A Song relevant to the “Widow’s Mite” this Sunday. It is a social justice rallying song to help us embody Jesus’s solidarity with the poor and the vulnerable.
Music
“For all the Saints” – the background of the hymn
Words– William How (1823-1897 )
Music – Ralph Vaughn Williams (1872-1958)
Vaughn Williams in 1900
"For All the Saints" has become one of the most popular hymns of the 20th century and used almost universally for All Saints Sunday.
William How
The words were written by William How in 1864. The music we use by Ralph Vaughn Williams was not written until 1906.
How was the son of a solicitor and attended Wadham College, Oxford. In 1846, he was ordained an Anglican minister. He served as Curate at Kidderminster, then at Shrewsbury. He then became Rector at Whittington, Shropshire, near the Welsh border. In 1879, he became suffragen Bishop of London. In 1889, he was appointed Bishop of Wakefield, West Yorkshire.
He was known for his work with the poor and with industrial workers. He also found time to write over 50 hymns, most of them during his stay in Whittington.
Ralph Vaughn Williams
Williams is one of the best known English composers of the 20th century. He composed symphonies, concertos, chamber music and film scores .
He was also a collector of English folk music and song; this collecting activity influenced both his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, in which he included many folk song arrangements as hymn tunes, and several of his own original compositions. In 1904 Vaughan Williams discovered English folk songs and carols, which were fast becoming extinct because the oral tradition through which they existed was being undermined by an increase in literacy and the availability of printed music in rural areas. He travelled the countryside, transcribing and preserving many himself.
Williams’ music for "For All the Saints" was called ’Sine Nomine’ . The tune wraps six unison verses around two SATB-harmonized verses, bridged with refrain-like Alleluias. Sine nomine is Latin for ‘without a name,’ reminiscent of the lectionary for the Feast of All Saints, "And there are some who have no memorial, who have perished as though they had not lived; they have become as though they had not been born, and so have their children after them." (Ecclesiasticus 44)
You can listen to it here . Lyrics
1. For all the saints, who from their labors rest,
who thee by faith before the world confessed,
thy name, O Jesus, be forever blest.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
2. Thou wast their rock, their fortress, and their might;
thou Lord, their captain in the well-fought fight;
thou in the darkness drear, their one true light.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
3. O may thy soldiers, faithful, true, and bold,
fight as the saints who nobly fought of old,
and win with them the victor’s crown of gold.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
4. O blest communion, fellowship divine!
We feebly struggle, they in glory shine;
yet all are one in thee, for all are thine.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
5. And when the strife is fierce, the warfare long,
steals on the ear the distant triumph song,
and hearts are brave again, and arms are strong.
Alleluia, Alleluia!
6. From earth’s wide bounds, from ocean’s farthest coast,
through gates of pearl streams in the countless host,
singing to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost:
Alleluia, Alleluia!
Hildegard of Bingen (1098-1179) – musician, writer, prophetess – and saint
We celebrate Hildegard’s life on September 17.
Accounts written in Hildegard’s lifetime (1098-1179) and just after describe an extraordinarily accomplished woman: a visionary, a prophet (she was known as “The Sibyl Of The Rhine”), a pioneer who wrote practical books on biology, botany, medicine, theology and the arts. She was a prolific letter-writer to everyone from humble penitents looking for a cure for infertility to popes, emperors and kings seeking spiritual or political advice. She composed music and was known to have visions
Here is what Gay Rahn, former Associate Rector at St. George’s Fredericksburg, wrote about her several years ago – “Hildegard of Bingen was a twelfth-century mystic, composer, and author. She described the Holy One as the greening Power of God. Just as plants are greened, so we are as well. As we grow up, our spark of life continually shines forth. If we ignore this spark this greening power, we become thirsty and shriveled. And, if we respond to the spark, we flower. ”
A Unique Monastery in Africa
Keur Moussa means ‘House of Moses’. The House of Moses Monastery was founded in Senegal in Western Africa in 1961 by French monks from the order of St Benedict. The monastery is known for its art, music and its service with both African and European forms. You can see this in the following video.
Today, Keur Moussa has 30 to 40 brothers. The abbey also sponsors an elementary school and dispensary, run by sisters and laypeople. The monks themselves live from the work of their hands, tending fruit trees, making cheese, and hand-crafting their musical instrument known as koras.
The altar has images on both the wall and ceiling.
It also has one of the unique Death of John the Baptist depictions.
Robert Harding, photographer, took a series of photos there. This one is “Head of Baptist, mural by Father George Saget (1963) fits in with the Gospel on July 14.
This image shows not just the execution but a diverse crowd reaction. People on the far right are very sad and withdrawn, a natural reaction. Those two to the left have their hands up. This can mean several things – they don’t want to be associated with it, they are appalled by it, they are reviled by it. They have at least confronted it.
Larry’s new guitar, June 16, 2024
Larry Saylor played the prelude and offertory today June 16, 2024. What’s significant is that he played them on a new guitar. Not one bought but the second one he made! (His first one debuted in Feb. 2022). This one took 1.5 years compared to 3 years of the first one.
This guitar has a different design. It is closer to a Romantic guitar, smaller with two less frets. It was modelled after a Martin 1920’s model. Another quality is that Larry designed the moldings and resonator board himself rather than buying them. Thus this instrument has been more personalized
Two performances :
Trinity Sunday- Hymn of the Week – “Holy, Holy, Holy”
Reginald Heber (1783 – 1826) was an English clergyman, traveller, man of letters and hymn-writer who, after working as a country parson for 16 years, served as the Anglican Bishop of Calcutta until his sudden death at the age of 42.
Reginald Heber wrote "Holy, Holy, Holy" while serving as vicar of Hodnet, Shropshire, England. He was the first to compile a hymnal ordering hymns around the church calendar. Wanting to celebrate a triune God, Heber wrote "Holy, Holy, Holy" for Trinity Sunday–a day that reaffirmed the doctrine of the Trinity and was observed eight Sundays after Easter. The hymn was first published in 1826.
Years later, John Dykes composed the tune Nicaea especially for Heber’s "Holy, Holy, Holy."
The Little Falls Bluegrass Band returns for Pentecost
The Little Falls Bluegrass Band from Stafford returns this Pentecost to entertain us as they did in 2023.
The gentlemen have played bluegrass music for many years in many bands, including this one. They have played for weddings, social and church services. They are tight both in music and friendship – and it shows! Several attend Community Baptist Church in Stafford.