John 14

John 14 (ESV)

⁵ Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” ⁶Jesus said to him, ”I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. ⁷ If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”

You Are the Way

Holy Week and Easter

What a beautiful and meaningful week of services at Second City Church. I found myself exhausted Sunday afternoon after our Easter service, but filled with joy and peace in Jesus. Palm Sunday began with a energetic processional with marching percussion, children waving palms and the parade shouting hosannas. We had the children and adults (whoever was brave enough) march in from the other side of the church, into the sanctuary and up to the front sing a “Hosanna!” chorus. What a joyful and festive way to start a service. The week moved reverently through a healing service on Wednesday night, Maundy Thursday service filled with the Lord’s Supper, foot washing and the choir singing Thomas Tallis’ If Ye Love Me. Finally there was a Good Friday Tenebrae service. Easter morning was filled of course with a burst of triumphant singing. Attached is the Palm Sunday Processional, a communion hymn fitting for Maundy Thursday, a song appropriate for Good Friday called A Crown and Thorns, and a song we sang on Easter called The Strife is Over the Battle Done. Happy Easter!

Palm Sunday Procession

Communion Hymn

A Crown and Thorns

Strife is Over the Battle Done

Out of the Deep I Call

At Second City Church we, like many churches throughout the world, use the Lectionary to guide the reading and themes throughout the church year. This coming week’s Psalm, the fifth Sunday in Lent, is Psalm 130. The opening line, and very title, of the hymn Out of the Deep I Call is drawn from Psalm 130. You can listen to a Pageant Music contemporary setting from the album 12 Pearls here. You can also see and download the lead sheet below. Grace and Peace!

Out of the Deep I Call

 

Living Water

Today Pastor Jed Slaboda preached on John 4, Jesus’ amazing discussion with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s Well. Jed reminded us of the “living water” Jesus offers to those who would hear and believe his message. It brought to mind a number of songs, including an original musical setting of beautiful words by John Samuel Bewley Monsell (1811-1875).

 

I hunger and I thirst,
Jesu, my manna be;
Ye living waters, burst
Out of the rock for me.

Thou bruised and broken Bread,
My life-long wants supply;
As living souls are fed,
O feed me, or I die.

Thou true life-giving Vine,
Let me Thy sweetness prove;
Renew my life with Thine,
Refresh my soul with love.

Rough paths my feet have trod
Since first their course began;
Feed me, Thou Bread of God;
Help me, Thou Son of Man.

For still the desert lies
My thirsting soul before;
O living waters, rise
Within me evermore.

 

The song is on Pageant Music’s album 12 Gates. This song is a good one for Communion, baptism, or the preaching of related Scripture passages such as John 4, Exodus 17, etc. Here is a lead sheet of I Hunger and I Thirst:

I Hunger and I Thirst

You can Listen to the song here, as well as all the songs on 12 Gates.

What a great thing to culminate our time worshipping together every week by being fed by the preaching of God’s Word followed with being fed by our Savior Jesus in His supper to which he invites us all! Remembering that he gives us our daily bread, this signifying a food more spiritual that he gives. His very life he gives, and that life eternal. A water by which we will never thirst again, and a food by which we will never be hungry. This is certainly why we call it Eucharist, from the greek meaning “thanksgiving”. At Second City Church we strive to have a celebratory spirit as we partake the Lord’s Supper together. And we strive to serve others and by His grace and power, humbly point others to this precious life giving water, our perfect Savior.

Kyrie

The kyrie is one of the oldest prayers in the Christian church. For those churches that follow the church calendar, or even for those who don’t but would like to recover some of the rich history and rhythm of the church calendar for your church, Lent is a appropriate penitential time to incorporate this reverent prayer; during a time of confession or before the Lord’s Supper. There are thousands of settings of the kyrie eleison, and this is a great time to have the/a choir perform a more liturgical function – choir singing the “Lord have mercy” response to the congregation, or sing with the congregation, leading them in a choral response to the spoken prayer. Below is a short prayerful setting in which I composed the music, and included is an opening sentence for the leader followed by a time of silent meditation. This also allows for a oft ignored element in our services together – Silence. We are often uncomfortable with long silences, feeling like things should be moving along, or “something” should be happening. Wether you use this setting, write one of your own, or use one of the many other settings in existence, I hope this Lent, and throughout the year, you can recover this reflective, penitential, and silently prayerful time as a worshipping community.

Kyrie short 1 chords

Kyrie short instruments

 

 

PM on FB and a New Project!

We finally did it. It is official. Just got word from our Singapore offices – Pageant Music is now on Facebook! Come join our Pageant Music page here. See you there!

Also, PM just started work on an exciting new project. Are you fans of Katie Becker? I thought so. There is a great collection of her new music coming, hopefully soon. Updates will happen as the recording unfolds.

Psalms

Here is Psalm 29 with a sung refrain that works well for a call to worship…

Psalm 29 response

This is a setting of George Herbert’s versification of Psalm 23 that works well as a congregational song…

Psalm 23

And an alternate accompaniment creating a different mood…

Psalm 23 append

And finally Psalm 136 with a choral response that could be sung alternating with the congregation or leader reading…

Psalm 136 response

 

 

Doxology

Here are several new arrangements that we’ve used in recent weeks at Second City Church. Most are general statements of praise and work well as responses or in expressing praise and adoration of God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The Gloria Patri is known as the lesser doxology and is often sung to the tune Greatorex (written by Henry Greatorex in the 19th C.). Below is a new music setting. Also included is a refrain I wrote for the hymn Glory Be to God and an additional “alleluia” that can be used as a refrain for any hymn or song in 3/4 (6/8). The hymn Glory be to God is sung to the tune Regent Square written by Henry T. Smart in the 19th C.. What I did was altered the melody slightly and added a refrain based on the first line of the text. The following week after introducing this arrangement and singing the hymn in its entirety, we just sang the refrain section as a doxology. Here is the Wiki entry on Doxology, it’s history and use in the Christian Church. I hope this can be a valuable resource for your church’s praises!

Glory Be to God the Father CHORDS

Glory Be to God the Father SHORT

Glory Be to God the Father

Gloria Patri chords

Gloria Patri

Alleluia interlude

 

 

A Choral piece for Holy Week

Jesus, Once for Our Salvation was Crucified

Christus factus est pro nobis obediens      Christ made was for us obedient
usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis.   even unto death, death on cross
Propter quod et Deus exaltavit illum          because of this and God raised him
et dedit illi nomen,       and bestowed on him name
quod est  super omne nomen.    which is above all names

This text, drawn from Philipians 2:8-9, is part of the mass that can be sung on Maundy Thursday or Good Friday. The choir at Wheatland Church in Lancaster, PA sang this in a concert on Good Friday in 2008. There have been many composers who have set this text; Arenio’s setting is particularly stirring. Because it is brief it can be tackled by the average church choir.

Attached is an arrangement for chamber ensemble. Also attached is a choral score from the Choral Public Domain Library which is a great resource for choral music.

Christus_Factus_Est_Anerio

bass cl

vln

vc

ob

horn

fl

Christus factus est

bass

I Will Sing My Maker’s Praises wind quintet arrangement

Today we had the great pleasure of having my friend Anne Nye’s fantastic woodwind quintet provide music for our service at Second City Church. We did two beautiful choruses from the Taize Community In the Lord I’ll Be Ever Thankful and Sing Praise and Bless the Lord. We also sang the song from the previous post Sing our Maker’s Praises. The score and parts to the quintet arrangement I made are posted below. Pastor Jed Slaboda was preaching on the Beatitudes, and though I am not yet prepared to reveal our sacred musical collaboration Code of Life for the Kingdom, based on the sermon on the mount, I can post the response we sung to the Gospel reading of Matthew 5:3-12 today (Beatitudes response). The accompaniment can be just a washy Eb mixolydian – wash away! PEACE.

Sing our Maker’s Praises FULL

Sing our Maker’s Praises quintet fl ob

Sing our Maker’s Praises quintet f hrn

Sing our Maker’s Praises quintet cl

Sing our Maker’s Praises quintet bsn