Music Notes for February 26

      One of my favorite Lenten prayers is the Breastplate of St. Patrick, not only because St. Patrick’s Day falls during Lent, but because it boldly invokes the protection of the Trinity with the great signs of nature which mark the passage of winter into spring: sun, moon, snow, fire, lightning, wind, crashing waves. This prayer is the text of the hymns “This Day God Gives Me” and “Christ Be Beside Me,” sung to the tune “Morning Has Broken.” It is also the theme of Madeleine L’Engle’s story of the cosmic battle between good and evil, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, a moving tale especially intended for younger readers which predates Harry Potter by some 25 years.

       Each year, the scripture of our Lenten liturgies recounts the story of God’s love for humanity with its covenants and blessings. This week’s Genesis reading is the conclusion of the tale of Noah, with the rainbow as the sign of God’s pledge not to destroy humankind. Rainbows are fire and water, and our hymn during the presentation of gifts will be the “Song of Fire and Water,” a melodic meditation on the symbols of baptism. Paired with this hymn will be the third “Mystery of Faith” acclamation which we have sung before and which will be our theme during Lent and the Easter season: “By your cross and resurrection, you have set us free: Salvador del mundo, ¡sálvanos!”  This last Spanish phrase, which means “Savior of the world, save us,” is a translation of the Latin Salvator mundi, salva nos, an acclamation much used over the centuries in various litanies and set to music by the great English and Italian Renaissance composers.  It sums up in a nutshell the import of our epistle from I Peter, who sees baptism prefigured in the waters of the Flood and Christ triumphant at the climax of history with the heavenly hosts in bright array. Mark tells us those same angels were at his side in the desert as he waged war with Satan.

         Psalm 25 is a prayer for spiritual growth as nature awakes with its own new growth. This prayer to “guide me in your truth and teach me” is reflected in the communion song at 10:00, “Lead Me, Guide Me,” from the gospel-music tradition, and “Remember Your Love,” written by three Louisiana seminarians in the 70s. The entrance procession at 10:00 is accompanied by the “Kyrie eleison” from Robert Ray’s Gospel Mass, whose verses recap the story of salvation as told by our Lenten readings. I learned this setting from the composer as he wrote it in the early 80s. Since then it has since been widely performed by high-school and college choirs Another great theme of salvation history is the role of grace and mercy, and these are the subject of “Your Grace Is Enough,” our closing song at 10:00.  The organ Masses close with the traditional “Lord, Who Throughout These Forty Days,” which many of us used to sing as “These Forty Days of Lent, O Lord.”

Music Notes for January 22

       The theme of the call continues in this week’s stories of Jonah and the first few disciples. Whoever compiled our lectionary could have picked instead the story of Elisha, who left his father and mother behind to become Elijah’s protégé (I Kings 19: 19-20), much as James and John left Zebedee standing in the boat, holding his nets. But Jonah held a special significance for Jesus: when the scribes, Pharisees and crowds pressed him for miracles, they were told to wait for the resurrection which would follow three days in a tomb, as Jonah had spent three days in the belly of the whale (Matt. 12: 39-42; Luke 11: 29-32). Most of us can identify with Jonah’s story: during periods of uncertainty, indecision, insecurity or loneliness, we often talk about being in the belly of the whale, waiting for a breakthrough. We also share Jonah’s rebellious nature, preferring the easy way out, the path of least resistance, and then are disappointed and frustrated if God does not fulfill our expectations. The scripture for the next three weeks is something of a mini-course for prophets. For St. Paul, the disciple needs to be free of material attachments. He or she must also have open ears, an open mind and an open heart, as Psalm 25 says: “Your ways, O Lord, make known to me; teach me your paths. . . . . [You] guide the humble to justice, [and] teach the humble [your] way.”  So a prophet may be discerned by a commitment to justice. The last paragraph of the psalm, verses 16-22, refers to the loneliness, trials and tribulations of the prophet in the whale’s belly. We will pray this psalm again on the first Sunday of Lent.

      The by-now classic meditation on the “fishers of men” story is Pescador de Hombres, “Lord, When You Came to the Seashore,” by Spanish priest Cesáreo Gabaráin (1936-1991). Sr. Donna McGargill’s “Servant Song” is another musical conversation with Jesus. Jesus’ public ministry is poetically summed up in 5 verses by Sydney Carter (1915-2004), using the Shaker tune “Simple Gifts.” At 10:00 we will sing two spirituals on the importance of listening: “Somebody’s Knocking at Your Door” and “Somebody’s Callin’ My Name.” Organ Masses conclude with the charge of the prophet Micah (6:8): “We are called to act with justice, . . . to love tenderly, . . .  to serve one another, to walk humbly with God.”  Worship at 10:00 concludes with Chris Tomlin’s “I Will Follow.”