May 3, 2020

Fourth Sunday of Easter

Rev. Douglas duCharme 

Eleanor Daley, Director of Music

Scripture Reading  Leviticus 25:1-38

Prelude The Light of God’s Love          Mark Burrows (b.1971)

Look into my heart, what do you see?
God’s light shining in me.
Look into my heart, what do you see?
God’s light shining in me.
And I can reflect God’s image,
Shine so bright, it will chase away the darkest night.
It’s a light that’s brighter than a thousand stars above,
The light of God’s love.

Deep down in your heart, you’ve got it too,
God’s light shining in you.
Deep down in your heart, you’ve got it too,
God’s light shining in you.
And you can reflect God’s image,
Shine so bright, it will chase away the darkest night.
It’s a light that’s brighter than a thousand stars above,
The light of God’s love.

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

And we can reflect God’s image,
Shine so bright, it will chase away the darkest night.
It’s a light that’s brighter than a thousand stars above,
The light of God’s love.
(Mark Burrows)

Opening Hymn Come, Christians, Join to Sing

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!

Come, lift your hearts on high,
Alleluia! Amen!
Let praises fill the sky,
Alleluia! Amen!
He is our guide and friend,
To us he comes to mend,
His love shall never end,
Alleluia! Amen!

Praise yet our Christ again,
Alleluia! Amen!
Life shall not end the strain,
Alleluia! Amen!
On heaven’s blissful shore
His goodness we’ll adore,
Singing for evermore,
Alleluia! Amen!
(Christian Henry Bateman, 1843)

Anthem For the Beauty of the Earth          John Rutter (b. 1948)

For the beauty of the earth,
For the beauty of the skies,
For the love which from our birth,
Over and around us lies,
Lord of all to thee we raise
This our joyful hymn of praise.

For the beauty of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon and stars of light. R

For the joy of human love,
Brother, sister, parent, child,
Friends on earth, and friends above,
For all gentle thoughts and mild. R

For each perfect gift of thine,
To our race so freely given,
Graces human and divine,
Flow’rs of earth and buds of heav’n. R
(Folliott Sandford Pierpoint, 1864)

Hymn Pass It On

It only takes a spark
to get a fire going,
and soon, all those around
will warm up to its glowing.
That’s how it is with God’s love,
once you’ve experienced it,
you spread his love to everyone,
you want to pass it on.

What a wondrous time in spring,
when all the trees are budding,
the birds begin to sing,
the flowers start their blooming.
That’s how it is with God’s love,
once you’ve experienced it,
you want to sing, “it’s fresh like spring”,
you want to pass it on.

I wish for you, my friend,
this happiness that I’ve found,
you can depend on him,
it matters not where you’re bound.
I’ll shout it from the mountain top,
I want the world to know
the Lord above has shown me love,
I want to pass it on.

Pass it on.

That’s how it is with God’s love,
once you’ve experienced it,
you spread his love to everyone,
you want to pass it on.
(Kurt Kaiser, 1933-2018)

Anthem Peace Like a River          Joel Raney (b. 1956)

I’ve got peace like a river,
I’ve got peace like a river,
I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.

I’ve got love like an ocean,
I’ve got love like an ocean,
I’ve got love like an ocean in my soul.

Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.

When we’ve been there ten thousand years, bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise, than when we first begun.

I’ve got joy like a fountain,
I’ve got joy like a fountain,
I’ve got joy like a fountain in my soul.

I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.
(Peace Like a River – words: African-American spiritual;
Amazing Grace – words by John Newton 1779, and anon. 1790)

Closing Hymn This Little Light of Mine          Harry Dixon Loes (1892-1965) arr. Mark Hayes

This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, yes, I’m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Hide it under a bushel – no! I’m gonna let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel – no! I’m gonna let it shine.
Hide it under a bushel – no! I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Won’t let anybody blow it out, no, I’m gonna let it shine.
Won’t let anybody blow it out, no, I’m gonna let it shine.
Won’t let anybody blow it out, no, I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Shine my light across the land, yes, I’m gonna let it shine.
Shine my light across the land, I’m gonna let it shine.
Shine my light across the land, yes, I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.

Let your little light shine, let it shine.
(Harry Dixon Loes, 1892-1965)

This morning’s Prelude text is reprinted under onelicense.net #A-717945. The Light of God’s Love – words by Mark Burrows, © 2016 Choristers Guild. All rights reserved.

♪ Music notes ♪

Mark Burrows (b. 1971) received his undergraduate degree in music education from Southern Methodist University and his graduate degree in conducting from Texas Christian University. Mark is currently the Director of Fine Arts at First United Methodist Church – Fort Worth. He directs choral ensembles of all ages and oversees programs in visual arts and theater. Mark also writes extensively for video, television and the stage. Known to many little listeners as “Mister Mark,” he tours nationally, presenting high-energy family concerts. Mark’s CDs have won several awards for children’s music.

Christian Henry Bateman (1813-1899) was born in Wyke, Scotland. He studied in the Moravian Church, and in 1843 he became minister of Richmond Place Congregational Church in Edinburgh, Scotland. After serving at a number of parishes, he took Holy Orders in the Church of England. Come, Christians, Join to Sing is perhaps his most well known hymn.

John Rutter’s setting of For the Beauty of the Earth was written for Rosemary Heffley and the Texas Choral Directors’ Association. Rutter (b. 1948) studied music at Clare College, England, and later became the College’s first full-time Director of Music in 1975, leading the choir to international prominence. In 1981 he founded his own professional choir, the Cambridge Singers, with which he has made many recordings of the sacred choral repertoire. Rutter’s choral music is very well known and much beloved in choral circles, and is performed worldwide.

Folliott Sandford Pierpoint (1835-1917) was an English hymnodist and poet. Educated at Queens’ College, Cambridge, Pierpont was a classics schoolmaster and taught at Somersetshire College, spending most of his life in Bath and the south-west of England. His most famous hymn is For the Beauty of the Earth which he wrote in 1864, at the age of 29.

American composer and arranger Kurt Kaiser (1933-2018) studied at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago and earned two degrees from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. For over forty years, he influenced modern day church music and helped usher in a new era in Christian music. Crossing denominational boundaries, his compositions found their way into many church hymnals. He also arranged and produced albums for many national and international artists, including Kathleen Battle and George Beverly Shea.

Joel Raney (b. 1956) grew up in a rural Baptist church in Alabama, where his love for the old hymns and the gospel style was fostered. From early “playing by ear” explorations to earning a Masters in Piano Performance from Juilliard, Joel’s keyboard training continued through work as an accompanist, in the theatre, as a pianist on TV commercials, and as a church organist. As a composer and producer of commercial music, he has written soundtracks for more than 2,000 television and radio commercials, plus numerous scores for short films. Today, Joel applies this lifetime of musical experience to the creation of sacred music. His hundreds of titles in print cover choral anthems for every church occasion, solo piano books, organ and piano duets, music for handbells, instrumental pieces and many other works. Since 2011, he has been Minister of Music at the First Baptist Church of Oak Park, Illinois.

John Newton (1725-1807) was an Anglican clergyman and abolitionist. He started his career at sea at a young age, and worked on slave ships in the slave trade for several years, but after experiencing a Christian conversion, Newton eventually renounced his trade and became ordained as an evangelical Anglican cleric. He became a prominent supporter of abolition and lived to see the UK’s abolition of the African slave trade in 1807, just before his death.

Mark Hayes (b. 1953) is an internationally known award-winning concert pianist, composer, arranger, and conductor. Whether concertizing on the other side of the globe, or composing at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, Mark feels blessed to live out his mission “to create beautiful music for the world”. His compositions and arrangements, which draw from many diverse musical styles such as gospel, jazz, pop, folk and classical, can be found in the music libraries of churches and universities around the world. Mark’s 1,200+ published works include pieces for solo voice, solo piano, multiple pianos, orchestra, jazz combo, small instrumental ensembles, and choruses of all kinds. The Fairlawn Senior Choir has sung many of his anthems over the years, and has also had the privilege of presenting the Canadian premieres of two of his larger works with orchestra at past Special Music Sundays: Gloria (2010) and Magnificat (2015).

This Little Light of Mine is often attributed as an African-American spiritual, but was actually written by Harry Dixon Loes (1892-1965) – a gospel songwriter and music director who worked at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago. He wrote the song for children in 1920, and in the 1960s, the simple song became an anthem of the civil rights movement.

Music Sources:

The Light of God’s Love Mark Burrows http://www.choristersguild.org/audio/cga1496.mp3
Come, Christians, Join to Sing https://youtu.be/rv0XaoRQwpc
For the Beauty of the Earth John Rutter https://youtu.be/1bDoMflYErE
Pass It On https://youtu.be/g-KLF1Oke2M
Peace Like a River Joel Raney https://soundcloud.com/hope-publishing/14-peace-like-a-river-vocal-demo
This Little Light of Mine Harry Dixon Loes arr. Mark Hayes https://youtu.be/Dz0dkVnVJmw