Grace Lutheran Church Offers Free Lenten Concert

Grace Lutheran Church, 205 S. Garner St. in State College, will offer a free Lenten concert at 7 p.m. Wednesday. The event will feature a 50-voice Centre Region Ecumenical Choir, a bell choir, youth choir and poetry readings. 

The concert, ‘Father, Son and Holy Spirit: Musical Inspirations from the Creed,’ includes music and poetry inspired by the 12 declarations of faith within the Apostles’ Creed, a statement of faith spoken worldwide by Christians. 

The music and poetry in the program covers five centuries of works. A Vaughan Williams selection featuring pianists Erik and Rebecca Clayton opens the program, followed by Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck’s ‘Born Today,’ ‘Crucifixus’ from Antonio Vivaldi’s Credo RV591 with organ and strings, the Zimbabwean call-and-response anthem ‘Sorida’ with percussion ensemble and a statement of faith from the Holocaust.

Patrick Liebergen’s ‘African Psalm’ will be sung by the youth choir. Poetry by John Newton and Oscar Wilde and hand bell music by Joel Raney and Kevin McChesney will round out the evening. The program end with the ecumenical choir singing a complete setting of the Nicene Creed, as set by Franz Schubert in his Mass in G with string ensemble and organ.

This annual event, now in its seventh year, brings together 90 musicians from 12 churches and two community choirs. Recognizing that faith takes many different shapes depending on individual and collective life experiences, each year the event brings together people from the Christian community to create expressions of a shared faith through song.

A fellowship meal will be available at 5:15 p.m. in the Miller Center. A string ensemble will play music appropriate for the Lenten season at 6:30 p.m., with a brief pause before the one-hour concert begins.

For more information, email lsanders@glcpa.org or call (814) 238-2478.