Prelude — What a Wonderful World
Bob Thiele & George David Weiss (1967) · piano
Bob Thiele and George David Weiss wrote this song in 1967 as a deliberate act of hope during the Vietnam War, the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination, and escalating racial strife. Seeing the world as wonderful does not require ignoring its brokenness — it allows you to choose love as a way of seeing.
Receive this music as preparation: we gather as people who have made that choice.
Introit — Set Me as a Seal
René Clausen · choir & organ
René Clausen composed this luminous setting of Song of Solomon 8:6–7 following the tragic loss of his unborn child after multiple miscarriages. The ancient text — “love is strong as death… many waters cannot quench love” — becomes in his hands a profound meditation on grief transformed by hope.
To choose love always is to choose it even when love costs us everything. Receive this as testament: love endures.
Hymn of Praise — How Can I Keep from Singing
Robert Lowry (1868) · HPP #395, vv. 1, 2, & 4
Beneath life’s tumult runs a deeper music: “No storm can shake my inmost calm, while to that Rock I’m clinging.” First published in 1868, this song gained new life during the folk revival of the 1960s, sung by those who chose hope when hope seemed lost.
When we choose love always, we discover a song that cannot be silenced. Sing now from that unshakeable place.
Interlude for Reflection — Improvisation on BEACH SPRING
organ
This pentatonic American tune from The Sacred Harp (1844) — attributed to B. F. White but likely of folk origin — carries generations of shaped-note singing in its simple, sturdy intervals. This brief improvisation invites you into the moment, where the choice to love is not made once but continuously — breath by breath, minute by minute.
Anthem — Lean on Me
Bill Withers (1972) · choir & piano
Bill Withers drew this song from the close-knit community of Slab Fork, West Virginia, where neighbors carried one another through hardship. In worship, these familiar words become covenant promise: “We all need somebody to lean on.” The spiritual life is not solitary — we are upheld, and we uphold.
This is soul music in the truest sense. Let it move you.
Hymn of Reflection — Prayer of St. Francis
Sebastian Temple (1967) · HPP #406, all
South African songwriter Sebastian Temple set these words to music in 1967, and it has become a roadmap for choosing love: “Where there is hatred, let me sow love… for it is in giving that we receive.” To choose love always is to become, as the prayer asks, an instrument — not the source, but the channel through which love flows.
Response — ST. DENIO
Welsh traditional · organ
This Welsh melody — born as a folk ballad, transformed into sacred song — creates space between hearing and doing. Let this music move you from reflection to resolve. We have heard the call to love.
Now we choose it.
Offertory — Elijah Rock!
Jester Hairston · choir & organ
This African American spiritual celebrates the prophet Elijah’s dramatic ascent to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11). But “rock” here means more than a single biblical figure — it invokes God as unshakeable foundation, the solid ground beneath our feet when everything else trembles. “Elijah Rock, comin’ up, Lord!” — the cry is at once celebration and aspiration.
Closing Hymn — Sing a New Song
HPP #25, all
“Sing to the Lord a new song!” commands Psalm 96 — not because old songs are insufficient, but because God’s steadfast love calls forth fresh praise. To choose love always means our song is never finished; there is always more love to receive, more love to give, more love to celebrate.
Sing now as those whose song continues beyond these walls.
Postlude — L-O-V-E
Bert Kaempfert (1964), lyrics: Milt Gabler · piano
Bert Kaempfert composed this melody in 1964, Milt Gabler added lyrics, and Nat King Cole made it immortal. Go now into the world with this joyful music propelling you forward.
Choose love. Always!