Some of the Music from the Week

"A Lamb Goes Uncomplaining Forth" (LSB 438) from Cheryl on Vimeo.



"His Love Is Everlasting" (Psalm 136) - Setting by Marty Haugen from Cheryl on Vimeo.


(There is no picture for this one, just audio.)
"O Sacred Head, Now Wounded" from Cheryl on Vimeo.



Easter Vigil Procession, Immanuel Lutheran Church, Broken Arrow, OK from Cheryl on Vimeo.



"Come All Ye Thirsty" from Cheryl on Vimeo.


Click here for "Jesus Christ is Ris'n Today." (I could not get it to embed.)



"This Is the Day" (Psalm 118) from Cheryl on Vimeo.



 
Be Ye Glad from Paul-Andrew Cromer on Vimeo.

First Communion

If it were up to me, I would have written the day differently. I would have left out the part about the allergy attack that made the new communicant miserable all day long. I would have written in a mother who remembers to have the First Communion candidate try on the dress shirt he hasn't worn in months to make sure it still fits. I would have scheduled the whole thing at a time when older siblings could be there. I would have sketched a pew full of extended family, grandparents and godparents.

As it was, the communicant was groggy with antihistamine to try to stem the sneezing. The dress shirt was replaced by a polo. Big sister and brother were away at college. The pew was empty save for parents, and since Dad is the organist, much of the time it was just Mom. 

Yet on reflection, I think it was better this way. Driving to church last night I was able to talk to Evan about how Holy Communion, like Baptism, is not dependent on how he feels or on anything he or anyone else does. It doesn't matter if he is sunburned from the Easter egg hunt, has been driven to distraction by constant sneezing and itchy, watery eyes, and is sleepy from Benadryl. It doesn't matter what he is wearing or that he has only his mom and dad to celebrate with. What matters is that last night Jesus came to him in the bread of life and the cup of salvation and that for the rest of his life he will be able to sup at the table of the Lord in confidence and hope, knowing that no matter how he "feels" his sins are forgiven and all his debts paid.

It was a beautiful Easter Vigil last night and a glorious Feast of the Resurrection today, and at both services my youngest was next to me, partaking of the Blessed Sacrament. It is a table fellowship that, now begun, has no end. What could possibly be wanting? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. 

Easter Vigil 2011

One of my favorite services of the entire church year. At my parish the music for the Vigil is always led by the Men's Chorus, and I can't imagine anything better suited to the awe and mystery of this liturgy than the rich tones of men chanting and singing in four-part harmony.

Easter Vigil Candlelight Procession and Exultet from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Led by Pastor Rossow, Cantor Magness, and the Men's Chorus of Bethany Lutheran Church, Naperville, Illinois, April 23, 2011. Exsultet--9th century Gregorian chant; Easter Vigil Proclamation setting by Phillip Magness.

"Jesus Christ, My Sure Defense" from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Sung by the Men's Chorus of Bethany Lutheran Church, Naperville, Illlinois.

Easter Vigil 2011

"Soul, Adorn Thyself With Gladness" from Cheryl on Vimeo.

Men's Chorus of Bethany Lutheran Church, Naperville, Illinois

Easter Vigil 2011

Weekend Recap

Some photos from the weekend for my readers who are not on Facebook (hi, Mom!). There are also a few here that I didn't post on Facebook.

Easter Egg Decorating

Vigil (Evan loves helping build the fire)

Evan and friends looking for their Alleluia butterflies

The only picture I got of Trevor (center) all weekend. He was too busy, helping his dad out at every last Good Friday and Easter service (that's seven services in all).




Evan in his Easter bonnet

Evan and his dad

Caitlin & her dad

Caitlin in her Easter dress

Me

Easter Vigil

Here are a couple of short videos from our Easter Vigil tonight. These are as much for my daughter as for anyone--she came down with a fever today and had to stay home. She loves the Easter Vigil, so missing it was quite a blow. We are praying she will be well enough to attend Divine Service tomorrow.

In the first video you will hear part of a setting of the First Song of Isaiah (Isaiah 12) sung responsively by choir and congregation and accompanied by accordion, guitar and percussion. (You can't drag the organ and piano outside, you know?) The worshipers have gathered around a fire outside the front door of the church to witness the lighting of the Paschal candle; having left in darkness on Good Friday, they return in darkness tonight, holding individual candles lit from the same fire as the Paschal candle as they process in to the sanctuary.

The little head you see bobbing into view from time to time is Evan, my five-year-old; his is also the voice that my cell phone recorder picks up quite clearly on the word "salvation."

The second video is of our pastor and men's chorus chanting the Exultet. The setting was composed by my husband; you can read the text here. My oldest son is singing tenor. I apologize for the occasional jumpiness of the camera, but I was somewhat distracted: I was trying to videotape unobtrusively while simultaneously managing a five-year-old holding a lit candle in church. I was glad when it was time to blow that candle out!

Triduum Tableaux

Triduum - The "great three days" of Jesus' Passion, death, and resurrection, beginning the evening of Maundy Thursday and continuing through the celebration of Easter Sunday.

Tableau - a vivid image, scene or picture.

As I reflect on the Triduum weekend, here are a few of the tableaux that come to mind:

The bittersweet lump in my throat while watching the stripping of the altar at the conclusion of the Maundy Thursday service as cantors and congregation responsively sang Psalm 136: "Give thanks to the Lord for He is good; His mercy endures forever."

Trying to warm up with the adult choir on Good Friday amidst a virtual forest of Easter lilies in my church's "Multi-Purpose Room" . . . it was like singing in a flower shop (not great for the more allergic among us)! It's not supposed to smell like Easter on Good Friday, but the lilies had arrived and needed a place to be. Multi-Purpose Room indeed! (It also serves as a meeting place and Sunday School classroom as well as the day school lunchroom.)

Accompanying my husband on piano while he sang "Why Do the Nations So Furiously Rage Together?" (Psalm 2) from Handel's Messiah and wondering how anyone's fingers could possibly play all those notes at such a raging and furious tempo (I will admit that thanks to some carefully planned edits, these fingers didn't).

The Litany (prayers) sung in a darkened sanctuary at the conclusion of the Good Friday Tenebrae, followed by the congregation's whispered Lord's Prayer, the final crying out of Jesus ("Eloi, Eloi, Lama Sabachthani?") and taking away of the Christ candle, the drum roll and strepitus signifying the closing of Jesus' tomb (as I tried to reassure my nervous 4-year-old), and the return of the Christ candle (signifying Jesus' impending resurrection) while the sweet voice of a child (in this case, my own little girl) sang a cappella the words of Paul Gerhardt: "O wondrous Love, what have You done! The Father offers up His Son, Desiring our salvation. O Love, how strong You are to save! You lay the One into the grave Who built the earth's foundation."

Rejoicing in the adult baptism that took place at our Easter Vigil service, and then hearing the amazing news that Pope Benedict baptized a Muslim man at the Easter Vigil in Rome. Read more about it here.

Waking up at 4:15 a.m. on Sunday morning and not minding one bit because it's Easter and Christ is risen! . . . then hurrying to put on the crock pot and fill the Easter basket before leaving for sunrise service.

Driving to church with my children at 5:45 a.m. and noting with wonder the full moon that due to atmospheric conditions (or something else?) was exhibiting a most unusual glow this day, resulting in vertical and horizontal beams of light emanating from it so as to create a cross shape in the sky . . . the vertical beam was highly pronounced, the horizontal beam less so, but nevertheless, the cross was there, shining in the darkness and leaving me speechless. I stopped at an intersection and tried to take a photo, but time was short and conditions didn't cooperate, so this picture in words will have to suffice. Wow.

Warming up with the adult choir once again on Sunday morning in the Multi-Purpose Room, this time while shivering with cold because the outside door had been left open to help dissipate the haze of smoke wafting in from whatever had burned next door in the kitchen as the youth prepared Easter breakfast.

Enjoying that mouth-watering Easter breakfast (eggs, pancakes, Canadian bacon, pastries, coffee and orange juice) served restaurant, not buffet style, in peace with my husband and two older children while the youngest slumbered at home with Grandma (I picked them both up for a later service).

Thinking to myself during communion that one of the reasons I prefer male lay ministers (aside from its being Biblical) is that there is nothing so touching as seeing those big, strong, tall men humbly serving their brothers and sisters in Christ as, with the utmost care, they carry the very blood of the Saviour and carefully bend down to lift that life-giving chalice to waiting lips while gently gazing into the communicant's face and pronouncing the gift of Christ's blood, "shed for you."

Preparing to accompany the youth choir on organ while my husband (the cantor) and friend (assistant cantor) nervously double-checked stops and pedals for me . . . . I say this not with resentment but with appreciation for their care . . . I am not an organist and need all the help I can get on the rare occasions I lower myself on that bench!

Playing percussion on the Tanzanian hymn "Christ Has Arisen, Alleluia!" (LSB 466) with my two older children as well as the same friend mentioned in the previous line while my husband played piano . . . it was joyful, and all we needed to complete the picture was some of these.

Playing the piano while my daughter's choir sang the Gerhardt hymn "Awake My Heart with Gladness" (full text here) to music by an especially gifted contemporary composer (see more of his stuff here and here).

Listening to my husband play and sing his way through eight liturgies in four days and realizing that having never had another cantor during my 20-plus years in the LCMS I am one blessed Lutheran indeed.

Helping my 4-year-old look for his "Ow-We-Woo-Ya" (Alleluia) butterfly (photo below).




Noting with satisfaction the "Closed" status of many of the retail businesses in our neighborhood as we drove home after services . . . though not as many were closed as on Christmas Day.

Coming home to a waiting crock pot full of this lady's ham and potato casserole (thanks for the recipe, Glenda!)

Returning from taking my mother home Easter evening to discover my four-year-old bleeding from the forehead . . . . a closer look revealed a deep cut in need of more than a bandage. . . . so off to the ER we went. Five stitches and a couple of days later he is doing just fine, but we still can't figure out exactly how one gets a cut on the forehead from running into the refrigerator (no one saw it happen, so we have to rely on his version of events, and all we know is that he was chasing the dog, or vice versa, and somehow the refrigerator attacked him!)

The Great Vigil of Easter

This is the night when You brought our fathers,, the children of Israel, out of bondage in Egypt and led them through the Red Sea on dry ground.

This is the night when all who believe in Christ are delivered from bondage to sin and are restored to life and immortality.

This is the night when Christ, the Life, arose from the dead. The seal of the grave is broken and the morning of the new creation breaks forth out of night.

Oh, how wonderful and beyond all telling is your mercy toward us, O God, that to redeem a slave you gave your Son.

How holy is the night when all wickedness is put to flight and sin is washed away.

How holy is the night when innocence is restored to the fallen and joy is given to those downcast.

How blessed is this night when man is reconciled to God in Christ.

Holy Father, accept now the evening sacrifices of our thanksgiving and praise.

Let Christ, the true light and morning star, shine in our hearts, He who gives light to all creation, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Amen.