Musical Images of The Good Shepherd
Sunday, April 28 at 10am
As we continue to celebrate Resurrection Life in Christ during the Season of Easter, our Minister of Music, Dr. Kaori Hongo, has planned an inspiring worship service around the many biblical images of God and Jesus as faithful shepherds watching over us. Most of us have memorized Psalm 23 — “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want (lack for nothing…). The Gospel readings during the Easter season always include passages where Jesus referred to himself as “a good shepherd” who “knows his flocks” and would “lay down his life” to save them (John 10:1–18).
During the service, the chancel choir, accompanied by organ, harp and a small orchestra, will be singing several anthems by English composers, particularly John Rutter. Continuing the spirit of Easter, the anthems will be centered on Christ’s love for us as a shepherd. Born in London, John Rutter (b. 1945) was educated at Highgate School and sang as a chorister. As a young composer he collaborated with Sir David Willcocks to create the well-known Carols for Choirs anthology series and has published numerous compositions and arrangements through Oxford University Press. His music is strongly influenced by the French and English choral traditions of the early twentieth century and is sung and loved by choral groups internationally. Even though Rutter composes and conducts primarily religious music, he has been known to say that he was not a “particularly religious man” (60 Minutes, 2003) but finds inspiration through spirituality and sacred verses and prayers. In another interview in 2009, Rutter compared the purity of music to mathematics. As the multiple pitches are heard there is a mathematical ratio that happens in the vibrations of the sounds. In this interview, he also talks about how composers are just a “vessel” that music passes through on its way to the world.
This annual musical service is made possible through an endowment given to Lakewood Presbyterian Church by Kent and Karen Weeks in loving memory of his parents, Senator John and Helen Weeks, and his brother, Gardner Weeks.