Our Trinity Cathedral Hymn

The Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 27, 2019

Like many Episcopal churches around the country, we are holding our Annual Parish Meeting this Sunday. This day provides an opportunity to remember where we've been and look ahead to the future. Our music for this day has a special focus on our cathedral's ministry and mission.

This year marks the tenth anniversary of our Trinity Cathedral hymn, written for us by Nebraska hymn poet, Rae E. Whitney. In the spring of 2009, we invited Rae to Omaha for a weekend celebrating her work. She presented a lecture and a workshop, and she joined us for Sunday worship and a hymn festival. Her new hymn for Trinity Cathedral, "God of hope and joy and wonder," was first sung at that Sunday Eucharist.

The hymn, a song of praise to the Holy Trinity, incorporates elements of the cathedral's history, architecture, and ministry, but it is also suitable for general use. In an optional stanza specific to Trinity Cathedral, Whitney enumerates several of the specific challenges faced by the cathedral through the years, noting how generations of hardy Episcopal pioneers overcame these crises through "toil and sweat."

We sing this hymn several times each year, including the Sunday of the Annual Meeting and Trinity Sunday. It reminds us of our history and our ministry. It also stands as a testament to one of the historic roles of a cathedral - to champion the creation of sacred art and celebrate the artists in our midst. Through poetry and music, we glorify God and worship in the beauty of holiness.


Photos:
(top) Rae E. Whitney
(bottom) Rae E. Whitney Hymn Festival, Trinity Cathedral, April 26, 2009

Music for the Third Sunday after the Epiphany
January 27, 2019

Hymns
"God of hope and joy and wonder"   Westminster Abbey (Trinity Cathedral hymn)
513   Like the murmur of the dove's song   Bridegroom
124, stanza 5   What star is this, with beams so bright   Puer nobis
341   For the bread which you have broken   Omni die
616   Hail to the Lord's Annointed   Es flog ein kleins Waldvogelein

Service Music
Gloria in excelsis S-277   New Plainsong, David Hurd
Sanctus S-125   A Community Mass, Richard Proulx
Fraction Anthem S-154, Hurd

Anthem
Arise, Shine, for Your Light Has Come   -Martin How

Music for Handbells
Allegro Maestoso   -G. F. Handel, arr. Patricia Sanders Cota

Organ Music
Three Variations on "I Bind Unto Myself Today"   -David Schack
Psalm XIX   -Benedetto Marcello


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