Notes

If last week’s Parish Choir and Choristers anthem, “Jesus Christ the apple tree,” was an all-purpose, multi-seasonal anthem, then Hymn 135 in The Hymnal 1982 is the all-purpose Epiphany hymn. Aside from the fact that this hymn is one of the top 50 most beloved and well known in this parish, the hymn text, “Songs of thankfulness and praise,” really does trace the Epiphany miracles of Jesus throughout its stanzas. With our three-year lectionary cycle, each o... Read More

Those of us who regularly worship in a liturgical tradition do not frequently or easily cross the seasonal boundaries. In the Christian year, the standard themes are fairly well set: The expectancy and patient waiting of Advent, the exuberance and joy of Christmastide, the manifestation of God into the world in Epiphanytide, and so on. However, occasionally liturgical imagery works in a number of settings. Light and darkness are found both in Advent and Epiphany. In Advent, the coming o... Read More

One of my Methodist mentors is Jane Manton Marshall (b. 1924). She is a composer and force of nature. I never studied with her but sang beneath her conducting baton and got to know her during my Texas Methodist days on television in the 1990s. Those fortunate enough to study sacred music and theology at Southern Methodist University in Dallas and the Perkins School of Theology, located on the SMU campus, sat at Jane’s feet both musically and theologically. In The Hymnal... Read More

Between Christmastide and the Feast of the Baptism of Christ, Jesus grows up 30 years. This year Jesus grows up to manhood - given the layout of the Christian year calendar - in less than 24 hours. We are still in the twelve days of the Christmas season, which lasts until the Feast of the Epiphany, the day that we celebrate the arrival of the magi in Bethlehem. Epiphany is always January 6, no matter upon which day of the week the date falls. The First Sunday after the Epipha... Read More