Prelude — La cathédrale engloutie
Claude Debussy (1910) · piano
Debussy composed this prelude in 1910, drawing on the Breton legend of a great church submerged beneath the sea that rises from the waves on clear mornings, bells ringing, priests chanting, before slowly sinking again into the deep.
On Palm Sunday — a day that begins with hosannas and ends in the shadow of the cross — it’s hard to imagine a more fitting prelude than music about something sacred that appears, is glimpsed in its fullness, and then disappears beneath the surface.
Introit — Toccata from L’Orfeo → Hosanna!
Claudio Monteverdi (1607) → B. Wayne Bisbee · organ & choir
Before a single word is sung, the sounds of celebration fill the sanctuary — cheering, bells, the rattle of percussion as the choir processes in. Beneath it all, the toccata that opens Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo (1607) rings out: the same ceremonial fanfare that announced one of the first great operas in Western music. This is music designed to silence a crowd and say something is about to happen.
The fanfare gives way to B. Wayne Bisbee’s “Hosanna!” — carrying the raw, joyful urgency of the cry that greeted Jesus as he entered Jerusalem on a borrowed donkey.
Hymn of Praise — All Glory, Laud, and Honor
Theodulph of Orléans (c. 820), tune: ST. THEODULPH (Melchior Teschner) · HPP #178
Theodulph of Orléans wrote this text around 820 AD — while imprisoned for a political betrayal. From that cell he composed a hymn of praise to a King no earthly power could dethrone. The tune ST. THEODULPH was composed by Melchior Teschner nearly 800 years later. Since then, another 400 years has passed, bringing us to this very day.
Walls couldn’t stop the hosannas then. And they still can’t!
Anthem — Fling Wide the Door
John Yarrington · organ & choir
Yarrington’s anthem takes its cue from Psalm 24: “Lift up your heads, O ye gates… and the King of glory shall come in.” The text invites us to open what has been closed. On a day when we awaken from the long winter, this anthem asks us to consider the doors we may still be holding shut.
Hymn of Reflection — What Wondrous Love Is This
American folk hymn · HPP #191, vv. 1, 3, & 4
This haunting American folk hymn shares its roots with “The Ballad of Captain Kidd” — a pirate’s gallows song — though scholars note the tune likely predates even that dark ballad. The text repeatedly asks “What wondrous love is this?” because it’s genuinely difficult to imagine a sufficient answer.
Offertory — Take, O Take Me As I Am
John L. Bell · choir
John Bell (b. 1949) wrote these four, endlessly repeatable lines:
Take, O take me as I am; summon out what I shall be; set your seal upon my heart, and live in me.
Its brevity is its power. There is nothing to hide behind. As you consider your offering, let the simplicity of this prayer do its work.
Communion — Hallelujah
Leonard Cohen (1984) · piano, guitar · Vinette Winslow, solo
Leonard Cohen labored over this song for years — reportedly drafting some eighty verses before settling on the final text. Its verses are populated by figures undone by devotion and desire: David watching Bathsheba in the moonlight, Samson broken by Delilah’s touch. Cohen’s “Hallelujah” is not a shout of triumph — it’s a prayer offered from the floor, a praise that knows it is broken and offers itself anyway.
Closing Anthem — The Lamb
John Tavener (1982) · organ & choir · soloists Jamie Hammer, Kathleen Leinau, and Alison Wilder
John Tavener set William Blake’s poem “The Lamb” from Songs of Innocence (1789) in a single afternoon in 1982, dedicating it to his three-year-old nephew. Blake’s poem is a child’s question — “Little Lamb, who made thee?” — and the answer is disarmingly direct: the one who made the lamb became a lamb. Tavener’s music mirrors this innocence: voices split and converge, simple harmonies bloom into something luminous and other-worldly.
We end Palm Sunday here — not in the noise of the crowd, but in the stillness of the Lamb who walks willingly toward what the week ahead will bring.
Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life, and bid thee feed By the stream and o’er the mead…
Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee, Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee: He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb.