Sunday, April 20, 2008 5th Sunday of Easter;
Guest Preacher, Rev. Mark Elsdon of Pres House
THE FIRST LESSON Genesis 50:14-21
THE SECOND LESSON Matthew 18:21-35
SERMON "Why Do We Forgive?"
Worship Notes
The liturgical season of Easter, which is also called Eastertide, began on Easter Sunday and lasts for 50 days until Pentecost Sunday, May 11. During the Easter season, our prayer of confession is replaced by a liturgy that focuses on God's grace, through which we are saved. The liturgical color for Eastertide is white. During Eastertide, the artwork by American folk painter and Quaker Society of Friends minister Edward Hicks (1780-1849) that hangs on the brick wall of the sanctuary serves to evoke the memory of our spiritual journey through God's peaceable kingdom this Lent.
In worship on this Fifth Sunday of Easter, we consider our responsibility to forgive one another; a responsibility made possible through God's grace. The scriptural context for the responsibility of forgiveness is taken from the Old Testament story of Joseph and his brothers as well as from the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant in the Gospel of Matthew.
The hymns through which we worship God today draw upon these ideas of forgiveness and acceptance. The other service music offered in worship of God this morning are works by French composers. The prelude is a setting of chorale tune most commonly associated with the Lenten hymn "Kind Maker of the World", which speaks of mercy and forgiveness. This setting is by Claude Balbastre (1724-1799), a famous French organist in his time and harpsichord teacher of queen Marie-Antoinette. In contrasting style to the Balbastre prelude, the postlude is a "dialogue" setting by French organist Eugene Gigout (1844-1925) in which we hear two organs (the antiphonal organ in the rear of the sanctuary and the main organ in the chancel) conversing in a dialogue with one another. This conversation becomes quite intense until the two organs finally reach some mutual agreement and collaborate in the final seconds of the work. The choir's anthem is a setting of the Latin chant "Ubi Caritas" by Maurice Durufle (1902-1986).
The offertory is a piano setting by Claude Debussy entitled "La cathedrale engloutie" or "The Sunken Cathedral." Debussy set this work based on a Brenton myth that demonstrates a lack of forgiveness. According to the myth, a beautiful cathedral was submerged off the Island of Ys. In punishment for their sins, this cathedral was allowed to rise up from the water only briefly before sinking back into the sea. In this piece, you will experience the cathedral's rise from the water, hear its bell toll, and then listen as it is resubmerged. Thankfully, the God whom we worship today imparts to us a grace that not only enables us to forgive one another, but also to know that we ourselves are forgiven. Thanks be to God.
We extend a warm Westminster welcome to our visiting pastor, Rev. Mark Elsdon. Mark is the Campus Co-Pastor and Executive Director of Pres House, a campus ministry at UW-Madison. We are delighted to hear God's word proclaimed through his servant Mark this morning.
