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This Week at St. Matthew's
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Ash Wednesday
Lent begins today with Ash Wednesday services:
- Noon-Imposition ashes at First Presbyterian Church
- 6:00 PM Eucharist, Imposition Ashes at St. Matthew's.
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Perception
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The Miracles of the Church seem to me to rest not so much upon faces or voices or healing power coming suddenly near to us from afar off, but upon our perceptions being made finer, so that for a moment our eyes can see and our ears can hear what is there about us always.
Walter Cather, Death Come for the Archbishop, 1927
[The earth] is so small and so fragile and such a precious little spot in that universe that you can block it out with your thumb, and you realize that on that small spot, that little blue and white thing, is everything that means anything to you--all of history and muic and poetry and art and death and birth and love.
Russell Schweikart, Peace: A Dream Unfolding, 1986
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Pampa Community Choir To Sing
During Holy Week
 This Sunday, February 21st at 2:00 PM in the Nave we will have our first full rehearsal in preparation for a Holy Week performance of the Faure Requiem. Pampa used to have a vibrant community choir years ago and we are seeking to revive it and allow the choir to have opportunities to lead the faith community of Pampa in worship and great artistic expression through choral music. We have commitments from singers from First Baptist Church, Lutheran Church, First Presbyterian Church, First United Methodist Church and of course, St. Matthew's. So this is truly an ecomunical endeavor. If you know of anyone who would be a good contributor to the Pampa Community Choir please contact them or email Russ & Rick at RnRFusion@RnRFusion.com with their contact information and we will extend them an invitation to be a part of this exciting endeavor. Come be a part or send someone who would love to experience worshiping with the people of St. Matthew's and our fellow worshipers in Pampa.
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Memorial Service Recording
The memorial service held for St. Matthew's own Jerry Whitten on Friday, February 12, 2010 was recorded and is now available for online listening and mp3 download at RnRFusion.com. Click on this link to be able to listen to Jerry's memorial service in it's entirety.
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The Sounds of St. Matthew's
You can listen to a few clips of last week's service (2/14/2010) as well as clips from past services online by clicking one of the following links:
-Rick & Russ (Prelude)
-St. Matt's Congregation (Processional)
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Vita brevis, Longa ars
(Life is Short, Art long - Hippocrates)
"O God, whom saints and angels delight to worship in heaven: Be ever present with your servants who seek through art and music to perfect the praises offered by your people on earth; grant to them even now glimpses of your beauty, and make them worthy at length to behold it unveiled for 'evermore; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen"
The opening voluntary this week is entitled "Fidelis Servus" by Dom Paul Benoit,
O.S.B. He was an organist, composer, and Roman Catholic priest, who lived as a
member of the Benedictine community at the Abbey of St. Maurice et St. Maur, at
Clervaux, in Luxembourg. Dom Paul Benoit's compositions never leave the realm
of tonality, albeit often modal. His works frequently draw from the melodies of
Gregorian chant, making them easily palatable by all ears. Dom Paul
acknowledged the influence of the French impressionist works of Claude Debussy
and Maurice Ravel upon his organ compositions. As a result, Dom Paul's works
are some what unique for the organ in bearing a pervasive imprint of
impressionism. The large body of French romantic and contemporary organ
literature comprises a well known collection of repertoire for the instrument.
Yet far more meager is the list of organ compositions that can lay claim to the
subtlety or transcendence of the impressionists.
Dom Paul Benoit's organ
compositions, in addition to being excellent liturgical music, form a unique and
worthy contribution to the body of literature for the instrument.
Occasionally I will put detailed information about the composers' music we are playing when it seems appropriate. This is one of those instances. I sincerely believe in the enormous astrological influence upon the music of certain composers. I am mostly interested in any composer who is total right brain (Yang) or L to R Brain
(negative yang). I will spare you the details at this time. My absolute favorite composer is Louis Vierne who is a total right brain composer ( Russ and I are both Right brain ). Right brain individuals are literally "receptors" - we receive impulses and intuitive information through our R-brain processes. All human information, interaction, behavior, thinking, creativity is completely influenced by this important factor.
It is for this reason we are able to improvise freely and very often I have no clue where all that musical information comes from, I just let it happen. Benoit's music affects me deeply. Left brain composers like J.S. Bach (Aries/Ox) create an almost mathematical style of playing and improvisation. In the coming months I will comment further on this "cosmic" phenomenon", but for now I will tell you that we as musicians need to understand this basic fact as we perform each week so that we will balance the music we present. I can almost immediately tell who is left or right brain by the types of music that they love.
The anthem this week is Eternal Love by Paul Sjolund. This will be the premier performance of Cantus, the men of St. Matthews Choir. We will be seeking to incorporate gregorian chant, contemporary and traditional anthems in the liturgy. More to come. amen
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Service Music for This Week
Music for This Week
Prelude "Fidelis Servus" Dom P. Benoit
Offertory "Eternal Love" by Paul Sjolund
sung by Cantus
Organ Improvisation
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Rick & Russ' Blog 
at RnRFusion.com
Visit Our Homepage
by Russ
If you have not visited our home page at RnRFusion.com lately stop by and experience moments as they are captured each week in our live worship services. What you hear as you visit our site through the media player at the top of each page at RnRFusion.com are the original arrangements and compositions that Rick & I are creating each week in service to our little church in the Texas panhandle, St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Pampa, TX. Although we have our fingers in so many pies we make our service music for St. Matthew's our top priority each week. We are having a blast while breaking through the barriers of church music with our special "fusion" of great literature, original compositions and improvisations in the use of the historic Mohler Pipe Organ and the Yamaha Motif Synthesizer. We are very grateful to the people of St. Matthew's for allowing us to express our hearts of worship through our spiritual and musical gifts. Rick & I have experienced leading worship and making music in the largest evangelical churches in the state of Texas, but they do not compare to the beauty, tranquility and aesthetic spiritual depth that we have the freedom to experience at St. Matthew's through our weekly musical offerings in service to God and the dear people of St. Matt's.
We hope that you are blessed by what you hear. To hear the corporate musical expressions from the congregation of St. Matthew's.....(click here to read more of what you can find at RnR Fusion)
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Thoughts On Inspiration
by Rick
Now that I have the floor lets talk about a sacred subject for me, inspiration. It's cousin might be transcendence. I have wrestled with this issue all my life. When it happens it happens. When I became an Episcopalian I was adamant with the choir to LEAD the liturgy, speak out with passion, meaning and authenticity. It took a while to bring an awareness that we must not take the spoken collective liturgy for granted. It can become inspired, transcendent and even highly emotional.
Back during the revision of the Book of Common Prayer in the '80s the liturgical wars were highly charged and almost frightening.... (click here to read more of what you can find at RnR Fusion)
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We would love to invite you to participate in a weekly discussion with Rick & Russ through their blog at www.RnRFusion.com.
We hope to engage our fellow worshipers in thoughtful discussion on many topics concerning worship, religious and humanitarian issues. Just click on the above web address link or logo and join in the discussion. You can contribute comments by filling out the form on the blog page at the bottom of the post. Let us know what your thoughts are on the subjects discussed about in our blog. Our discussions will be fun as well as provocative.
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Adult Sunday School Class Resumes
Come join our weekly Adult Inquiry Sunday
School class that continues this weekend. Remember, we meet each Sunday morning at 9:30 AM in the Parish
Hall. The class is growing and is a very interactive discussion of
topics that concern our lives as the people of God.
This week the class continues their focus on more aspects about Islam.
Please join us and help enrich the lively discussion and insights of this most fascinating subject.
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Sounds of
St. Matthew's You can listen to clips from last Sunday's service by clicking on this link:
WORSHIP MUSIC CLIPS
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St. Matthew's Worship Ministries
Rev. Linda Kelly, Rector - Rick Land & Russ Tapp, Musicians
St. Matthew's Episcopal Church 727 W. Browning, Pampa, TX 79065
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