LEBANON --- "The Rev." A. Dennis Sparger soon will be stepping down from one of his pulpits.

No, he's never earned a divinity degree, but in a music career that has spanned more than 40 years, he says he has worked hard to help people feel the spirit through the concerts he has directed.

Now, after 33 years of leading the Masterworks Chorale, Sparger will be passing off his baton to someone new after the group's annual Christmas at the Cathedral concert Dec. 2. But this Saturday night you'll find him still spreading the Word during the Masterworks' season opener in the Hettenhausen Center for the Arts at McKendree University in Lebanon.

"Live, Dance, Remember" will feature Rene Clausen's "A New Creation" along with three moving songs of remembrance and two upbeat spirituals to close out the night. On the lighter side, it also will include Brahms' "Neue Liebeslieder Walzer (New Love-song Waltzes)," which will show off the voices of a half-dozen Chorale soloists.

But it's the sacred numbers that continue to mean so much to the distinguished director.

"We've always performed just a tremendous amount of sacred music," said Sparger, who formed the Masterworks in 1974 when he realized the community needed another outlet to both hear and perform classical music's great choral works.

"I guess that's been my mission in my life. When I was in high school, I gave serious thought to becoming a pastor. So, while the music side won out, I guess I've continued to preach through the music, through these great pieces we've been able to perform."

He is ready to continue that tradition Saturday night. Dominating the first half of the program will be the inspirational "A New Creation" by Clausen, the long-time director of the Concordia College Choir in Moorhead, Minn. The work will feature the Chorale's Joseph and Janice Codispoti and Lance and Sarah Lancaster as the soloists.

"I've known Rene for long time. The Bach Society even commissioned him to write a piece four years ago," said Sparger, who also has led the Bach group in St. Louis since 1986.

"He writes wonderful pieces and the chorale is very familiar with his style, so I think it was just a fortuitious opportunity that I heard the St. Louis Metro Singers perform it last year and realized, gee, this would be wonderful for the Chorale to do."

Sparger is also excited about three numbers near the end of the concert that he is calling "Songs of Remembrance." The first is from Eleanor Daley's "Requiem," which the Chorale performed a few years ago.

"It just has one of those special texts that is just so touching," Sparger said. "Anyone who has lost someone feels all of the joy of that experience.

"How does that make sense --- joy from grief? When someone's life has passed and time has settled in, then you're able to look back on all the goodness that person brought into your life and then, through the words to this song, realize the person is not truly gone but still lives on in you."

The Chorale will follow that up with the Memorial Kaddish from "In Memoriam to Leonard Bernstein," by the late Srul Irving Glick. It will be performed in Hebrew thanks in good measure to Gabrielle Maul, a Chorale soprano (and daughter of Norm and Judy Greenberg), who is serving as a diction coach.

"This piece is just absolute dynamite, just one of the most powerful works you will ever hear," Sparger said. "Srul was just that kind of character --- a man who was just filled with love for others and yet expressed powerful things in his music."

The concert will wrap up with "Sing Me to Heaven" and two rousing spirituals, "This Little Light of Mine" and "The Battle of Jericho." Perhaps, they'll help keep Sparger's own spirits lifted as he continues to contemplate stepping down from the group he started 33 years ago. Already, a list of 18 applicants for his post has been whittled to three finalists, each of whom directed a rehearsal last Saturday.

"No, it hasn't quite sunk in yet," said Sparger. "I wish I could stay and do this forever. We've had such wonderful people and wonderful music and, of course, all our wonderful supporters.