February 25, 2007

First Sunday in Lent

Preparation for Worship

Blessed Are They

"There can be no vulnerability without risk;

there can be no community without vulnerability;

there can be no peace,

and ultimately no life, without community."

M. Scott Peck

"When we were children,

we used to think that when we were grown up

we would no longer be vulnerable.

But to grow up is to accept vulnerability;

to be alive is to be vulnerable."

Madeleine L’Engle

The forty-day liturgical season of Lent began on Ash Wednesday and continues today this First Sunday in Lent.  The liturgical color for the season is purple.  Our Lenten journey is marked by a time of penitence and purposeful reflection.  As such, the worship leaders enter the sanctuary in a meditative spirit as a bell tolls the beginning of the worship service. 

     The Lenten season will also be marked by subtle, but purposeful, changes in elements of our liturgy.  These changes are intended to illumine and inspire the ways we experience corporate prayer.  For example, during the prayer of confession, we shall sing together a “Lamb of God,” or Agnus Dei, hymn.  Our response to the Declaration of Forgiveness will be a reminder of God’s grace as represented in the text of the hymn, “Amazing Grace.”  We will unite our voices in a prayerful responsive psalm to proclaim the Word of God, and we will incorporate a variety of prayer forms into the prayers of the people.  Finally, our hymn offerings and service music offer more reflective opportunities through which we can connect to God in prayer. 

     Throughout Lent, the scriptural basis for worship is taken from the Beatitudes presented by Christ in his Sermon on the Mount.  Our worship today focuses on the first of these beatitudes:  “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven.”  The scripture lessons also lift up the temptation of Christ in the desert and speak of his enduring spirit in the face of great adversity.  The prelude “Be Still My Soul” is a hymn that encourages our own spirits in the face of adversity.  Similarly, the offertory setting of “Be Thou My Vision,” is a prayer for God to be the constant presence in and focus of our lives.  You may choose to reflect on the text of this hymn, which is found on page #339 in the Hymnal. The choir’s anthem is a prayer for mercy by English composer William Byrd (1540-1623).  The prayer response from the Taize Ecumenical Community encourages our spirits with the reminder that nothing can trouble us as it is God alone who fills us.  Our closing hymn, is the African American spiritual, “Lord, I Want to Be A Christian,” through which we pray together that God might work in our poor spirits to make our hearts more holy, loving, and Christ-like.

     The postlude is based on a “yearning” trio sonata theme by Baroque composer Tomaso Albinoni (1671-1751). Much of the music of Albinoni was destroyed by the destruction of the Dresden State Library during World War II. However, this trio sonata theme reemerged in the late 1950’s. Much like the experience of Christ in the desert, this vocal melody sustains a path through troubled chromatic, or scale-like, passages before eventually emerging with quiet resolve in the final phrases of the work.