Peter Pindar Stearns (1931-2016)

Based on the tune by John Sebastian Bach Hodges (1830-1915)

 

Bread of the world in mercy broken, wine of the soul in mercy shed,

by whom the words of life were spoken, and in whose death our sins are dead:

look on the heart by sorrow broken, look on the tears by sinners shed;

and be thy feast to us the token what by thy grace our souls are fed.

 

Reginald Heber (1783-1826)

 

César Franck (1822-1890)

Spencer Hamlin, tenor

 

Thus Angels’ Bread is made the Bread of man today:

the Living Bread from heaven with figures dost away:

O wondrous gift indeed! The poor and lowly may

upon their Lord and Master feed.

 

Thee, therefore, we implore, O Godhead, One in Three,

so may Thou visit us as we now worship Thee;

and lead us on Thy way, that we at last may see

the light wherein Thou dwellest aye.

Amen.

 

Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274)

 

 

(Psalm 19)

 

1. God’s glory fills the heavens with hymns,

the domed sky bears the Maker’s mark;

new praises sound from day to day

and echo through the knowing dark.

Without a word their songs roll on,

into all lands their voices run.

And with a champion's strength and grace

from farthest heaven comes forth the sun.

 

2. God’s perfect law revives the soul;

its precepts make the simple wise;

its just commands rejoice the heart;

its truth gives light unto the eyes.

Forever shall this law endure:

unblemished, righteous, true, complete.

No gold was ever found so fine,

no honey in the comb more sweet.

 

3. God’s servant may I ever be:

this world my joy, that word my guide.

Oh cleanse me, Lord, from secret sin;

deliver me from selfish pride.

Accept my thoughts and words and deeds;

let them find favor in your sight.

For you alone can make me whole,

O Lord, my refuge and my might.

 

Text: Carl P. Daw, Jr., 1982

Music: St. Patrick – Irish melody; arranged by Charles Villiers Stanford, 1902

This paraphrase of Psalm 19 was part of a longer work commissioned by the Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church for its Bicentennial Anniversary in 1982. The three stanzas reflect the psalm’s three themes: creation, the giving of the Law, and the human response to these gifts.

 

Dedication of the Peace and Global Justice Offering

Affirmation of Our Deacons

Joys and Concerns

 

 

Op. 10, No. 8 Richard Strauss (1864-1949)

(8 Gedichte aus “Letzte Blätter”)

Spencer Hamlin, tenor

 

All Souls Day Place on the table the fragrant mignonettes,

bring in the last red asters, and let us talk of love again,

as once we did in May.

Give me your hand, so that I may secretly press it;

and if someone sees, it’s all one to me.

Just give me one of your sweet glances, as once you did in May.

Flowers bloom and spread their fragrance today on every grave;

one day in the year is sacred for the dead.

Come close to my heart, so that I can have you again,

as once I did in May.

 

Hermann von Gilm (1812-1964)

 

Peter Craig

Ginger Heitz

Brent Leonard

Robin Lettis

Barb Luhmann*

Robert Nelson*

 

Lord, when I came into this life

you called me by my name.

Today, I come, commit myself,

responding to your claim.

 

Text: Fred Kaan, 1976

Music: Land of Rest – American folk melody; harm. Charles H. Webb, 1988

Written for the confirmation of the author’s son, this text of self-dedication also voices our recurring individual need to recommit ourselves in less formal ways. The familiar shape note tune enhances a sense of finding our place among God’s people from all times and places.

 

 

 

Come and join the celebration; come and join this happy feast.

Jesus makes an invitation to the greatest and the least.

 

Text: David Gambrell, 2009

Music: Stuttgart – Witt’s Psalmodia Sacra, 1715

 

 

1. Make me a channel of your peace.

Where there is hatred, let me bring your love.

Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord,

and where there’s doubt, true faith in you.

 

2. Make me a channel of your peace.

Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope.

Where there is darkness, only light,

and where there’s sadness, ever joy.

 

3. O, Master, grant that I may never seek

so much to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand,

to be loved as to love with all my soul.

 

4. Make me a channel of your peace.

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,

in giving of ourselves that we receive,

and in dying that we’re born to eternal life.

 

Text: Anon, c. 1912; adapt. Sebastian Temple, 1967

Music: Prayer of St. Francis – Sebastian Temple, 1963; arr. Alfred V. Fedak, 2011

 

Though popular opinion credits this prayer to St. Francis of Assisi, the earliest known printing was in a French religious magazine in 1912. Yet that gentle saint’s spirit seems evident in these words, a quality that has spurred many paraphrases and musical settings such as this one.