postID: 7079; title: The Third Sunday Of Easter
groupKey: secondary
groupKey: other
The Third Sunday Of Easter
O God, whose blessed Son did manifest himself to his disciples in the breaking of bread: Open, we pray thee, the eyes of our faith, that we may behold him in all his redeeming work; through the same thy Son Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Array
(
[date] => 2014-05-04 16:00:00
[scope] =>
[year] =>
[month] =>
[post_id] => 1115
[series_id] =>
[day_titles_only] =>
[exclusive] => 1
[return] => formatted
[formatted] =>
[show_date] =>
[show_meta] =>
[show_content] => 1
[admin] =>
[debug] => 1
[filter_types] => Array
(
[0] => primary
[1] => secondary
)
[type_labels] => Array
(
[primary] => Primary
[secondary] => Secondary
[other] => Other
)
[the_date] => 2014-05-04 16:00:00
)
2 post(s) found for dateStr : 2014-05-04postID: 256941 (Monica)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 256941; date_type: fixed; year: 2014
fixed_date_str: May 4
fixed_date_str (mod): May 4 2014
formattedFixedDateStr: 2014-05-04
=> check date_assignments.
dateAssigned: 2021-05-04 (2021)
yearAssigned (2021) does NOT match year (2014)
dateAssigned: 2022-05-04 (2022)
yearAssigned (2022) does NOT match year (2014)
displayDates for postID: 256941/year: 2014
Array
(
[0] => 2014-05-04
)
postPriority: 999postID: 7079 (The Third Sunday Of Easter)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 7079; date_type: variable; year: 2014
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 7079
displayDates for postID: 7079/year: 2014
Array
(
[0] => 2014-05-04
)
postPriority: 3primaryPost found for date: 2014-05-04 with ID: 7079 (The Third Sunday Of Easter)
The Third Sunday Of Easter
Array
(
[date] => 2014-05-04 16:00:00
[scope] =>
[year] =>
[month] =>
[post_id] => 1115
[series_id] =>
[day_titles_only] =>
[exclusive] => 1
[return] => simple
[formatted] =>
[show_date] =>
[show_meta] =>
[show_content] => 1
[admin] =>
[debug] => 1
[filter_types] => Array
(
[0] => primary
[1] => secondary
)
[type_labels] => Array
(
[primary] => Primary
[secondary] => Secondary
[other] => Other
)
[the_date] => 2014-05-04 16:00:00
)
2 post(s) found for dateStr : 2014-05-04postID: 256941 (Monica)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 256941; date_type: fixed; year: 2014
fixed_date_str: May 4
fixed_date_str (mod): May 4 2014
formattedFixedDateStr: 2014-05-04
=> check date_assignments.
dateAssigned: 2021-05-04 (2021)
yearAssigned (2021) does NOT match year (2014)
dateAssigned: 2022-05-04 (2022)
yearAssigned (2022) does NOT match year (2014)
displayDates for postID: 256941/year: 2014
Array
(
[0] => 2014-05-04
)
postPriority: 999postID: 7079 (The Third Sunday Of Easter)
--- getDisplayDates ---
litdate post_id: 7079; date_type: variable; year: 2014
Variable date => check date_calculations.
=> check date_assignments.
=> NO date_assignments found for postID: 7079
displayDates for postID: 7079/year: 2014
Array
(
[0] => 2014-05-04
)
postPriority: 3primaryPost found for date: 2014-05-04 with ID: 7079 (The Third Sunday Of Easter)
A Sermon by
Fr. Mead
✛
Music at the Heart of the Matter
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
Many years ago while on a tour in the Holy Land I recall our guide, a biblical archeologist, telling us in one of his evening talks that archeologists could prove that human beings, homo sapiens, had been somewhere by evidence of two kinds – musical instruments and religious objects. These are man’s signature. I was struck and moved by this as I realized that both music and religion, as sure signs of our presence, represent ways and means of transcendence; of lifting the spirits to a higher vista and plane. Could this scholarly fact be a sign that, as the first book of the Bible says, man is made in the image of God?
Music and religion go hand in hand. The Old Testament is replete with instances of musical instruments and songs. Horns, pipes, reeds, lyre and strings, drums, bells, tambourines and cymbals. Ballads, curses and taunts, victory songs and laments, exclamations, prayers. All these are featured in Scripture, from Lamech’s revenge boast to his wives in Genesis to Mary’s Magnificat at her pregnancy with Christ in the Gospel.
Perhaps the oldest verse of the Exodus is the song of Miriam on the beach at the Red Sea. Moses’ sister and other women picked up their tambourines and sang, “I will sing unto the Lord, for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he thrown into the sea.” This marked Israel’s pilgrimage through the wilderness into the Promised Land. When they found water, they sang, “Spring up, O well; sing ye unto it.” (Num 21:17) When the priests lifted up the ark to break camp and move to a new location, they sang, “Arise O Lord into thy resting place; thou and the ark of thy strength.” Or if they faced danger: “Let God arise and let his enemies be scattered; let them also that hate him fee before him.”
Many perhaps most of the great moments in the Bible have songs about them. And music can shape history. Trouble began between King Saul and young David when, after a battle the women sang, “Saul hath slain his thousands; and David, his ten thousands.” What will the lad have next but the kingdom? – thought Saul. When Saul and his son (David’s soul mate) Jonathan were slain in battle on Mount Gilboa by the Philistines, David famously sang and lamented, “The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places; how are the mighty fallen!” (II Sam 1:19) David was skilled and gifted in many things; and among them was music, both vocal and instrumental. It is right that David is regarded as the “sweet psalmist of Israel.”
Many of the prophets’ oracles appear to be partly musical. The entire Book of Habakkuk appears that way and preserves several musical notations, the meaning of which (piano, fortissimo, presto? Cymbals, drum-roll, trumpet call?) are now unknown – but there they are. There is something deeply stirring about it, because poetry and music can raise things to another higher power. For example, in the Apocryphal Book of I Maccabees, regarded as a very accurate historical chronicle, the description of the oppression of Israel by a Hellenistic pagan king suddenly turns to a lament-song. “Therefore there was very great mourning in Israel, in every place where they were; so that the princes and elders mourned, the virgins and young men were made feeble, and the beauty of women was changed… The land also was moved for the inhabitants thereof, and all the house of Jacob was covered with confusion.” (I Macc 1:25ff)
In the Gospels, especially Luke, song accompanies great moments in the life of Jesus. We have mentioned Mary’s song. The angels sang Gloria from heaven at Jesus’ birth. The old man Simeon sang upon seeing the infant Christ in the Temple: “Lord now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace according to thy word; for mine eyes have seen thy salvation.” Of course we heard Mary’s and Simeon’s song tonight at Evensong.
One additional detail means everything to me. On the night before he was crucified and died for us, Jesus gathered with his disciples for his last supper, when he instituted the Eucharist, Holy Communion. Then they sang a hymn and went out to Gethsemane. Matthew and Mark tell us this – so the first Mass included music.
My point in all this is that music is fundamental to faith. It is not a mere accessory, it is part of the core, the heart of the matter. I cannot imagine my own faith without phrases from hymns and anthems, certain melodies which give wings to words. Think of the choir singing Thomas Weekes’ Hosanna at the start of the Palm Sunday liturgy. Or of the procession on Easter with Jesus Christ is risen today.
I recall when I began at Saint Thomas as Rector eighteen years ago and realizing how essential the choral foundation is to our mission, I thought of the challenge of our Choir School – and these words came to mind. “This is a cause to devote your life to.” I still feel that way, only more so.
Saint Thomas plays and sings the music of all the ages, with one condition – that it be excellent, played and rendered as well as can be, for the glory of God. The annual Choirmasters’ Conference, this year led by Barry Rose, is an occasion for musicians and clergy, maestros and ministers, Levites musical and liturgical, to confer with and to encourage one another, to hear from a true master, and reconfirm their dedication to sacred music – a cause most certainly worth devoting our lives to. May the Lord bless us in this sacred mission. It is one of the signs of our God-given true humanity, from time immemorial.
In the Name of God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Ghost. Amen.
