All Saints Day & Start of Stewardship Campaign
8am Service
Gathering Hymn: For the Fruit of All Creation
It's November--a time of harvest, changing colors, and the start of the St. Paul's stewardship campaign. Our gathering hymn reminds us that all we have is thanks to God: Fruit (though I'm partial to the summer variety), the just reward of labor, our worldwide task of caring, all the good we inherit...most of all, that love has found us. I find myself grateful for the honor of helping to plan the music for the worship services at St. Paul's, and for the privilege to grow as a musician alongside the talented ensembles of our congregation.
Hymn of the Day: As Saints of Old
This hymn beautifully ties together the dual themes of our service this day!
Sending Hymn: For All the Saints
My favorite part of this selection is the triumphant "Alleluias" in the final line. Ralph Vaughn Williams brings William How's text to life, which is no surprise, considering Vaughn Williams' talent for composing evocative musical settings for the text of other writers. If you are not familiar with his song cycle Songs of Travel, I highly suggest you correct this! In it, Vaughn Williams masterfully sets the text of Robert Louis Stevenson's poems Songs of Travel and Other Verses to music. My favorite selection from the song cycle is Vagabond, and my favorite example of the work is a gender-bending performance by Wallis Giunta.
10:30am Service
Prelude: Reckless Love
This is a new selection for our congregation that the praise team performed three times in October. Feel free to join us as we sing together this morning! This will also be our song of the day. Check out the lyric video!
Gathering Song: Our God Saves
This selection from Paul Baloche and Benton Brown proclaims our shared belief that God is the ultimate source of hope and life-changing love. Baloche describes the song as one intended for gathering, and the simple text sets our intention as a community of Christians entering worship together.
Song of the Day: Reckless Love
I enjoy reading the inspiration that draws songwriters to create certain compositions, and so I endeavored to learn what inspired Cory Asbury to write our song of the day. What I found was more interesting. I came across a blog by a man named Ken Winter (a Christian author and missionary) who described his initial negative reaction to seeing the title of this song. (I've provided the link, but a google search of Ken Winter and Reckless Love should get you to the whole blog entry if you're reading this in the paper copy.)
Here is what Ken had to say:
As the song began, i was put off by the word “Reckless”. How could we ever feign to describe the One who designed and created all the intricacies of time and space, the physical and the spiritual, even the wonders and beauties of His creation, as reckless? The very word “reckless” is defined as an adjective used to describe “a person or their actions, as being without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action.” Synonyms of the word include: “rash, careless, thoughtless, hasty, overhasty, impetuous, and impulsive”. None of those are words i would use to describe our Heavenly Father. Everything He does has purpose!...
As i pondered His love, i couldn’t help but consider my own love – my love for Him, for my wife and my family – even my love for those around me. i most definitely wouldn’t describe my love as “reckless”. My love is measured. It is carefully extended. Too often, it is earned. i’m ashamed to admit that it can easily be lost – by a hurtful word or action. It can be fickle – here today and gone tomorrow. The expression of my love can ebb and flow based upon my mood – or my circumstance – or the “lovingliness” of the other person. Apart from the Spirit of God within me, there is nothing about my love that aligns with 1 Corinthians 13.
And then it hit me, God’s love truly is reckless. He puts His love out there to be rejected. Though i walked away from Him, He pursued me. He never gave up on me in the past. And He won’t give up on me in the future. He even tears down the lie of my self-talk that says i am beyond His ability – or my worthiness – to be loved. i can’t earn His love, and i sure don’t deserve it. There’s nothing that can overshadow His love, and there is no mountain that He won’t tear down to reach me.
Sending Song: Be the Hands, the Heart of God
You may remember this spirited closing song from two of our July services this summer...and if you don't, here it is to refresh your memory. 😊