Saint Luke's Lutheran Church

401 Scammel St. (740) 373-1716 Marietta, Ohio 45750

   An ELCA Congregation

"Embraced by God's love, we connect, worship and serve."

Worship and Music

May 2012 Worship & Music

The month of May this year is made up of the Easter season, finishing on the Day of Pentecost. The first three Sundays in May we will continue singing setting 5 in our red hymnals; this setting is similar to setting 3 in the green hymnal and setting 2 in the old, old red one. We have sung it before, so please come enjoy the spiritual presence it provides for our worship. Then on the Day of Pentecost we will return briefly to setting 4, the one we know best. There are four Sundays in May, with the fourth Sunday being both Memorial Day weekend and the Day of Pentecost, a day to wear red in celebration!

This year your worship staff and volunteers decided to celebrate the Day of Ascension (always a Thursday) on the Sunday immediately following. That means the readings and hymns on May 20th will focus on the Ascension of our Lord, an event we frequently pass over too easily. The gospel tells of the risen Christ ascending into heaven and his followers are assured that the Spirit will empower them to be witnesses throughout the earth. The disciples were told to not gaze up into heaven to look for Jesus; we find his presence among us as we proclaim the Word and share the Easter feast. We too long for the Spirit to enliven our faith and invigorate our mission. (excerpt from Sundays and Seasons)

As Scott and Jane start to plan for special music over the summer, I’m sure they’d be delighted to have our own members step forward and offer their musical services – either vocal or instrumental. If that sounds appealing to you, please don’t hesitate to contact Scott, Jane or me to see where you might fit into the schedule. We look forward to hearing from you!

Ruth Krawczyk, Chair of Worship & Music Committee

May Hymn Feature – "Spirit of Gentleness" (#396)

Will be sung on May 27 – Pentecost Sunday – after the sermon as the hymn of the day.

James K. Manley (b. July 23, 1940) wrote this hymn in 1975 when he was a student at Claremont School of theology, influenced by John B. Cobb Jr., one of his teachers there. The fourth stanza was stimulated by a choir member at Waiokeola Congregational Church in Honolulu the following year when the tune was composed. Text and tune were published in Songs for a New Creation (1982). They came to Evangelical Lutheran Worship via With One Voice (1995). The hymn calls on the Spirit of gentleness, who is also restless and does both gentle and restless things–blows, stirs, calls, frees, moves, coaxes, creates, awakens, sweeps, stings, goads, speaks, sings, cries, whispers, and breaks all forms of bondage.

The tune was composed by Manley in 1976 and first used with the hymn at Waiokeola Congregational Church in Honolulu. The melody is gentle with a slightly restless syncopation.

James Manley was born in Massachusetts and studied at Whittier College (BA), Pacific School of Religion, Berkeley, California (MDiv), and the School of Theology at Claremont, California (DMin). Ordained in 1966, he has served as a United Church of Christ pastor in California, chaplain and teacher at the Mid-Pacific Institute in Honolulu, and a member of the board of directors of the Northern California Nevada Conference of the United Church of Christ. He is married to Judy Skillman Manley, and they have three children.

(excerpted from Hymnal Companion to Evangelical Lutheran Worship by Paul Westermeyer)