The Shepherd's Song


Psallam spiritu et mente.
I will sing with the Spirit and with the understanding also.
--Motto of the Royal School of Church Music (I Corinthians 14:15)
  
26 November 2014
In This Issue
27 November 2014 - Thanksgiving Day

10:00am Eucharist, II

      Carter Leer, Visiting Organist

              J.S. Bach / Praeludium et Fuga in C, BWV 

              Kaufmann / Nun danket alle Gott

              Hymns

                 433*             We gather together                                                        Kremser

                 290*             Come, ye thankful people, come             St. George's, Windsor

                 291*             We plow the fields and scatter                                 Wir pflugen

                 397*             Now thank we all our God                                     Nun dankett 

30 November 2014 - The First Sunday of Advent

9:00am Eucharist, II

      Treble Choir (+ Probationers) / Canterbury Choir

      John Linker, Organist/Choirmaster

              Bach / Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme, BWV 645

              Guest / Zion, at thy shining gates

              Statham / Drop down, ye heavens

              Lloyd Webber / Rhapsody on Helmsley

              Hymns

                 59*               Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding                       Merton

                 68* (St. 1)    Rejoice! rejoice, believers                              Llangloffan

                 53*               Once he came in blessing           Gottes Sohn ist kommen

                 57*               Lo! he comes, with clouds descending              Helmsley

 

11:15am Advent Procession and Eucharist, II

      Parish Choir

      John Linker, Organist/Choirmaster

              Palestrina / Advent Responsory

              Head / The little road to Bethlehem

              Palestrina / Ave Maria

              Guest / Zion, at thy shining gates

              Lloyd Webber / Rhapsody on Helmsley

              Hymns

                 in Bulletin     Come, thou Redeemer of the earth    Veni, Redemptor genitum

                 59*               Hark! a thrilling voice is sounding                                  Merton

                 278*             Sing we of the blessed Mother                                   Rustington

                 53*               Once he came in blessing                     Gottes Sohn ist kommen

                 57*               Lo! he comes, with clouds descending                         Helmsley

 

4:15pm Organ Recital

      Owen Sammons, Organ

            Improvised suite on the Great O Antiphons

            Improvisation on Aotearoa

     

5:00pm Eucharist, II

      John Linker & Owen Sammons, Organists

            Hymns

            59*                     Hark! a thrilling voice                                             Merton

            68* (st. 1)           Rejoice, rejoice, believers                                Llangloffan

            66*                     Come, ye long-expected Jesus                              Stuttgart

 

[* = Hymns chosen from the 2009 Hymn Survey]
Organist Owen Sammons to Perform this Sunday in Good Shepherd
Owen Sammons

This Sunday we welcome organist Owen Sammons to play the 4:15pm recital. Owen Sammons is Director of Music and Arts at St Peter's Episcopal Church, Paris, Kentucky.  Owen has appeared at Good Shepherd on many occasions over the past decade, both as singer and as organist.  In 2013 Owen served as organist for the Choir's tour to Italy and France.

Owen is an honorary member of the Black Classical Artists of Louisville. Serving as organist for the artist collective, Mr. Sammons has been a featured recitalist at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC on three separate occasions.

 

Mr. Sammons has also served as the principal pianist for the Stephen Foster Story in Bardstown, KY for the last seven years.

Notes for Sunday's Music

 

This Sunday we begin a new liturgical year as we embark on "year B" in our three-year cycle. As the Church is remarkably good at marking time, this Sunday we observe the beginning of the Advent season with our annual Advent Procession as part of the 11:15 service.

 

This Sunday's Hymns - As is the case with several carols and hymns for Advent and Christmas in current common use, the text and tune of Hymn 59 gained greater acceptance and use in the Episcopal Church through their inclusion in a recording of Advent Lessons & Carols by the choir of King's College, Cambridge. The text is found in two tenth-century sources and was originally used for the Office of Lauds during Advent. The tune Merton has been joined with this text since 1861 and entered American Episcopal hymnals in 1892. Hymn 53 was originally a German text published in 1544. The editors of The Hymnal 1982 reduced the hymn from nine stanzas to four, with a translation by Catherine Winkworth. The tune associated with this text dates from a Bohemian Brethren hymnal from 1531, and the tune name (Gottes Sohn ist kommen) reflects the German text. Hymn 57, with a text by Charles Wesley, has been a favorite Advent hymn among many Anglican parishes ever since Ralph Vaughan Williams chose to include it in The English Hymnal in 1906. Helmsley is a small Yorkshire town whose vicar, Richard Conyers, was a friend of Charles Wesley.

 

J.S. Bach's organ chorale prelude Wachet auf, ruft uns die Stimme is for many places a quintessential element of advent music. This simple setting is in three voices and is part of the "Six Sch�bler Chorales," a small collection of Bach's own organ transcriptions from his cantatas (five are from known cantatas; one may be from a lost cantata).

 

The closing voluntary is a free work based on the hymn tune Helmsley. William Lloyd Webber (1914-1982), a student of Vaughan Williams at the Royal College of Music, was a prolific English organist and composer, holding positions at All Saints' Margaret Street, London, and later Westminster Central Hall Church, one of the largest Methodist churches in the UK. William Lloyd Webber had two musician sons, one of whom became quite famous as a composer for the musical theatre (Andrew Lloyd Webber, b. 1948). 
Sunday Afternoon Concert Program Notes

This Sunday is the first Sunday of Advent, which begins a season of anticipation and meditation. All too often it is easy for us to focus on the seriousness of Advent. There's a true liveliness to this season that lies just beneath a contemplative facade. Today's improvisations expand upon the juxtaposition of anticipation and meditation, and seek to illuminate these avenues of presence.

 

The musical vehicle for these ideas is the Great O Antiphons. These antiphons framed the Magnificat in the seven-day period preceding Christmas. Taking the first letter from each word following the "O" in each antiphon spells "ero cras", or, "tomorrow I will be". Textually this gives us an anticipatory message directly from Christ, and adds great richness to our Advent preparations and meditations.

 

Following the O Antiphon improvisations will be an improvisation on the Maori National Anthem of New Zealand, "Aotearoa". Today's entire concert, and this piece in particular are dedicated to a dear friend whom I will greatly miss, John Linker.

                                                                            -- Owen Sammons

 

Sunday Afternoon Concerts in Good Shepherd


We have launched an exciting new concert series each Sunday afternoon throughout the academic year.  Though these concerts are primariliy organ recitals, 

many different genres of music will be celebrated throughout the year.  

Please spread the word and invite your friends!

All Sunday afternoon concerts are at 4:15pm (unless otherwise noted) and admission is free, 

however, donations are gratefully accepted.

 

 

 

30 November 2014 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by Owen Sammons (Paris, KY)

 

7 December 2014 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by Jane Johnson (Lexington, KY)

 

14 December 2014 - 4:15pm - Choir Concert by Cantabile, Donna Bonner, Director (Lexington, KY)

 

21 December 2014 - 5:00pm - A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols

 

24 December 2014 - 6:15pm (Christmas Eve) - Organ Recital by John Linker (Lexington, KY)

 

4 January 2015 - 4:15pm - Mountain Music Concert with Elizabeth Boggs and Friends

 

11 January 2015 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by John Deaver (Covington, KY)

 

18 January 2015 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by Zach Klobnak (Danville, KY)

 

25 January 2015 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by Robert Williamson (Louisville, KY)

 

1 February 2015 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by Doug O'Neill (Springfield, KY)

 

22 February 2015 - 4:15pm - Choir Concert by Universitatis Schola Cantorum (Lexington, KY)

 

1 March 2015 - 4:15pm - Organ Recital by Roland Herzel (Frankfort, KY)

 

8 March 2015 - 4:15pm - Voice and Organ Recital by Laura Lea Duckworth (Louisville, KY)

 

22 March 2015 - 4:15pm - Trumpet Recital by Patrick Tuck (Richmond, KY)

 

29 March 2015 - 4:15pm - Shape note singing with Kentucky Shape Note Singers (Lexington, KY)

What's Coming Up

 

21 December 2014 - 5:00pm - A Festival of Nine Lessons & Carols for Christmastide

This is an annual favorite of Good Shepherd parishioners and community members alike.  Nine lessons that trace man's fall in the Garden of Eden all the way through the birth of Christ promising redeption are read by representatives of parish ministries and the community.  Familiar Christmas carols are sung by the congregation and the choir sings settings both old and new to help tell the story.  Please arrive early to find a good seat, as this is one of our most popular services of the year.
GS Organist/Choirmaster John Linker accepts position in New Zealand
Dear Good Shepherd Friends,

John Linker has been called to serve as Director of Music for Christchurch Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand. This is an incredible opportunity and the beginning of a great adventure for John, Molly and Lila. As John's friend, I am excited at the possibilities that await John in New Zealand. As someone fortunate to serve with John here at Good Shepherd, I am sorry to lose a wise colleague and able ambassador of our music program and the ministries of our parish.

John's last Sunday with us will be Sunday, January 11th. That day will include an Evensong. We will now begin to make plans to celebrate John, Molly and Lila on that day as we prepare to share them with the wider Anglican Communion.

The music program at Good Shepherd has grown and flourished under John's leadership. With the latest addition of the Miller and Wrigley organ, I, along with the Vestry of Good Shepherd, am committed to maintaining a quality program that both nurtures the wider musical community and deepens the weekly experience of worship here. 

In the days ahead, you will hear more about opportunities to celebrate John's tenure with us along with updates on how we will proceed in seeking an interim musician in preparation for a careful selection for our next Musician. 

As we enter Advent and Christmas, I would second John's invitation to enter into these seasons with a sense of anticipation that God's Spirit continues to do new things in this historic parish. In particular, don't miss Lessons and Carols on the21st of December at 5 p.m. as John will lead our choirs for the last time in what has become a great annual event for Good Shepherd and the wider Lexington community.

Peace,
Brian +
John Linker

 

Dear Good Shepherd Family,

 

 

I love the Church of the Good Shepherd. This parish has been the bedrock of my faith journey for the past thirteen years.  In that time I have enjoyed facilitating many seasons of musical offerings and spiritual as well as cultural growth. 

 

The hallowed walls of Good Shepherd have witnessed my own confirmation, weekly Communion, marriage, and the baptism of our daughter.  I love this church.  I have received more sacraments than I can count from this special place, and for that I am most grateful.  Good Shepherd will forever be a spiritual home for my family.

 

Unfortunately my time as employee and congregant will be drawing to an end as I have accepted the appointment to be Director of Music for ChristChurch Cathedral in Christchurch, New Zealand, and will be assuming that duty in February 2015.  My final service in Good Shepherd will be Evensong on 11 January 2015, the Feast of the Baptism of Christ. 

 

It is with great sadness that my family departs Good Shepherd and the Lexington community, but we rejoice in this unique opportunity for our family.  The city of Christchurch (slightly larger than Lexington and the largest city on New Zealand's South Island) is in a rigorous state of rebuild as they continue to recover from the devastating earthquakes of 2010 and 2011.  The Cathedral was destroyed in the 2011 earthquake, so they're in a temporary structure (called the "Cardboard Cathedral"), which is predicted to be the Cathedral's home for the next decade or so until the new Cathedral is built.  A place steeped in Anglican heritage, the choir was formed six months before the dedication of the original cathedral building in 1881 to ensure there was a choir in place for the dedication.  The choir is intensely demanding with about 10 rehearsals a week and a routine schedule of 6 services a week.  The choir school (spared from serious damage in the earthquake) is The Cathedral Grammar School, and is one of the highest rated schools in New Zealand (and the world, for that matter). The 20 cathedral boy choristers attend this private school on scholarship in exchange for their responsibility to the choir.  I look forward to the many challenges that lie ahead in Christchurch, from running the program to building anew and further deepening my own spirituality in the process.

 

I am pleased that Good Shepherd is in such a healthy state, musically and otherwise.  Over my past nearly 14 years, our choir sang residencies in four English Cathedrals, toured through Italy and France yielding life changing experiences, and has kept up the Opus Dei right here at home in Good Shepherd.  I couldn't be prouder of the dedication, hard work, and loving environment provided by so many over the years.  The choir is my extended family and I thank God for this relationship.

 

Good Shepherd is now home to the most diverse and one of the most famous organs in all of Kentucky.  The culturally enriching offerings now taking place in Good Shepherd are at an all time high.  The amount of outreach and evangelism that the music program has done on behalf of Good Shepherd over these past few years is intangible.  As a parish you are incredibly blessed to have the riches and resources that you do.  I encourage you to never take that for granted and to continue to build on this model of excellence. 

 

I look forward to our two upcoming seasons of Advent and Christmas together and pray that we all find the still small voice of calm in the wake of an ever-changing landscape of emotion and life experiences.  Thank you for the best 14 years of my life and for being an anchor for my family through all the seasons of life.  You will be ever with us in prayer and each time we receive the Blessed Sacrament, we are all further united.

 

Peace,  

John Linker
Good Shepherd Choir at St Paul's Within the Walls, Rome, June 2013
Church of the Good Shepherd | 859 252 1744 | office@goodshepherdlex.org | http://goodshepherdlex.org
533 East Main Street
Lexington, Kentucky  40508


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