A Hymn of Glory Let Us Sing is, technically speaking, an Ascension hymn. So I jumped the gun by a few weeks. So sue me.

All of My Heart is my new favorite song. It’s got everything you could want from a worship chorus: it’s simple, memorable and heartfelt. It’s a wonderful song of dedication. I was pleased to have Pieter Boer introduce the song this week.

An oldy, but goody, we sing the Guatemalan Santo throughout Easter as the Sanctus. It seems that my chiming harmonics between the intro and singing set one row of worshipers into a fit of laughter. Worship, my friends, is not funny. And harmonics are awesome. For those of you who want to enjoy those harmonics again and again, here’s an MP3. Ringtone anybody?

First up was a prelude, “Ershienen Ist der Herrlich Tag” (The Glorious Day Has Appeared), a beautiful Easter chorale harmonized by J.S. Bach. From Bach we moved on to Brazil, with the North American premiere of “All of My Heart” by Rubem Amorese and Toninho Zemuner.

But wait, it wasn’t all about the music. The youth group did a cool “flash mob” Apostle’s Creed. And if that isn’t young enough for you, Wendell Zwart took a little solo during the child blessing that was so cute it had to be shared. Wendell’s enthusiasm was contagious, it seems, because my own kids doodled their own version of “thanks be to God” with a little “remember the Alamo!” thrown in.

All in all it was a good day. A fitting end to a great year.

Psalm 118: This Is the Day! (Scheer)

I was very proud of COS’s musicians on this one. It is not at all easy, but they rose to the challenge with style and determination. That’s Laura de Jong on soprano and Brandan Grinwis on timpani.

Holy Gift of Love (Mongolia)

We’re committed to singing the best music from all traditions of the world. Sunday’s service included songs from Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Guatemala, and this one from Mongolia. Its themes of crucifixion and resurrection make it a beautiful segue between Holy Week and Easter.

Hallelujah Chorus (from Handel’s Messiah)

An impromptu choir singing the Hallelujah Chorus has become a tradition in COS’s Easter services. At the 11am service we must have added at least 50 people to our regular choir. This church can sing!

Frederick W. Faber

Lent is a time of penitence, but like too much in our spiritual lives, we often try to do it on our own: If only I can drum up strong feelings of remorse and repentance. If only I can be more disciplined. If only…

But you can’t.

You can’t forgive yourself, you can’t save yourself, and you can’t sanctify yourself. That is the beauty—and the tension—of the Christian life. We can’t add anything to what Christ has already done. With this in mind, Lent is simply a season of walking more intentionally in the path of grace that Christ has cleared for us.

This theme is taken up in Frederick W. Faber’s 1862 text “There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy.” It is a “back to the basics” hymn that reminds us of God’s kindness. Take some time to meditate on Faber’s text. It is rich. He drives home the point that none of our sins, sorrows, or failings can keep us from God’s infinitely broad love. Ordinarily, I would be put off by a hymn that ends with the promise, “our lives would be all sunshine in the sweetness of the Lord,” but in this case, Faber has laid out such a convincing description of God’s mercy in the early verses of the hymn that he earns the right to conclude with such an unadulterated happy ending!

“There’s a Wideness” is a text that has been paired with a number of tunes over the years, never settling down with one. It most frequently appears with WELLESLY, a sprightly and disappointing tune. The rousing IN BABILONE provides more confidence than comfort. Johann Steiner’s GOTT WILL’S MACHEN that appears in COS’s Joyful Noises is more rare, but to my ear the best fit of the traditional tunes. Newer tunes written for this text include one by Calvin Hampton which appears in the new Lutheran hymnal, a tune by Gregg “My Friends May You Grow in Grace” DeMey that will be published in the forthcoming denominational hymnal, and one that I just finished.

All this talk of tunes simply to say that we’ll be singing “There’s a Wideness” in a variety of musical settings throughout the season of Lent. We can all use the repeated reminders of God’s unswerving affection for us, his children. The plethora of tunes will help us hear the message in fresh ways each week.

Can’t tell a sprightly WELLESLY from a rousing IN BABILONE? Contact Greg Scheer (greg.scheer@coscrc.org).

There’s a wideness in God’s mercy
Like the wideness of the sea;
There’s a kindness in his justice
Which is more than liberty.
There is welcome for the sinner,
And more graces for the good;
There is mercy with the Savior;
There is healing in his blood.

There is no place where earth’s sorrows
Are more felt than up in heaven;
There is no place where earth’s failings
Have such kindly judgment given.
There is plentiful redemption
In the blood that has been shed;
There is joy for all the members
In the sorrows of the Head.

For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man’s mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most infinitely kind.
If our love were but more simple,
We should take him at his word;
And our lives would be all sunshine
In the sweetness of the Lord.

The Palm Sunday worship service will begin with a palm processional, after which we will turn our focus toward Holy Week with a reading of the Passion narrative. The reading will include parts for congregation and will be interspersed with hymns. Our Basic English Service friends will join us at the 11am service.

March 28, Maundy Thursday, 7:00pm, Rev. Ruth Lemmen (nursery available, infants to age 5)
Exodus 12:1-14, 24-28 – “This Messy Meal”

Maundy Thursday is a worship service remembering the upper room. We will gather around tables in the fellowship space to hear the words of Christ and to break bread. There is a special role in the service for young readers.

March 29, Good Friday, 12:15pm (nursery available, infants to age 5)

Good Friday worship is a 45-minute service of scripture readings and songs focusing on the end of Christ’s life, from the betrayal in the Garden through his burial.

March 30, Easter Vigil, 8:30pm, Rev. Len VanderZee
John 1:1-10 – “Midnight in the Kingdom of Death”

The Early Church began its Easter celebrations with a Vigil Service on the evening of Holy Saturday. We continue this tradition in a service that begins with a procession into the darkened sanctuary, continues with Scripture readings telling the story of God’s Salvation, and culminates with the resurrection story and renewal of baptismal vows.

March 31, Easter Sunday, 8:30 & 11am, Rev. Jack Roeda (nursery available, infants to age 3)
Matthew 28:1-8 – “A New Beginning”

Morning worship begins with a procession of flowers to dress the communion table. It is our custom at Church of the Servant to bring potted plants and flowers from our homes to process in and “dress” the communion table with them at the beginning of the Easter morning worship. We will gather our flowers and “dress” the tables for our celebrative Easter Brunch (10-11am) in the fellowship space. And then, gather our flowers to enjoy at home. You are invited to participate in this tradition. Our Basic English Service friends will join us at the 11am service.

Easter Sunday, 6:00pm

The Easter evening service includes hearing testimonies of several individuals on what the resurrection means to them. This year we will hear from Todd Cioffi, Eric Karloski and Ted Mauger. This has been a favorite service of many—don’t miss it!

Rev. Salvatierra is a pastor in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and has more than 30 years of experience in community organizing, ecumenical ministry, and legislative advocacy.

The conference will be held at Tabernacle Community Church, 2530 Eastern Ave SE, Grand Rapids. For more information and registration details, see www.grjusticeconference.com.

Oh wait, that’s right–there are no oath hymns!

Very few, in any case. I decided that a better approach for the music that day would be to focus on God’s reliability in the form of promises, covenant and steadfast love. These are the trustworthy oaths against which we can measure our own. This led me to one of my favorite Hank Beebe anthems, called “For the Mountains Shall Depart.” It’s based on Is 54: 6-7, 10. Verses 6-10 read:

For the Lord has called you like a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, like the wife of a man’s youth when she is cast off, says your God. For a brief moment I abandoned you, but with great compassion I will gather you. In overflowing wrath for a moment I hid my face from you, but with everlasting love I will have compassion on you, says the Lord, your Redeemer. This is like the days of Noah to me: Just as I swore that the waters of Noah would never again go over the earth, so I have sworn that I will not be angry with you and will not rebuke you. For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

Beebe supports this text with a tender jazz ballad that is wonderfully comforting. Take a listen to Laura singing it at 8:30am and Erin at 11am.

Come Thou Fount, Confession, What the Lord Has Done in Me

The members of Gstra are nothing if not pop music connoisseurs. Starting a service with the opening chords of a famous pop song (name that riff!) and then going straight into “Come Thou Fount” counts as high humor for music geeks like us. More importantly, this clip gives an idea of the interweaving of music and liturgy in a COS service, and shows that “liturgical” doesn’t mean “musty.” Liturgical worship can use any musical style that works for congregation.

There’s a Wideness in God’s Mercy

We’re singing various versions of “There’s a Wideness” throughout at Lent. This is one I wrote.

Gracias Señor

Just because you have a massive assembly of folk guitars doesn’t mean that you can’t do global music! This is just a short offertory song written by my friend, Jorge Lockward, but when you add the accordion and harmonies, it’s chock full of Latin goodness.

Communion: Come Ye Sinners, God Be Merciful, There Is a Fountain

Gstra does “Come, Ye Sinners” like the call-and-response come-to-Jesus revival song that it was meant to be when it premiered on the American frontier. And we keep the line “In the arms of my dear Savior, O, there are ten thousand charms” because, well, because that’s how we roll. Next is one of the most loved “retuned” hymns, “God Be Merciful to Me,” a setting of Psalm 51. I chose this for its connection to the sermon on adultery/lust from the Sermon on the Mount preaching series. We ended with “There Is a Fountain Filled with Blood.” We were supposed to segue right into “Alas, and Did My Savior Bleed,” which led to quips that we should name the service “Sunday, Bloody Sunday,” but communion had already ended. I understand that blood images can come across more as gruesome than redemptive, but I also don’t want us to forget the centrality of Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, especially during Lent.

Psalm 32: Suffering Savior

This wasn’t part of Sunday’s service–it premiered on Ash Wednesday–but I thought I’d include it because composer Chad Engbers is a member of the Guitarchestra. COS has a long tradition of in-house songwriters, and this song is a beautiful addition to that tradition.

And finally, a “Coffee with Jesus” comic that I doctored and pasted into Sunday’s leader’s roadmap for the amusement of Guitarchestra members.

Liturgy, a potpourri of music styles, come-to-Jesus songs, world premieres, and comic strips. That, my friends, is how we roll.

During Epiphany the preaching will focus on the words of the Lord’s Prayer, one phrase at a time. Like Heidelberg Catechism question and answer 119–129 (Psalter Hymnal, page 916), we will focus in detail on the Lord’s Prayer, from the opening “Our Father” right down to the final word, “Amen.”

Psalter Hymnal 562 uses the Heidelberg Catechism as a starting place for a musical meditation on the Lord’s Prayer. “Our Father, Clothed with Majesty,” written by Marie Post, turns each question and answer into a verse of a hymn—eight verses in all. I understand that for some of you an eight-verse hymn sounds about as appealing as a trip to the dentist. Relax! We won’t sing all 8 verses at once, but instead sing only the verses appropriate to the day’s theme.

Still, this hymn will require a much greater investment than many of the songs we sing in worship.

The hymn comes to us via Luther, who wrote a setting of the Lord’s Prayer, “Vater Unser,” to an anonymous tune of his day. It was a favorite of J.S. Bach, who used the tune in a number of cantatas, organ preludes, and in the St. John Passion, which is the source of this Psalter Hymnal harmonization. It is a difficult tune, and Bach’s harmonization, while lovely, is not at all easy to sing. The lyrics, too, are thick with meaning. For many of us, this will present a real challenge. But that’s not all bad, is it? Like anything worth doing, worship has its moments of joy and ease, and it also has times that require discipline.

The music that we sing in church is one avenue of experiencing the deeper, more disciplined side of prayer. Songs from different traditions—the historic church, the global church, the Pentecostal church—all help us to step outside ourselves and experience our faith with new ears. They allow us to be shaped by the “great cloud of witnesses” rather than simply doing what comes easily to us.

My hope is that the spiritual discipline of engaging this text and tune throughout Epiphany will give us deeper insight into prayer itself. That we won’t skim over the surface of the Lord’s Prayer, but that this song will help us dig in at a deeper level–to wrestle with God like Jacob did. This Epiphany, take the opportunity to memorize “Our Father, Clothed in Majesty,” learn one of the harmony parts, or study the Lord’s Prayer section of the Heidelberg Catechism.

Christ’s prayer is a model of simplicity, but that doesn’t mean that it’s easy!

Can’t tell Bach’s chorale from boxed coral? Contact Greg Scheer (greg.scheer@coscrc.org).