It's probably no secret to anyone that one of my very favorite composers is Herbert Howells (1892–1983).

And this Sunday, there's an opportunity to play Howells that's just too good to pass up.

The Psalm we'll be reading this Sunday is Psalm 139:1-5, 12-17. It's a wonderful Psalm about how much God knows, and how much God sees.

But one of the verses of this Psalm that we will not read together this Sunday is verse 11.

Darkness is not dark to you;
the night is as bright as the day; *
    darkness and light to you are both alike.

This single Psalm verse is the subject of a marvelous Psalm-Prelude by Herbert Howells, and it will be the Prelude to the service this Sunday.

Here's one of my favorite recordings of this piece by Stephen Cleobury on the organ of King's College, Cambridge.