You crown the year with Your goodness,
And Your paths drip with abundance. ~ Psalm 65:11
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Happy New Year, 2024!
Pan Am Flight 103 (Lockerbie)
Pan Am Flight 103 Memorial Cairn
On December 21 at 1:30PM, the Pender UMC Choir traditionally sang for the Pan Am Flight 103 (Lockerbie) Memorial Service at Arlington National Cemetery.
One of the songs we traditionally sing at this service – “Under His Wings” – was composed in memory of the victims. On June 20, 2022, a Memorial Concert was held for long-time choir member, Diane Martini. The Pender Sanctuary Choir and the former Master Chorale of Washington sang several of Diane’s favorites. One of her favorites had been “Under His Wings”.
A few years ago was the 25th anniversary of the Pan Am Flight 103 bombing. A C-Span video of the anniversary event
http://www.c-span.org/video/?316910-1/pan-flight-103-25th-anniversary-memorial-service
Another video from the anniversary year:
For full remarks about the anniversary service, including speaker’s notes, please see https://www.victimsofpanamflight103.org/events/2013/arlington
Here’s a timeline of the terrible event on December 21, 1988:
Extraordinary Response Pan Am 103
Today Is the Beginning of Advent
Today, December 3, 2023 is the First Sunday in Advent.
The first Candle of the Advent Wreath is lit on the first Sunday of Advent, on December 3 this year. It is called the Prophecy Candle and reminds us that Jesus’ coming was prophesied hundreds of years before He was born. The candle’s purple color represents Christ’s royalty as the King of Kings.
Suggested Bible Reading: Luke 1:26-38
Chuck Knows Church — ADVENT WREATH. Four candles in a circle with a big one in the middle? Yep, take a moment and learn the basics about the advent wreath. And why is the pink candle…pink?
Hymn History: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart
“Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart”
Edward H. Plumptre
The UM Hymnal, Nos. 160 and 161
Rejoice, ye pure in heart;
rejoice, give thanks, and sing;
your glorious banner wave on high,
the cross of Christ your King.
Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice, give thanks, and sing.
“Rejoice Ye Pure in Heart” was the middle hymn at Pender’s 9:00 am Traditional Service on October 15, 2023 It was sung by Pender’s Sanctuary choir, congregation, directed by Patrick King and accompanied on piano by Heidi Jacobs.
The Pender UMC Traditional Service Closing Hymn “Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart” on May 29, 2022 was directed by Brian Stevenson and accompanied by Liz Sellers on piano and sung by the Pender Sanctuary Choir and Congregation.
Anglican priest and professor Edward Hayes Plumptre (1821-1891) composed “Rejoice, ye pure in heart” as a processional hymn for a choir festival in one of England’s majestic places of worship, Peterborough Cathedral.
Writing in the mid-20th century with perhaps a hint of condescension, hymnologist Albert Bailey describes the context for this hymn by saying that the “untravelled American can hardly realize the emotional effect of a processional made up of choirs from a dozen different communities, marching with full panoply through ‘long-drawn aisle’ and under ‘fretted vault’ while we hear:
The storm their high-built organs make,
And thunder-music, rolling, shake
The prophets blazoned on the panes.
“The massiveness of the old Norman Peterborough makes a marvelous background and amplifier for such a processional.”
Plumptre was a distinguished scholar of his day. Educated at University College, Oxford, he then became a fellow at Brasenose College, Oxford, receiving his ordination in the Anglican Church in 1846. After serving as a clergyman, he became chaplain and professor of New Testament exegesis at King’s College, London, and dean of Queen’s College, Oxford. His most prominent position as a clergyman was that of dean of Wells Cathedral.
Of the original 11 stanzas, five or six stanzas appear in most hymnals. Stanza one refers (in the original text) to the “festal banner” and “Cross of Christ your King,” symbols of the faith that would be carried at the head of such a procession in the Anglican context.
Omitted stanzas refer to this processional in martial terms as warriors who “march in firm array.” This kind of imagery is not only consonant with the times, but also reflects the theology of the Anglican Communion that views its role on earth as the “Church Militant” while the church in heaven is the “Church Triumphant.”
Of course, the music used for this text must reflect the spirit of a stately processional. American hymnologist Leonard Ellinwood said that the tune MARION was written for this text by Arthur Messiter (1834-1916). Messiter added the refrain drawn from the first two lines of stanza one: “Rejoice, rejoice, rejoice give thanks and sing” echoes Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”
Hymnologist William Reynolds noted that it “was not unusual for a cathedral processional to take from ten to thirty minutes, and the hymn that was sung by both the choir and the congregation needed to have enough stanzas for this.”
Mr. Bailey’s earlier comments notwithstanding, not all participants in festival worship were enamored by such lengthy processionals. Mr. Reynolds goes on to say that “A review of a hymnal… [commented] that some of the processional hymns were so long that some of the congregation would need to walk about in order to stay awake.”
The United Methodist Hymnal includes a second tune, VINEYARD HAVEN, with this text. Richard W. Dirksen composed this tune in 1974 for the installation of John M. Allin as the presiding bishop of the Episcopal Church in Washington Cathedral.
Carlton Young, editor of The UM Hymnal, found this text less than worthy, and notes: “Dirksen’s setting… [saves] a maudlin hymn from its deserved place in hymnic obscurity.”
Regardless of how one evaluates the quality of this text, we can all be grateful to be spared from 30-minute processionals in worship.
Dr. Hawn is professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology.
From https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-rejoice-ye-pure-in-heart
Disciples — Chuck Knows Church
What’s your definition of “disciples”? Can you name all 12? Are you one? These questions and more will be answered by Chuck.
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