Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the Youth and Adult Choirs, sermon by the Rev’d Bill Eakins.
Worship at Home:
Click here: Service Bulletin – Sermon Text
Subscribe to St. John’s podcasts at PodcastPeople or on iTunes
Service Music:
Voluntary Wachet auf, uft runs die Stimme Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)
Processional Hymn 56 O come, O come, Emmanuel Veni, veni, Emmanuel
Kyrie S-89 James McGregor, after Hans Leo Hassler
Sequence Hymn 61 “Sleepers wake!” A voice astounds us Wachet auf
Offertory Anthem People, look east Christopher Steel, 1982
Words: Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965)
People, look east. The time is near
Of the crowning of the year.
Make your house fair as you are able,
Trim the hearth and set the table.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the guest, is on the way.
Furrows, be glad. Though earth is bare,
One more seed is planted there:
Give up your strength the seed to nourish,
That in course the flower may flourish.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the rose, is on the way.
Birds, though you long have ceased to build,
Guard the nest that must be filled.
Even the hour when wings are frozen
God for fledging time has chosen.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the bird, is on the way.
Stars, keep the watch. When night is dim
One more light the bowl shall brim,
Shining beyond the frosty weather,
Bright as sun and moon together.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the star, is on the way.
Angels, announce with shouts of mirth
Christ who brings new life to earth.
Set every peak and valley humming
With the word, the Lord is coming.
People, look east and sing today:
Love, the Lord, is on the way.
“People, Look East” was written by Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) and was first published as “Carol of Advent” in Part 3 of “Modern Texts Written for or Adapted to Traditional Tunes” in The Oxford Book of Carols, 1928. Farjeon, a native of London, was a devout Catholic who viewed her faith as “a progression toward which her spiritual life moved rather than a conversion experience.” (The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion, p. 323) She achieved acclaim as an author of children’s nursery rhymes and singing games, and is best remembered for her poem “Morning Has Broken.”
Sanctus S130 Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
Fraction anthem S164 Jesus, lamb of God Franz Schubert
Communion Anthem This is the truth sent from above Traditional English, arr. Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
This is the truth sent from above,
The truth of God, the God of love;
Therefore don’t turn me from your door,
But hearken all both rich and poor.
The first thing which I do relate,
Is That God did man create
The next thing which to you I tell,
Woman was made with man to dwell.
Thus we were heirs to endless woes,
Till God the Lord did interpose
For so a promise soon did run
That He’d redeem us with a Son.
And at this season of the year
Our blest Redeemer did appear
He here did live, and here did preach,
And many thousands He did teach.
Thus He in love to us behaved,
To show us how we must be saved
And if you want to know the way
Be pleased to hear what He did say.
Hymn in Procession 436 Lift up your heads, ye mighty gates Truro
Voluntary Fanfare on Wachet auf Paul Manz (1919-2009)