Choirs Present Love on Palm Sunday! (3/25/18)

Posted by on Mar 26, 2018 in Choirs (Music), EventReport, Worship & Prayer | 0 comments

Palm Sunday:  It conjures up images of Spring, children waving palm branches, singing “Hosanna”, and images of buying Easter candy and getting ready for the big Sunday next week.

But imagine entering a burning building knowing that you won’t come out alive, and yet assured that you will save some lives?

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, He knew what was going to happen to Him.  And yet, He chose to endure the cross “for the Joy set before Him…” 

On Palm Sunday of 2018, we celebrated that love.  First by waving the palm branches and singing “Hosanna”, but then by worshiping through the gift of music as the choirs lead us through the cantata “Here is Love (written by Larry Shackley).

Enter the door, and grab a taste of our morning worship…

 

Palms

Our service on this special Sunday was a “united” service; normally we hold two services (9:30 & 11:00), but on this week we choose to hold only one service (at 10:15).  When you enter our sanctuary on a Palm Sunday, the ushers hand you a palm branch.  

The Palm Sunday service always opens with the singing a piece called The Palms (written by Jean Baptiste Faure).  During the singing of this processional (a long time PUMC tradition for Palm Sunday),  the children wander through the pews to lead the congregation in the waving of their palm branches…

 

Music

The cantata, “Here is Love”, is a musical journey beginning with the Lonesome Valley and ending with the resurrection.  It starts in the depths of Christ’s sacrifice, but ends with the call to live our lives in Christ Alone- our resurrected and living Savior.  Musically, it weaves traditional hymns and Spirituals with contemporary choruses.

The music was led by our adult choir (“Voices in Praise”), children’s choir (“Joy-Filled Juniors”), bell choir (“Alleluia Bells”), Children’s bell choir (“Cherub Ringers”), and our Praise Team (vocalists and instrumentalists).  All of this was pulled together by our director of Musical Ministry, Susan Crispin.

Below are some pictures of the Cantata…

The bell choirs… children and adults (or visa versa)…

Instrumentalists…

Vocalists…

 

Go

Love is an action verb.  And so, we can’t simply worship and then leave without being changed.  We can’t sit at Jesus’ feet without being motivated to walk into the world to demonstrate His love.  This Palm Sunday was also an opportunity to give of ourselves.  Two simple “mission projects” were on display during the service.  Over the past few weeks, we had taken orders for pots of daffodils, and the flowers were lined up on our altar rail.  The proceeds from these flowers were sent to the American Cancer Society.

We also “went” to the Camden Neighborhood Center by donating packages of diapers.  These donations were also displayed along our altar rail during the service.

To learn more about these projects, read the below post…

 

Pastor Jim ends the service and begins OUR service with prayer, as we leave the church and enter the mission field

 

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To learn more about the Cantata, open the following “Drop Down Box”…

Announcement

Palm Sunday:  It conjures up images of Spring, children waving palm branches, singing “Hosanna”, and images of buying Easter candy and getting ready for the big Sunday next week.

But imagine entering a burning building knowing that you won’t come out alive, and yet assured that you will save some lives?

When Jesus entered Jerusalem on that Palm Sunday, He knew what was going to happen to Him.  And yet, He chose to endure the cross “for the Joy set before Him…”

Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Hebrews 12:2-3, NIV

The Father sent Jesus out of Love for His people…

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

John 3:16-18, NIV

And Jesus came out of love for His Father, and to seek and save those who were lost (and for those who are lost today…)…

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

Luke 19:10, NIV

 

Here is Love

On Palm Sunday (3/25/18), the choirs will present a cantata entitled “Here is Love.”  Palm Sunday isn’t just about the joy of the King entering the Holy City.  It’s about God’s love being on display.  The Love that looks at our constant rejection of our Creator, and yet forgives us “70 times 7” by enduring the cross to join righteousness to love.

Here is Love!

The forward to the cantata (written by Larry Shackley), sets the stage for the appearance of that Love…

The Passion narrative is a story of power and struggle, of pain and disappointment, of betrayal and treachery.  But most of all, it’s a love story; the story of a Creator who loved the world so much that He gave His most precious possession to redeem it.  At the center of the story is Jesus Christ, the expression of that love, who willingly gave his life on behalf of His friends (including His friends here in the 21st century).

When the Bible talks about this sacrifice, there’s a sense of amazement and wonder:

This cantata, “Here is Love”, tries to capture that wonder as we watch how God’s loving plan of redemption plays out in the events of Christ’s final week on earth.

 

Palm Sunday

On Palm Sunday, we will have only one service.  Instead of the usual 9:30 and 11:00 services on March 25, we will have a single service at 10:15.  It will open with the usual line up of Praise and Worship music, announcements, offertory and prayer.  But there will be no sermon.  Instead, the Worship Team will lead us in this musical expression of God’s Love.

The cantata walks us through Holy Week with a progression of familiar songs:

  • We Will Glorify the King of Kings   
  • Jesus Walked this Lonesome Valley
  • Fairest Lord Jesus
  • You Are My All in All
  • Man of Sorrows
  • When I Survey the Wonderful Cross
  • Oh the Wondrous Cross
  • In Christ Alone

If you’re a regular “church-goer” you probably recognize most of these titles.  But if this is new to you, enter with open eyes and sense the wonder of a Savior who ran into the burning building to save us.

Here is Love!

 

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For more about Worship Experiences at PUMC, click this button:    Worship  

 

 

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