Christ Is the Vine

Use: Easter, Communion, Procession, Confirmation
Required Resources: SATB choir, unison choir, soprano soloist, 2 C-instruments, congregation, organ
Language: English

Here's a relatively easy liturgical piece that utilizes basic personnel of almost any music program: the adult SATB choir, the unison children's choir, a soprano soloist, and two treble C-instruments (like flutes). Add cantor, congregation and organ and you have a marvelously useful Communion piece in which everybody participates!

The congregation sings a very easy refrain, "Christ is the vine, we are the branches, alleluia, alleluia," which is taken from the Communion Antiphon for the Fifth Sunday of Easter. There are nine verses, 3 each for children's choir, soprano soloist, and SATB choir, arranged:

1. Children's Choir — John 15:5b
2. Soprano — Zechariah 8:12
3. SATB Choir — Revelation 21:3
4. Children's Choir — Preface VI for Sundays in Ordinary Time (excerpt)
5. Soprano — Rite of Blessing and Sprinkling Holy Water (excerpt)
6. SATB Choir — Galatians 3:27
7. Children's Choir — John 15:16
8. Soprano — John 13:35
9. SATB Choir — Zechariah 8:8

The verse texts were chosen with the theme of community in mind, derived, of course, from the refrain using John 15:5a.

The music that each group sings is identical (i.e. all the SATB Choir verses use the same music); only the text is different, making the piece very easy to learn. The Children's Choir adds a simple descant to the refrain in later repetitions.

Christ Is the Vine was commissioned by Saint Anne Catholic Church in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, by music director Jane Errera, in honor of the pastor, Rev. Msgr. Robert F. Kozel's 40th anniversary of ordination. It could well be sung at Confirmation liturgies or on any Eastertide Sunday when the two parish choirs sing together. This is definitely one the singers and the congregation will enjoy.