Central Lutheran Choir
We are happy to share our love of music--both the riches of historic church music and newly-composed works --we love to sing. Those who sing, pray twice!
Refrain:
Healer of our every ill,
light of each tomorrow,
give us peace beyond our fear,
and hope beyond our sorrow.
You who know our fears and sadness,
grace us with your peace and gladness;
Spirit of all comfort, fill our hearts. [Refrain]
In the pain and joy beholding
how your grace is still unfolding,
give us all your vision, God of love. [Refrain]
Give us strength to love each other,
every sister, every brother;
Spirit of all kindness, be our guide. [Refrain]
You who know each thought and feeling,
teach us all your way of healing;
Spirit of compassion, fill each heart. [Refrain]
From Henri Nouwen's daily meditations for May 24.
Together we Pray to God
Prayer is the language of the Christian community. In prayer the nature of the community becomes visible because in prayer we direct ourselves to the One who forms the community. We do not pray to each other, but together we pray to God, who calls us and makes us into a new people. Praying is not one of the many things the community does. Rather, it is its very being. Many discussions about prayer do not take this very seriously. Sometimes it seems as if the Christian community is “so busy” with its projects and plans that there is neither the time nor the mood to pray. But when prayer is no longer its primary concern, and when its many activities are no longer seen and experienced as part of prayer itself, the community quickly degenerates into a club with a common cause but no common vocation.
By prayer, community is created as well as expressed. Prayer is first of all the realization of the community itself. Most clear and most noticeable are the words, the gestures, and the silence through which the community is formed. When we listen to the word, we not only receive insight into God’s saving work, but we also experience a new mutual bond. When we stand around the altar, eat bread and drink wine, kneel in meditation, or walk in procession, we not only remember God’s work in human history, but we also become aware of God’s creative presence here and now. When we sit together in silent prayer, we create a space where we sense that the One we are waiting for is already touching us, as he touched Elijah in front of the cave (1 Kings 19:13).
Henri J. M. Nouwen
04/30/2022
Evangelical Lutheran Church in America observes 35th anniversary The ELCA is one of the largest Christian denominations in the United States, with more than 3.8 million members. "God's work. Our hands."
From the ELCA:
THE ARTS SERVE THE WORD Principle 11
"Music, the visual arts, and the environment of our worship spaces embody the proclamation of the Word in Lutheran churches . . . . Luther understood music to be a gift of God that had the power to proclaim God’s word. The church continues to hold Luther’s understanding yet today. Since proclamation of the Word is one of the primary roles of music in the liturgy, decisions about music will involve much more than personal taste or musical style. Music that serves the word shows forth Christ rather than draws attention to itself.
Application 11 Music is a servant of the Gospel and a principal means of worshiping God in Lutheran churches. Congregational song gathers the whole people to proclaim God's mercy, to worship God, and to pray, in response to the readings of the day and in preparation for the Lord's Supper."
From:
THE USE of the MEANS of GRACE
A Statement on the Practice of Word and Sacrament Adopted for guidance and practice by the Fifth Biennial Churchwide Assembly of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America, August 19, 1997
03/26/2022
A hymn for this time.
The words are #749 in the ELW and #414 in the LBW.
This tune is by Henry Kemble Oliver (1800-1885) of Salem, Massachusetts. The name of the tune - Federal Street - is where his home was (and still is). Oliver is the subject of my dissertation.
HYMN - O God of love, O King of peace (Organ) HYMN - O God of love, O King of peace (Organ)O God of love, O King of peace, Make wars throughout the world to cease;Our greed and violent ways restrain. Giv...
Creator of the stars of night,
your people’s everlasting light,
O Christ, Redeemer of us all,
we pray you, hear us when we call.
In sorrow that the ancient curse
should doom to death a universe,
you came to save a ruined race
with healing gifts of heav'nly grace.
When earth drew on to darkest night,
you came, but not in splendor bright,
not as a king, but as the child
of Mary, virgin mother mild.
At your great name, majestic now,
all knees must bend, all hearts must bow;
all things on earth with one accord
join those in heav’n to call you Lord.
To God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Spirit, Three in One,
praise, honor, might, and glory be
from age to age eternally.
Photograph – Dawn at Nazareth (November 8, 2015)
Our Vespers for the Second Week of Advent. You can find the order of Service here:
https://www.centrallutheran.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/clc.bulletin-for-vespers.-Advent-2.pdf?fbclid=IwAR1B4M3YKknPAkWvtwqPt_EhIlhwwGrIClISogv5kcUHM-Jzz_ooW67Nnak
Advent II - we begin the series of three Advent Canticles. The first is the Song of Zechariah. We will sing it to a double Psalm tone. Thanks to Ashley Goins for helping us learn it.
For the second Sunday in Advent: A new Psalm tone (double) for use with Canticles (Biblical songs that are not psalms but are in the same form as psalms). Thanks to Ashley Goins for helping us learn it.
THE SONG OF ZECHARIAH - ELW Psalm tone 15
Blessed are you, Lord, the | God of Israel,
you have come to your people and | set them free.
You have raised up for us a | mighty Savior,
born of the house of your | servant David.
Through your holy prophets, you promised of old to save us | from our enemies,
from the hands of | all who hate us,
to show mercy | to our forebears,
and to remember your | holy covenant.
This was the oath you swore to our | father Abraham:
to set us free from the hands of our | enemies,
free to worship you | without fear,
holy and righteous before you, all the days | of our life.
And you, child, shall be called the prophet of | the Most High,
for you will go before the Lord to pre- | pare the way,
to give God’s people knowledge | of salvation
by the forgiveness | of their sins.
In the tender compassion | of our God
the dawn from on high shall | break upon us,
to shine on those who dwell in darkness and in the shad- | ow of death,
and to guide our feet into the | way of peace.
The Hymn of the Month
(Photo: the altar of the Church of the Nations near the Palestinian town of Magdala overlooking the Sea of Galilee, November 7, 2015)
The Son of God, our Christ, the Word, the Way,
shared human life and toiled throughout the day;
from common folk he called the twelve to be
coworkers in his sacred ministry.
In ev'ry test, in trials manifold,
these servants witnessed, by their faith made bold;
and with the gifts and talents which they brought
the church was founded and God's message taught.
Today, as then, Christ summons us to dare
to follow boldly and his work to share,
to help and heal the sick, the blind, the lame,
declaring to the world his holy name.
In city street, in town, or on the soil,
may each serve Christ in faithful daily toil,
and in each thought and kindly word and deed,
obey Christ's call and go where he shall lead.
Where'er we find our witness should be made,
whate'er our task, be thou, O Christ, our aid,
that we may gladly give for thee our best
and find each task divinely sent and blest.
09/06/2021
DAILY MEDITATION | AUGUST 19, 2021
Poverty is a Quality of the Heart
Poverty is the quality of the heart that makes us relate to life, not as a property to be defended but as a gift to be shared. Poverty is the constant willingness to say good-bye to yesterday and move forward to new, unknown experiences. Poverty is the inner understanding that the hours, days, weeks, and years do not belong to us but are the gentle reminders of our call to give, not only love and work, but life itself, to those who follow us and will take our place. He or she who cares is invited to be poor, to strip himself or herself from the illusions of ownership, and to create some room for the person looking for a place to rest. The paradox of care is that poverty makes a good host. When our hands, heads, and hearts are filled with worries, concerns, and preoccupations, there can hardly be any place left for the stranger to feel at home.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
DAILY MEDITATION | JULY 31, 2021
A Prayer
Dear God,
As you draw me ever deeper into your heart, I discover that my companions on the journey are women and men loved by you as fully and as intimately as I am. In your compassionate heart, there is a place for all of them. No one is excluded.
Give me a share in your compassion, dear God, so that your unlimited love may become visible in the way I love my brothers and sisters.
Amen.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
DAILY MEDITATION | JULY 29, 2021
Henri J. M. Nouwen
Can We Recognize His Presence?
The world in which we live today and about whose suffering we know so much seems more than ever a world from which Christ has withdrawn himself. How can I believe that in this world we are constantly being prepared to receive the Spirit? Still, I think that this is exactly the message of hope. God has not withdrawn himself. He sent his Son to share our human condition and the Son sent us his Spirit to lead us into the intimacy of his divine life. It is in the midst of the chaotic suffering of humanity that the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Love, makes himself visible. But can we recognize his presence?
DAILY MEDITATION | JULY 24, 2021
Love God with All Your Heart
Jesus’ primary concern was to be obedient to his Father, to live constantly in his presence. Only then did it become clear to him what his task was in his relationships with people. This also is the way he proposes for his apostles: “It is to the glory of my Father that you should bear much fruit, and then you will be my disciples” (John 15:8). Perhaps we must continually remind ourselves that the first commandment requiring us to love God with all our heart, all our soul, and all our mind is indeed the first. I wonder if we really believe this. It seems that in fact we live as if we should give as much of our heart, soul, and mind as possible to our fellow human beings, while trying hard not to forget God. At least we feel that our attention should be divided evenly between God and our neighbor. But Jesus’ claim is much more radical. He asks for a single-minded commitment to God and God alone. God wants all of our heart, all of our mind, and all of our soul. It is this unconditional and unreserved love for God that leads to the care for our neighbor, not as an activity that distracts us from God or competes with our attention to God, but as an expression of our love for God who reveals himself to us as the God of all people. It is in God that we find our neighbors and discover our responsibility to them. We might even say that only in God does our neighbor become a neighbor rather than an infringement upon our autonomy, and that only in and through God does service become possible.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
DAILY MEDITATION | JULY 1, 2021
Gratitude is a Quality of the Heart
Gratitude is the awareness that life in all its manifestations is a gift for which we want to give thanks. The closer we come to God in prayer, the more we become aware of the abundance of God’s gifts to us. We may even discover the presence of these gifts in the midst of our pains and sorrows. The mystery of the spiritual life is that many of the events, people, and situations that for a long time seemed to inhibit our way to God become ways of being united more deeply with him. What seemed a hindrance proves to be a gift. Thus gratitude becomes a quality of our hearts that allows us to live joyfully and peacefully even though our struggles continue.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
DAILY MEDITATION | JUNE 20, 2021
Creating the New World to Come
People of prayer are, in the final analysis, people who are able to recognize in others the face of the Messiah. They are people who make visible what was hidden, who make touchable what was unreachable. People of prayer are leaders because precisely through their articulation of God’s work within themselves they can lead others away from confusion and toward clarification; through their compassion they can guide others out of the closed circuits of in-groups and toward the wider world of humanity; and through their critical contemplation they can convert convulsive destructiveness into creative work for the new world to come.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
06/13/2021
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM7excLykLE
Hymn - The Church of Christ In Every Age The church of Christ, in ev'ry age beset by change, but Spirit-led,must claim and test its heritage and keep on rising from the dead.Across the world, across...
Meditation for today.
Of one thing I am sure. Complaining is self-perpetuating and counterproductive. Whenever I express my complaints in the hope of evoking pity and receiving the satisfaction I so much desire, the result is always the opposite of what I tried to get. A complainer is hard to live with, and very few people know how to respond to the complaints made by a self-rejecting person. The tragedy is that, often, the complaint, once expressed, leads to that which is most feared: further rejection. . . . Joy and resentment cannot coexist.
--- Henri J. M. Nouwen
06/01/2021
Lord, make us servants of your peace (012) Lord, make us servants of your peace:Where there is hate, may we sow love;Where there is hurt, may we forgive;Where there is strife, may we make one.Where al...
DAILY MEDITATION | May 26, 2021
Henri Nouwen
Prayer Leads to Compassion
Prayer and action can never be seen as contradictory or mutually exclusive. Prayer without action grows into powerless pietism, and action without prayer degenerates into questionable manipulation. If prayer leads us into deeper unity with the compassionate Christ, it will always give rise to concrete acts of service. And if concrete acts of service do indeed lead us to a deeper solidarity with the poor, the hungry, the sick, the dying, and the oppressed, they will always give rise to prayer. In prayer we meet Christ, and in him all human suffering. In service we meet people, and in them the suffering Christ. . . .
Action with and for those who suffer is the concrete expression of a compassionate life and the final criterion of being a Christian. Such acts do not stand beside the moments of prayer and worship but are themselves such moments. Why? Because Jesus Christ, who did not cling to his divinity, but became as we are, can be found where there are hungry, thirsty, alienated, naked, sick, and imprisoned people. Precisely when we live in an ongoing conversation with Christ and allow the Spirit to guide our lives, we will recognize Christ in the poor, the oppressed, and the downtrodden and will hear his cry and respond to it wherever he is revealed.
Henri J. M. Nouwen
04/22/2021
We come to you for healing, Lord (077) We come to you for healing, Lord, of body, mind, and soul,and pray that by, your Spirit’s touch, we may again be whole.As once you walked through ancient str...
Christ is alive! Let Christians sing.
His cross stands empty to the sky.
Let streets and homes with praises ring.
His love in death shall never die.
Christ is alive! No longer bound
to distant years in Palestine,
he comes to claim the here and now,
and conquer every place and time.
Not throned above, remotely high,
untouched, unmoved by human pains
but daily, in the midst of life,
our Saviour, with the Father reigns.
In every insult, rift and war,
where color, scorn or wealth divide,
he suffers still, yet loves the more,
and lives, though ever crucified.
Christ is alive! His Spirit burns
through this and every future age,
till all creation lives and learns
his joy, his justice, love and praise.
In the cross of Christ I glory,
towering o'er the wrecks of time;
all the light of sacred story
gathers round its head sublime.
When the woes of life o'ertake me,
hopes deceive, and fears annoy,
never shall the cross forsake me.
Lo! it glows with peace and joy.
When the sun of bliss is beaming
light and love upon my way,
from the cross the radiance streaming
adds more luster to the day.
Bane and blessing, pain and pleasure,
by the cross are sanctified;
peace is there that knows no measure,
joys that through all time abide.
(Inside the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem)
Go to dark Gethsemane,
You who feel the tempter's pow'r;
Your Redeemer's conflict see;
Watch with Him one bitter hour;
Turn not from His griefs away;
Learn of Jesus Christ to pray.
Follow to the judgment hall;
View the Lord of life arraigned;
O the worm-wood and the gall!
O the pangs His soul sustained!
Shun not suff'ring, shame, or loss;
Learn of Him to bear the cross.
Calv'ry's mournful mountain climb
There' adoring at His feet,
Mark the miracle of time,
God's own sacrifice complete:
"It is finished!" Hear the cry;
Learn of Jesus Christ to die.
Early hasten to the tomb
Where they laid his breathless clay;
All is solitude and gloom;
Who hath taken Him away?
Christ is ris'n! He meets our eyes:
Savior, teach us so to rise.
(The photo is a 1,000-year-old olive tree in the Garden of Gethsemane. November 4, 2015.)
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