March 16, 2014

Each week, you may find information here about the organ music and hymns in the traditional worship services at First United Methodist Church in Lewisville, Texas.  Some of this information is original; much of it is "borrowed" from other sources such as Wikipedia, GBOD, and hymnary.org.  It is my hope that this information will enhance your understanding and enrich your worship experience.  

About the Organ Music:

Poor Wayfaring Stranger – Tim Doran

"The Wayfaring Stranger" (aka "Poor Wayfaring Stranger" or "I Am a Poor Wayfaring Stranger") is a well-known American folk song likely originating in the early 19th century about a plaintive soul on the journey through life. Poor Wayfaring Stranger is a traditional folk song of unknown origin. There are many and varied opinions as to its origin. Some of the theories include Appalachian Folk, Old Irish, and Catskills Folk. One theory is that it originates from the Negro Spirituals and there was a deliberate concealment of the songs origins. Clearly the song is of a spiritual nature as the Wayfaring Stranger sings of the hardships of his temporal life passing by and speaks of his journeying on to a better place. Regardless of its origins, it is a hauntingly beautiful piece of music. This song has been recorded countless times.  As with most folk songs, many variations of the lyrics exist.  The most common lyrics are as follows:

I'm just a poor wayfaring stranger; I'm traveling through this world of woe,
Yet there's no sickness, toil nor danger In that bright land to which I go
I'm going there to see my mother/father; I'm going there no more to roam.
I'm just a-going over Jordan; I'm just a-going over home

I know dark clouds will gather 'round me.  I know my way is rough and steep
Yet golden fields lie just before me Where God's redeemed shall ever sleep.
I'm going there to see my father/mother; She/he said he'd/she'd meet me when I come.
I'm only going over Jordan; I'm only going over home.

I want to wear a crown of glory When I get home to that good land.
I want to shout salvation's story In concert with the blood-washed band.                                     
I'm going there to meet my Saviour, To sing his praise forever more.
I'm just a-going over Jordan; I'm just a-going over home.

Tim Doran, an accomplished arranger, composer, and studio musician, lives in the Los Angeles area. He is the organist at LaHabra Hills Presbyterian Church, as well as an accompanist for several local high school and college choirs.

Voluntary on “Neumark” – Gordon Young

Georg Neumark (1621-1681) first published his original text, “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten,” in his Fortgepflantzter musikalisch-poetischer Lustwald in 1657. It contained seven stanzas of six lines, set to an original g-minor tune in a dance-like triple meter. He composed it after securing a tutoring post at Kiel, a point of much relief for him after a period of misfortune and instability. This Trostlied or “song of consolation” admonishes Christians to put their faith wholly in God. The hymn draws on parts of Psalm 55 as well as 1 Peter 3:8-15, which contains instructions to honor life and seek peace. This text is especially poignant in the context of the atrocities and violence of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), which would have still been fresh in the minds of the singers. 

If you but trust in God to guide you and place your confidence in him,                               you'll find him always there beside you to give you hope and strength within;                       for those who trust God's changeless love build on the rock that will not move.

Gordon Young (1919-1998) was born in McPherson, Kansas, and during his lifetime was recognized as one of this country's great church organists. He was a prolific and talented composer for both organ and choir, with nearly 1000 published works.  During the course of his career, he was a radio organist in Tulsa, a music critic and columnist for daily newspapers in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, and choirmaster in churches in Philadelphia and Kansas City. Mr. Young taught organ in conjunction with Wayne State University and for 15 years was organist and choir director at the First Presbyterian Church in Detroit.

The Glory of the Forty Days – Daryl Hollinger

Gregory I (540-604)

Gregory I., St., Pope, surnamed The Great, was born at Rome about A.D. 540. His family was distinguished not only for its rank and social consideration, but for its piety and good works. His father, Gordianus, said to have been the grandson of Pope Felix II. or III., was a man of senatorial rank and great wealth; whilst his mother, Silvia, and her sisters-in-law, Tarsilla and Aemiliana, attained the distinction of canonization. Gregory made the best use of his advantages in circumstances and surroundings, so far as his education went. "A saint among saints," he was considered second to none in Rome in grammar, rhetoric, and logic.  In 590 he became Pope. His Papacy lasted until 604, when he died at the early age of fifty-five. His Pontificate was distinguished by his zeal, ability, and address in the administration of his temporal and spiritual kingdom alike, and his missionaries found their way into all parts of the known world. Gregory's great learning won for him the distinction of being ranked as one of the four Latin doctors, and exhibited itself

in many works of value, the most important of which are his Moralium Libri xxxv., and his two books of homilies on Ezekiel and the Gospels.His influence was also great as a preacher and many of his sermons are still extant, and form indeed no inconsiderable portion of his works that have come down to us. But he is most famous, perhaps, for the services he rendered to the liturgy and music of the Church, whereby he gained for himself the title of “Magister Caeremoniarum”. His Sacramentary, in which he gave its definite form to the Sacrifice of the Mass, and his Antiphonary, a collection which he made of chants old and new, as well as a school called “Orplianotrophium”, which he established at Rome for the cultivation of church singing, prove his interest in such subjects, and his success in his efforts to render the public worship of his day worthy of Him to Whom it was addressed. The “Gregorian Tones”, or chants, with which we are still familiar after a lapse of twelve centuries, we owe to his anxiety to supersede the more melodious and flowing style of church music which is popularly attributed to St. Ambrose, by the severer and more solemn monotone which is their characteristic.

Pope Gregory’s text, “Clarum decus jejunii”, was translated into English by Maurice Bell and first published in The English Hymnal in 1906.

The glory of these forty days We celebrate with songs of praise;
For Christ, by Whom all things were made, Himself has fasted and has prayed.

Then grant us, Lord, like them to be Full oft in fast and prayer with Thee;
Our spirits strengthen with Thy grace, And give us joy to see Thy face.

 Daryl Hollinger is my former classmate at the University of Montevallo and is a worship consultant, composer and author.  He recently was the Dean of the Chapel, Organist and adjunct faculty member at Lancaster Theological Seminary.  He is minister of music at Fist Congregational Church in Stockton, California, and has been active as a church musician for over thirty years.   

About the Hymns:

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

Walter Chalmbers Smith (1824-1908) was educated at the University of Aberdeen and New College, Edinburgh, and became a Presbyterian pastor in the Free Church of Scotland in 1850. His poetry was published in some six volumes entitled Poetical Works (1902), and his hymn texts were published in Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life (1886).

Walter C. Smith based this text on 1 Timothy 1: 17: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever." The six-stanza text was published in Smith's Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life (1867) and, after having been revised by Smith, in W. Garrett Horder's Congregational Hymns (1884).   "Immortal, Invisible" is a strong text of praise to God, who created and sustains the lives of all his creatures. The text focuses on the Creator of the universe, the invisible God whose visible works in nature testify to his glory and majesty. "Light" is the prevailing image; our inability to see God is not because of insufficient light but because the "splendor of light hides [God] from view."

Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us

The text of "Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us" first appeared in Hymns for the Young, 1830, which was edited by Dorothy Ann Thrupp (1779-1847). Although no author's name appears with the text, it is thought that Thrupp wrote it, since she often published hymns anonymously, under the pseudonym "Iota," or simply using her initials “DAT”.   The tune we sing today was written by William Bradbury expressly for this text and appeared in his Sunday School collection, Oriola, 1859. Bradbury was a protege of the great music educator, Lowell Mason. Bradbury sang in Mason's Bowdoin Street Church choir and Boston Academy of Music as a youth, and later started similar church and school music programs in New York where he served as organist at First Baptist Church. Beyond his work as an educator and church musician, Bradbury studied composition in Europe, founded the Bradbury Piano Company with his brother, and edited a number of music books. Bradbury is probably most famous for writing the music to "Jesus Loves Me."

I’m Gonna Sing When the Spirit Says Sing

This traditional African-American spiritual was adapted for the 1986 hymnal by William Farley Smith (b. 1941), who has adapted many spirituals for choral or congregational singing.  With its regular pulsing rhythms, it was probably a work song, sung by slaves working in fields and factories.  The text has many verses: sing, shout, pray, praise, moan, move, work, dance, etc. 

Trust and Obey

This hymn was inspired in 1886 when the composer of the music, Daniel B. Towner (1850-1919), was the music leader during one of Dwight L. Moody’s famous revivals. Towner provided the following account cited by Moody’s musical partner, Ira D. Sankey, in his biography, My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns:   “Mr. Moody was conducting a series of meetings in Brockton, Massachusetts, and I had the pleasure of singing for him there. One night a young man rose in a testimony meeting and said, ‘I am not quite sure—but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.’ I just jotted that sentence down, and sent it with a little story to the Rev. J. H. Sammis, a Presbyterian minister. He wrote the hymn, and the tune was born.”   

Sammis is said to have composed the lines of the refrain upon receiving the letter:
             “Trust and obey—for there’s no other way
              To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
As is the case with most gospel songs, these lines provide the central theme around which all of the stanzas were written. The text and tune first appeared in the 1887 collection, Hymns Old and New, and has been included in countless hymnals since. Methodist hymnals in the United States have carried it since 1897. 

Blessed Assurance

Fanny Jane Crosby (1820-1915), born in New York and died in Connecticut, wrote over 8,500 gospel hymns. In 1972, Hope Publishing Co. found over 1,000 unpublished manuscripts. Her work defined what it meant to be a successful writer of gospel hymns.  By the age of six weeks, Fanny Crosby was completely blind. She entered the New York School for the Blind at age twelve. She began writing hymns and poetry at age twelve.  Her collaborators in publishing gospel hymns included the most successful and popular composers of her day, including William Bradbury, William Doane, Robert Lowry, Ira Sankey, and William Kirkpatrick. Crosby used numerous pen names in publishing her songs, including: Ella Dale, Mrs. Kate Gringley and Miss Viola V. A.  She married blind musician Alexander Van Alstyne, and the British most often refer to her by her married name rather than Fanny Crosby.  She was a lifelong Methodist and her contributions to The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) include: “Blessed Assurance,” “Close to Thee,” “I Am Thine, O Lord,” “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,” “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior,” “Rescue the Perishing,” and “To God Be the Glory.”

Phoebe Knapp (1839 –1908) was a composer of music for hymns and an organist.  Knapp was born in New York City. Her parents were Walter C. Palmer and Phoebe Worrall Palmer.  She married Joseph Fairchild Knapp, one of the founders and the second president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and he had a pipe organ installed in their apartment.  She and her husband were members of the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. The hymn writer Fanny Crosby was also a member of that church and a friend of the Phoebe’s.  She wrote over 500 hymn tunes, the most familiar being the tune now called Assurance for Fanny Crosby's lyrics “Blessed Assurance”.

Crosby was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp as the Knapp home was having a large pipe organ installed. The organ was incomplete, so Mrs. Knapp, using the piano, played a new melody she had just composed. When Knapp asked Crosby, "What do you think the tune says?", Crosby replied, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine."  The hymn appeared in the July 1873 issue of Palmer's Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany, a magazine printed by Dr. and Mrs. W. C. Palmer.