Light of the anxious heart, Jesus, Thou dost appear To bid the gloom of guilt depart and shed Thy sweetness here. —Bernard of Clairvaux Just as Paul warns his readers in 1 Corinthians 7 to be “free from anxieties,” the hymns we sing this morning develop themes of setting aside worldly fears in favor of the rest we have…
Teach us, then, by humble means, whether rich or poor, In times of hunger help us lean upon the gracious stores, Christ our gracious store. —Nathan George In today’s sermon text, we find Paul encouraging us towards contentment: “…let each person lead the life that the Lord has assigned to him, and to which God has called him” (1 Corinthians…
Bulletin This collection of music was chosen to assist us in meditating on the sufferings of Christ on the cross, as presented in John’s Gospel. The choir will be presenting two texts directly from the Gospel of John. Thomas Tallis’ If Ye Love Me is a sparkling gem of Renaissance polyphony, in which the voices crisscross in a challenging web…
The very first promise of redemption comes immediately after the Fall of Adam and Even in the Garden. There, God declares that the “seed of the woman” would “bruise the head of the serpent” (Genesis 3:16). In the earliest churches, this great promise was artistically represented by mosaics of dragons on floors—upon which everyone in the congregation could step and…
The palm tree and palm leaves appear again and again throughout the Bible as symbols of integrity, honor, righteousness, holiness, godly authority, and royal glory. The palm was used in the carved decorations of the temple, usually associated with the Cherubim, but also with the regal lion and the flower in full bloom. In addition though, throughout the entire ancient…
I hope that over the past five weeks you have enjoyed learning and singing Do You Decree, O Earthly Gods (Psalm 58). This is certainly one of the more unusual texts in the psalter, in which David details the corruption of earthly rulers who “go astray from birth, speaking lies” (vs. 3), have venom like serpents (vs. 4), and “deal…
During our Wednesday night Lententide devotions, we have been walking through passages from the Gospel of John, highlighting not just the details of Jesus’ passion and death (“what” and “how), but why He had to die. Likewise, in this morning’s text from 1 Corinthians it could be easy to focus on the prohibitions Paul places on sexuality and miss the…
There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins, And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains. In this morning’s sermon text from 1 Corinthians, Paul pulls no punches regarding the “unrighteous” who will not inherit the Kingdom. He very clearly names these unrighteous behaviors and lifestyles, even pointing out that some of these had…
Last week, all of the snow shoveling I had to do gave me ample time to catch up on some podcasts. I was listening to a discussion on worship, in which one of the guests was critiquing certain hymns and songs for excessive use of the first- person perspective. He argued that too many instances of words like “I” and…
This Sunday marks the beginning of the Lenten season, which is traditionally a time of prayer, fasting, and repentance leading up to Easter, observed by Christians since the days of the early church. Several elements of the service have been adjusted to fit the character of this season. We will begin each Sunday by singing What Wondrous Love Is This…