During the summer months we are offering a unique opportunity for the entire congregation to have a deeper understanding of the hymns you sing. In addition to weekly articles with descriptions of the music, we are offering congregation-wide "hymn rehearsal" on Sundays in June and July from 9:30 to 9:45 a.m. Simply turn up 30 minutes prior to the 10:00 service, find a good spot in the Nave, and you can join the choir in rehearsing the hymns for that service, punctuated by brief verbal descriptions or factoids about the music. The more you know, the more your worship experience will be enhanced. No reservations necessary; just turn up 30 minutes before the 10:00 service and prepare to be enriched by the glorious hymnody of the Church.

What:     Congregation-wide hymn practice

When:     Sundays from 9:30-9:45 a.m. (June and July)

Where:    Good Shepherd Nave

Why:       To further enrich your worship experience!

Alli Peoples and Charlotte Young will be attending Senior Conference from June 17-23 at the Cathedral Domain. Fr. Dominic Moore is also attending this camp as Chaplain. Please keep them in your prayers. Campers and clergy love to get mail! If you want to send a note or card, send it to:

Camper's Name
c/o Cathedral Domain
800 Highway 1746
Irvine, KY 40336

Today is our first opportunity to use the three-stop Steiner organ while we await our new organ's arrival beginning in January 2013. Due to its portability, this organ will be somewhat "nomadic" during the next nine months. Today's service will be played from the west end. Because this organ is of a limited compass and does not have a pedal board, early music (i.e., music written before the development of the pedal board) is an ideal fit for it. This is also an opportunity to complement the organ with other instrumentalists, and today we welcome Abby Schueler in assisting the accompaniment of our service on the clarinet. Abby is a Junior at Bryan Station High School where she participates in several ensembles within the band program, and this past year had the privilege of participating in Eastern Kentucky University's Honor Band. Bach's Adagio, played for the Opening Voluntary, is set in the key of C minor and is in ABA form with the final A section elegantly embellished.

The Closing Voluntary is a short ricercare by early Baroque composer Giovanni Paolo Cima. Ricercare is a form that is imitative in nature, the term meaning "to seek" or "to search out." Cima, organist Saint Marie chapel of Saint Celso in Milan, lived at the same time as Frescobaldi and Monteverdi, but never achieved their level of fame. 

Hymn 525, with its origins in the Church of England, is a favorite among many Christian denominations. The text comes from Samuel Stone, a 19th century curate in Windsor, England, and was the ninth hymn in a series of twelve based on themes from the Creed. "The Church's one foundation" was originally in seven stanzas, and was headed "The Holy Catholic Church: The Communion of Saints. He is the Head of the Body, the Church."  It was matched with the tune AURELIA in 1868. This quintessentially Victorian tune was originally matched with other texts, among them "Jerusalem the golden." 

Hymn 209 relates very closely the post-resurrection appearances of the risen Christ with the worshiper's life of faith in the light of the Resurrection event. Gordon Slater composed this tune for the text "Dear Father, keep me through this day," and has since been matched with several compatible texts. The tune name ST. BOTOLPH honors the parish church of St. Botolph in Boston, Linconshire, where the composer was organist.

This morning's Anthem, written in 1986 by Richard Shephard, is a setting of Charles Wesley's text Baptismal Prayer set in the ponderous key of F Minor. Shephard's career started as a chorister at Gloucester Cathedral under Herbert Sumsion, and today is one of the most celebrated composers in Britain.