Sacred Music for the Rite of Ordination

Theology must sing.
​                                                — Martin Franzmann

​As the summer months approach and the seminaries dispatch candidates for the office of the ministry into the field, many pastors and church musicians are selecting choral music for services of ordination. In addition to the sacred music for Pentecost that was discussed in the June 2015 issue of this column (“Veni Creator Spiritus”) and last month’s issue (“A Musical ‘Tallis Man’”), I would like to suggest three choral responsories that are equally fitting for such an occasion.
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I.
“How Lovely are the Messengers” (from St. Paul, Op. 36)
by Felix Mendelssohn (1809-1847)
SATB w/organ
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This beautiful anthem is taken from the first of Mendelssohn’s oratorios, St. Paul, which is based primarily on the Acts of the Apostles. This lovely and best-loved of choruses follows Paul’s conversion and preaching the gospel with Barnabas. Listen for the main theme on the first phrase of the text and try to follow its development through the rest of the work.

How lovely are the messengers that preach us the gospel of peace,
To all the nations is gone forth the sound of their words,
Throughout all the lands their glad tidings.

​– Romans 10:15, 18 (after Isaiah 52:7)

​Did you hear how skillfully Mendelssohn develops the main theme of the work? After passing the opening motif from voice to voice for the first line of text, he moves to a second, similar theme for the second line of text. Mendelssohn then briefly reintroduces the initial theme, but with the second line of text. After a brief development for the third line of text, he recaps the opening theme, followed by a peaceful ending, depicting the gospel of peace. As those who have sung the choral works of Mendelssohn will attest, “How Lovely are the Messengers” is reasonably accessible and always rewarding, and the text is a perfect fit as an undershepherd is charged to be a faithful messenger of the gospel of peace.
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II.
“My Shepherd Will Supply My Need”
by Virgil Thompson (1896-1989)
SATB a cappella
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​The following text by Isaac Watts (1674-1748) is adapted from Psalm 23, which is appropriate whenever a congregation ordains or installs a shepherd/pastor. The curious use of the name “Jehovah” in st. 1, a misnomer that has been difficult to eliminate from English hymnals, is easily solved by substituting the name “Christ Jesus,” which has the same syllabic pattern.

​My Shepherd will supply my need:
Jehovah [sic] is His Name;
in pastures fresh he makes me feed,
beside the living stream.
He brings my wandering spirit back
when I forsake his ways,
and leads me, for his mercy's sake,
in paths of truth and grace.
 
When I walk through the shades of death
his presence is my stay;
one word of his supporting grace
drives all my fears away.
His hand, in sight of all my foes,
doth still my table spread;
my cup with blessings overflows,
his oil anoints my head.
 
The sure provisions of my God
attend me all my days;
O may thy house be my abode,
and all my work be praise.
There would I find a settled rest,
while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest,
but like a child at home.

The music, by American composer Virgil Thompson, requires strength in the choral tone, but it should be within the grasp of many parish choirs if it is adequately rehearsed. The thematic repetitions from stanza to stanza should help lower the learning curve for the parish choir. May I suggest that “My Shepherd” is perhaps one of the most beautiful short a cappella works written on American soil during the turbulent twentieth century? It is fitting as the Psalm during Matins or Vespers, or a Psalm between readings during the Divine Service, or as distribution music as the “cup with blessings overflows.”
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III.
Veni Sancte Spiritus (“Come, Holy Spirit”)
By Morten Lauridsen (b. 1943)
SATB with orchestra or organ
 

​This text, not to be confused with Veni Creator Spiritus, is a Medieval sequence hymn, i.e., a hymn in which the meter (six lines of seven syllables each, in this case) allows the music to be repeated in two or more stanzas. This pattern is standard fare for the vast majority of hymns sung today, but it was rather novel when this hymn was composed as the sequence for Pentecost Sunday in the thirteenth century. The text, adapted from the propers for Pentecost Day, is a remarkable case study in a good sermon. Even if you do not know Latin, notice in the literal translation how the Holy Spirit is doing all the work for us as He leads us into all truth and reminds us of all that Jesus has said.

1 Veni, Sancte Spiritus,
et emitte caelitus
lucis tuae radium.
Veni, pater pauperum,
veni, dator munerum,
veni, lumen cordium.
 
2 Consolator optime,
dulcis hospes animae,
dulce refrigerium.
In labore requies,
in aestu temperies,
in fletu solatium.
 
3 O lux beatissima,
reple cordis intima
tuorum fidelium.
Sine tuo numine,
nihil est in homine,
nihil est innoxium.
 
4 Lava quod est sordidum,
riga quod est aridum,
sana quod est saucium.
Flecte quod est rigidum,
fove quod est frigidum,
rege quod est devium.
 
5 Da tuis fidelibus,
in te confidentibus,
sacrum septenarium.
Da virtutis meritum,
da salutis exitum,
da perenne gaudium.
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​Come, Holy Spirit,
and send down from heaven
The ray of your light.
Come, father of the poor,
come, giver of gifts,
come, light of the hearts.
 
Best consoler
Sweet host of the soul.
sweet refresher.
Rest in work,
cooling in heat,
Comfort in crying.
 
O most blessed light,
fill the innermost hearts
of your faithful.
Without your power,
nothing is in man,
nothing innocent.
 
Clean what is dirty,
water what is dry,
heal what is wounded.
Bend what is rigid,
heat what is cold,
lead what has gone astray.
 
Grant to your faithful,
who trust in you,
the seven-fold holy gift.
Grant us the reward of virtue,
grant us final salvation,
grant us eternal joy.
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​The stunningly beautiful music, which also works for choir and organ (how many parishes, after all, have or hire even a small chamber orchestra?), comes from the West Coast composer, Morten Lauridsen, who holds the honor of being the most frequently performed composer at conventions of the American Choral Directors Association. This is certainly the most difficult of the three works discussed here, including vocal divisions in the alto line, high notes in the soprano line, and Latin diction with no English alternative in the score. The organ part, however, should be accessible to a reasonably accomplished organist, and the rewards of Lauridsen’s lush choral writing should not be underestimated. Veni Sancte Spiritus is especially fitting as a choral work to be sung immediately before the ordination as the church petitions the Spirit to descend with His seven-fold gifts.
 
These three choral responses are indicative of the benefits of well-regulated church music for the pastor, the congregation, and the circuit. One cannot stress enough the need for pastor and congregation to establish the positive theological precedent of sacred music from day one—not through the common practice of singing the pastor’s favorite hymn, but through the careful selection, study, and performance of good church music. The congregation needs to hear not only the spoken ordination vows, but also the sung proclamation of the Gospel, as it is so beautifully embodied in the unfathomable treasury of good church music that has come to us from our fathers. If a circuit choir is marshaled for the service, then the service of ordination might be the best church music that many worshippers will ever hear in their life. The positive precedent established with combined choral forces will hopefully carry over to individual congregations as they live out the words of St. Paul, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” (Col 3:16).