We hope you have enjoyed the Online Summer Concert Series! Stay tuned for information on our Fall and Winter events, which will be revealed in the coming weeks, along with our new John-Paul Buzard op. 47 Pipe Organ! The concerts are available on demand at www.countrysideuccc.org/concerts.
If you are watching on KMTV and would like to view the prelude, you can do so on our YouTube page by viewing today’s service video. The prelude will take place live on YouTube at 10:20 each Sunday.
When the Poor Ones
Influenced by Latin American liberation theology and folk music;, “Cuando el Pobre” speaks to the plight of the poor and marginalized and how God is on the journey with all people – the oppressed, the liberators, and those seeking to promote peace and justice.
Hymnologist Diana Sanchez writes: “The first stanza speaks of the generosity of those who have very little and, in doing so, their becoming the hands and feet of Christ. The second stanza centers more on the possible outcomes of suffering that is staunched by fellow Christians—comfort, hope and love. When suffering is ceased, there is comfort. Suffering is a state of not accepting what is, and either the situation changes or the mindset changes in order to find comfort. This stanza shows the choice we can make to live in suffering or comfort, hopelessness or hope, hate or love, and when we choose the positive state, we choose God.
The third and fourth stanzas are increasingly more positive in nature as the author addresses joy, truth, and simplicity as ways of journeying with God. What started as a hymn about suffering and oppression ends with a statement of assurance and peace, a peace that allows us to imagine home and even include in that home strangers, all because we know that God journeys with us through all of it!”
When the poor ones, who have nothing, still are giving;
When the thirsty pass the cup, water to share;
When the wounded offer others strength and healing:
We see God, here by our side, walking our way;
When compassion gives the suff’ring consolation;
When expecting brings to birth hope that was lost;
When we choose love, not that hatred, all around us:
We see God, here by our side, walking our way;
When our spirits, like a chalice, brim with gladness;
When our voices, full and clear, sing out the truth;
When our longings, free from envy, seek the humble:
We see God, here by our side, walking our way;
When the goodness poured from heaven fills our dwellings;
When the nations work to change war into peace;
When the stranger is accepted as our neighbor:
We see God, here by our side, walking our way;
Shidah – Edem Soul Music
Edem K. Garro is a GhanaianAmerican composer, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist. Edem’s West African-American heritage remains the core foundation of her music, and her work primarily focuses on cultural preservation and identity. She uses her native Ga language in much of her work. Although Edem was born as a first-generation American, she utilizes the culture that was taught to her in hope that young people will remember where they came from – to know who they are, and where they are going.
Shidah means “Praise” or “Thanks.” This is a selection from her concert, which can be viewed on-demand by clicking HERE.
Blessed are the Poor in Spirit – Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
Blessed are the poor in spirit; all God’s realm is surely theirs.
Those in mourning will find comfort as an answer to their prayers.
Meek ones whom this world despises will inherit everything.
God, your kingdom still surprises; may we seek the reign you bring.
Those who share the peace God gives them will find blessings as God’s own.
Those oppressed for faithful living will call heaven’s kingdom Home.
When the world’s ways seem distressing and we feel life’s painful sting,
God, remind us of the blessings of the wondrous life you bring.
It Is Well With My Soul
This hymn was written in 1873 by Horatio Spafford and set to music in 1876 by Phillip Bliss (an itinerant music teacher who traveled by horseback). Spafford wrote the hymn after a number of traumatic incidents. In 1871, his four year old son passed away and the Great Chicago Fire caused him financial disaster. In 1873, after further suffering from the economic downturn he made arrangements to travel with his family to Europe. After a business dispute caused him to be delayed, his family went ahead and set sail for Europe on the SS Ville du Havre. While crossing the Atlantic, a collision with another vessel caused the ship to sink. All four of Spafford’s daughters died. His wife Anna survived, and sent a telegram upon arriving in Wales: “saved alone…”
Spafford penned the text on his journey across the Atlantic to join his wife, inspired to write the words as his ship approached the area where his daughters had died. The composer, Phillip Bliss, named the hymn SS Ville du Havre, after the stricken vessel. Understanding the context of the hymn is important to engaging with the text – the steadfast nature of a river, the ups and downs of waves on the open sea, storm clouds giving way to light.
Another note of interest about Spafford: he would eventually move to Jerusalem, where he and his wife would establish the American Colony, a Christian utopian society engaged in philanthropic activities among Jews, Muslims and Christians. After decades of benevolent activities, the Colony ceased to be a communal society in the 1950s, and became the American Colony Hotel, and hosted talks between Palestine and Israel that led to the 1983 Oslo Peace Accords.
When peace like a river, attendeth my way, when sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say: It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain
It is well, with my soul, it is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though evil should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The earth shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul!