“The Trumpet Sounds the Summons”
This month we continue our Hymn of the Month series in which one or more hymns drawn from collections published by The Leupold Foundation will be posted on the website for consideration by pastors and musicians who may wish to introduce the hymn to their congregations the following month, perhaps by having the choir introduce the hymn on the first Sunday of the month or season and then inviting the congregation to join with the choir in singing the hymn on each subsequent Sunday. Additional hymns will occasionally be suggested for a particular Sunday or festival in the church year; such hymns may only be appropriate on the designated day, or they might be used as a Hymn of the Month in anticipation of or in response to the particular day on the church calendar.
Hymn of the Month for July 2025: Text: “The Trumpet Sounds the Summons,” Mary R. Bittner, Water from the Rock, p. 26. Tune: MUIÉ RENDERA, Brazilian Folk Melody, arr. João Wilson Faustini, The Heavens Are Telling, p. 142.
Two significant cultural threads provided the context for the selection of “The Trumpet Sounds the Summons”, this Year of Jubilee, by Mary R. Bittner (1938-2007), as the Hymn of the Month for July 2025, namely Independence Day for Christians in the United States and the 2025 Year of Jubilee for Roman Catholic Christians around the world. The former reminds us that the United States was founded on the principle of “liberty and justice for all,” while the latter reminds us that Pope Francis has called for “‘signs of hope’ in the Jubilee Year, including the desire for peace in the world, openness to life and responsible parenthood, and closeness to prisoners, the poor, the sick, the young, the elderly, migrants and people ‘in difficult situations’” (Catholic Review). Of course, the scriptural basis for the Year of Jubilee is found in Leviticus 25.9-10: “On the Day of Atonement, you shall have the trumpet sounded throughout all your land. And you shall hallow the fiftieth year, and you shall proclaim liberty throughout the land to all its inhabitants. It shall be a Jubilee for you; . . . it shall be holy to you.” All these thematic elements are present in Bittner’s hymn, which could be profitably sung by every congregation in the US on every Sunday in the month of July! The engaging Brazilian folk melody arranged for this text by João Wilson Faustini (1931-2023), also reminding us of our cultural diversity as a nation, is a perfect pairing for Bittner’s thoughtful poetry.
Mary R. Bittner, a native of Pennsylvania, studied at Penn State University, Northwestern University, and Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary. As a music educator, she taught piano, organ, clarinet, and school music, and as a church musician she served as music director and/or organist in Baptist, United Methodist, and Presbyterian churches. She began writing hymns in 1990, and a collection of her texts and tunes entitled, Water in the Rock, was published by The Leupold Foundation in 2004. João Wilson Faustini, a distinguished Brazilian church musician, choral conductor, composer, and hymnal editor, was educated in the United States at Westminster Choir College and at Union Theological Seminary. Four collections of his hymn tunes and arrangements have been published by The Leupold Foundation.
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