The First Presbyterian Church

Cooperstown, New York

The 24th Sunday after Pentecost

 

PRELUDE “Adagio” de “Symphonie IV pour Orgue”

(Op. 13, No. 4, 1872)

Charles-Marie Widor (1844-1937)

 

INTROIT “Libera me” (Deliver me) from “Requiem”

(Op. 48, 1887)

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Charles H. Eaton, baritone

 

CALL TO WORSHIP

 

HYMN “God Is Here!”

1. God is here!

As we your people meet

to offer praise and prayer,

may we find in fuller measure

what it is in Christ we share.

Here, as in the world around us,

all our varied skills and arts

wait the coming of the Spirit

into open minds and hearts.

 

2. Here are symbols to remind us

of our lifelong need of grace;

here are table, font, and pulpit;

here the cross has central place.

Here in honesty of preaching,

here in silence, as in speech,

here, in newness and renewal,

God the Spirit comes to each.

 

3. Here our children find a welcome

in the Shepherd’s flock and fold;

here as bread and wine are taken,

Christ sustains us as of old.

Here the servants of the Servant seek

in worship to explore what it means

in daily living to believe and to adore.

 

4. Lord of all, of church and kingdom,

in an age of change and doubt

keep us faithful to the gospel;

help us work your purpose out.

Here, in this day’s dedication,

all we have to give, receive:

we, who cannot live without you,

we adore you! We believe!

 

Text: Fred Pratt Green, 1979; rev. 1988

Music: Abbot’s Leigh, Cyril Vincent Taylor, 1941 Commissioned for the dedication of a renovated worship space in Austin, Texas, this text is one of the few to devote attention to how customary church features facilitate worship. The tune was composed in wartime Britain to replace a Haydn tune tainted by Nazi associations.

 

COMMUNITY MATTERS

 

PRAYERS OF THE CHURCH/THE LORD’S PRAYER

 

MUSICAL OFFERING “Hostias et preces Tibi Domine” from “Requiem”

We offer Thee, o Lord, sacrifices of prayer and praise

Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924)

Charles H. Eaton, baritone

 

SERMON “Who’s Got Talent?”

Rev. Ed Townsend Psalm 123

“To You, O Lord, We Lift Our Eyes” (Psalm 123)

1. To you, O Lord, we lift our eyes,

to you enthroned in heaven above;

as servants wait for those they serve,

so we look up and wait God’s love.

 

2. Have mercy on us now, O Lord;

contempt has been our lot too long.

Too long have we been mocked and scorned,

derided by the proud and strong.

 

Text: Christopher L. Webber, 2008

Music: Danby, English melody, adapt. and harm. by Ralph Vaughan Williams, 1931 Psalm 123 is one of the several “songs of ascents,” likely sung by Jewish pilgrims on their way to Jerusalem for one of the three great annual feats: Passover, Weeks, and Booths. As this paraphrase suggest, these were short psalms that could be easily memorized and sung together. The tune is based on a traditional English ballad air named for a village in North Yorkshire.

 

Matthew 25: 14-30

Proverbs 31: 10-31 (a paraphrase)

Cindy Falk I Thessalonians 5: 1-11

 

HYMN “We Give Thee but Thine Own”

1. We give thee but thine own,

what e’er the gift may be;

all that we have is thine alone,

a trust, O Lord, from thee.

 

2. May we thy bounties thus

as stewards true receive,

and gladly, as thou blessest us,

to thee our first-fruits give.

 

3. The captive to release,

to God the lost to bring,

to teach the way of life and peace:

it is a Christ-like thing.

 

4. And we believe thy word,

thou dim our faith may be;

what e’er we do for thine,

O Lord, we do it unto thee.

 

Text: William Walsham How, c.1858 Music: Schumann, Mason and Webb’s Cantica Laudis, 1850 Each successive stanza here expands the implications of the familiar affirmation of the first one. Much more than a concern with money, stewardship shapes our relationship with God and with other people. Despite this tune’s name, no source has been found in Schumann’s works.

 

BENEDICTION

 

POSTLUDE “Sortie” Richard Shepard (b.1949)

 

Permission to reprint, podcast, and/or stream the music in this service obtained from ONE LICENSE with license #A-724436. All rights reserved.

 

American baritone Charles H. Eaton made his role and company debut as Marcello in La Bohème with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra (Lakeland Opera) in the 2019-2020 season. He also made company debuts as a soloist in the 15th annual Jukebox Gala with Pensacola Opera, and as the English Ambassador in The Ghosts of Versailles with the Château de Versailles Spectacles. Last season, Mr. Eaton made role and company debuts as Figaro in Il barbiere di Siviglia with New York City Opera in Bryant Park, William Dale in Silent Night with Minnesota Opera, and Vitellius in Hérodiade with New Amsterdam Opera. He returned to Madison Opera as Carl-Magnus in their A Little Night Music, and to Minnesota Opera to create the roles of Arnold Rothstein and George Gorman in the world premiere of Joel Puckett’s The Fix. He is a graduate of young artist programs at The Glimmerglass Festival, Des Moines Metro Opera, and Opera Colorado. He received his bachelor’s degree in voice from the University of Connecticut, and his master’s in voice from the University of Minnesota. He was the first place winner of the 2015 Thursday Musical competition in Minneapolis, MN, a district winner of the 2016 Metropolitan Opera competition, and a second place winner of the 2019 The American Prize competition.

 

Some notes on this morning’s music. In his Requiem, it has been written that Fauré distilled some of the most beautiful melodies he ever composed. Traditionally, a Requiem has at its heart a prayerful lament for the dead; however Fauré’s Requiem, which he composed between 1887 and 1890, was different because he had no clear religious beliefs-he was very much a doubter and described by his own son as a skeptic. Instead of the usual somber nature found in other Requiems, Fauré focuses not on the morbid, but on the restful and fear-free nature of death. He wrote, “Everything I managed to entertain by way of religious illusion I put into my Requiem, which moreover is dominated from beginning to end by a very human feeling of faith in eternal rest.” The structure of Fauré’s work bears striking similarity to that of Ein deutsches Requiem by Brahms, although Fauré set Latin liturgical texts to music, whereas Brahms chose German Bible quotations. Both works have seven movements, both employ a baritone and a soprano soloist, the baritone singing with the choir in movements 2 (this morning’s Musical Offering) and 6 (the Introit).

 

The Libera me predates the rest of the Requiem, having been composed eleven years earlier as a “stand alone” baritone solo. Like a fine wine, the Prelude pairs well with today’s selections from Requiem. A contemporary of Fauré, Widor was at the forefront of a revival in French organ music which utilized a new organ design pioneered by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll that was symphonic in style. Of note, the fifth movement of Widor’s fourth symphony for organ contains his only indication for the voix humaine stop, a name derived from the Latin for human voice. While Widor was not fond of this stop (hence its’ only indicated use in his ten organ symphonies) he probably made this one concession as a nod to current organs. As is the case with many of the symphonies, this penultimate movement is the calm before the storm of the finale.