Reformation Worship Service
A Scottish Hymn Festival
by Paul Jones, Organist and Music Director
2010 marks the 450th anniversary of The Scots Confession (1560) and more generally, the Scottish Reformation; it is fitting to celebrate this in our Reformation Hymn Festival.
Our prelude begins with a solitary bagpiper intoning a traditional Scottish song that carries the flavor of the ancient country and sets us in the Highlands, as it were, for all that is to follow.
The Schola Cantorum, Women’s, and Men’s Choirs will each offer psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1615, known as the Scots Metrical Psalter. That volume contained all 150 psalms as well as seven Trinitarian doxologies, 67 psalm paraphrases, and five hymns. Many of these were in common meter and could be sung interchangeably to many different tunes. Intervening will be an Irish tune played by the pipes and brass. Why, one might ask, is an Irish tune being placed here amongst the Scottish ones? The answer is that St. Columba was an Irish missionary to Scotland in 563 AD who founded a monastery on Iona as well as several churches in the
Hebrides.
As the service begins, you may note that we are involving ministers not only from Tenth church, but from sister/daughter churches in our Philadelphia Presbytery (PCA) and Presbyterian ministers from two other denominations (ARP and PCUSA) who are great friends of Tenth Church, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson and Dr. Ken Larter. The opening psalm of praise reminds us of the great connection between Calvin’s Geneva and Knox’s Scotland with the Ralph Vaughan Williams’ setting of Old Hundredth (translated from the French by the Scot, William Kethe, and the tune by the French composer, Louis Bourgeois, who worked with Calvin on the 1551 version of the Genevan Psalter).
The setting of Psalm 95 was included in the 1650 edition of the Scottish Psalter. We are singing it to the tune Caithness. Caithness is in the northern part of Scotland; originally it was part of the shire of Inverness. Dundee, to which we will sing Isaac Watt’s paraphrase of Psalm 78, is named after Scotland’s fourth largest city.
The Tenth Church Choir will sing the famous setting of Psalm 24 to St. George’s, Edinburgh, as arranged by a Scot well known to Tenth’s congregation, Evelyn Larter. In Scotland this triumphant psalm is regularly sung at communion. We are also singing two hymns by the Scottish preacher (and honorary member of Tenth Church), the Rev. Eric J. Alexander. The first will precede the preaching of the Word of God and is a prayer for the anointing work of the Holy Spirit on the one delivering the Word as well as receptivity in the hearts of those listening. The second is a hymn of response, based on Romans 12:1–2, that our lives would be living sacrifices, conformed to the will of God.
The offertory anthem is a setting of verses from Psalms 65 and 67 and Isaiah. Our closing Hymn of Thanksgiving is actually American, not Scottish, but one can scarcely think of the bagpipes without the words and tune of “Amazing Grace” coming to mind. The postlude will be a rousing version of the immensely popular Scottish tune, Highland Cathedral, featuring bagpipes, drums, brass, and organ in a fitting conclusion to a night of praise directed to our great God. “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD” (Psalm 150:6).
We are delighted to have Scottish theologian and pastor, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, Senior Minister of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, S.C. Dr. Ferguson is a longtime friend of Tenth Church and highly regarded here and on both sides of the ocean for his faithful preaching of the Word.
by Paul Jones, Organist and Music Director
2010 marks the 450th anniversary of The Scots Confession (1560) and more generally, the Scottish Reformation; it is fitting to celebrate this in our Reformation Hymn Festival.
Our prelude begins with a solitary bagpiper intoning a traditional Scottish song that carries the flavor of the ancient country and sets us in the Highlands, as it were, for all that is to follow.
The Schola Cantorum, Women’s, and Men’s Choirs will each offer psalms from the Scottish Psalter of 1615, known as the Scots Metrical Psalter. That volume contained all 150 psalms as well as seven Trinitarian doxologies, 67 psalm paraphrases, and five hymns. Many of these were in common meter and could be sung interchangeably to many different tunes. Intervening will be an Irish tune played by the pipes and brass. Why, one might ask, is an Irish tune being placed here amongst the Scottish ones? The answer is that St. Columba was an Irish missionary to Scotland in 563 AD who founded a monastery on Iona as well as several churches in the
Hebrides.
As the service begins, you may note that we are involving ministers not only from Tenth church, but from sister/daughter churches in our Philadelphia Presbytery (PCA) and Presbyterian ministers from two other denominations (ARP and PCUSA) who are great friends of Tenth Church, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson and Dr. Ken Larter. The opening psalm of praise reminds us of the great connection between Calvin’s Geneva and Knox’s Scotland with the Ralph Vaughan Williams’ setting of Old Hundredth (translated from the French by the Scot, William Kethe, and the tune by the French composer, Louis Bourgeois, who worked with Calvin on the 1551 version of the Genevan Psalter).
The setting of Psalm 95 was included in the 1650 edition of the Scottish Psalter. We are singing it to the tune Caithness. Caithness is in the northern part of Scotland; originally it was part of the shire of Inverness. Dundee, to which we will sing Isaac Watt’s paraphrase of Psalm 78, is named after Scotland’s fourth largest city.
The Tenth Church Choir will sing the famous setting of Psalm 24 to St. George’s, Edinburgh, as arranged by a Scot well known to Tenth’s congregation, Evelyn Larter. In Scotland this triumphant psalm is regularly sung at communion. We are also singing two hymns by the Scottish preacher (and honorary member of Tenth Church), the Rev. Eric J. Alexander. The first will precede the preaching of the Word of God and is a prayer for the anointing work of the Holy Spirit on the one delivering the Word as well as receptivity in the hearts of those listening. The second is a hymn of response, based on Romans 12:1–2, that our lives would be living sacrifices, conformed to the will of God.
The offertory anthem is a setting of verses from Psalms 65 and 67 and Isaiah. Our closing Hymn of Thanksgiving is actually American, not Scottish, but one can scarcely think of the bagpipes without the words and tune of “Amazing Grace” coming to mind. The postlude will be a rousing version of the immensely popular Scottish tune, Highland Cathedral, featuring bagpipes, drums, brass, and organ in a fitting conclusion to a night of praise directed to our great God. “Let everything that has breath praise the LORD” (Psalm 150:6).
We are delighted to have Scottish theologian and pastor, Dr. Sinclair Ferguson, Senior Minister of First Presbyterian Church in Columbia, S.C. Dr. Ferguson is a longtime friend of Tenth Church and highly regarded here and on both sides of the ocean for his faithful preaching of the Word.
posted by M Clark at 10/29/2010 03:55:00 PM
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