THE FIRST LESSON Isaiah 43:16-21
THE SECOND LESSON John 12:1-8
SERMON "Praise, Perfume, and the Poor"
Worship Notes
Welcome to worship at Westminster on this Fifth Sunday in Lent. Lent began on Ash Wednesday (February 17) and continues for 40 days and 40 nights, excluding Sundays. The liturgical color for this season of penitence and reflection is purple. During our Lenten journey, we have put our "Alleluias!" away as we follow the path of Christ through the "valley" experiences, in part so that we may experience the "mountaintop" of Easter more fully and more completely. Lenten worship is characterized by the use of more purposeful silences, an increased focus on confession, and an opportunity to seek God through corporate and personal prayer.
Much of the music through which we worship today is that of God's servant, Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750). Today, March 21, marks the 325th anniversary of his birth. A prolific composer by any measure, perhaps no single musician contributed more to the development of church music and its role in worship than Bach. The prelude and solo are movements from one of six cello sonatas believed to be composed by Bach between 1717 and 1723 during his time in Cothen. The offertory, taken from one of Bach's organ sonatas, provides a melodic and mournful moment for meditation. The sending hymn, "O God, Our Faithful God," is a wonderful example of Bach's chorale harmonizations. The postlude is an example of Bach's mastery of the fugue form.
Music is never meant to be the focus of our worship. However, music is a means through which we can experience God. Bach's understanding of the connection between music, scripture, liturgy, and the divine is one reason why we value his artistry so greatly. Therefore, particularly on this Lenten Sunday morning, it is our prayer that the music of Bach will give a voice and a vehicle for our prayers to God. Repeating the text that Bach himself habitually wrote on each of his cantata scores, we say "Soli Deo Gloria: To God Alone Be the Glory!"
