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Sunday, March 28, 2010

Sunday Afternoon Music Video - O Sacred Head Now Wounded

We begin Holy Week with Palm Sunday as Christ enters into Jerusalem triumphantly, and we know the story that follows during the week with Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, and for some, more services, before we celebrate the most important day for Christians, Easter. But before we get there, it is not without some of the most beautiful music composed. Some of the music this week cries of anguish and sorrow. "O Sacred Head Now Wounded" is one many will sing this Sunday. This one, sung by Fernando Ortega, is accompanied scenes of the Suffering of Christ, the ones that the tough ones to see and realize of the sacrifice he gave for all of our sins.



Share with us your Sunday worship in terms of the music. Did it prepare you for the upcoming week? What hymns speak to you on this Palm Sunday?

6 comments:

  1. I LOVE this beautiful hymn. As for Sunday worship--one of the things I am most struggling with as I seek to adjust to being a sitter-in-the-pew person instead of standing in the pulpit, is that this church seems so fearful of tradition that the pendulum has swung wildly in the other direction. Thus, the service did not include one "hosannah" and while there was a scripture reading about the entry into Jerusalme, the sermon was totally unrelated. Arrrrgggghhh! So thank you for posting this music, and to those of this webring who have posted sermons. I needed them. Blessings to you all as you prepare, ponder, and preach during this week and on Easter Sunday.

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  2. Blessings upon you this Holy Week also. This was our last hymn of the service today.

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  3. I'm a former Evangelical now Presbyterian parishioner who has enjoyed lurking in your conversation.
    I was leafing through the hymnal today to see what we might sing during Holy Week that I actually know (very few) and came across this hymn. I was craving singing it and we did not. The service leaned toward the Palms and Hosannas rather than the Passion. So thanks for posting this.

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  4. I adore this hymn. It is one of my favorites in our hymnal, and I wish there were more opportunities for it to be heard and sung throughout the year.

    For the first time I did not preach today, but let the gospel stand on its own. Much as the idea of that sounds great, the logistics didn't support the intent. People were standing at the end of the reading so had to be instructed to sit so that they weren't awkwardly sorting out for themselves to do so. The readers stood like deer in the headlights, then self-consciously returned to their seats. Disruption, distraction, the message was already pushed out of people's minds to be replaced by "now what?" thoughts.

    Another year I will have to think through how the gospel can be retained as the focus.

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  5. We sang this song today.
    It's one of my favorites, too.
    Also sang "Hosanna, Loud Hosanna" and "All Glory, Laud and Honor"

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  6. Altar Ego--great decision to let the Passion stand on its own (the sermon in my parish completely broke the power of the passion reading and ensuing hymn) and I am sorry that the logistics were tricky. For next year you might 1) tell people what to expect before the passion reading--with a simple verbal announcement and/or in the bulletin 2) give a clear nonverbal indication when it's time for them to sit down by holding out both your hands and moving them down, then sitting down yourself (and instructing your readers to do the same) 3) follow the passion with a hymn that gives everyone a chance to respond and take it in more deeply before sitting down for, perhaps, a few moments of silence. Our hymn was "Ah, Holy Jesus" and it was unbelievably powerful at that moment. I was heartbroken when he broke the moment with the sermon--and doubly heartbroken when it turned out to be a really bad one.

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