Pentecost Service

[jbird604]

Our little church is far from liturgical, but we do acknowledge and celebrate the major holidays of the Christian Year. Pentecost is one day when we "pull out all the stops" and have a more formal service with extra music and lots of congregational participation.

Here are the pages of our bulletin for tomorrow. The "Bell Choir" is actually just several choir members standing around a table in the Narthex playing our set of Choir Chimes. We're playing a transcription of "Hendon" with piano accompaniment.

The a capella "I Was Glad" is a simple setting of Psalm 122:1 that I created myself just for our small choir. Nothing all that grand, just rich four-part harmony than can be done with only a couple of us guys to carry the TB lines.

The Processional Hymn "O God of Vision" is a modern text set to "Lobe Den Herren" and is very appropriate for Pentecost. It also includes a recognition of the sacrament of communion, which is of course always central to our worship as Disciples.

The anthem is fully contemporary in style. I'm playing the piano and we have a very fine flutist who will play the lovely and lilting flute solo part.

The service was adapted from a resource that our Worship Chair found online, configured to fit our usual order of worship, with quite a bit of fleshing out, of course.

[Leisesturm]

Looks nice. I hope it goes well. LOBE DEN HERREN is a great tune. So is NICEA (Holy, Holy, Holy). This Sunday will be my fourth Sunday playing at my new church (my the time flies). Pentecost took me by surprise. Thankfully there is a master list of the anthem library with the suggested use of each entry, in my office. Sadly, of the five Pentecost selections in the library they sent three out for discard or donation last year. I would have liked to have seen them. I quickly sightread the two that were in the file cabinet. One was much older and the other was contemporary. I took the choir through both of them and they opted for the contemporary one. "Come, Holy Spirit Heavenly Dove" by Joe Cox and Jody Lindh. Pleasant enough, but hardly the flaming tongues of fire of the Pentecost's of my formative years.

I noticed that you did not (do not?) list the titles of your Prelude, Offertory or Postlude selections. I have to submit mine by Wednesday COB. I am going to work the Choral varié on "Veni creator spiritus" by Maurice Duruflé, through the service. Variations 1-3 as the Prelude, variation 4 as the Offertory, and the final variation as the Postlude. The Rodgers Trillium is allowing me to actually play this piece like I always thought it should sound. John, I hope you find satisfaction in the execution of your preparations tomorrow. Even if our efforts don't match the level of Mr. Pincemaille's, it will be a joyful noise nonetheless. Soli deo Gloria!

[davidecasteel]

Our choir anthem tomorrow will be "Ev'ry Time I Feel the Spirit", sung without accompaniment. The congregation will love it. I did not pay much attention to the Hymns, but we did rehearse them Wednesday evening.

David

[jbird604]

Leisesturm,

Yes, I rarely list the titles of anything other than the hymns. Prelude and Postlude, if played at all, are usually just medleys of the service hymns. Also, I am tied up before the service getting the choir prepped and directing the Introit, which we sing from the Narthex. I'd have to do the Prelude very early, and there wouldn't be anybody there yet! Today we'll do the bell prelude from the Narthex after the choir robes and warms up, just before we sing the Introit from the same location.

Then I'll use the remote control on the Allen Smart Recorder to start the Processional. I normally have the first two stanzas pre-recorded, and I'll be on the bench and ready to play by the time we get to the third, at least that's the plan!

The Postlude has to be short because we go straight into Sunday School and then there is another service (contemporary) that I'm not involved in. So the Postlude is normally just a bit of a take-off on the closing hymn, improvised on the spot. Offertory and Communion music are usually just improvisations on hymns related to the day but not sung. I do select those before Sunday and announce them on the church's Facebook page, in case anyone is interested. Since we have a time constraint, I have become adept at bringing either one to a quick end as the deacons finish passing through the congregation!

David,

Those a capella anthems based on old spirituals can be very exciting! We get the most positive feedback when we do something like that. Recently we did "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" in that kind of style. Borrowed a baritone from the praise team to sing the solo parts, and the choir did a rich SATB a capella on the "comin' for to carry me home" lines. The choir was excited and enthusiastic, and the congregation applauded heartily. I'm not crazy about congregational applause, but in that case it was deserved! There weren't over 10 of us in the choir that morning, but we sounded awesome!

[Larrytow]

John,

Thanks for posting that menu. It is always interesting to see how different denominations structure their services, particularly on festival days. While a lot of things are the same across all Christian services, there are many different ways to order the same components.

For instance, we would never do the Words of Institution / Communion before the offering / offertory.

I realize you say you are not fully liturgical, so using Holy, Holy, Holy today would be fine. Next week with us ( I guess you could say - full out church year liturgical types ) it is Trinity Sunday, and we would try real hard not to use the same hymn two times in a row, and that one is always done on Trinity. If you don't observe that day, then you covered them both today anyhow.

Sounds like it was a wonderful service.

[jbird604]

Larry,

We actually will observe Trinity Sunday this week, and oddly enough sing "Holy Holy Holy" again. I normally wouldn't use the same hymn two weeks in a row, but this one was suggested as the closer for the service we did on Pentecost, by the person who arranged the service. Interesting way to end Pentecost... after teaching the personhood and work of the Holy Spirit, celebrating the unity of The Three In One.

On Trinity Sunday we will use several hymns that contain Trinitarian teaching --- Come Thou Almighty King, All Creatures of Our God and King, etc, as well as Holy Holy Holy.

[Larrytow]

John,

All of those are great hymns ! I love a Sunday when all the hymns are well known by everyone, so they really Sing.

In our new( 2005 LSB ) hymnal every hymn that ends with a doxological stanza has a little triangle before the stanza number. While the congregation normally sits to sing most hymns, that is an indication for them to stand for that stanza. They sing better of course, and it is a way of honoring the great mystery of the Holy Trinity.

I always use a big registration for those, and if the organ is equipped with a Zimbelstern, I turn it on for that stanza. "My" Q325 has one, and I put in a thumb piston for it under the Great, rather than only having the usual toe stud for it. A lot of times I find that more convenient than the toe stud, because Allen puts it on the left upper side, and I usually have that foot busy .