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.
Carol on ‘Tis a Gift to be Simple – Charles
Callahan
"Simple Gifts" is a Shaker song written and composed in 1848
by Elder Joseph Brackett (1797-1882). Brackett, a lifelong resident of Maine, first
joined the Shakers at Gorham, Maine, when his father's farm
helped to form the nucleus of a new Shaker settlement. “Turning” refers to a form of Shaker
dance. Shaker worship included a form of
round dance.
'Tis
the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free
'Tis
the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And
when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When
true simplicity is gain'd,
To bow
and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To
turn, turn will be our delight,
Till by turning, turning we come 'round right.
Te ofrecemos – Jeffrey
Honore
The
composition and dissemination of music from cultures in the southern hemisphere
began in earnest in the Roman Catholic Church in the late 1960s following the
Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) whose documents acknowledged the “genius of
all races” and encouraged congregational singing. Compositions in vernacular musical styles
followed. Early folk Masses paved the way for reinforcing cultural identity
through congregational music. Even though the forms of the Mass are set,
composers found ways to contextualize them for their own situations. Spanish language Masses reflected the dance
forms, musical instruments, and folkloric patterns of specific cultures throughout
Central and South America as well as in the Caribbean
“Let Us
Offer to the Father” is an offertory song from one of the earliest of the
Central American Masses, the Misa Popular Nicaragüense (c. 1968). The
dance-like cross rhythms give a sense of celebration (fiesta) as the
people make their offerings and prepare to receive communion.
Let us
offer to the Father, with the bread and with the wine,
All our
joys and all our sorrows; all our cares, Lord, all are thine.
From the
country, from the city, from the riches of the land,
We bring
back to our Creator many gifts of heart and hand.
All your
people here together bring you offerings of love,
Joining
with your whole creation, seeking liberty and peace.
Glory be
to God, the Father, and to Christ, the living Son,
Who
together with the Spirit make the holy Three-in-One.
Jeffrey Honoré has served as a choir
director in churches of many different denominations
and worked as an organist, trombonist and voice teacher. He is
the liturgical music director of St.
Matthias Parish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and directs the archdiocesan choir. Jeffrey received the Vatican II Award for
Distinguished Service in 1999.
Fanfare
– C. S. Lang
In 1929 he was appointed Director of Music at Christ's Hospital school in Horsham, West Sussex, where the choristers of Westminster Abbey were briefly evacuated to during the Second World War. Lang resigned from this post in 1945 in order to devote more time to examining and composition. His instructional works, aimed at students, were highly influential. Generations of organists were brought up on his Harmony at the Keyboard, Exercises in Score Reading, as well as his books entitled Exercises for Organists, designed to prepare organ students for the keyboard tests of the Royal College of Organists' diploma exams. An obituary recorded his "personal magnetism" and determination to awaken "the budding musicianship of every sort of pupil".
CS Lang's choral music includes service settings (such as the Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis in B flat, Op.16), and anthems such as He shall give his angels charge over thee (1941). There are also many anthems for trebles' voices, composed for use at Christ's Hospital, as well as numerous secular choral works. His best-known work is the Tuba Tune for organ, Opus 15, a favourite of recitalists. This dashing little piece, which owes its title to the boisterous melody sounded forth on the organ's tuba stop, begins in the style of Handel but, in its central section, has some brief key changes that could belong to no century except the 20th. Lang's numerous other works for organ include a lengthy Sonata in D minor (Op. 47, 1947), the Introduction and Passacaglia in A minor (Op.51, 1952), the Fugue-Trilogy on E.G.B. (Op. 58, 1952), and many hymn preludes and sets of preludes and fugues.
About the Choral Music:
Somebody’s
Knockin’ – Ken Berg
God’s Project
This traditional spiritual has been set by
Ken Berg, a native of the Virginia/North Carolina region, who
graduated from Samford University in Birmingham, Alabama with a BME in 1977 and
an MME in 1981. For 28 years, Ken served
as the Director of Choirs and Fine Arts Chairman at John Carroll Catholic High
School in Birmingham. The choirs at John Carroll consistently received highest
ratings in district, state and national festivals under his leadership. After retiring from teaching high school in
2005, Ken served for 6 years as the full-time Music Minister and Composer in
Residence at Mountain Brook Baptist Church, also in Birmingham. As of the
summer of 2011, after serving as the part-time director for 33 years, Ken now
serves as the first full-time Music Director and Resident Composer for the
Birmingham Boys Choir.
Somebody’s
knockin’ at your door,
Somebody’s
knockin’ at your door!
Oh,
sinner, why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s
knockin’ at your door!
Somebody’s
prayin’ for your soul,
Somebody’s
prayin’ for your soul!
Oh,
sinner, why don’t you answer?
Somebody’s
prayin’ for your soul!
Someone
is a-knockin’,
Someone
is a-knockin’,
Someone
is a-knockin’ at your door!
Somebody’s
singin’ “Hallelu!”
Somebody’s
singin’ “Hallelu!”
Oh,
sinner, why don’t you listen?
Somebody’s
singin’ “Hallelu!”
My Shepherd Will Supply
My Need – Douglas Wagner
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was the son of a schoolmaster and
was born in Southampton. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in
childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing
respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to
London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent
minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church,
Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor.
The number of Watts' publications is very large. His collected works,
first published in 1720, embrace sermons, treatises, poems and hymns. His
"Horae Lyricae" was published in December, 1705. His
"Hymns" appeared in July, 1707. The first hymn he composed for religious worship, "Behold
the glories of the Lamb," was written at the age of twenty. Some of his hymns were written to be sung
after his sermons, giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he
had preached. Montgomery calls Watts "the greatest name among
hymn-writers," and the honor can hardly be disputed. His published hymns
number more than eight hundred. There is
a monument to his memory in the South Choir of Westminster Abbey. The inscription reads, "Happy will be
that reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to imitate him
in all but his non-conformity, to copy his benevolence to men, and his
reverence to God."
Psalm 23 has inspired numerous paraphrases and hymn
texts, including this text by Isaac Watts. Watts included it in his large 1719
collection of psalm paraphrases, The Psalms of David Imitated. Psalm 23 remains the most well-loved
and often recited psalm, and Isaac Watts' powerful paraphrase, coupled with the
peaceful yet strong American folk tune, make this hymn a moving rendition of
that psalm. Watts’ interpretation of the last line of psalm, “and I will dwell
in the house of the LORD forever,” gives a new understanding to the original
psalm: “No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.” Watts gives
us a concrete image of dwelling – a child, knowing he or she is safe and
secure, and in a place of love and comfort – to help us understand what it is
we hope for. The same peace we find in the pasture and by the stream, we find
in the house of the LORD, to which our Shepherd is leading us day by day.
Douglas E. Wagner, a native of Chicago, Illinois, is an
international recognized composer and arranger. With thirty years as a high
school music educator and administrator behind him, Mr. Wagner now devotes all
of his time and energy to writing, editing and their allied activities. He is
an A.S.C.A.P. award-winning composer, an editor for a major publishing company,
and has served several denominations as a church musician. 2,500 titles by Douglas
E. Wagner have been published since 1973, included works for choir (sacred and
secular), concert band, orchestra, handbell ensemble, organ, piano,
instrumental solo, and voice. Fifteen million copies of his music have been
sold to date.
My
shepherd will supply my need, Jehovah is his hame;
In pastures
fresh he makes me feed beside the living stream.
He
brings my wandering spirit back when I forsake his ways,
And
leads me, for his mercy’s sake, in paths of truth and grace.
When I
walk through the shades of death, thy presence is my stay;
One word
of thy supporting breath drive all my fears away.
Thy hand
in sight of all my foes does still my table spread.
My cup
with blessing overflows, thy oil annoints my head.
The sure
provisions of my God attend me all my days;
O may
thy house be mine abode and all my work be praise.
There
would I find a settled rest, while others go and come;
No more
a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.
About the Hymns:
God
of Grace and God of Glory
“God of
grace and God of glory” was written in 1930 by Harry Emerson Fosdick
(1878-1969) for the dedication of the famous Riverside Church in New York
City. Fosdick was granted degrees
from Colgate University and Union Theological Seminary. He was ordained in 1903
to ministry in the Baptist Church and became pastor of First Baptist Church,
Montclair, N.J. Fosdick served as
a chaplain during World War I and then was pastor of First Presbyterian Church
in New York City. From this congregation he was called to pastor Park Avenue
Baptist Church, which was renamed Riverside Church.
“God of grace and God of glory” was written while the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression between the two World Wars. Fosdick was a champion of the social gospel, a movement that recognized the plight of the poor, especially in the urban Northeast during the Industrial Revolution. UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young has noted: “Fosdick’s stirring radio sermons, books, and public pronouncements established Riverside as a forum for the critique of the same wealth and privilege whose gifts had made possible the building of the church. Under his leadership Riverside Church was interdenominational, interracial, without a creed, and, astonishingly for Baptists, required no specific mode of baptism. At the center of Fosdick’s ministry was urban social ministry.” Fosdick was perhaps the most vocal proponent of the social gospel of his time—a position that brought both wide acclaim and broad disdain.
“God of grace and God of glory” was written while the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression between the two World Wars. Fosdick was a champion of the social gospel, a movement that recognized the plight of the poor, especially in the urban Northeast during the Industrial Revolution. UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young has noted: “Fosdick’s stirring radio sermons, books, and public pronouncements established Riverside as a forum for the critique of the same wealth and privilege whose gifts had made possible the building of the church. Under his leadership Riverside Church was interdenominational, interracial, without a creed, and, astonishingly for Baptists, required no specific mode of baptism. At the center of Fosdick’s ministry was urban social ministry.” Fosdick was perhaps the most vocal proponent of the social gospel of his time—a position that brought both wide acclaim and broad disdain.
Seek Ye First
"Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God." was written in 1972 by
Karen Lafferty. The following is an
excerpt from an interview in Reformed Worship magazine.
I was raised in a
Christian home, but like many young people I wanted to discover life for myself
and did some drifting. I was working as a nightclub entertainer in New Orleans
when a friend came to visit me and got me back on the right track. I decided to
pursue entertainment for the time being—to try to be salt and light in the
entertainment world. So I moved to California.
Soon I did find a church, Calvary Chapel, and at my first service I met
a lot of other young musicians. At this time "Maranatha! Music" was part of
Calvary Chapel. It was very small yet and had produced only one album, An
Everlasting Jesus Music Concert. At the chapel we had a special fellowship for
musicians which taught us principles on how to serve through music. Most of us were
especially interested in contemporary Christian music, music that would reach
young people. I stayed with Maranatha!
Music for about eight years. In 1980, and out of that relationship came Musicians for
Missions. Youth with a Mission is very involved with the idea of cross-cultural
missions. Even though we dealt with a subculture of young people who all liked
the same kind of music, there were still many cultural differences. I felt I
had to live outside of the U.S. to really learn what it is to be in another
country. And under the umbrella of Youth with a Mission, I was able to organize
Musicians for Missions.
Back in 1971, I had quit
my entertainment job and was trying to support myself with teaching guitar
lessons. I had three students! When my savings were all gone and I had no money
to make my car payments, I became very discouraged and confused. One evening I went to a Bible study at
church, and we talked about Matthew 6:33.1 was tremendously encouraged and
challenged by the words about Christ's kingdom. So I went home, wrote the tune,
recorded it on a tape recorder, and then sang this little descant part. I taught the song at church the next week,
and it caught on right away. The Lord really paved the way for me with that
song. "Seek Ye First" has opened doors for me all over the world. And
because it's in so many hymnbooks, about 40 percent of my mission support comes
from that song!
Come
Thou Fount of Every Blessing
At 17, Robert and some of his drinking buddies decided to attend an evangelistic meeting, with a plan to make fun of the proceedings. When George Whitfield began to preach, Robert felt as if the sermon was just for him. He did not respond to the altar call that night, but the words of the evangelist would haunt him for the next three years. On Dec. 10, 1755, at age 20, Robert finally yielded his life to Christ, and very soon thereafter answered a call to the ministry. Three years later, as he was preparing to preach a sermon at the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England, Robert wrote “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to complement his sermon. The music for the hymn was composed by Asahel Nettleton in 1813.
The lyrics, which dwell on the theme of divine grace, are based on 1 Samuel 7:12, in which the prophet Samuel raises a stone as a
monument, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us". The English
transliteration of the name Samuel gives to the stone is Ebenezer, meaning Stone of Help. The unusual word "Ebenezer" commonly
appears in hymnal presentations of the lyrics.
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