Music Ministry

Following African independence movements throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a number of Western missionaries encouraged the composition of Christian song in African idioms. Thomas S. Colvin (1925-2000) was one of these missionaries....

Our prelude music is a beautiful Easter composition for flute and organ by Charles Callahan (1951-2023) incorporating the ancient sequence chant, “Victimae paschali laudes” (Praise to the paschal victim)....

“God loved the world”, an anonymous German hymn, grows out of John 3:16 and sounds out the ground of faith with comfort, especially for those who are troubled, sick, or dying. It first appeared in Heiliges Lippen - und Herzens-Opfer einer gläubigen Seele oder Vollständiges Gesangbuch (c. 1778), a huge…...

“God loved the world”, an anonymous German hymn, grows out of John 3:16 and sounds out the ground of faith with comfort, especially for those who are troubled, sick, or dying. It first appeared in Heiliges Lippen - und Herzens-Opfer einer gläubigen Seele oder Vollständiges Gesangbuch (c. 1778), a huge…...

“In the Cross of Christ I Glory”, like Isaac Watts’s hymn, “When I survey the wondrous cross”, this one by John Bowring (1792-1872) is built on Galatians 6:14. It points to the ironies of hymnody. Though it was written by a Unitarian, this hymn glories in the cross of Christ,…...

Our Hymn of the Day, “When we are tested”, is a marvelous hymn text in the ELCA’s newest music resource, All Creation Sings. It is set to the well-known tune, SLANE. In English hymn books, where traditional folk tunes are used, the place of collection is sometimes attributed as the…...

Joseph Scriven (1819-1886) wrote “What a friend we have in Jesus” in 1855 in Canada, apparently for the comfort of his sick mother in Dublin, though it may also be related to the death of his second fiancée. It has been a source of comfort for many who have sung…...

Our opening hymn, “Let the Whole Creation Cry” is sung to the tune SALZBURG, named in the nineteenth century by the editors of Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861). The tune was likely written by Jakob Hintze (1622-1702). He was born near Berlin, but little is known about his early life…...

We are honored to have The Sarasota Brass Quintet here with us this morning at the 11am worship, playing in loving remembrance of Virginia Toulmin. Thank you to Gianluca Farina (principal trumpet), Aaron Romm (co-principal trumpet), Andrew Warfield (co-principal horn), Brad Williams (principal trombone), Aaron Tindall (principal tuba) for being…...

Rejoice, Rejoice, Believers — Laurentius Laurenti (1660-1722) wrote this hymn of rejoicing at the bridegroom’s coming to go with Matthew 25: 1-13, the parable of the wise and foolish bridesmaids, which was the gospel for the twenty-seventh Sunday after Trinity. It first appeared in German (“Ermuntert euch, ihr Frommen”) with ten…...