PSALM OF THE DAY Psalm 105:1-6
THE GOSPEL LESSON Mathew 14:22-33
THE SECOND LESSON Romans 10:5-15
MEDITATION "The Sent Church"
Worship Notes
Today is the nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time and we continue to integrate the practice of Lectio Divina into our worship. Lectio Divina is Latin for divine reading, spiritual reading, or "holy reading," and represents a traditional Christian practice of prayer and scriptural reading. It is a way of praying with Scripture that calls one to read (Lectio), study (Meditatio), pray (Oratio) and listen (Contemplatio) to a bible text. The systematization of spiritual reading into four steps dates back to the 12th century. Around 1150, Guigo II, a Carthusian monk, wrote a book titled, "The Monk's Ladder" wherein he set out the theory of the four rungs: reading, meditation, prayer, and contemplation.
The central text for worship this morning is from Paul's letter to the Romans. As we worship today, we reflect on Paul's words describing the beauty of the messengers who preach Christ's gospel of peace. The music chosen for worship this morning offer avenues of praise, prayer, and proclamation through which we listen for and offer our lives in response to Christ's message of peace. The prelude is a setting of a dialog between the main organ in the Chancel and the trumpet in the rear of the sanctuary. This piece, by the English composer Henry Purcell (1659-1695), is illustrative of the interplay of our humanity with God's call. The solo, which is one of the beautiful Arias from The Messiah, was composed by G.F. Handel (1685-1759) and takes as its text the passage of scripture we read today from Romans. The trumpet solo in the offertory is a transcription of the first movement of Bach's Cantata 156, which was written in 1729. This music, which has a very peaceful and almost pastoral-like quality, was re-worked by Bach and incorporated for use in some of his other instrumental concertos.
We respond to God's Word by singing the famous prayer attributed to St. Francis of Assisi (1182-1226). The tune of this hymn, Dickinson College, was written by Lee Bristol, Jr., in honor of the Pennsylvania campus that awarded him an honorary doctorate in 1962. Bristol was the grandson of the founder of the Bristol-Meyers pharmaceutical company. As we prepare to ourselves become God's messengers of peace in the world, we join in singing "Lead On, O King Eternal" as we pray for "sin's fierce war to cease" and "holiness to whisper the sweet amen of peace."
