Music at WPC-
Sunday, April 20, 2025
Easter Sunday
Voluntary: "Lead On O King Eternal," Judy Phillips (b. 1952)
Offertory: "Now the Green Blade Rises," Joe Cox (b. 1954)
Voluntary: Improvisation on "Now the Green Blade Rises," Nik Stackpole
Hymns
Opening Hymn: 123- Jesus Christ is Risen Today EASTER HYMN
Sequence Hymn: 115- Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain ST. KEVIN
Closing Hymn: INSERT- Welcome Happy Morning! FORTUNATUS
Next Week's Music at WPC:
Sunday, April 27 Bob Carlyon, Organ
Prelude- About the Composer: Judy Phillips
Judy Phillips is a distinguished composer and educator renowned for her contributions to handbell music. She serves as the director of Bellissima! and the Adele Thomas Ringers, community handbell ensembles affiliated with the Tuesday Musicale of Greater Pontiac, Michigan. Phillips holds a Master of Church Music degree in handbells from Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin, and is an active member of Sigma Alpha Iota, a professional music fraternity for women citeturn0search1. Her compositions, such as *Reverie*, *Aria*, and *Dove of Peace*, are celebrated for their expressive use of handbell techniques and are widely performed in both worship and concert settings.
Offertory
Now the green blade rises from the buried grain.
Wheat that in dark earth many days has lain;
Love lives again, that with the dead has been;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.
In the grave they laid him, love by hatred slain,
Thinking that he would never wake again.
Laid in the earth like grain that sleeps unseen;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.
Forth he came at Easter, like the risen grain,
He that for three days in the grave had lain;
Raised from the dead, my living Lord is seen;
Love is come again like wheat arising green.
Postlude- About the Music: Now the Green Blade Rises
"Now the Green Blade Rises" is a beloved Easter hymn penned by John MacLeod Campbell Crum (1872–1958), an English Anglican priest and hymn writer. First published in the 1928 Oxford Book of Carols, the hymn is often sung to the traditional French carol tune Noël Nouvelet, also known as French Carol. The lyrics draw rich parallels between the resurrection of Jesus and the renewal of life in nature, employing vivid imagery of wheat sprouting from the earth to symbolize Christ's triumph over death. The hymn's enduring popularity stems from its poetic beauty and theological depth, making it a cherished piece in Easter liturgies and celebrations.
Westminster Presbyterian Music Director
Nik Stackpole: Music Director
+1(330) 836-2226 ext. 104
Nik Stackpole comes to us with a rich background in choral and ensemble music. Previously, he served at The United Methodist Church of Kent, where he directed a choir and handbell choir for five years. There, he had the privilege of taking the choir to Carnegie Hall in New York City to perform in 2024. He also held positions as assistant organist and music librarian at Johnson Memorial United Methodist Church in Huntington, West Virginia. Nik graduated from Kent State University with a degree in Music Education, specializing in choral and string instruction, with a focus on viola and keyboard studies. Nik also performs with the community auditioned ensemble, Stow Heritage Ringers.
