Welcome to Sundays at Home
Good morning and welcome to Trinity! So glad you are tuning in virtually for today’s service. As we worship remotely, each week you’ll find Sundays at Home with Trinity Episcopal Church. We will be featuring the full service recording, as well as the sermon and anthem on their own.
If you would like to join us for an in-person service we have two options for Holy Eucharist. An 8am service in our sanctuary (without music) and then a full service at 9am in the Bishop’s Garden each Sunday. Simply bring a chair, mask, and a heart for worship.
Once again, thank you for tuning in and for being faithful with your time, talents, and treasures.
Grace and Peace!
Rev. Jonathan V. Adams
Worship for August 1, 2021
Please view the embedded video of our service below by clicking on the grey arrow in the middle of the image.
During the summer, our Trinity Kids series will be featuring previously recorded episodes.
About the Music:
“Panis angelicus” (Latin for “Bread of Angels”) is a stanza of a hymn written by St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) in the 13th century. This verse has often been set to music separate from “Sacris solemniis”, the original hymn. The most famous setting is the one by Belgian organist and composer Cesar Franck, written in 1872 for tenor voice with harp, cello, double bass and organ accompaniment. This version, with organ accompaniment, will be sung for us at the in-person service this week by tenor Michael Forest, faculty member of Shenandoah University who sang for twenty-three seasons with the Metropolitan Opera.Michael will also sing an arrangement of the spiritual “Give Me Jesus” by Moses Hogan (1957-2003), an American pianist, composer and arranger of choral music best known for his settings of spirituals.
The Offertory Anthem for the virtual service will be the classic motet “O Taste and See” by Ralph Vaughan Williams, written for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953.The comforting words from Psalm 34 combined with the soaring melody make this little gem one of his best loved works. The piece was recorded last year by the Trinity Choir.
The well-known “Jesu, Joy of Man’s Desiring” is a piece derived from a chorale (hymn) setting from a Bach cantata, composed in 1723. The music’s wide popularity has led to numerous arrangements and transcriptions for all sorts of instrumentation. The organ arrangement that opens this week’s service is by David N. Johnson. The closing voluntary is the “little” Prelude in B flat major, formerly attributed to J. S. Bach but now believed to be by one of his pupils. The collection of eight little (short) preludes and fugues have often been used as teaching pieces for beginning organ students. The prelude in B flat major opens joyfully and is characterized by a short pedal solo in the middle.
Finally, our hymn this week is #343, “Shepherd of souls, refresh and bless”, authored by Scottish poet and newspaper editor James Montgomery (1771-1854) and paired with the tune known as “St. Agnes” by English organist and clergyman John Bacchus Dykes (1823-1876). Dykes wrote over 300 hymn tunes, many of which we still sing today. He was noted for introducing reforms in the choir of Durham Cathedral such as consistent attendance and increasing the number of rehearsals!