Hymn of the Day: “Will You Come and Follow Me?” ELW 798
Text: John Lamberton Bell (1949)
Tune: KELVINGROVE, traditional Scottish melody

Though he is not certain of it, John Bell is "fairly confident" that this text was written “for the sending out of one our youth volunteers. This was a scheme sponsored by the lona Community whereby young people gave a year or two to live in impoverished parts of Scotland, on the dole, and work out their discipleship in hard places. When they finished, my colleague and I would often write a song for their farewell ceremony always held in the house where they had been working. The words of this song therefore reflect the experience of the volunteer concerned. But we only wrote it for one-off use. It probably goes back to around 1986-87.” Bell then adds, "If I had kept a record of people who have spoken of how a particular line in this affected their life, I could have published a book of very moving testimonies by now, but I'm glad I didn't."

John Lamberton Bell is a Scottish hymn-writer and Church of Scotland minister. He is a member of the Iona Community, a broadcaster, and former student activist. He works throughout the world, lecturing in theological colleges in the UK, Canada and the United States, but is primarily concerned with the renewal of congregational worship at the grass roots level.

Kelvingrove is a place in Glasgow, Scotland, perhaps best known for the museum with that name. The tune that bears the name KELVINGROVE is a traditional Scottish one linked with a text by Thomas Lyle (1792-1859), "Let us haste to Kelvin Grove, bonnie lassie, O," published in The Scottish Minstrel (1811) as KELVIN WATER. Before that in the eighteenth century it was paired with "Bonnie Lassie-O (The Shearing's Nae for You)," which is about a young woman being raped. The tune, darkly, paradoxically, works very well with this text by John Bell, and one has to believe that the irony of such a tune for a story of rape was not lost on those who sang it in the eighteenth century.

Offertory: “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” Frank Pesci

A strophic setting of the hymn tune Nettleton, composed by John Wyeth (1770-1858). This piece was completed on December 3, 2007, in Newton, Massachusetts, and revised two years later. It, like many choral works between 2005 and 2009, was premiered at Grace Episcopal Church in Newton, MA. The first and third stanzas present the tune in the choral part. Stanza two inverts the tune's presentation - the melody in the organ part is accompanied by four-part chorus.

Born in Washington, D.C., Frank Pesci has studied composition with Luigi Zaninelli and John Heiss. His sacred works include three dozen motets, sacred songs, works for children, and three Mass settings. As a professional liturgical musician, he sang at the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in D.C. and Trinity Church Boston, under Leo Nestor and Marilyn Keiser, and led music programs in Mississippi and Massachusetts. Frank has worked for education and performing arts non-profits throughout the mid-Atlantic and New England. He is currently the Executive Director of the New Hampshire Music Festival and Associate Artistic Director of Boston Opera Collaborative.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing, Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet, Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount! Oh, fix me on it, Mount of God’s unchanging love.

Here I find my greatest treasure; Hither by Thy great help I’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger, Wandering from the fold of God; He,
to rescue me from danger, Interposed His precious blood;

O to grace how great a debtor Daily I’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter, Bind my wandering heart to Thee.

Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love; Here’s
my heart, O take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

Opening Voluntary: “Repton” (He Comes to Us ) Robert J Powell (1932-2025)

We join the church world in mourning the death of composer, Robert J. Powell. It is difficult to think of what church music might have been in the last 50 years without Robert’s music. He was a prolific composer with over 1200 pieces in print. We give thanks for Robert’s friendship and support over many years. Robert J. Powell was born in Benoit, Mississippi. He grew up in sacred music, beginning his training in the 5th grade and starting to compose in 7th grade. By age 18, he was providing piano and organ music for worship services, something he continued through his years in college and as a chaplain’s assistant in the U.S. Army. Mr. Powell holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ and Composition from Louisiana State University (1954) and a Master of Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary in New York (1958), where he studied under Alec Wyton. He was Assistant Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York from 1958 to 1960, Organist/Choir director at St. Paul’s in Meridian, MS from 1960 - 1965, and Director of Music at St. Paul’s School in Concord, N.H. from 1965-1968. He held the position of Organist and Choir Director at Christ Church in Greenville, SC from 1968 to 2003.

Closing Voluntary: “Angelic Songs” (O Zion Haste) Mark Sedio

Mary Ann Thomson (1834-1923), wrote about forty hymn texts, which have appeared mostly in the Churchman, New York, and in the Living Church, Chicago. Four of her hymns are found in the Protestant Episcopal Hymnal, 1892. Of the origin of the missionary hymn "O Zion, haste," she writes as follows: I wrote the greater part of the hymn, "O Zion, haste," in the year 1868. I had written many hymns before, and one night, while I was sitting up with one of my children who was ill of typhoid fever, I thought I should like to write a missionary hymn to the tune of the hymn beginning "Hark, hark, my soul, angelic songs are swelling," as I was fond of that tune; but as I could not then get a refrain I liked, I left the hymn unfinished, and about three years later I finished it by writing the refrain which now forms part of it. By some mistake 1891 is given instead of 1871 as the date of the hymn in the (Episcopal) Hymnal. I do not think it is ever sung to the tune for which I wrote it. Rev. John Anketell told me, and I am sure he is right, that it is better for a hymn to have a tune of its own, and I feel much indebted to the composer of the tune "Tidings" for writing so inspiring a tune to my words.