BETHEL COLLEGE MENNONITE CHURCH
November 24, 2024
Thanksgiving

Christ Candle Lighting

Centering Music—Morning Has Broken [VT 495] (arr. R. Lau)—Will Wiebe-Friesen

Welcome & Prayer—VT 864—Megan Kohlman, Addison Zerger

*Hymn—Come Away from Rush and Hurry— VT 9

Children’s Conversation—George Leary & BCMC Youth Group

Worship Music—Cum Sancto Spiritu (Antonio Vivaldi)         
       Chancel Choir; Joel Garber, director; Will Wiebe-Friesen, accompanist Chancel Choir

Scripture Reading— Joel 2:21-27; Matthew 6:25-33—Lee Suderman

*Hymn—Sometimes a Light Surprises— VT 618—Rebecca Schloneger, violin

Sermon—Thanksgiving, Poetry & the Sun—Nathan Koontz

*Hymn—Nothing Is Lost on the Breath of GodI—VT 653

Prayers of God’s People—Heather Zerger, Lily Schloneger

*Hymn—For the Fruit of All Creation—VT 124—(People with November birthdays come forward for a blessing, please bring a hymnal) 

*Birthday Blessing & Benediction

Postlude—Now Thank We All Our God (J.S. Bach/Virgil Fox)—Will Wiebe-Friesen

* You are invited to stand
VT—Voices Together
Keyboard- Will Wiebe-Friesen
Audio visual—Ken Lamp

Today’s choir anthem is the final movement from Vivaldi’s Gloria, a setting of the fourth century hymn text Gloria in excelsis Deo. This movement’s text, Cum Sancto Spiritu in gloria Dei Patris, amen, is translated: With the Holy Spirit in the glory of God the Father, amen. The postlude is derived from Bach’s cantata Nun danket alle Gott (Now Thank We All Our God, VT 114). This setting of the hymn, arranged by the American organist Virgil Fox (1912-1980), was made popular through Fox’s flamboyant organ, smoke, and light shows of the 1970’s. Perhaps not the most authentic Bach, it remains an enthusiastic presentation of this hymn of thanksgiving.