Sunday
October 13
The Bach Experience
By Marsh Chapel
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Bach Sunday
Dr. Robert Allan Hill
Last Monday, early in the day, we gathered for prayer, to set a tone. Our one hope, our desired outcome early that morning, was to set a tone for this campus and beyond, for that day, a tone for that and and every day. To set a tone—brief, ecumenical, service, prayer, peace.
That University wide tone continues this Bach Sunday, this Lord’s day, as Jesus meets us on the shoreline of real hope. At the edge of the water of life he invites us to wade out from the dry land of having and into the living water of giving. He is calling you from having to giving. He is inviting me to be a trustee of the future as well as the past. He is offering us a chance, a chance, a daily chance not only to conserve and protect but also to develop and enhance. A boundless faith in God’s love.
Jesus the Faithful Presence inspires hope! In the city of Rome, under the thumb of Caesar, Mark in 70AD rehearses Jesus’ lakeside lessons. Gathered in secrecy, hearing news of a Jerusalem temple in flames, rightly fearing impending persecutions, Mark’s Roman Christians heard hope in these teachings, so frequently as today related to wealth. If you notice only one word in this passage, mark Mark’s inclusion of “persecutions” (vs. 30).
For there is an urgency to Mark’s passage that Matthew and Luke have left behind. Mark exudes raw energy under the pressure of apocalyptic expectation. Sell and give! Some will not taste death until they see the SON OF MAN. Notice the telltale apocalyptic marks: eternal life (the coming resurrection of the dead); this age and the age to come (the heart of Jewish longing); camel and needle (end of an age hyperbole); none is good but God (the apocalyptic distance of heaven from earth); the reign of God (the essential apocalyptic hope); persecutions (harbinger of the end); last become first (apocalyptic justice). But there is no mistaking the primary announcement: life is found in the lake of giving, not on the shore of having. Yes, you must honor the past, including the commandments (though Mark’s Jesus lists only the second 5). Yes, we must conserve and protect. But as LT Johnson told us: “the tradition of the church is meant to open the future!” Conserve what you can and protect what you must, then give—develop, give—enhance, give—and open the reign of God! This is what life is all about.
Last week President Gilliam emphasized…Tradition and Transformation, tradition leading to transformation. Dr. Jarrett, what has today’s beautiful cantata to bring us this morning?
Dr. Scott Allen Jarrett
Today’s cantata is about trust and faith in an all-knowing God. Faith in God’s plan for us, faith in God’s timing, a resolute trust that whatever befalls us, God will provide, God will protect, and God will guide.
Cantata 97: In allen meinen Taten (In all my actions) was composed in 1734 for an unknown occasion. For his text, Bach uses the nine verses of Paul Fleming’s 1642 chorale of the same name. Fleming’s text was most often paired with the famous tune, known today as “Innsbruch”. It was the tune featured in Justin Blackwell’s prelude as well as the hymn we’ll sing in a few moments. As you might expect, Bach features this tune in the opening movement of the cantata with verse one of Fleming’s hymn, and in the final verse, set as a standard chorale. But the tune does not appear in the other seven movements. Bach relies on the sole pillar of Fleming’s text to inspire both unity and marvelous creativity. Over the nine movements of Cantata 97, we hear a French overture, with brilliant concertante writing for an orchestra of strings and two oboes; four arias – one each for soprano, alto, tenor, and bass; a duet for soprano and bass; only brief two recitatives; and a splendid harmonization of the chorale tune that features two descant voices in the violin parts.
Bach’s full creativity and invention are on display over these nine movements, challenging the ear to comprehend the beauty created by so many intricate and diverse moving parts. And so, the designs of the cantata, movement by movement, reveal an intricate model of resolute and boundless faith: I will play or sing my part as God designs, trusting in full faith in God’s all-knowing plan.
The Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Hill
Jesus spoke more about money than about almost anything else. Here as elsewhere he offers a word of hope. Giving does most for the giver. Over a lifetime you will be happiest about what you give. You only possess what you can personally give away. What possesses you, and the rich young ruler, you do not want. You want freedom, the freedom to give.
It is hard not to be had by what you have. So the good news counsels, “Store ye not up treasure on earth…”
Peter, the disciple whom Mark loved, provides the example. He has left everything and received everything. He has been inspired in Jesus the Christ to live in hope. Peter has found the hope to risk building a kingdom that does not yet exist. He is learning to swim on the lake of giving after standing for so long on the shore of having.
To learn to swim you have to trust that the water will hold you up. It will. We have a role as people of faith. All of us are trusted in our time with a future time. What becomes of this Chapel and this University in 2040 is to some measure being determined right now. We bear responsibility not only to conserve and protect the past but also and more so to develop and enhance the future. There is an irony here, too. The only way you can really conserve and protect the past is to develop and enhance the future. Like Jeremiah buying land as the city burned, Peter invested in faith as calamity overtook him. We can too. Let’s. Jesus inspired hope in Peter and he can do so in us today.
