Readings

July 28: [Johann Sebasatian Bach, Composer, 1750]

The Collect of the Day

Johann Sebasatian Bach

Sound out your majesty, O God, and call us to your work; that, like thy servant Johann Sebastian Bach, we might present our lives and our works to your glory alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Johann Sebasatian Bach

Sound out thy majesty, O God, and call us to thy work; that, like thy servant Johann Sebastian Bach, we might present our lives and our works to thy glory alone; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Ghost, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Johann Sebastian Bach was born in Eisenach, Germany, in 1685, into a family of musicians. As a child, he studied violin and organ and served as a choirboy at the parish church. By early adulthood, Bach had already achieved an enviable reputation as a composer and performer.

His assignments as a church musician began in 1707 and, a yearlater, he became the organist and chamber musician for the court of the Duke of Weimar. In 1723, Bach was appointed cantor of the St. Thomas School in Leipzig and parish musician at both St. Thomas and St. Nicholas churches, where he remained until his death in 1750.

A man of deep Lutheran faith, Bach’s music was an expression of his religious convictions. Among his many works are included musical interpretations of the Bible, which are his “Passions”. The most famous of these is the “Passion According to St. Matthew.” This composition, written in 1727 or 1729, tells the story of chapters 26 and 27 of the Gospel of Matthew and was performed as part of a Good Friday service. He also wrote music for eucharistic services, the most renowned of which may be his “Mass in B Minor”.

Bach’s music compositions to be widely used and to profoundly influence the musical traditions of many Christian churches. Even beyond their technical merits, they may be understood as deeply theological interpretations of the Christian faith which have been translated into the language of music.

Lessons and Psalm

First Lesson

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Psalm

1Hallelujah! Praise God in his holy temple; *praise him in the firmament of his power.

2Praise him for his mighty acts; *praise him for his excellent greatness.

3Praise him with the blast of the ram’s-horn; *Praise him with lyre and harp.

4Praise him with timbrel and dance; *praise him with strings and pipe.

5Praise him with resounding cymbals; *praise him with loud-clanging cymbals.

6Let everything that has breath *praise the Lord. Hallelujah!

Gospel

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Luke 2:8–14

8 In that region there were shepherds living in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. 9 Then an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified. 10 But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid; for see—I am bringing you good news of great joy for all the people: 11 to you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is the Messiah, the Lord. 12 This will be a sign for you: you will find a child wrapped in bands of cloth and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying, 14 “Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace among those whom he favors!”

2 Chronicles 5:11–14

11 Now when the priests came out of the holy place (for all the priests who were present had sanctified themselves, without regard to their divisions, 12 and all the levitical singers, Asaph, Heman, and Jeduthun, their sons and kindred, arrayed in fine linen, with cymbals, harps, and lyres, stood east of the altar with one hundred twenty priests who were trumpeters). 13 It was the duty of the trumpeters and singers to make themselves heard in unison in praise and thanksgiving to the Lord, and when the song was raised, with trumpets and cymbals and other musical instruments, in praise to the Lord, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” the house, the house of the Lord, was filled with a cloud, 14 so that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud; for the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.