"What is the World Like" -Tice/Morris

This week, I had the opportunity to explore yet another new-to-me text and tune in the Glory to God hymnal. I stumbled upon it because it is a text that, in part, alludes to our Gospel lesson for this Sunday: the familiar parable of the Mustard Seed. I quickly noticed that the hymn was co-written by Adam Tice (text) and Sally Ann Morris (music) – a team that I first experienced at the Montreat Conference in June 2019.

You may recall a few weeks back when I wrote on this blog about the season of Pentecost. I explained that the season is one where we recall the teachings of Jesus (as opposed to important life events of him celebrated in other times of the year). These teachings often come in the form of parables from the Gospel writers. Adam Tice’s text gives a nod to four such parables: the Mustard Seed (Matthew 13 / Mark 4 / Luke 13), the Prodigal Son (Luke 15), the Good Samaritan (Luke 10), and the Ten Bridesmaids (Matthew 25). Both of the Matthew texts here are part of the lectionary readings for this year – the Mustard Seed this week, and the Ten Bridesmaids late in the season.

Tice’s text is in five stanzas and is re-printed in full below. He is no doubt a talented poet and theologian! As you read through his text, take note of these three elements:

• the overall sense of unity by allowing the first four stanzas to begin with the same question – What is the world like when God’s will is done? – and end with a This is how God... statement relating to the respective parable
• his predominant use of monosyllabic words, allowing for a feeling of simplicity, directness, honesty, and plainness
• the abab rhyme scheme which makes “done” a rhyme word in each and every stanza as he brilliantly flips the fifth stanza to answer the reiterated question that opens the first four

What is the world like when God’s will is done?
Mustard seeds grow more than we can conceive:
roots thread the soil; branches reach for the sun.
This is how God moves us each to believe. 

What is the world like when God’s will is done?
Witness the wandering child coming home;
watch as the parent breaks into a run.
This is how God longs for us when we roam. 

What is the world like when God’s will is done?
No more is neighbor just ally or friend;
peace thrives in places where once there was none.
This is how God works when rivalries end. 

What is the world like when God’s will is done?
Ready for feasting, we watch through the night,
tending our lamp’s till the new day’s begun.
This is how God readies us for the light. 

These are the stories that Jesus imparts,
filled with the Spirit who joins us as one.
Born through our voices, our hands, and our hearts,
This is a new world where God’s will is done.

Hymnologist Carl Daw has some further insight into this text. He writes, “Each of these [parables] is an indirect description of what Scripture calls ‘the kingdom of God’ or ‘the kingdom of heaven.’ In other words, these are narrative approximations of what it means to live under the sovereignty of God; as such, parables do not seek to define but to suggest, to awaken the imagination, to free us from our everyday assumptions about life. ... These [first] four stanzas are then summarized in the fifth stanza holding out the possibility that ‘through our voices, our hands, and our hearts’ we can be part of this reign of God on earth.”

I’m thankful for Catherine Hines, who graciously learned this piece with me this week. Now living and working in Lexington, Catherine is a 2019 Centre grad and a former music intern at The Presbyterian Church of Danville.

Schumann's Kinderszenen

Service music included in our worship for Sunday, July 19 revolves around Robert Schumann’s (1810-1856) suite of solo piano pieces called Kinderszenen, opus 15, from 1838. Translated as “Scenes from Childhood,” the composer once told a friend, “this music was intended as an adult’s reflections on childhood and not with young pianist’s in mind.” Schumann originally intended this opus to include 30 short movements, but, in the end, only thirteen made the cut of the self-critical composer. Kinderszenen have been loved by pianists around the world for many decades now; Vladimir Horowitz famously played them in concert throughout his career.

Perhaps the most famous piece of the collection is Träumerei (Dreaming). A 1944 German biographical film of the same name portrays the life of the composer’s pianist wife, Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-1896). Speaking of the movements from this suite, Robert Schumann famously told Clara that the “small, droll things” were inspired by her comment that he sometimes “seemed like a child.” (He also said that the pieces are “more cheerful, gentler, and melodic” than his earlier works.) Träumerei is also used as the opening and closing music of the 1947 Hollywood film – Song of Love – that stars Katharine Hepburn as Clara.

In these days of hoping and longing for a more perfect, peaceful world, I hope these simple, innocent, dream-like pieces will contribute to our corporate worship and prayer this week.

Elizabeth Stirling

British composer and organist Elizabeth Stirling (1819-1895) is among the many female composers and musical figures of her age that have yet to receive their due attention. Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel (1805-1847) and Clara Wieck Schumann (1819-1896) are two of Stirling’s female contemporaries from the Romantic era. Both of these women had skill and careers overshadowed by their male family members: Fanny’s brother, Felix Mendelssohn, and Clara’s husband, Robert Schumann.

Born in Greenwich and educated at the Royal Academy of Music in London, Stirling held church posts at All Saints’ (Poplar) and St. Andrew (Undershaft) – both in London. Her husband, Frederick Albert Bridge, was choirmaster at London’s famed St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Additionally, her prowess as an organ recitalist is well-documented. After a performance in August of 1837 (when she was not yet 20 years old!), a reviewer in The Musical World wrote:

This young lady ... was the unceasing object of general astonishment, and performed for nearly three hours in continuation the most difficult pedal fugues and preludes of Bach, with a degree of precision and mastery, which may almost be said to be unrivalled. We hope to see justice done to Miss Stirling. The prejudice against lady organists cannot remain, with such an example opposed to it.

Side note--- Judith Barger’s book, Elizabeth Stirling and the Musical Life of Female Organists in Nineteenth-Century England, is a fascinating read. More about that here.

Her compositions for organ have been described as containing “soaring melodies and lush harmonies.” The Largo – included in this Sunday’s worship video – is no exception. Her pieces are almost always in an ABA form, meaning the 3-part composition is such that the inner section differs from the opening and closing sections.

On a lighter note, Stirling’s most well-known composition is likely her arrangement of the folksong, All Among the Barley. Check it out:

Lift Every Voice and Sing

Whew! What a wild few weeks we’ve just lived through. In the midst of this holiday weekend, I have to admit I’m not feeling overly celebratory. Each year in the early days of July, we celebrate America, and especially her independence and freedom. Heavy on my mind this year, though, are all of our fellow American citizens who not yet feel their full freedoms.

I have so many thoughts screaming through my brain, and, at the same time, words escape me. So, I turn to the work of veteran journalist Jane Pauley, whose short piece on the Black National Anthem – “Lift Every Voice and Sing” – was released a couple of weeks ago on “Flag Day” as part of the CBS Sunday Morning program.

See the 2-minute spot here: https://www.cbsnews.com/video/lift-every-voice-and-sing

I’m grateful that this national song was selected for use in our Glory to God hymnals, and I hope that its inclusion in our service this weekend will be helpful in your personal reflection and meditation. It's certainly a rousing song, so let us "lift every voice and sing"!