,” are sung by descending stepwise through an entire scale. The third phrase, “Praise him above, ye heav’nly host,” is sung through a similar ascension that returns to the highest note of the tune in the final stanza, acknowledging the Trinitarian nature of God. Sheila Doyle comments on the hymn text saying, “The language is simple and precise, and the opening images of light and rising up, appropriate to morning, pervade the hymn and convey a powerful sense of renewal and aspiration” (Doyle, “Awake, My Soul,” n.p.).
Fred D. Gealy, Research Files for the 1970 Companion to the Hymnal [1966] quoted in Young, Carlton R. Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal (Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1993), 200.
Thomas Ken, A Manual of Prayers for the Use of the Scholars of Winchester College
(London: Printed for John Martyn, 1675), http://anglicanhistory.org/ken/manual.html (accessed September 27, 2020).
I want to share with you some information regarding our upcoming pastoral transition. I feel it is important that we communicate with you as fully as we can.
Please know that change is never easy, however, if it is done purposefully and prayerfully it can be good. Over the past year our Staff/Pastor-Parish Relations Committee (S/PPRC) has been prayerfully considering appropriate staffing of the youth pastoral position after Rev. Howard M. Fickling-Finley resigned from his post. I have served as the interim advisor and minister for our youth. Now that I am entering retirement, Pender’s S/PPRC and myself, have decided to appoint Mark Atwood as the interim youth director with Arlether Williams, Chairperson of Staff/Pastor-Parish Relations Committee, and Jane Mckee, Leader of the Grow in God Cluster to serve as co-leads during this period of transition.
Mark Atwood is the Chairman of the Chris Atwood Foundation, which he co-founded in 2013 after the Atwood family lost their son Christopher to an accidental overdose at age 21. The CAF is a 501(c)3 charitable organization that creates recovery ready communities through free harm reduction and recovery support services, resources, and education. They specialize in providing free training to the community on how to administer naloxone to reverse an opioid overdose; they provide free life-saving naloxone, recovery housing scholarships, as well as free peer recovery support specialists for individuals.
Mark has taught high school Sunday School class at Pender for the past 15 years and worked with Pender’s youth group for the last twenty years. He is currently serving on Pender’s Nominations Committee, and is active in the Men’s Bible Study Group. Previously he served as co-chairperson of Pender’s S/PPRC.
Jane McKee has been a member of Pender for the past eight years, serving as the Superintendent of Sunday Schools, Chairperson of Children Ministries, and Leader of the Grow in God Cluster. Jane is an active singer and soloist in Pender’s Sanctuary Choir, she plays the autoharp in the Common Ground Praise Band, rings bells with the Joy Ringer Handbell ensemble, and is a member of Pender’s flute and wood recorder music groups. She is a worship leader, and is actively engaged in Pender’s Reaching New People and Common Ground Revision Teams. Jane is an educator, teaching in Fairfax County high schools, specifically Robinson High School, in the math discipline for the past twenty years. Prior to teaching math, she taught music in several communities to include overseas in Japan. Jane received a Master of Digital Learning degree from George Mason University and is a longstanding home owner in the Greenbriar Community.
Arlether “Arlet” Williams has been a member of Pender for the past 27 years, serving as a volunteer in our youth program, singing in the Sanctuary Choir and the Common Ground contemporary praise band. She assists in leading monthly worship services at Fairfax Juvenile Detention Center, serving in Pender’s United Women in Faith, our Reaching New People and Common Ground Revision Programs, and is currently the Chairperson of S/PPRC. Arlet retired after serving 32 years at the Central Intelligence Agency as Chief of Staff in the Talent Center and Office of Security. She has three adult children, whom she and her spouse Victor Ugwu raised at Pender in our children and youth ministries. Arlet is a graduate of Clark University in Worcester, Massachusetts.
Mark, Jane, and Arlet are highly committed to educating and guiding our youth. Please know that with God’s help, we believe this transition plan will serve our youth, the Pender congregation, and most importantly support our new Lead Pastor Robert “Bruce” Johnson in making disciples for Jesus Christ who will go and transform the world.
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