Holy Cross Music Notes with Adelaide Brooks

It’s the Fifth Sunday of Lent.  Next week is Palm Sunday. Then we get to celebrate Easter.  I have so much anticipation!  I miss the gathering and opening hymns, the Alleluias and the tambourine. I want to be out there, smiling and encouraging you to sing!  I am looking forward to Easter Sunday’s music and can’t wait to write about it!

Back to this Sunday.  Our sequence hymn comes from the Taizé community.  Wait for the Lord is a well-known meditative chant composed by Jacques Berthie.  “Waiting for the Lord” is a central theme in many spiritual traditions, typically representing a period of active trust, preparation, and patience rather than passive inactivity.

Our communion hymn is The Cup of Life Outpoured, a contemporary Christian hymn written and composed by Jim Cowan in 1987.  The "cup of life outpoured" refers to the blood of Christ, while the "bread of life" refers to the body of Christ.  This song reminds me that I am good enough to walk with Christ.  Those of you who I sit with in Sunday school know that I am always struggling with my self-worth.  I relate mostly with verse 2: “Too great for me, this wisdom of the Lord, to hold the Savior in my hand.  And greater still the gift of God, that I should be one with Him.” Take a listen. Click here

 We will close with a Holy Cross favorite; I Am the Bread of Life, composed by Sister Suzanne Toolan, RSM, in 1966.  Sister Suzanne attributes the popularity of the song to its “message of resurrection, which is so strong in these words of Jesus - we so need that message of hope.” On her 80th birthday, she released an autobiography titled I Am the Bread of Life, which includes the story behind this beloved hymn.  This song is also straight out of the Episcopal Hymnal.  Please raise your voice and sing loud on this one!  And hang in there!