Our two anthems this morning seem so vastly different from each other, yet they are both historical, and so palpably relevant to modern times. The offertory anthem, composed by Felix Mendelssohn, uses a text by Martin Luther, who lived some 300 years before Mendelssohn’s time. Now look at the vast difference in history between the composer of our communion anthem, Calvin Hampton, and the author of its text, Frederick Faber. Roughly 100 years of history lies in between these two souls. Now fast forward to 2021, and all of it – every single word and every single note seem relevant to our modern times. Perhaps one can say that these anthems deliver a kind of truth about life that we all need to hear.

How could it be that the words that Martin Luther wrote, 500 years ago, and the music Mendelssohn wrote 200 years ago, have so much meaning for us in 2021? The same stark comparison exists between the haunting melody of Calvin Hampton’s tune, written in the 1970’s, and Frederick Faber’s text, written in the 1800’s. The words of the offertory, if you read them slowly and carefully, seem to be speaking about the “perilous” times of today, not of 500 years ago! In the communion anthem, the words seem so eerily “modern,” that no one would have ever guessed they came from the pen of a 19^th-century poet.

These pieces, both words and music, provide healing for a world wailing and writhing in the painfulness of division. Somehow, when I chose these particular anthems, they seem to fit with the lessons for the day – I thought I was being pragmatic. But the choice to program them for this morning’s service, wasn’t a matter of pragmatism after all. It was a matter of necessity. It’s what I need to hear this morning, and I hope it’s what you need to hear too – I mean really hear. The kind of listening of which I speak, is the listening that your soul does, a deep kind of listening that awakens you to God’s inclusive love – a love that created every single human on the planet. It’s a love that exists in every person in the world, and one that yearns to be known. This morning, listen carefully. Listen with a deep, penetrative hearing that resonates with your desire to sow peace, to extend love, to practice forgiveness, and to show mercy. Is there a better, more relevant message for the world today, than the message crafted into these words and into this music? I think not. Soli deo gloria!