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 and musical training. From 1666 to 1695 he was court musician to the Elector of Brandenburg. The harmonization of the tune is based on one by Johann Sebastian Bach, the eighteenth-century cantor at Leipzig who, in Robert Shaw’s words, may be “the single greatest creative genius” of the Western world.
The choir will sing a beautiful setting of “Healer of Our Every Ill” at communion. Here is an account of this hymn by its author, Marty Haugen:
“Healer of Our Every Ill” was written during the winter of 1985-86 while my family was residing at Holden Village, a retreat center in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger crashed shortly after take-off. In addition to the loss of seven astronauts, it was a symbolic loss for Americans. At Holden, we had very infrequent communication with the outside world, so that we did not know of the disaster for a couple of days. When we got some information, we held a service in the evening, and “Healer of Our Every Ill” was written as an expression for our community to grieve together.”
Haugen continues that, as is typical for Holden Village, “there was no expectation that the song would have a life beyond the winter community gathered there.” However, “like much of the music created there,” Haugen believes it “survives in part because a single community used it repeatedly and shaped it over time.”
Our prelude and postlude today are based on two well-known hymn tunes (THE ASH GROVE and JESUS IST KOMMEN, GRUND EWIGER FREUDE). Both are settings by Dr. John A. Behnke, one of the most prominent church musicians and sacred music composers in America. Our Minister of Music was a student of Dr. Behnke at Concordia University Wisconsin where he served as a Professor of Music. He is an accomplished organist, conductor, handbell musician, and composer. He has composed and arranged over 500 pieces with 18 different publishers in the US, Germany, Hong Kong and Taiwan. In 2019 SAKLC commissioned a beautiful setting of “Jesus Shall Reign” from Dr. Behnke which was subsequently published by the largest music publisher in the country. We are especially grateful to Dr. Behnke for serving as SAKLC’s Organ Consultant. He worked together with our Minister of Music and church leaders for over two years to help us identify the best builder for our church. Dr. Behnke is currently the organist at Trinity Lutheran Church of SW Florida in Port Charlotte, FL and is a Board Member of the AGO Sarasota/Manatee Chapter.
