Every spring, PEACE Choir members select their favorite works they have performed during their September-through-May season and perform them for the congregation. We call it “Sermon in Song,” because no sermon is preached on this Sunday. “Preaching” instead is offered entirely through the message of the music!
“We sing a variety of anthems that have been favorites of the choir,” says PEACE Choir Director Myrna Heppe. “It’s a way to honor the musical tradition at PEACE and the instrumentalists, as well.”
Worship services will continue in their usual format; it’s not a concert, Heppe explains. Rather, the anthems will be sung interspersed with the Bible readings, prayers, Holy Communion and other elements of the order of service. The same format will be followed at both the 8:45 and 11 a.m. worship services.
Here is a list of the anthems that will be sung:
- “Here I am, Lord”
- “The Lord is My Shepherd”
- “Give Me Jesus”
- “The Beatitudes”
- “Eternal Father, Strong to Save”
- “Whence is that goodly fragrance flowing?”
- “Sov’reign Lord, Creator, Righteous One”
- “Travel On!”
Heppe has been organizing Sermon in Song Sunday for “probably 20 or 25 years,” she says. It’s a fun way to cap off the season before the choir breaks for summer.
Choir music has a long tradition in the Lutheran Church, going back to its very earliest days in Germany. Lutherans Johann Sebastian Bach and Georg Friederich Handel composed some of the greatest choral music in the Western sacred tradition – including works intended to be performed during Sunday worship services.
At PEACE, choral music typically is used to echo the Psalm or other Bible readings for the day, to reflect the church season and to underscore the themes of the sermon.
For more information about the PEACE Choir, click here.
Interested in joining? Call the church office at (530) 273-9631.