Tuesday, January 19, 2010

IN CHRIST THERE IS NO EAST OR WEST

TEXT: Galatians 3: 23; John Oxenham, 1852-1941
MUSIC: African American; adapt. by Harry T. Burleigh, 1866-1949
TUNE: MC KEE
METER: CM (common meter: 8 6 8 6)

On the website, lectionary.org, Richard Niell Donovan writes,

“In 1889, Rudyard Kipling published his poem, 'The Ballad of East and West,' which begins, 'Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.'

Those lines sound as if Kipling is saying that there is no hope that people from East and West can ever come together, but the opposite is true. The poem tells of Kamal, a man of India who steals an English Colonel's horse. The Colonel's son rides off in pursuit. The two men end up in a place where Kamal has a soldier behind every rock, but he respects the young Englishman's courage and spares his life. The young Englishman, in turn, passes up a chance to use a hidden pistol with which he could have killed Kamal. The poem ends as it began with these lines:

Oh, East is East, and West is West,
and never the twain shall meet,
Till Earth and Sky stand presently
at God's great Judgment Seat;

But there is neither East nor West,
Border, nor Breed, nor Birth,
When two strong men stand face to face,
though they come from the ends of the earth!


Kipling's poem celebrates the possibility of mutual respect between people who are very different from each other.

Nine years later after Kipling's poem was published, William Arthur Dunkerly (using the pen name John Oxenham) wrote this hymn, 'In Christ There Is No East or West.' The occasion was a great missionary exhibition sponsored by the London Missionary Society.

The hymn, which gets its inspiration from Kipling's poem, takes Kipling's idea a step farther. It reminds us that Christ brings all sorts of people together ‘in one great fellowship of love.’”


In his book “Hymn Notes for Church Bulletins,” Austin Lovelace writes about the text of hits hymn that it, “…is an example of a prophetic hymn – one that states the ideal to be achieved rather than the present situation. Unity and mission are combined, for the mark of a disciple is love for every person and the willingness to serve all humankind.”



1. In Christ there is no east or west,
In him no south or north,
But one great family bound by love
Throughout the whole wide earth.

2. In him shall true hearts everywhere
There high communion find;
His service is the golden cord
Close binding human kind.

3. Join hands disciples in the faith,
Whate’er your race may be!
Who serve each other in Christ’s love
Are surely kin to me.

4. In Christ now meet both east and west,
In him meet south and north,
All Christly souls are one in him,
Throughout the whole wide earth.

CHILDREN'S CHOIR TO SING SUNDAY

The St. Mary's Children's Choir, under the direction of Mr. Mike Schmenk, will be singing at the 9:30 Mass this Sunday in place of the Parish Choir.

The Children's Choir will sing a selection at the Prelude and Offertory.

Saturday, January 16, 2010

FUNERAL FOR HELEN MARIE STEINHAUSER

Funeral Mass for Helen Steinhauser will be on Monday, January 18 at 1o:00 p.m. Choir members are asked to be in church by 9:30. Rosemary Manner will be the cantor; Fr. Dave Nuss will preside.

For the Sandusky Register obituary link, click here.

Wednesday, January 13, 2010

FUNERAL FOR BRAD HOMEGARDNER

Funeral Mass for Brad Homegardner will be on Saturday, January 16 at 1:00 p.m. Choir members are asked to be in church by 12:45. Carol Icsman will be the cantor; Fr. Dave Nuss will preside.

For the Sandusky Register obituary link, click here.

FUNERAL FOR MONICA M. AMBURN

Funeral Mass for Monica M. Amburn will be on Saturday, January 16 at 10:00 a.m. Choir members are asked to be in church by 9:30. Ron Blake will be the cantor; Fr. Dave Nuss will preside.

For the Sandusky Register obituary link, click here.

Wednesday, January 6, 2010

MITCHELS MEMORIAL MASS TIME CHANGED

The time for the Memorial Mass for Robert B Mitchel and Jane Lay Mitchel for this Saturday, January 9 has been changed to 11:00. Choir members are asked to be in their seats by 10:30.

For the complete article, click here.

Tuesday, January 5, 2010

MONTHLY UPDATES FOR JANUARY 2010

Be sure to check out the following monthly updates:"This Month in Music History" (on the AGO - Sandusky website)

"This Month in St. Mary's History"

"Monthly Video"

Also check out the weekly update "This Sunday's Music" as well as the new article below.

Monday, January 4, 2010

JOY TO THE WORLD

By Tim Claubaugh

TEXT: Psalm 98; Isaac Watts, 1674-1748
MUSIC: arr. from George F. Handel, 1685-1759, in T. Hawkes’ Collection of Tunes, 1823.
TUNE: ANTICOH
METER: Irreg. 4 4 6 4 4 6 6 8

Isaac Watts had a way of “Christianizing” the Psalms. The hymn “Joy to the World” is an example of that since the text for this favorite Christmas Carol comes from the later part of Psalm 98. In the Church, Psalm 98 is THE Christmas Psalm since it is sung as the Responsorial Psalm for “Christmas: Mass During the Day.” This hymn is known as a Christmas Carol, but can actually be sung throughout the year especially whenever the topic or theme of “Kingdom” comes up in the readings.


On the Website, Lectionary.org, Richard Niell Donovan writes of this hymn:

“Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was born to Dissenting parents (people who refused to accept the authority and practices of the Church of England). As a boy, he sang hymns outside prison walls to encourage his father, who had been arrested for his non-conformist beliefs.

Isaac showed promise as a poet at a very young age. As he grew, he became increasingly unhappy with the hymns that he sang in church each week. In those days, hymns were psalms set to music. Watts saw that the hymns thus reflected little or nothing of the New Testament, and set out to remedy that error. His hymns –– at least his earlier hymns –– reinterpreted the psalms in the light of the Christian faith. In 1719, he published a book of hymns entitled, The Psalms of David Imitated in the Language of the New Testament.

One of those hymns was ‘Joy to the World,’ based loosely on Psalm 98, which says, ‘Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises’ (Psalm 98:4). That psalm looks forward to the day when the Lord will come to judge the world in righteousness. In this hymn, Watts reinterpreted the psalm to rejoice in the coming of the Christ as our Lord and savior.

This hymn was sung to various tunes for many years. Then in 1839, Lowell Mason, a banker who happened to be quite interested in church music, published the tune that we now associate with ‘Joy to the World.’ Mason borrowed liberally from classical music, and acknowledged his debt to Handel's ‘Messiah’ for parts of this hymn tune.

Watts wrote some 600 hymns altogether, and is considered to be the father of Christian hymnody. His hymns include such favorites as ‘When I Survey the Wondrous Cross’ and ‘O God, Our Help in Ages Past.’ But the favorite of favorites is ‘Joy to the World.’”


1. Joy to the World!
The Lord is come;
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart
Prepare him room
And heav’n and nature sing
And heav’n and nature sing,
And heav’n and heav’n and nature sing.


2. Joy to the World!
The savior reigns;
Let us, our songs employ;
While fields and floods,
Rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat the sounding joy.


3. No more let sin
And sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make his blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as the curse is found.


4. He rules the world
With truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of
His righteousness,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders of his love,
And wonders, wonders of his love.

FUNERAL FOR ANNA MARY ZLASNEY

Funeral Mass for Anna Mary Zlasney will be on Wednesday, January 6 at 10:00 a.m. Choir members are asked to be in church by 9:30. Carol Icsman will be the cantor; Fr. Phil Feltman will preside.

For the Sandusky Register obituary link, click here.