The opening voluntary for worship this Sunday is DEO GRACIAS arranged for organ by E. Power Biggs.  This is the tune The Presbyterian Hymnal associates with “O Wondrous Sight, O Vision Fair”, PH 75.  DEO GRACIAS is an English melody dating from the fifteenth century.  It was composed as the setting for a ballad recounting the success of the British army over the French at the Battle of Agincourt in 1415.  The hymn text, written for the Feast of Transfiguration, also dates to the fifteenth-century (the Latin original was included in the Sarum Breviary in 1495).

The offertory is “All Glory Be to God on High.” The setting you will hear is by Andreas Armsdoff (1670-1690).

The closing voluntary is “Cortege.”   The composer is Gottlieb Muffat (1690-1770).

– Gail

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We will introduce the hymn  I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light. Written in 1966 to the hymn tune HOUSTON , this hymn is included in the most recent Methodist Hymnal. The refrain states “In Him there is no darkness at all. Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus”.

The anthem will be Eric H. Thiman’s arrangement of the hymn Immortal, Invisible. The music is adapted from a Welsh melody and the text is by Walter C. Smith. Written in 1926, the anthem was first published in England but has become a standard in American choral repertoire as well. It features an exciting organ accompaniment and an a cappella chorale.

The final stanza closes with “O help us to see ’tis only the splendour of light hideth Thee.”

At the Ash Wednesday service on February 25, the Men’s Ensemble will be singing Just a Closer Walk with Thee by Thomas A. Dorsey, featuring John Hasson on clarinet and Tom Mullen on trombone.

– Glinda