from Thomas Pavlechko, Organist & Director of Music
This Is My Beloved Son
Over the past six months, we have heard a voice coming from heaven in the Gospel of Luke on August 6, Transfiguration Sunday; the Gospel of Mark on both the First Sunday after the Epiphany: The Baptism of our Lord, and the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, The Transfiguration:
“This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!”
“This is my Son, the Beloved, with whom I am well pleased.”
“This is my Son, the Beloved; listen to him!”
On the First Sunday in Lent, we heard this passage for the fourth time, in the Gospel according to Mark. This passage, however, is now followed by the verse: And the Spirit immediately drove him out into the wilderness..
You may have noticed that our choir sang a very brief anthem, This Is My Beloved Son, by the Norwegian composer, Knut Nystedt, at the end of communion on the Last Sunday after the Epiphany, quoting this Gospel verse. They sang the same setting on the First Sunday in Lent, giving you a new perspective to what followed that voice from heaven: Jesus’ forty-day walk in the wilderness.
On the Fifth Sunday in Lent, Hebrews quotes another: “You are my Son, today I have begotten you.”
Jesus will have much to say to us during our forty-day Lenten journey ...
... Listen to Him
Specific Lenten Scriptures Quoted in Choral Anthems
Ash Wednesday & Lent 5, Psalm 51:
Create in Me a Clean Heart O God, Johannes Brahms
Lent 1, Psalm 25, The Gospel of Mark:
To You O Lord, I Lift Up My Soul, Thomas Pavlechko This Is My Beloved Son, Knut Nystedt
Lent 4, The Gospel of John
God So Loved the World, John Goss
Lent 5, Hebrews
Hymns for Lent
S-67 The Great Litany
142 Lord, who throughout these forty days
143 The glory of these forty days
147 Now let us all with one accord
149 Eternal Lord of love, behold your church
150 Forty days and forty nights
301 Bread of the world, in mercy broken
313 Let thy blood in mercy poured
337 And now, O Father, mindful of the love
360 Only begotten, Word of God eternal
401 The God of Abraham praise
439 What wondrous love is this
441 In the cross of Christ I glory
455 O Love of God, how strong and true
473 Lift high the cross
474 When I survey the wondrous cross
495 Hail, thou once despised Jesus!
498 Beneath the cross of Jesus
598 Lord Christ, when first thou cam’st to earth
603 When Christ was lifted from the earth
653 Dear Lord and Father of mankind
654 Day by day
665 All my hope on God is founded
671 Amazing grace! how sweet the sound
675 Take up your cross, the Savior said
688 A mighty fortress is our God
691 My faith looks up to thee
693 Just as I am, without one plea
Additional Choral Anthems Enhancing & Interpreting Lent & Holy Week Scriptures
Jesus, So Lowly, Harold Friedell
O Lord, Your Loving Angel Send, Johann S. Bach
Faithful Cross, Thomas Pavlechko
O Savior of the World, John Goss
Let the Same Mind Be in You, Thomas Pavlechko
Ave Verum Corpus, Edward Elgar
Ave Verum Corpus, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart