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

Worship at Home:

Click here: Service Bulletin

Service Music:

Voluntary    Dance Prelude on Lasst uns erfreuen    David Schack (b. 1947)

Processional Hymn 405    All things bright and beautiful    Royal Oak

Song of Praise    Dignus es    Benjamin P. Straley (b. 1986)

Sequence Hymn 593 vv. 1-3    Lord, make us servants of your peace    Dickinson College

Hymn at the Blessing of the Animals 400    All creatures of our God and King    Lasst uns erfreuen

Offertory Anthem    Bring us peace (2020)    Michele Hecht

Bring us peace, give us hope.
Send the silver light of angels’ wings into the darkest night.
Bring us peace, give us hope.
We need to feel the tenderness and warmth of your embrace,
a gentle touch, an easy smile.
We long for signs of love lost to the world for just a while.
Send your light, give us joy!
We long to feel the stir of life, the flutter, the spark,
the gathering of captive hearts released into the wild.
Overjoyed we run and dance and sing,
overjoyed, our voices strong and free.
We lift our hearts up to the sun.
We lift our hands up to the sky.
We close our eyes in grateful wonder and we breathe.
Breathe. Breathe.
Bring us peace, give us hope, give us love.

Michele Hecht is the Director of Music Ministry at First Congregational Church of Glen Ellyn, IL, where she directs the adult choir, children’s choir and supervises music staff and volunteers. Michele is the current President of the United Church of Christ Musicians Association (UCCMA), a national organization that serves church musicians. This piece is a prayer of hope for the choirs of the world who have been silenced by the global pandemic.

Sanctus    Land of Rest, arr. Annabel Morris Buchanan (1889-1983)

Fraction Anthem    Be Known to us, Lord Jesus    Gary James (b. 1957)

Communion Anthem    Silent, Surrendered    Margaret Rizza (b. 1929)
Words: Pamela Hayes and Margaret Rizza

Silent, surrendered, calm and still, open to the word of God.
Heart humbled to his will, offered is the servant of God.
Come, Holy Spirit, bring us light, teach us, heal us, give us life.
Come, Lord, O let our hearts flow with love and all that is true.

Born in 1929, Margaret Rizza only began to compose in 1997. Since then she has become a major personality in the world of sacred choral music, with substantial sales of both her printed and recorded music, which includes chart topping Taizé chants. All this followed an illustrious career as an opera singer spanning 25 years, under the name Margaret Lensky, working with conductors such as Britten, Stravinsky and Bernstein.

Communion Hymn 345    Savior, again to thy dear Name we raise    Ellers

Hymn in Procession 482    Lord of all hopefulness    Slane

Voluntary    Carillon, 2010    Scott Lamlein (b. 1972)

Ted Babbitt, organ scholar