If you missed the Broadway Showcase with Tyler Gruttemeyer and Friends, it is available on demand by clicking HERE.
LA Pastorale – Brad Mehldau
This piece takes the form of a figuration prelude, where the composer uses a similar pattern over various chords. Bach wrote a lot of figuration preludes, including this and this. Mehldau makes this interesting and modern by using non-functional harmony – breaking the rules of both jazz and classical music theory. The harmonic language in this piece is reminiscent of that of Gabriel Faure, particularly his nocturnes, but takes it to the next level.
The Church of Christ Cannot Be Bound
“The Church of Christ Cannot Be Bound” was inspired by a well known quote: “True faith cannot lie dormant. It clothes the naked, it feeds the hungry, it comforts the sorrowful, it shelters the destitute and serves those who harm it. It binds up that which is wounded.”
The Church of Christ cannot be bound by walls of wood or stone.
Where charity and love are found, there can the church be known.
True faith will open up the door and step into the street.
True service will seek out the poor and ask to wash their feet.
True love will not sit idly by when justice is denied.
True mercy hears the homeless cry and welcomes them inside.
If what we have, we freely share to meet our neighbor’s need,
then we extend the Spirit’s care through ev’ry selfless deed.
For Everyone Born
From the author, Shirley Elena Murray: “I wrote this text in 1998, when I was involved with work for Amnesty International and because I couldn’t find anything to reflect a broad overview of human rights in any hymnbook. You can see that I have used some of the very basic ideas of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the right to shelter, safety, food, and later, the right to a job, to freedom of speech and worship. I’ve tried to put them in a context which relates directly to the Gospel, but without excluding those who are not of the Christian faith…. But in [a] more specific way, and to me an authentic one, it relates deeply and immediately to the manifesto of Jesus and all that he taught.“ What is this table? In my mind it began as the table of the world in the peaceable kingdom, an imaginary place of justice and joy where everyone gathers and is fed. But inevitably it was taken up as a communion hymn, in the context of the Holy Table…. And in places where exclusion by the Church is a source of injustice and pain, as with the gay and lesbian communities, it has been used to ask for a place at the table, along with every other believer.”
For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread,
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star overhead,
and God will delight when we are creators of justice
and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy!
For woman and man, a place at the table,
revising the roles, deciding the share,
with wisdom and grace, dividing the power,
for woman and man, a system that’s fair,
and God will delight when we are creators of justice
and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy!
For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong,
and God will delight when we are creators of justice
and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy!
For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out, to witness and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be free,
and God will delight when we are creators of justice
and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators of justice, justice and joy!
The Servant Song
Won’t you 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.
We are pilgrims on a journey, we are travelers on the road;
We are here to help each other go the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you in the shadow 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.
Ooh Child – as performed by Beth Orton
Ooh child, things’ll get brighter
Some day, when your head is much lighter
Some day, yeah, we’ll walk in the rays of a beautiful sun
Some day, when the world is much brighter
Come to Tend God’s Garden
Come to tend God’s garden, seeds of hope to sow,
Planting fields of justice, watching mercy grow!
In an arid wasteland, spread a verdant health!
In a land of tumult, cultivate God’s peace!
As we tend God’s garden, from its furrows rise
Stems of fresh beginnings, stretching toward the skies!
Graciousness, our meadow, joyfulness, our root,
Unity, our foliage, righteousness, our fruit!
May God’s garden flourish, may our toil succeed,
May God bless our actions, every word and deed!
Serving Christ each season, with God’s diagram,
Charted by the Spirit, for the task at hand!