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 BulletinSermon Text

Subscribe to St. John’s podcasts at PodcastPeople or on iTunes

Service Music:

Voluntary    Two settings of Nun danket alle Gott    Robert Edward Smith, 1996
Paul Manz, 1992

Processional Hymn 632    O Christ, the Word Incarnate    Munich

Gloria in excelsis S278     William Mathias (1934-1992)

Sequence Hymn 571    All who love and serve your city    Charlestown

Offertory Anthem     Great is thy faithfulness    Gilbert Martin (b. 1941)
Words: Thomas Chisholm (1866-1960)

Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father,
There is no shadow of turning with thee;
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not
As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.

Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see;
All I have needed thy hand hath provided—
“Great is thy faithfulness,” Lord, unto me!

Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
Sun, moon and stars in their courses above,
Join with all nature in manifold witness
To thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
Thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide;
Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,
Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

Thomas Chisholm wrote this hymn as a testament to God’s faithfulness through his very ordinary life.  Born in a log cabin in Franklin, Kentucky, Chisholm became a Christian when he was twenty-seven and entered the ministry when he was thirty-six, though poor health forced him to retire after just one year and work as an insurance agent. Still, even with a desk job, he wrote nearly 1,200 poems throughout his life, including several published hymns. Chisholm explained toward the end of his life, “My income has not been large at any time due to impaired health.  Although I must not fail to record here the unfailing faithfulness of a covenant-keeping God and that He has given me many wonderful displays of His providing care, for which I am filled with astonishing gratefulness.” Gilbert Martin, arranger, is a well-known American choral composer, and uncle to our Director of Music.

Sanctus S128    William Mathias

Fraction Anthem S166  Agnus Dei     Gerald Near (b. 1942)

Communion Anthem    Tantum ergo sacramentum    Maurice Duruflé (1902-1986)
Words: St. Thomas Aquinas, c. 1264

Tantum ergo Sacramentum veneremur cernui:
Et antiquum documentum novo cedat ritui:
Præstet fides supplementum sensuum defectui.

Genitori, Genitoque laus et jubilatio,
Salus, honor, virtus quoque sit et benedictio:
Procedenti ab utroque compar sit laudatio. Amen.

Down in adoration falling, Lo! the sacred Host we hail,
Lo! o’er ancient forms departing newer rites of grace prevail;
Faith for all defects supplying, where the feeble senses fail.

To the Everlasting Father, and the Son Who reigns on high
With the Holy Ghost proceeding forth from Each eternally,
Be salvation, honour, blessing, might, and endless majesty. Amen.

Hymn in Procession 290    Come, ye thankful people, come    St. George’s, Windsor

Voluntary    Fantasia on Nun danket alle Gott    Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877-1933)