June 12, 2016

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:

El Shaddai – Lani Smith

Naming God is one of the primary tasks of Christian hymns throughout history. Hymn writers continues to search for names and metaphors to express the inexpressible.  “El Shaddai,” composed in 1982, returns to Hebrew names for God in an attempt to understand God’s nature and the relationship between the divine and humanity. A significant recording artist of contemporary Christian music for almost 30 years, Michael Card (b. 1957) has over 19 No.1 hit songs. He has received several awards including the Moody Monthly Award for songwriter and artist of the year (1983) and Dove Awards for “Praise and Worship Album of the Year” (1987, 1993), “Songwriter of the Year” (1983) and “Children’s Music Album of the Year” (1994).  More recently Mr. Card received an honorary doctorate in religious education from Philadelphia Biblical University (2009).

“El-Shaddai” means God Almighty. El points to the power of God Himself. Shaddai seems to be derived from another word meaning breast, which implies that Shaddai signifies one who nourishes, supplies, and satisfies. It is God as El who helps, but it is God as Shaddai who abundantly blesses with all manner of blessings.  God desires to bless man and provide in abundance all of man’s needs. This name is indicative of a God who is powerful enough to do just that. Only an all-powerful God can bless all mankind with all manner of blessings.

“Elyon” is one of the Names or Titles of God in the Bible, and the first not-Creator Name. Sometimes it occurs by itself (Numbers 24:16) but often together with El. The name El Elyon occurs initially in Genesis 14:18, during the Melchizedek scene. El Elyon is usually rendered in English as "God Most High". The critical scholar and Reform rabbi Abraham Geiger asserted that Elyōn was a word of late origin, dating it to the time of the Maccabees. However, its use in the Ugarit  tablets has proven it to be pre-Mosaic.  El Elyon, the Most High God, is in complete control of everything that happens. This name identifies God as the sovereign ruler of the universe.

“Adonai” by itself is not really a proper name but rather a title or appellative. As we will see below, it quite literally means 'mister' or my lord, master or owner.  Adonai is also the source of the fabricated name Jehovah. When the Masoretes wanted to preserve the pronunciation of the words used in the Bible they ran into a problem when YHWH, the proper name of the Lord that was forbidden to be pronounced, occurred. To circumvent the problem, the Masoretes inserted the vowel symbols that go with adonai, indicating that whenever the reader saw YHWH, he had to say adonai.  When later readers saw the name YHWH combined with the symbols for adonai, they erroneously concluded that YHWH was to be pronounced as Jehovah. If God is Adonai to you, He is the one to whom you submit or bow down; He is the Boss of your life. Adonai is the ultimate authority figure in your life and the One to whom you owe your complete allegiance.

“Erkamka na Adonai” has several problems which prevent accurate translation.  There is a question of the English spelling, as well as the use of the word.  Some state that, “This is a mixture of Hebrew and gibberish. It means nothing at all.”  It is apparently drawn from the beginning words of Psalm 18:1.  In Hebrew, this verse reads:  אֶרְחָמְךָ֖ יְהוָ֣ה חִזְקִֽי   The transliteration of these Hebrew words reads: ‘erḥāmeḵā yhwh ḥizqî  The English Bibles translate the expression as “I love you, O Lord, my strength”  The word Erkamka as it appears in the song has two problems.  The first problem is that the Hebrew letter ח should be translated with a “h” and not a “k.”  The second problem is that the second sheva in the Hebrew word is a vocal sheva and not silent, thus there should be a half-vowel (a small “e” after the מ), the “m” of Erkamka.  When asked for the meaning of “Erkamka na Adonai,” Michael Card wrote that the expression means “We will love You, Oh, Lord.”

El Shaddai, El Shaddai, El-Elyon na Adonia, 
Age to age You're still the same, By the power of the name.
El Shaddai, El Shaddai,  Erkamka na Adonai, 
We will praise and lift You high, El Shaddai. 

Through your love and through the ram, You saved the son of Abraham; 
Through the power of your hand, Turned the sea into dry land. 
To the outcast on her knees, You were the God who really sees,
And by Your might,  You set Your children free.

Through the years You've made it clear That the time of Christ was near, 
Though the people couldn't see What Messiah ought to be. 
Though Your Word contained the plan,They just could not understand 
Your most awesome work was done Through the frailty of Your Son.

Lani Smith (b. 1934) is an organist best known for his church music compositions. He has been composing for nearly fifty years, and his compositions include choral, organ and piano pieces. He is a regular contributor to the Lorenz Corporation’s keyboard magazines The Church Pianist, The Organist, The Organ Portfolio, and The Sacred Organ Journal, as well as the choral magazines The SAB Choir and The Volunteer Choir.  He served as an editor, composer, and arranger on the Lorenz Publishing editorial staff between 1967 and 1982. During this time, he received composing and arranging credits for over 1000 works.

Leoni (I AM) - Frank Ferko

The roots of early Christian worship grew in the soil of the first-century Jewish synagogue service. In Scripture and psalm, in sermon and prayer, the gathered community celebrated what God had done—and anticipated God’s mighty acts yet to come. In light of this, the well-known hymn “The God of Abraham Praise” offers a glimpse of history.

Thomas Olivers (1725–1799), the hymn’s author, was born in Wales and orphaned at age 4. Apprenticed early to a shoemaker, he grew to adulthood a wild, rootless man. In his mid-twenties, however, Olivers was converted through the preaching of George Whitefield. Soon after, he became an evangelist with John Wesley. Olivers spent more than twenty years—end 100,000 miles—as an itinerant preacher. Later, he became co-editor of Wesley’s Arminian Magazine.

Tradition tells us that on a Friday evening in 1770, Olivers attended Sabbath worship at the Great Synagogue, Duke’s Place, London. There, as the “Yigdal” (traditional Hebrew doxology) was sung by cantor Meyer Lyon (d. 1796), Olivers was so moved that he approached the operatic vocalist personally. In the 12th century, Jewish scholar Moses Maimonides codified the 13 articles of the Jewish Creed. These articles of the Jewish faith were later shaped into the Yigdal around 1400 by Daniel ben Judah, a judge in Rome.  In the mid-eighteenth century, cantors had begun to use musical notations, and Lyon graciously provided Olivers with his tune (Leoni).  The Methodist preacher then adapted the text of the Jewish doxology (which was based on the Thirteen Articles of Faith stated by famous Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides in the twelfth century). The opening word, yigdal (Hebrew for “may He be magnified”), inspired Olivers’s free rendering. "The God of Abraham Praise" was first published as a leaflet titled "A Hymn to the God of Abraham" in 1772. It was later published nationwide by Wesley in the Methodist hymnal "Sacred Harmony". The hymn later made it to the United States after being published in Joshua Leavitt's "The Christian Lyre".

The God of Abraham praise, who reigns enthroned above;
Ancient of everlasting days, and God of Love;
Jehovah, great I AM! by earth and Heav’n confessed;
I bow and bless the sacred name forever blessed.

The God of Abraham praise, at whose supreme command
From earth I rise—and seek the joys at His right hand;
I all on earth forsake, its wisdom, fame, and power;
And Him my only portion make, my shield and tower.

The God of Abraham praise, whose all sufficient grace
Shall guide me all my happy days, in all my ways.
He calls a worm His friend, He calls Himself my God!
And He shall save me to the end, thro’ Jesus’ blood.

He by Himself has sworn; I on His oath depend,
I shall, on eagle wings upborne, to Heav’n ascend.
I shall behold His face; I shall His power adore,
And sing the wonders of His grace forevermore.

Tho’ nature’s strength decay, and earth and hell withstand,
To Canaan’s bounds I urge my way, at His command.
The watery deep I pass, with Jesus in my view;
And thro’ the howling wilderness my way pursue.

The goodly land I see, with peace and plenty blessed;
A land of sacred liberty, and endless rest.
There milk and honey flow, and oil and wine abound,
And trees of life forever grow with mercy crowned.

There dwells the Lord our king, the Lord our righteousness,
Triumphant o’er the world and sin, the Prince of peace;
On Sion’s sacred height His kingdom still maintains,
And glorious with His saints in light forever reigns.

He keeps His own secure, He guards them by His side,
Arrays in garments, white and pure, His spotless bride:
With streams of sacred bliss, with groves of living joys—
With all the fruits of paradise He still supplies.

Before the great Three-One they all exulting stand;
And tell the wonders He hath done, through all their land:
The listening spheres attend, and swell the growing fame;
And sing, in songs which never end, the wondrous name.

The God who reigns on high the great archangels sing,
And Holy, holy, holy! cry, Almighty King!
Who was, and is, the same, and evermore shall be:
Jehovah—Father—great I AM, we worship Thee!

Before the Savior’s face the ransomed nations bow;
O’erwhelmed at His almighty grace, forever new:
He shows His prints of love—they kindle to a flame!
And sound thro’ all the worlds above the slaughtered Lamb.

The whole triumphant host give thanks to God on high;
Hail, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, they ever cry.
Hail, Abraham’s God, and mine! (I join the heav’nly lays,)
All might and majesty are Thine, and endless praise.

Frank Ferko (b.1950)  played piano from childhood, and worked as an organist and conductor in his teens. His first compositions were primarily liturgical in nature. He attended Valparaiso University, where he took particular interest in early music and the compositional and theoretical output of Olivier Messiaen.  He received a bachelor's from Valparaiso in 1972 in piano and organ performance, and then took his master's at Syracuse University in music theory. Ferko served as Director of Music at various midwestern churches before entering Northwestern University to pursue a PhD in composition. He is currently on the staff of the Archive of Recorded Sound at Stanford University.  As a composer, Ferko began receiving critical acclaim and commissions in the 1980s, including the Holtkamp Award from the American Guild of Organists in 1990 for the song cycle A Practical Program for Monks. He has also worked as composer-in-residence with the Dale Warland Singers. 

Ferko’s setting of “Leoni” uses contemporary harmonies and dissonances to express the deep mystery of the Name of God.

Toccata – Theodore Dubois

François-Clément Théodore Dubois (1837-1924) was a French composer, organist, and music teacher.  He studied at the Paris Conservatoire and won the Prix de Rome in 1861. In 1868, he became choirmaster at the Church of the Madeleine, and in 1871 took over from César Franck as choirmaster at the Basilica of Sainte-Clotilde. In 1877, Dubois returned to the Church of the Madeleine, succeeding Camille Saint-Saëns as organist there. From 1871, he taught at the Paris Conservatoire, and was director from 1896-1905.  Although he wrote many religious works, Dubois had considerable hopes for a successful career on the operatic stage.  The music of Dubois also includes ballets, oratorios and three symphonies. His best known work is the oratorio Les sept paroles du Christ ("The Seven Last Words of Christ").

About the Choral Music:

Holy is He – David Clydesdale

David T. Clydesdale is a Grammy and Dove Award winning composer, arranger, and orchestrator and producer. In addition to church choral music, Clydesdale created works featured by Six Flags amusement parks and in Walt Disney World productions.

            Holy is He and great is His glory.  Holy is He and worthy of our praise.

            I stand in His presence amazed, and crown Him with worship and praise!

            Holy is He.

            Who pardons my iniquities; who heals me from within?

            Who lifts my fallen life and sets me on my feet again?

            Who leads me like a shepherd when I’ve gone astray?

            My Lord, My God, My Jesus, The One I praise today!

            Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty!

            All Thy works shall praise Thy name in earth and sky and sea;

            Holy, holy, holy! Merciful and mighty! 

God in three persons, blessed Trinity!

            Amen!

About the Hymns:

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

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). Further revisions were made by the Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee.

"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 in stanzas 1, 2, and 4 (see also Ps. 104:2); our inability to see God is not because of insufficient light but because the "splendor of light hides [God] from view."

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. He served four congregations, including the Free High Church in Edinburgh (1876¬-1894). Moderator of his denomination in 1893, Smith was a man of wide interests. 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).

Blessed Be The Name

Ralph E. Hudson (1803-1901) wrote this chorus in 1887 during the Great Revival camp meeting period. Hudson was a professor of vocal music at Mount Union College and was well known as a hymn writer and music publisher. He wrote and published 9 Christian songbooks during the late 1800's. This chorus was originally attached to Charles Wesley’s “O For a Thousand Tongues” as a chorus after the verses.  Hudson also altered Wesley’s text by replacing the second and fourth lines of each stanza with “Blessed be the name”. 

How Great Thou Art

"How Great Thou Art" is a based on a Swedish poem written by Carl Gustav Boberg (1859–1940) in Sweden in 1885.  “O Store Gud” (O Great God) is a paraphrase of Psalm 8 and has nine verses.  It was sung in the underground church in Sweden in the late 1800s when the Baptists and Mission Friends were persecuted.  Boberg himself gave the following information about his inspiration for this hymn:

It was that time of year when everything seemed to be in its richest colouring;; the birds were singing in trees and everywhere.  It was very warm; a thunderstorm appeared on the horizon and soon thunder and lightning.  We had to hurry to shelter.  But the storm was soon over and the clear sky appeared.  When I came home I opened my window toward the sea.  There evidently had been a funeral and the bells were playing the tune of “When eternity’s clock calling my saved soul to its Sabbath rest”.  That evening, I wrote the song, “O Store Gud”.

Boberg first published "O Store Gud" in the “Mönsterås Tidningen” (Mönsterås News) on 13 March 1886.The poem became matched to an old Swedish folk tune and sung in public for the first known occasion in a church in the Swedish province of Värmland in 1888.   It was soon published in additional hymn collections and was translated into German and Russian.

British Methodist missionary Stuart Wesley Keene Hine (1899-1989)  heard the Russian translation of the German version of the song while on an evangelistic mission to the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine, near the Polish border, in 1931. Upon hearing it, Hine was inspired to create his English paraphrase known as “How Great Thou Art".   According to Michael Ireland, "Hine and his wife, Edith, learned the Russian translation, and started using it in their evangelistic services.  Hine also started re-writing some of the verses --- and writing new verses (all in Russian) --- as events inspired him."  Hine finalized his English translation in 1949

When the Billy Graham team went to London in 1954 for the Harringay Crusade, they were given a pamphlet containing Hine's work.  They worked closely with Hine to prepare the song for use in their campaigns. They sang it in the 1955 Toronto campaign, but it didn't really catch on until they took it to the Madison Square Garden in 1957. According to Cliff Barrows (Dr. Graham's longtime associate), they sang it one hundred times during that campaign because the people wouldn't let them stop.   

George Beverly Shea's recording of the beloved hymn ranks number 204 on the top recordings of the 20th century according to the Recording Industry Association of America.  It was voted the United Kingdom's favourite hymn by BBC's Songs of Praise.^[2] "How Great Thou Art" was ranked second (after "Amazing Grace") on a list of the favorite hymns of all time in a survey by Today's Christian magazine in 2001.

Evangelist Billy Graham indicated: “The reason I like 'How Great Thou Art' is because it glorifies God. It turns Christian’s eyes toward God, rather than upon themselves. I use it as often as possible because it is such a God-honoring song.”