It's October! Thanks to all who attended our first Celebration Concert on Sunday, Sept. 24th. You helped us kick off our year of celebration and there will be more concerts to come. The next one is Friday, November 3rd - more information on that will be available soon. This week, our 8:30 and 11:00 Choirs are singing "I Am His Child" - as we celebrate Consecration Sunday, a day when we turn in our Estimate of Giving cards - a time to discern how each of us can support mission and ministry at and through St Paul Lutheran Church. And this includes music and worship as well. This Moses Hogan anthem reminds us that we are children of God, and how thankful we are for that. At 9:45 worship, Justin Hadden will lead us in an opening song of celebration - "Lord, I Lift Your Name on High" - where we remember that God suffered, died, was resurrected and ascended for us in Jesus Christ - truly human and truly God at the same time. Music has a way of describing that, and ...
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Fall is here! My favorite time of year - when you can feel the temperatures begin to go down, and even here in the South, there is a cool breeze from time to time! This year, we are celebrating 25 years with our Casavant Pipe Organ, Opus 3728. And we are including a Concert Series featuring the organ in a variety of ways throughout the year. Our first concert is this Sunday, Sept. 24th at 3:30 pm with Barb and Roger Rollins on Brass. I hope you can make that, it will be a lot of fun! The choirs are singing an old traditional anthem this week - All Things Bright and Beautiful - as we notice the beauty of the world around us at this time of year, we thank God the Creator for all that we see. Our music lifts that up this week. 8:30 will have some lovely piano for our communion, calling on the Holy Spirit; 9:45 begins with a song that speaks of our creator - the God of Wonders, with Justin Hadden; and 11:00 will feature an instrumental version of Faure's Agnus Dei - Lamb of God....
Following Jesus - our Musical Journey This week, we hear about the passion prediction and when Peter gets off track, Jesus sets him straight. How often do we get off track? Everyone does - and so this week the music chosen brings us to focus on Christ, and how we follow Christ, seek Christ, and acknowledge the ties that bless our lives through our relationship with Christ. In 8:30 and 11:00 worship - our Handbell Quartet starts us off with "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross" and they add to our Holy Communion with settings of Tallis' Canon and the familiar hymn "Blest Be the Tie that Binds" which the congregation will also sing, along with the Hymn of the Day - "Will You Come and Follow Me". The Choir sings a simple but lovely favorite - "Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God" for this Labor Day Weekend. A gentle reminder of our seeking that happens in our relationship with the Divine in our every day living. A 9:45 - we begin with a hymn of praise...
God of Grace and God of Glory! What a wonderful Hymn of the Day to sing this weekend at our 8:30 and 11:00 worship services! And we will sing a contemporary hymn titled "God of Wonders" at 9:45 worship. Both of these pieces of worship music bring to life again how blessed we are to have a God who created the wonders of creation, the universe, the stars and our world - as well as humanity and all life! This God does stretch beyond our galaxy and yet, we find comfort in the familiar songs and hymns that remind us of God's love and mercy. If you can't worship on site, I hope this week you will watch one of our 3 services online - 9:45 with Donna leading "God of Wonders" or the 8:30 or 11:00 Services - where each Choir brings a simple, yet lovely version of "Dona Nobis Pacem" to the offertory time, with a light accompaniment that brings out the sparkle in the translation - Grant Us Your Peace. "God of Wonders" is written Steve Hindalong ...
From the Saint Paul Lutheran Church Concert Committee St Paul Hosted AGO Regional Concert, featuring an Organ work Premiere! The St Paul Concert Committee (a sub-committee of Worship & Music) thanks everyone who volunteered and supported the unique organ concert on Tuesday, June 20, 2023 at 2:30 pm in the afternoon. We were selected for this concert as part of the American Guild of Organists (AGO) Southeastern Convention. The 45 minute concert included the premiere of an organ work commissioned by the AGO Augusta/Aiken Chapter for this convention, written by a well known regional composer, Dr. William H. Bates, Distinguished Professor Emeritus, University of South Carolina. Based on New Britain, the hymn tune for "Amazing Grace", the commissioned work for Pipe Organ and Violin was composed to be performed on our Pipe Organ at St Paul, Casavant, Opus 3728. (1998) The Commissioned Work is a significant work that is sponsored by the family of and dedicated in memory ...
Easter - Alleluia, Christ is risen! He is risen indeed - Alleluia! Easter Sunday was glorious! We are thankful for all the musicians who pulled together for Holy Week! During Lent we had Ladies' Trios in worship and are looking for a time for our Men's and Women's Ensembles to meet and sing from time to time. If you are interested in that, contact Deacon Kathleen. On April 9th, our 9:30 Easter Service was graced by the beautiful, musical leadership of Guest Musican extraordaire Donna Derrick. Donna led the congregation in a rousing rendition of "Jesus Christ is Risen Today!" Our 8 am and 11 am Festival Easter Worship Services were greatly enhanced by our Choirs, the Joyful Noise Ringers, Barb and Roger Rollins on Brass, and our String Trio. The Combined Choirs brought the "Hallelujah Chorus" and a more modern anthem arrangement from Lloyd Larson, Chris Tomlin's "I Will Rise" into worship. We celebrated and sang, we heard God's Word and...
And Lent continues... We are so blessed to have musicians who love to serve in our community. We are blessed to have parish students who auditioned for Region Band and All State Band. Many of them made one of those groups (and also All State Orchestra). To them and their families, I say congratulations! Well done, good and faithful servant - for continuing to hone the gifts God has given you, to share not only with the ones you love, not only for a grade or at church, but to go out bravely among strangers and share those gifts with others - to be part of something larger than yourself - yes, that deserves a well done! For those students and anyone who did not make one of the bands or orchestras or choirs - in your preparation you stretched yourself, you grew and you reached for something. Keep reaching - we don't always get what we want, but as children of God - yes, as the old rock and roll song says - we get what we need! For God provides in many and beautiful ways. That has happ...