Holy Eucharist Rite II at 10:30 a.m. sung by the St. John’s Choir School and Adult Choir, sermon by the Rev’d Margie Baker.

Worship at Home:

Click here: Service Bulletin

Service Music:

Voluntary    Adagio for Strings    Samuel Barber (1910-1981), arr. William Strickland (1914-1991)

Samuel Barber was an American composer, pianist, conductor, baritone, and music educator, and one of the most celebrated composers of the 20th century. The music critic Donal Henahan said, “Probably no other American composer has ever enjoyed such early, such persistent and such long-lasting acclaim.” Barber was adept at both instrumental and vocal music. His works became successful on the international stage and many of his compositions enjoyed rapid adoption into the classical performance canon. In particular, his Adagio for Strings (1936) has earned a permanent place in the orchestral concert repertory, as has that work’s adaptation for chorus, Agnus Dei (1967) and arrangement for organ (1949).

Silent Procession

Kyrie eleison S-84    Gregorian Chant, Orbis factor

Sequence Hymn 167    There is a green hill far away    Horsley

Offertory Anthem    O how amiable    Ralph Vaughan Williams (1872-1958)
Text from Psalms 84 and 90

O how amiable are thy dwellings, thou Lord of hosts!
My soul hath a desire and longing to enter into the courts of the Lord.
My heart and my flesh rejoice in the living God.
Yea, the sparrow hath found her a house and the swallow a nest where she may lay her young:
even thy altars, O Lord of hosts, my King, and my God.
Blessed are they that dwell in thy house.
They will be alway praising thee.
The glorious majesty of the Lord our God be upon us;
prosper thou the work of our hands upon us.
O prosper thou our handiwork.
O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come,
our shelter from the stormy blast, and our eternal home.

Sanctus     Gregorian Chant, Deus Genitor alme

Fraction Anthem     Agnus Dei     Gregorian Chant, Deus Genitor alme

Communion Anthem    A Gaelic blessing    John Rutter (b. 1945)
Words: Ancient Gaelic rune

Deep peace of the running wave to you.
Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.
Deep peace of the shining stars to you.
Deep peace of the gentle night to you.
Moon and stars pour their healing light on you.
Deep peace of Christ,
of Christ the light of the world to you.
Deep peace of Christ to you.

Communion Hymn 313    Let thy Blood in mercy poured    Jesu, meine Zuversicht

Hymn in Procession 522    Glorious things of thee are spoken    Austria

Voluntary    Fugue in E-flat Major, BWV 552b (“St. Anne”)    Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750)

The Fugue in E-flat is loaded with 3s – three sections with distinct themes, representing the strength of God the Father, the youth of God the Son, and the joyful dancing of God the Holy Spirit. There are three distinct meters, yet they all “work together,” suggesting unity of the three parts. It gets much more complicated than that, and I’ll be happy to show you some very daunting formulas that show how Bach literally embedded theological meaning into the notes. It is a coincidence (or is it?) that the Father section echoes the hymn-tune for O God, our help in ages past.

Ray Giolitto, assisting organist
Yingying Xia, organ scholar