Hymn of the Day: “All Are Welcome” (ELW 641)
Text: Marty Haugen (1950)
Tune: TWO OAKS, Marty Haugen
This hymn by Marty Haugen was "an attempt to write a text that reflects the welcome to table fellowship that Jesus offered unconditionally to everyone." The five stanzas of the hymn as it now appears were "redacted down" from the thirteen stanzas Haugen originally created with the intention that they would "somewhat model the four-fold rite of gathering-word-meal-sending." Haugen says that "the hymn was originally intended to be a gift to the St. Thomas Becket Catholic Community in Eagan, Minnesota, where my former pastor and his congregation were about to dedicate their new church. At the request of my editor, the hymn was dedicated to his uncle and aunt” - "Dedicated to Gene and Peggy Figliulo at the request of Michael A. Cymbala.”
"For quite a while the tune KINGSFOLD was considered for the text, but the length of the final verses (and the need for the 'all are welcome’ refrain) dictated a new tune." Haugen's new tune was called TWO OAKS, which "was the name the Figliulos gave to their home in Michigan because the home faces two large and beautiful oak trees. TWO OAKS is constructed in four sets of two-phrase groups, each 2 + 2 until the last one, which by its extension to five measures (now without the pickups) emphasizes "all are welcome."
Opening Voluntary: “Te ofrecemos” Jeffrey Honoré (1956)
The composer, Jeffrey Honoré, started out teaching high school choral music in Ripon, Wisconsin. Since 1984, he has worked full time as a pastoral musician, serving Catholic parishes in Milwaukee and Phoenix. “Te ofrecemos” is a Spanish hymn.
Offertory: from Thirty-five Miniatures for Organ, #5 Flor Peeters (1903-1986)
Flor Peters was the son of a church organist. He was a pupil of Dupre and Tournemire and attended the Lemmens Institute where he won highest honors in organ playing. In 1925 he became professor at the Institute, and organist at the Metropolitan Cathedral of Mechelen. In 1931 he became professor at the Royal Flemish Conservatory in Antwerp. Since then he has won international recognition having concertized in Belgium, Holland, France, England, Italy, Switzer-land, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Canada, South America and in more than fifty cities in the United States.
His compositions include an organ method, various collections and recital pieces, and work for church use. His "Thirty-Five Miniatures" is perhaps his most popular collection of organ compositions. His masses have been generally accepted as among the best musical settings of our times, while his "Te Deum" and "Jubilate Deo" have become recognized as classic favorites for festival use.
Closing Voluntary: “Laudes Domini (When Morning Gilds the Skies)” Robert Lind (1940)
Robert Lind studied at North Park College and the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, majoring in organ, composition, and music theory. At the age of 20, he worked with his mentor, Leo Sowerby, and became his assistant at the Cathedral of St. James, Chicago. He succeeded him as Organist-Choirmaster at the cathedral two years later. After serving in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam era, Mr. Lind entered the publishing world, while continuing to serve various churches in the Chicago area.
Joseph Barnby (1838-1896) composed the tune, LAUDES DOMINI (“When Morning Gilds the Skies”) for this anonymous German text, a litany of praise to Christ, translated by Edward Caswall (1814- 1878). Tune and text were published together in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern and they have been inseparable ever since. The tune's Latin title, which means "the praises of the Lord," is derived from the litany refrain “may Jesus Christ be praised”.
Caswall's translations of Latin hymns from the Roman Breviary and other sources have a wider circulation in modern hymnals than those of any other translator. This is owing to his general faithfulness to the originals, and the purity of his rhythm, the latter feature specially adapting his hymns to music, and for congregational purposes. His original compositions, although marked by considerable poetical ability, are not extensive in their use, their doctrinal teaching being against their general adoption outside the Roman communion.