Music for Sunday: November 29th, 2009
Prelude: Nun komm, der heiden heilland – John Behnke (Road to Bethlehem) Offering: Nun komm, der heiden heilland – Paul Manz (Improvisations for the Christmas Season, set 1) Postlude: Bereden Vag For Herran – Paul Manz (Six Advent Improvisations) Posted in Church Music, Music for Sunday Tagged: music, Music for Sunday, Organ Music, Organ Voluntaries

Prepare the Royal Highway
Advent is upon us and one of my favorite Advent hymns (and there are many) is “Prepare the Royal Highway” (LSB 343).  It is a Swedish Lutheran hymn with text by Frans Mikael Franzen (1772-1847) and a 17th century Swedish tune (BEREDEN VÄG FÖR HERRAN).  I love that in Lutheran Service Book they brought back the original 6/8 meter, which really makes the hymn dance.  (The hymn was in 4/4 in Lutheran Worship and just could not compare to the original.) The Gospel reading for Advent 1C is Luke 19:28-40, which is the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday and this hymn gives us both an Advent and Palm Sunday feel.  Here is stanza one: Prepare the royal highway;

Music for Sunday: Thanksgiving Edition (Nov 26, 2009)
No, Thanksgiving is not a Sunday, but here’s the music I’ll be using: Prelude: St. George’s Windsor – Flor Peeters (30 Short Preludes on Well-Known Hymn Tunes) Intro & Final Stanza for Processional Hymn: St. George’s Windsor – Jeffrey Blersch (Introductions, Harmonizations, Accompaniments, & Interpretations, vol. 2) Offering (sung by the choir): Sing to the Lord of Harvest – Jeffrey Blersch (Children, Rejoice and Sing, vol 2) Te Deum Hymn (with trumpet): Kremser – S. Drummond Wolff Postlude: Nun Danket Alle Gott – Sigfrid Karg-Elert Posted in Church Music, Music for Sunday Tagg

Music for Sunday: November 22nd, 2009
Prelude: Two Settings of Wachet Auf – Paul Manz (Improvisations for the Christmas Season, set 1) Offering: Wachet Auf – Johann Walter (Achzig Choralvorspiele) Postlude: Diademata – Kevin Hildebrand (Six Hymn Improvisations, set 6) Posted in Church Music, Music for Sunday, Uncategorized Tagged: Church Music, Music for Sunday, Organ Music, Organ Voluntaries

Where the Church is Found
Herman Sasse has a fantastic quote on the Lord’s Supper in his Preface to Vom Sakrament Des Altars (reprinted in The Lonely Way, vol.2): “Around the Lord’s Table is gathered the church.  At the Table of the Lord, the church knows what it most profoundly  is: the body of Christ.  There has been no doubt of this since the days of the apostles.  Where the Table of the Lord is deserted, where the Lord’s Supper is no longer known or celebrated, there the church dies, irretrievably lost.” This is certainly has a lot to say for every Sunday communion, and begs the question: do Divine Services without