This coming Sunday we welcome back into our pulpit Rev. David Pruitt. David says:  “This weeks text is Mark 14:32-42.  We will focus on the genuine humanity of Christ as revealed to us through his struggles in the garden of Gethsemane.  His need for human support during times of great testing and stress can encourage us to humbly find saving comfort for ourselves during our own times of trial.  Further inspiration will be drawn from the great vulnerability of President Abraham Lincoln during his ordeals.  We will also find “heart help” from the way a young woman was ministered to during her stay in England from an unlikely source.”

John Atwood’s organ prelude this week will be J. S. Bach’s intricate  Prelude and Fugue in E minor, with the left hand and right hand rhythmically speaking to each other, and the pedals adding their weight to the conversation at intervals. Fascinating!

J.-F. Dandrieu is the composer of both the Offertory and Postlude this week: (respectively) Tierce en Taille (the melody is in the tenor line) and Ofertoire. The anthem this week* is Mozart’s contemplative Ave Verum, considered one of the finest, most prayerful 4 minutes of choral music  ever composed.

*Notice all the coughing during the performance of the Ave Verum?  This is very distracting for choruses, musicians and conductors, as well as to the listeners who appreciate being swept up in the esprit of the music.