April 12, 2015 Confirmation Sunday

Each week, you may find information here about the music 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:

I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light – John Behnke

Kathleen Thomerson (b. 1934) is Organist and Music Director at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church in Austin, Texas. She was born in Tennessee and grew up in Mississippi, California, and Texas. College music study was at the Universities of Colorado and Texas, the Flemish Royal Conservatory in Antwerp, and privately in Paris. Before retirement in Austin, she lived in Collinsville, Illinois, when her husband was a biology professor at Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville. Her best-known hymn text is "I Want to Walk as a Child of the Light."  It was written as a scriptural meditation and prayer. It was inspired by many Bible verses, including Genesis 1:17, Isaiah 60:19, Psalm 75:16, Psalm 139:12, Ephesians 3:17, Ephesians 5:8, Galatians 4:6, Hebrews 1:3, 1 Thessalonians 5:5, 2 Peter 1:19, 1 John 1:5-7, and Revelation 21:23.

I want to walk as a child of the light;
I want to follow Jesus.
God set the stars to give light to the world;
The star of my life is Jesus.

In him there is no darkness at all;
The night and the day are both alike.
The Lamb is the light of the city of God.
Shine in my heart, Lord Jesus.

John Behnke is Professor of Music at Concordia University in Mequon, Wisconsin where he teaches organ, graduate handbell courses, directs The Alleluia Ringers, Concordia's touring handbell choir and the Milwaukee Handbell Ensemble.  He is also the Music Editor for AGEHR Music - Handbell Musicians of America.  Behnke is a frequent organ recitalist, handbell clinician, and festival director. He enjoys composing and arranging having over 250 handbell, choral, and organ compositions in print. 

Prelude on “Beach Spring” – Charles Callahan

Ruth Duck (b. 1947) is professor of worship at Garrett-Evangelical Theological Seminary in Evanston, Illinois.  Duck has been writing hymns since 1974. The first time she heard one of her hymns being sung was in 1983 at a United Church of Christ General Synod. She writes, "2,000 people were singing my hymn. I was crying while two friends on either side held my hands. I feel that writing hymn texts is a central part of my call." That is a call she has followed ever since, a call that has resulted in hymns in most hymnals in use today.

Ruth Duck's hymn-texts sing many names for God as she lives the promises of her baptism. "Our language in worship says something about God and not just ourselves."  The idea of God that most people carry is too small and containing, Ruth said. In 1972, while at seminary, she was guest guitarist at a local church. Asked to use inclusive language, she took care to substitute "humanity" for "man" and "mankind."  Yet in one song, she sang "Father" over and over for God. Then, inclusive language meant changing language about humanity, not expanding the language of worship.  Biblical images for God reached beyond masculine and feminine dimensions of expression.  New names awaited discovery. She would use them in hymns or ritual words of the church.

“Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters” is one of those hymns in which she uses both mother and father images of God.  Speaking of her baptism, she said: "The baptismal water washed over me. It made tangible my dying and rising with Christ to new life in the Spirit. Baptism became then a sacrament of God's presence. I belonged to Christ. I was 'water-washed and Spirit-born.' I could feel God's presence as the pastor immersed me in the water. It was as if the Spirit of God were moving over the waters as at the first creation."  Her baptismal promise shaped her life, theology and hymn texts. Baptism is not an isolated event but a lifelong process, part of a continuing faith journey. In Dwight Vogel's words, Ruth reveals an understanding that "expanding our language is one way we can live out the grace, love, justice, and hope of our baptisms and our table communion."   "Baptism reaches beyond us," she writes. "It makes a difference in how we relate to other people and to God . . . even how we relate to ourselves. We belong to one another, for at the water God makes us one people."

Wash, O God, our sons and daughters, where your cleansing waters flow.
Number them among your people; bless as Christ blessed long ago.
Weave them garments bright and sparkling; compass them with love and light
Fill, anoint them; send your Spirit, holy dove and heart's delight.

We who bring them long for nurture; by your milk may we be fed.
Let us join your feast, partaking cup of blessing, living bread.
God, renew us, guide our footsteps; free from sin and all its snares,
one with Christ in living, dying, by your Spirit, children, heirs

Oh, how deep your holy wisdom! Unimagined, all your ways!
To your name be glory, honor! With our lives we worship, praise!
We your people stand before you, water washed and Spirit born.
By your grace, our lives we offer. Recreate us; God, transform!

Charles Callahan (b. 1951) is one of America’s leading organist-composers.  A native of Cambridge, Massachusetts, he is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music and Catholic University of America.  In recognition of his service to the church and his commissioned compositions for Papal visits to the U.S., he was awared the Papal Honor of Knighthood in the Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem in 1999.  In addition to compositions and performances, Charles Callahan is a noted educator and author whose two books on American organ-building have become standard reference works.

All Who Believe and Are Baptized – Richard Proulx

Thomas Hansen Kingo (1634-1703) was a Danish bishop, poet and hymn-writer born at Slangerup, near Copenhagen. His work marked the high point of Danish baroque poetry.  In his youth, Kingo wrote a series of poems picturing humorous scenes in village life and a pastoral love poem, Chrysillis. He studied theology at the University of Copenhagen, graduating in 1654.  He was appointed vicar to the pastor at Kirke Helsinge, and in 1668 he was ordained a minister at his native town.  At first he wrote patriotic poems, but later devoted himself almost entirely to writing hymns, and in 1674 the first part of his Aandelige Siunge-Koor ("Spiritual Song Choir") appeared; followed in 1681 by a second part. This work consists of a collection of beautiful hymns several of which are still popular in the Danish Church. 

In 1677, Kingo was appointed bishop of Funen. Charged by the government with the compilation of a new hymn-book, he edited (1699) the so-called Kingo's Psalmebog which contains eighty-five of his own compositions, and which is still used in various parts of Denmark and Norway. Some parts of the Danish rural population stuck firmly to his hymns during the pietist and rationalist period, contributing to their survival.  Though not the first Danish hymn writer, Kingo must be considered the first really important one, and among the Danish poets of the 17th Century, he is generally a leading figure. His hymns are characterized by a forceful and often Old Testamental wrath and renunciation of the world alternating with Christian mildness and confidence.

All who believe and are baptized
Shall see the Lord's salvation;
Baptized into the death of Christ,
They are a new creation.
Through Christ's redemption they shall stand
Among the glorious heav'nly band
Of ev'ry tribe and nation.

Richard Proulx  (1937- 2010) was an American composer and editor of church music, including anthems, service music, hymn concertatos, organ music and music for handbell choir, formerly based in Chicago. The pronunciation of his name is suggested by the section of his catalog entitled "Noulx [new] from Proulx".

About the Choral Music:

Great is Thy Faithfulness – Jack Schrader

A native of the small Kentucky town of Franklin, Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866-1960) was born in a log cabin. He lacked formal education. Nevertheless, he became a teacher at age sixteen and the associate editor of his hometown weekly newspaper, the “Franklin Advocate”, at age twenty-one.  Though he was ordained a Methodist minister in 1903, he served only a single, brief appointment at Scottsville, Kentucky, due to ill health.  He wrote more than 1200 poems, 800 of which were published. They often appeared in religious periodicals such as the “Sunday School Times”, “Moody Monthly”, and “Alliance Weekly”. Many of these were set to music.

Chisholm had sent a number of his poems to the Rev. William H. Runyan (1870-1957), a musician with the Moody Bible Institute and one of the editors of Hope Publishing Company in Chicago.  Runyan wrote of the hymn: "This particular poem held such an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carry over its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its use indicates that God answered prayer.  It was written in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923, and was first published in my private song pamphlets."  A phrase in Lamentations 3:22-23 provides a basis for the refrain: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness." 

George Beverly Shea (1909-2013), the famous Canadian-born singer of the Billy Graham Crusades, introduced this hymn to those attending the evangelistic meetings in Great Britain in 1954.  It immediately became a favorite.  This hymn appeared in many evangelical hymnals and song collections, but was not chosen for an official Methodist hymnal until The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), even though the author was a Methodist.  It was a very popular hymn of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church and had been included in their hymnals.

According to Carlton Young, "Great is thy faithfulness" was second only to "In the garden" as the most requested hymn for inclusion in The United Methodist Hymnal. A survey conducted in 2000 by Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources, General Board of Discipleship, revealed that "Great is thy faithfulness" remains one of the favorite hymns among United Methodists.

Jack Schrader (b. 1942), arranger, composer, conductor, vocalist, and organist/pianist, is past editor with Hope Publishing Company, retiring in January of 2009. His association with Hope began in 1978. A 1964 graduate of Moody Bible Institute of Chicago, where he majored in Voice and Organ, he also received the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Nebraska (1966). Further studies in theology culminated in Jack's ordination by the Evangelical Free Church of America (1975). Schrader is the best-selling choral composer in the Hope catalog. In addition to choral music Jack has published collections for keyboardists, instrumentalists and vocal soloists. He was a member of the editorial committee for Hope's most recent hymnal, Worship & Rejoice (2001), in which he has 24 hymn credits. His music is heard in hundreds of churches across the country each Sunday, and he can be seen throughout the year as a guest clinician at choral reading sessions and workshops.

            Great is Thy faithfulness, O God, my Father;

            There is no shadow of turning with Thee;

            Thou changest not, Thy compassions they fail nost,

            As Thou hast been Thou forever wilt be.

            Summer and winter and springtime and harvest,

            Sun, moon, and stars in their courses above

            Join with all nature in manifold witness

            To Thy great faithfulness, mercy and love.

            Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,

            Thy own dear presence to cheer and to guide;

            Strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow,

            Blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside!

            Great is Thy faithfulness!  Great is Thy faithfulness!

            Morning by morning new mercies I see;

            All I have needed Thy hand hath provided –

                Great is Thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me.

About the Hymns:

Love Divine All Loves Excelling

Charles Wesley (1707-1788) was a prolific hymn writer of the 18th century. Coming from a musical family, he left a lasting legacy of congregational song.  The youngest of 18 children, Charles possessed prodigious talents that soon blossomed. Little did he know that “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” would rise to become one of the most popular and consistently vocalized Christian songs.  Writing hymn texts that are solidly based on the Scriptures gives them an appeal across denominational lines. It is estimated that during his lifetime, Wesley penned more than 9,000 poems of a spiritual nature, 6,000 of which are hymns. What really set Charles apart from other hymn writers was his effective use of scriptural allusions, providing a spiritual roadmap whereby individuals could imagine a Christ-centered life. His writings were passionate and well-crafted, conveying the true essence of Christian teaching. 

A substantial number of his writings were completed while riding on horseback to his evangelical meetings.  Scholars suggest that he was able to compose about 10 lines of verse daily for 50 years. Charles’ brother John sometimes served as editor to his hymns. John’s typical response was, “some were good, some were mediocre, and some were exceptional.” John can also be credited with improving the singability of Charles’ hymns.

Both John and Charles were instrumental in changing the spiritual environment of Britain during the 18th century. In doing so, they formed the bedrock of what Methodism has become worldwide. Their unwavering devotion to expressing Christian spirituality through hymns has impacted individuals across all denominational lines.  We are fortunate to be the recipients of the poetic genius of Charles Wesley. He influenced Methodism more than any other hymn writer. Upon hearing of Charles’ death, an elderly Londoner asked, “Who will write poetry for us now?” A substantial number of his writings were completed while riding on horseback to his evangelical meetings.  Scholars suggest that he was able to compose about 10 lines of verse daily for 50 years. Charles’ brother John sometimes served as editor to his hymns. John’s typical response was, “some were good, some were mediocre, and some were exceptional.” John can also be credited with improving the singability of Charles’ hymns.

“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” was first published in a collection of hymns entitled Hymns for those that Seek, and those that Have, Redemption in the Blood of Christ (1747). The incipit (opening line) was a play on the opening line of John Dryden’s (1631-1700) poem “Fairest Isle, All Isles Excelling” set to music by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) in the generation before Charles Wesley was born.  The hymn is written around a progression of thoughts: (1) our prayers for the Holy Spirit, (2) praying for the return of our Lord through the second coming, and (3) prayers for the finalization of his new creation.

Stanza 2 expresses the Wesleyan concept of the “second rest.” When Charles referred to this in his hymns, it specifically applies to the “second birth,” “second blessing,” “second gift.” All of these are directed toward achieving full “sanctification” or “Christian perfection.” This is an important theological tenet of Methodist preaching from the very beginning.

There is no better way of describing the culmination of adhering to the biblical teachings of Christ, than in stanza four of this hymn. Wesley’s phrase, “changed from glory into glory” is almost a direct quotation from 2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV). Wesley describes that day in heaven when “we take our place, till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.”

Blest Be the Tie that Binds

John Fawcett (1740-1817) was born into a poor family in Yorkshire, England, and was orphaned at age 12.  To survive, he accepted a lengthy apprenticeship to a tailor.  While still in his teens, he heard the great George Whitfield preach and became a Christian.  Fawcett became active in a Baptist church and was often asked to speak.  At age 25 (and newly married), he was invited to serve as pastor of a small church at Wainsgate.  The poor people of that little village were able to pay very little, and much of Fawcett's pay came as potatoes and other produce.  Once his wife, Mary, began having children, they found it difficult to survive.

Fawcett learned that the pastor of a large Baptist church in London was retiring, and he let the church know that he would be interested in serving them.  They called him to be their pastor at a much larger salary, so John and Mary packed their household and prepared to move.  But, as the story is told, Mary told John that she didn't think she could leave these people whom they had both learned to love, and John admitted that he shared her sentiment; so, the two of them unpacked the wagon and told the London church know they wouldn't be coming.

Fawcett, who wrote a number of hymns during his lifetime, wrote the hymn, "Blest Be the Tie," to convey his sentiments and those of his wife to the poor people among whom they had chosen to live.  Fawcett served that little church for the rest of his life –– 54 years in all.

 Where Charity and Love Prevails

Omer Westendorf (1916-1997) was one of the leading composers following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.  Beginning at age 20, he received his master’s degree in music at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and for most of his professional musical career served as organist and choirmaster at St. Bonaventure Church in Cincinnati. Under his direction the Bonaventure Choir sang concerts and recorded sacred music for several decades.  One of his greatest achievements was the founding of the World Library of Sacred Music in 1950 and World Library Publications in 1957. These organizations have been primary distributors of music for the Mass in the United States and beyond.

Westendorf was also known for his lectures and seminars on sacred music, consultations on liturgical music and as a hymn writer.  Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book, 1964, was the first vernacular hymn and service book to implement the Catholic liturgies decreed by Vatican Council II. He wrote Music Lessons for the Man in the Pew to teach the art of sight reading choral music.

“Where charity and love prevail” (1961) provides an English hymn version of a 9th-century Latin hymn, “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est” (Where there is charity and love, God is there) based on 1 John 4:16. Traditionally, this is the final hymn on Maundy Thursday, called in the Latin tradition Mandatum novum (New Commandment), referring to the act of washing of the disciples’ feet initiated by Jesus.

Scholar H. Myron Braun comments on this ancient ritual: “[The Latin chant] is said to date from the ninth century . . . with its emphasis on community within the faith, on Christians holding one another in love and concern . . . It is appropriate for . . . [Maundy Thursday] when we note the “new commandment” that we love one another, and also several times in Eastertide when the lectionary leads us to reading on love from the Gospel and the epistles of John.”

The text draws directly on John 13:34, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This version appeared first in Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book (1976). Before the publication of The UM Hymnal in 1989, the hymn appeared in the Supplement to the Book of Hymns (1982) with a plainsong melody.