Dear members of God’s family at Resurrection Church,
The texts this Sunday are about God welcoming all people, from every nation and every race, to mercy, healing, and hope. “Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you,” echoes the Psalm. If you are able, join the congregation — our part of all the peoples! — in hearing about and praising God’s mercy this Sunday, August 16, at 10 am.
Worship Service
A pre-recorded worship service, complete with readings, Pastor Linman's sermon, prayers, and music will broadcast at 10am on Sunday, August 16, on our YouTube channel and will be available below:
Worship material for August 16, 2020
Home Worship Bulletin for August 16, 2020- Children's Bulletin for August 16, 2020
- The transcript of Pastor Linman's sermon
The following have been posted to YouTube; here is the YouTube Playlist for August 16, 2020:
- Musical Meditation: “Morecambe” by Pamela Decker
- Psalm 67: Barbara Verdile
- Pastor Linman's recorded sermon
- Hymn #790, "Day By Day"
- Hymn #588, "There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy"
Music Notes
Hymn of the Day: “Day By Day” #790
Text: Carolina Sandell Berg (1832-1903), tr. Robert Leaf (1936-2005)
Tune: BLOTT EN DAG, Oskar Ahnfelt (1813-1882)
Oscar Ahnfelt was a Swedish singer and composer. He wrote the music for many of Lina Sandell’s hymns. A pietist, he raised some concern in the State-church, but his music was apparently so popular, King Karl XV gave him permission to play and sing in both of his kingdoms. Ahnfelt’s music has spread throughout the world; two of his best-known songs are “Children of the Heavenly Father” and “Day by Day.” Caroline W. Sandell Berg is better known as Lina Sandell, the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden.” "Lina" Wilhelmina Sandell Berg was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor to whom she was very close; she wrote hymns partly to cope with the fact that she witnessed his tragic death by drowning. A number of her 650 hymns gained popularity particularly because of the musical settings written by gospel singer Oskar Ahnfelt. Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish soprano, underwrote the cost of publishing a collection of Ahnfelt's music, Andeliga Sänger (1850), which consisted mainly of Berg's hymn texts.
Musical Meditation “Morecambe,” Pamela Decker
Frederick Atkinson (1841-1897) wrote the Victorian tune MORECAMBE, named after a town in England’s Midland district. The composer’s intent was to provide a musical setting for Henry Francis Lyte’s famous hymn, “Abide with me, fast falls the eventide”. Indeed the rhythm is identical between EVENTIDE, the tune associated with “Abide with me,” and MORECAMBE. There is, however, no doubt that MORECAMBE is well suited to the text “Spirit of God.” In the first stanza, a descending melody accompanies the words, “descend upon my heart.” Likewise an ascending melody in the third line allows the words “mighty as thou art” to blossom. This rising figure works amazingly well with the text of each stanza. The final three notes of the melody, all on the same pitch, do not end on the customary tonic, home tone or first degree of the scale, but on the third degree. By concluding the melody on the third degree of the scale, there is a floating quality to the ending of each stanza, reminiscent of the hovering of the descending Dove, one of the metaphors of the Spirit.
Pamela Decker is Professor of Organ/Music Theory at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona and she also serves as organist at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tucson. She has won prizes in national and international competitions for organ and composition.