Agnus Dei

Introduction

Our concept for today is the Angus Dei (Lamb of God), which we currently use as part of the preparation for Communion and which has been part of many different forms of Christian worship for at least a thousand years. I would have thought it was older than that, but Wikipedia, at least, indicates that it is a Syrian custom introduced into the Roman Catholic Rite Mass by Pope Sergius I in the late 600s[1].

I found the following quote from the Catholic Encyclopedia (http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01221a.htm) to be interesting:

[The Agnus Dei is] A name given to the formula recited thrice by the priest at Mass (except on Good Friday and Holy Saturday) in the Roman rite. It occurs towards the end of the Canon, after the prayer “Haec commixtio”, etc. Having finished saying this prayer, the priest covers the chalice with the pall, genuflects, rises, inclines his head (but not his body) profoundly towards the altar and, with hands joined before his breast (and not, therefore, resting on the altar), says with a loud voice: “Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis” (Lamb of God, Who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us), repeats the formula unchanged, and still a third time, substituting now “dona nobis pacem” (grant us peace) for “miserere nobis”, meanwhile striking his breast thrice, once at each “miserere nobis” and once at “Dona nobis pacem”, with the right hand (the left hand resting throughout, from the first “Miserere”, on the altar). In Requiem Masses, however, the formula occurs at the same part of the rite, but with the substitution of “dona eis requiem” (grant them rest) for “miserere nobis”, and of “dona eis requiem sempiternam” (Grant them eternal rest) for “dona nobis pacem.” In this case, the priest does not strike his breast, but keeps his hands joined before his breast throughout the whole formula. These rubrical details are given here for the reason that both the formula and the ceremonial accompanying it have undergone various changes in different ages and different places.

• What thoughts come to mind with these specific instructions?_

I’m certainly not any sort of expert on Catholic practices, and I would not be surprised that different sources might have different specific instructions for how the Agnus Dei is to be done. I appreciate the value of this, so that worshippers can have the comfort of the ritual being done the same way regardless of the church. This also heads off the potential issue of different priests coming up with different “improvements” on the ritual, possibly making it more complex and ornate or adding in elements which might well not be theologically sound. To be sure, there is a downside to the detailed specification of the ritual, in that differences in practice can well highlight theologically important concepts. We discussed this briefly last week, with the idea that changing the music used for the Sanctus and Benedictus can be a means for us to discover meaning to the words and music that are new to us or which are relevant to us for the particular time and place where we are at that moment.

The Words and Scriptural Use

In Latin:

Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.

In English:

Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
Lamb of God, you who take away the sins of the world, grant us peace.

And a less word for word translation which is often used in a more modern mass:

Jesus, Lamb of God, have mercy on us.
Jesus, bearer of our sins, have mercy on us.
Jesus, redeemer of the world, grant us peace.

The Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) is something that has been used from the earliest times of the church. The concept of the sacrificial lamb is an ancient one. We see this in the story of Abraham and Isaac (Genesis 22), where Isaac asks “where is the lamb for the burnt offering” (Genesis 22:6b). In the NIV translation, at least, God provides a ram, rather than the lamb, and I don’t know if that’s particularly significant. The blood of the lamb is used as the marker on the lintels of the house in the Passover story (Exodus 12), and there are many other places in the OT where the use of the sacrificial lamb is discussed.

The particular section we talk about here comes from the baptism of Jesus in the book of John[2], in John 1:29 and John 1:36:

John Testifies About Jesus

29 The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! 30 This is the one I meant when I said, ‘A man who comes after me has surpassed me because he was before me.’ 31 I myself did not know him, but the reason I came baptizing with water was that he might be revealed to Israel.”

32 Then John gave this testimony: “I saw the Spirit come down from heaven as a dove and remain on him. 33 And I myself did not know him, but the one who sent me to baptize with water told me, ‘The man on whom you see the Spirit come down and remain is the one who will baptize with the Holy Spirit.’ 34 I have seen and I testify that this is God’s Chosen One.”[f]

John’s Disciples Follow Jesus

35 The next day John was there again with two of his disciples. 36 When he saw Jesus passing by, he said, “Look, the Lamb of God!”

37 When the two disciples heard him say this, they followed Jesus. 38 Turning around, Jesus saw them following and asked, “What do you want?”

They said, “Rabbi” (which means “Teacher”), “where are you staying?”

39 “Come,” he replied, “and you will see.”

So they went and saw where he was staying, and they spent that day with him. It was about four in the afternoon.

We also find the Lamb referenced in Revelation chapters 5 and 7

Rev 5:6–8
6 Then I saw a Lamb, looking as if it had been slain, standing at the center of the throne, encircled by the four living creatures and the elders. The Lamb had seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven spirits[a] of God sent out into all the earth. 7 He went and took the scroll from the right hand of him who sat on the throne. 8 And when he had taken it, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb. Each one had a harp and they were holding golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of God’s people.

Rev 5:12b:
“Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain,
to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength
and honor and glory and praise!”

Rev 7:9–10 9 After this I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. 10 And they cried out in a loud voice:

“Salvation belongs to our God,
who sits on the throne,
and to the Lamb.”

To me, the concept of the sacrificial lamb is one that at least has a different meaning to us than it would have in the time of Jesus, and possibly different from that in the early church. For most of us, we are not directly connected to agriculture, and meat is something we get pre-packaged at the grocery store, with little connection to a living being. In Jesus time, the temple sacrifice was very much still in use, and people would be used to the idea of sacrificing a lamb in a very visual sense. In the early church, where the sacrifice of animals was no longer a practice, many people would have still been much more directly involved in agriculture and could well have seen an animal go from the pen to the table. This can make the concept of the Sacrificial Lamb something that is a more indirect concept and perhaps a more intellectual, rather than visceral, concept.

• What does the Lamb of God mean to you?

Musical Versions

• From FPC service on 10/5/12: https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16648701/01%20FPC%20Agnus%20Dei%202012–10–07.mp3
• Gregorian Chant (in Latin): https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/meditation-gregorian-chants/id330282385
• Very different praise hymn that’s also called Agnus Dei (example): https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/only-god-a-cappella-worship/id362221780

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1. [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnus_Dei%28liturgy%29](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agnus_Dei%28liturgy%29)  ↩

2. As a comment, one of the things that I find very useful is biblegateway.com, and the search functions there. I can search on the words lamb of God to find the places where those three words are used in proximity to each other. Putting quotes around the phrase “Lamb of God” searches for that exact phrase. And in the NIV, it only occurs in exactly that phrasing in John chapter 1, in two different sections.  ↩

Sanctus and Benedictus

• Some listening background to start things http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PefJeV6o9vA
  This is the Rutter “Mass of the Children 3: Sanctus and Benedictus”

From Angie’s article in October 2012 Good News Banner:

Our worship at Farragut Presbyterian is rooted in thousands of years of history and religious practice and largely based on the Roman Catholic form called the Ordinary of the Mass. We sing three parts of the mass at each celebration of the Eucharist; the Sanctus, Benedictus, and the Agnus Dei.

Today, we’re going to talk about the first two of these, which we do together.

The Sanctus and Benedictus are sung together at the end of the prayers of thanksgiving as the continuation of the celebrant’s words: “Therefore with angels and archangels and the whole company of heaven, we worship and adore your glorious name, praising you forevermore:”

Sanctus, Sanctus, Sanctus
Dominus Deus Sabaoth.        
Pleni sunt caeli et terra gloria tua. 
Hosanna in excelsis.      
Benedictus qui venit in nomine Domini.    
Hosanna in excelsis.      

Holy, Holy, Holy, 
Lord, God of Hosts, 
Heaven and earth are full of thy glory.
Hosanna in the highest.
Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.
Hosanna in the highest.

The Sanctus is also known as the Trisagon (“Thrice Holy”). The first part of the Sanctus is adapted from Isaiah 6:3, which describes Isaiah’s vision of the throne of God surrounded by a six-winged seraphim. The same language is found in Revelation 4:8. The Trisagon is found in Hebrew liturgy as early as the 2nd century where it is said by the congregation before the opening of the ark:

Kadosh, Kadosh, Kadosh, Adonai 
    Tz'vaot Melo Kol Haaretz Kevodo. 

Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty;
the whole earth is full of his glory.  Isaiah 6:3 (NIV)

The Sanctus appeared in the Gallican rite by 529 and in the Roman rite by the 7th century. It is now found in nearly every Christian rite. The text of the second part, beginning with the word Benedictus (Latin for “Blessed”), is taken from the gospel of Matthew, describing Jesus’ Palm Sunday entry into Jerusalem.

• Listen to our Sanctus from the 10/7/12 service[1]:

• Some questions and thoughts for discussion:
  • This is a very old piece, used from the earliest times of the church. What are your thoughts about that?
  • This is used today in Catholic (and Orthodox) liturgies. Is that a good thing? What does it mean to us to use things that are “Catholic” (perhaps in addition to being “catholic”)?
  • We’ve changed the tune we use for the Sanctus occasionally. I think this is the third or fourth tune we’ve used in the past several years. Why do we do this? Should we change it more often or less often?
  • How does this help you in your mental preparations for Communion?

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1. https://dl.dropbox.com/u/16648701/01%20FPC%20Sanctus%20and%20Benedictus%20%282012–10–07%29.mp3  ↩

The Servant Song

Introduction

Today’s session is on the Servant Song anthem/hymn, both the original work by Richard Gilliard and the subsequent adaptation by David Schwoebel’s[1]. The FPC choir most recently did the Schwoebel piece as an anthem on 9/23/2012. We’ve done this song before, as it’s both a fairly straightforward anthem and one with with a good message. The tune for this Schwoebel arrangement is based on a common hymn, Beach Spring, while Gilliard composed both the lyrics and melody for the original.

There are lots of songs which go by the name of Servant Song, and the servant songs also refer to the songs of the suffering servant in Isaiah ( Isaiah 42:1–4, Isaiah 49:1–6, Isaiah 50:4–9, Isaiah 53, and (to some) Isaiah 61:1–3). Today, at least, we’re not talking about Isaiah, as the scriptural basis for this song comes from the Gospels.

Lyrics

The lyrics and original melody were composed by Richard Gilliard (b 1953) in 1977[2]. Gilliard was born in England and was moved to New Zealand when he was 3, where he still lives. Interestingly, he’s worked as a teacher and then in a warehouse. His faith background includes a mixture of Anglican and Pentecostal.

• First, let’s look at the lyrics as written by Gilliard.

Brother, let me be your servant.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping.
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony.

*Compare this with the adaptation used by Schwoebel

If anyone would be first, they shall be the last of all,
they shall be the last, they shall be the last;
be the servant of all.

We are trav’lers on a journey, Fellow pilgrims on the road;
We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night time of your fear,
I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

Sister, let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant, too.

Brother, let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant, too.

I will weep when you are weeping; When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow, Till we’ve seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven, We shall find such harmony,
Born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.

• What do you see as differences and similarities?
• Where do you see points that resonate with you, points that call you to action, points where you have some concerns?

For the original Gilliard version, the United Methodist Reporter article[2] on this piece provides a good summary of the biblical basis, as an article relating to the song in The Faith We Sing.

Matthew 20:26b–28 provides the primary scriptural background for the song: “… Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (NIV)

Stanza two speaks of “pilgrims” on a “journey” and encourages us to “walk the mile and bear the load,” reminiscent perhaps of Matthew 5:41: “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”

Stanza three speaks of “hold[ing] the Christ-light … in the night-time of your fear.” We are called to reflect Christ’s light in the world. Several passages come to mind including Matthew 5:14 and, of course, many passages in John including John 1:4–5; 3:19; 8:12; 9:5.

Stanza four is one of empathy—weeping, laughing and sharing together. One is reminded of I Corinthians 12 in general, but perhaps especially verse 26: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” (NIV)

Stanza five provides an eschatological perspective, as “we sing to God in heaven.” The joy of making “harmony” together offsets the “agony” of all that suffering on earth.

The music

• Listen to Haas version of the original lyrics and melody[3]. Note that this is similar to that used in the United Methodist The Faith We Sing hymnal (#22220[4]. It’s the same melody at least. What thoughts and impressions does this create? And what do you hear that he’s adapted?

• Listen to the Schwoebel version^[schwoebel]. Can anyone name the hymn in our (blue) hymnal which uses this melody?[5]

• Further discussion points and ideas:
  • How can these two different arrangements be used?
  • Do the differences in the music create any different responses in you?
• Some thoughts that occur to me:
  • The passage “pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too” is powerful for me. As we’ve discussed, this is a part of footwashing that I (and lots of others) have problems with. This is an important part of the song for me, as it calls us to be a servant, but also to have the grace to let other people serve us. In some ways, allowing someone to be a servant (minister) to us can, in return, be a ministry for that servant. Obviously, this is not something to be abused, and a very key message to me is that we must have the humility and grace to allow others to serve us, in addition to having the servant’s heart to serve others.
  • This particular presentation of the piece uses a lot of rubato, which I like. The conductor is really painting the music. An example is at 0:25, at the end of the first stanza, where the conductor really draws “servant of all” out. He does this again with “we are travelers”, really drawing out the word “travelers” (0.38), and using that rubato to emphasize the length of the journey.
  • The way “Christ light” at 0:57 moves up is sort of like a sunrise to me.
  • At “night time of your fear” 1:04, the music moves on fear from four part to two part, and is a bit of a hollow chord.
  • I like the harmonization with “speak the peace you long to hear”, as well as the message of these words. This passage is sung in a peaceful fashion. How are we speaking peace that others long to hear? That’s perhaps a particularly interesting question, both for us at FPC given the events over the past months and years, as well as for us as a nation as we move past the rather rancorous “debate” leading up to this election and as we face the challenges ahead of us.
  • I’ve always liked the way that the women sing the Sister let me be your servant stanza, with the men singing the “brother” stanza immediately following (though should I be surprised that the women interrupt before the men are quite finished at 2:14 :-) ).
  • An even stronger ritard at the end of the second passage at 2:28.
  • The last verse uses a descant, which is probably worth discussing. ATB are singing the melody, with sopranos as the descant, except for where we break into 4 part for “harmony” at 3:12
  • In the last refrain, we have a different antiphon (3:43), with now the men first singing “they shall be the last”, the sopranos echoing first, then the altos echoing, then the tenors back, and then finally the basses with the last “be the last”. This is a good message to keep repeating. If anyone would be first (in the eyes of God), they shall be the last of all.
  • And the organ gets the last word on this piece, in nice peaceful reflection.
  • I also did get the Maranatha Singer’s version of this piece, which is interesting[6].
    • The movement from solo on the first verse to duet on the second is neat.
    • I wonder why they left out the third verse

• What are your thoughts about these different adaptations of this song?

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1. http://www.davidschwoebel.com/the-servant-song-satb-worgan-oboe-cong/ is the artist’s site, which is also the source of the MP3 file used in class. One place to purchase the sheet music is http://morningstarmusic.com/viewitem.cfm/item_id/50–5202.  ↩

2. http://umportal.org/article.asp?id=9009  ↩

3. Of the music based more directly on Gilliard’s work, the one I liked best is by David Haas, from his Living Spirit, Holy Fire collection, available through iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/living-spirit-holy-fire-volume/id269034822. Haas does change the lyrics some, making the first verse a gender-neutral question, rather that a (surface, at least) masculine statement, and he omits the last verse, which  ↩

4. Hoyt Hickman (editor) The Faith We Sing (2000) Abingdon Press. Available from http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/FaithWeSing.aspx?div=home and other places. We have the spiral bound Simplified Edition (ISBN–13: 9780687090570)  ↩

5. #422 – God Who’s Giving Knows No Ending. And, for what it’s worth, this tune was not used for any hymns in the older red hymnal.  ↩

6. “The Servant Song”, Track 11 (closing track) from Sieze The Moment - Worship for Men (1994) Maranatha! Music https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/seize-moment-worship-for-men/id253214218  ↩

All Things Bright and Beautiful and a Look at John Rutter

• Play Rutter Gloria as welcome music[1] Note that the UTK Chamber Singers and FPC Chancel Choir did this in the Christmas Festival concert a couple of years ago.

Introduction

Today’s discussion will be about All Things Bright and Beautiful[2], particularly the version by John Rutter, as well as some discussion of Rutter and his perspectives. The text for the song is a hymn (7.6.7.6 with 7.6.7.6 refrain) from the mid 1800’s by Cecil Francis Humphreys Alexander and first published in a book of Children’s hymns, to the hymn tune Royal Oak.

The PCUSA blue hymnal has this hymn (#267). As an interesting aside, Go Tell It on the Mountain is also 7.6.7.6 with refrain, though the meter of the refrain is slightly different (7.8.7.6). I tried to sing All Things Bright and Beautiful to the tune of Go Tell It on the Mountain. It made my brain hurt.

All Things Bright and Beautiful hymn

• Read through the lyrics for ATBB (handout)
  • What do you see in the lyrics?
  • What are the key messages of the song?
  • Where are there points of agreement with your views and where are there points of disagreement?
  • What’s missing?

All Things Bright and Beautiful (as used in the version by John Rutter)

All things bright and beautiful,
All creatures great and small,
All things wise and wonderful,
The Lord God made them all.

Each little flower that opens,
Each little bird that sings,
He made their glowing colours,
He made their tiny wings.

(refrain)

The purple-headed mountain,
The river running by,
The sunset and the morning,
That brightens up the sky.

The cold wind in the winter,
The pleasant summer sun,
The ripe fruits in the garden -
He made them every one.

(refrain)

He gave us eyes to see them,
And lips that we might tell
How great is God Almighty,
Who has made all things well.

(refrain)

Rutter doesn’t use two other verses from the original hymn, the first of which is often omitted from hymnals, due to at least an apparent presentation of class separation as ordained by God.

The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
He made them, high or lowly,
And ordered their estate.

The tall trees in the greenwood,
The meadows where we play,
The rushes by the water,
To gather every day.

Wikipedia[3] also notes that the United Church of Canada includes an additional verse, which definitely seems rather Canadian.

The rocky mountain splendor,
the lone wolf’s haunting call,
the great lakes and the prairies,
the forest in the fall.

• Play Rutter Version of ATBB Note that the tune Rutter uses is somewhat different from the adaptation of Royal Oak that’s in the PCUSA hymnal, but I think both are recognizable variants of the same basic tune.
  • Does the sung version add or change anything for you in this hymn?

About John Rutter

• What do people know about John Rutter and his works?
• Play interview with Rutter by C Music TV on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbMyPVZY34c

As it happens, my music library includes 47 songs that were written or arranged by John Rutter, including his Gloria and Te Deum. There are at least 100 different titles listed on the Wikipedia page for Rutter[4].

From the artist’s site[5], the Wikipedia page, the above interview, an interview with 60 Minutes[6], and a few other locations[7]:

• Born in London in 1945 and went to Highgate School, which apparently provided an excellent music education
• He did not come from a particularly musical family
• Studied at Clair College, Cambridge and wrote his first published composition while still a student (at age 19)
• Has published a lot of music, including choral works for large and small groups, orchestral works, a piano concerto, two children’s operas, and music for television.
• In 1980 he was made an honorary Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and in 1988 a Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians.
• In 1996 the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Music upon him in recognition of his contribution to church music.
• He was honoured in the 2007 Queen’s New Year Honours List, being awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) for services to music.
• His arrangement of Psalm 150 was commissioned for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee and he was commissioned to write “This is the Day the Lord Hath Made” for the royal wedding of Prince Williams and Kate Middleton[8]
• Rutter is criticized by some as writing music that’s “too sweet”, which is addressed in both the 60 minutes and C Music TV interviews – “tunes so sweet, as one critic said, that they were all but trail fairy dust.”

Personally, I love this passage from the interview with Rutter in the 60 Minutes interview:

Correspondent Vicki Mabrey found the maestro in a small church in Edinburgh, Scotland, giving singing lessons.

“You don’t realize how good it is until you’ve tried it,” says Rutter. “It is wonderful to go to a choral concert, to hear a choir sing. But I think the deepest joy of all is to actually sing.”

Rutter holds these singing days about 20 times a year. “When I agree to do these, I make just one condition, which is that anybody is welcome,” he says. “So long as they are willing to come and bring their voice, they’re welcome.”

The cost of admission: donation to charity. Singing lessons from the master: priceless.

• Discuss Rutter and the role of his works in worship and living

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1. “Gloria” Tracks 1–3 from Gloria: The Sacred Music of John Rutter (1984; The Cambridge Singers) https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gloria-sacred-music-john-rutter/id444809046.  ↩

2. “All Things Bright and Beautiful” Track 4 from Gloria: The Sacred Music of John Rutter (1984; The Cambridge Singers) https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/gloria-sacred-music-john-rutter/id444809046. See http://www.johnrutter.com/ for the artist’s site.  ↩

3. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/All_Things_Bright_and_Beautiful  ↩

4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Rutter  ↩

5. See http://www.johnrutter.com/ for the artist’s site and http://www.youtube.com/artist/john-rutter for a dedicated YouTube channel.  ↩

6. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/12/17/60ii/main589173.shtml  ↩

7. I found at least 7 other interviews with John Rutter by searching on YouTube  ↩

8. There are multiple YouTube uploads of this piece from the wedding, with http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8UGxzEyop14 being a bit cleaner and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ssnAMpYKsd8 being the one apparently from the BBC official album for the Royal Wedding.  ↩