September 25, 2016 - Revival

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:

What a Friend We Have in Jesus

Irish born Joseph M. Scriven (1819-1896) was 25 years old, in love and to be married. The day before his wedding his fiance died in a tragic drowning accident. Heartbroken, Joseph sailed from his homeland to start a new life in Canada. While in Canada working as a teacher, Joseph received word from Ireland that his mother was ill. He could not go to be with her, so he wrote a letter of comfort and enclosed one of his poems entitled “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”.

Many years later a friend was sitting with Joseph, as he was very ill. During this visit, the friend was very impressed when he ran across his poems, including “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. As a result of this visit, almost 30 years after his letter of comfort to his mother, Joseph's poems were published in a book called Hymns and Other Verses. Soon thereafter, noted musician Charles C. Converse (1834-1918) put music to  “What a Friend We Have in Jesus”. Well-known musician and revivalist Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908) was a great admirer of Joseph Scriven. In 1875, Sankey came upon the music and words for “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” and included it as the last entry in  Sankey's Gospel Hymns Number 1.

The hymn also has many versions with different lyrics in multiple languages, such as the Japanese version "Itsukushimi Fukaki" (lit. "Deep Affection"), or a version sung during World War I with the line "When this bloody war is over" in place of the original title.  The Handbook to the Lutheran Hymnal notes, "In spite of the fact that this hymn, with its tune, has been criticized as being too much on the order of the sentimental gospel type, its popularity remains strong, and the hymn retains a place in modern hymnals."

What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear!
What a privilege to carry everything to God in prayer!
O what peace we often forfeit, O what needless pain we bear,
all because we do not carry everything to God in prayer.

Have we trials and temptations? Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Can we find a friend so faithful who will all our sorrows share?
Jesus knows our every weakness; take it to the Lord in prayer.

Are we weak and heavy laden, cumbered with a load of care?
Precious Savior, still our refuge; take it to the Lord in prayer.
Do thy friends despise, forsake thee? Take it to the Lord in prayer!
In his arms he'll take and shield thee; thou wilt find a solace there. 

Robert A. Hobby (b. 1962) currently serves as Director of Music for Trinity English Lutheran Church, Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his responsibilities include playing for many of the worship services, overseeing the graded choral program, and managing the concerts the church offers. Numerous activities during his tenure include Trinity Church establishing a choral series with seventeen composers commissioned thus far, hosting a regional convention of the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, producing four recordings, and expanding the opportunities for music ministry.

Toccata in Seven – John Rutter

John Rutter (b. 1945) studied at Cambridge, where he wrote his first published compositions and conducted his first recording while still a student.  His compositional career has included both large and small scale choral works, orchestral and instrumental pieces, a piano concerto, two children’s operas, and music for television.  In 1979, he formed the Cambridge Singers, a professional chamber choir primarily dedicated to recording sacred choral works, and he now divides his time between composition and conducting.  In 1980, he was made an honorary Fellow of Westminster Choir College, Princeton, and in 1988 a Fellow of the Guild of Church Musicians.  In 1996, the Archbishop of Canterbury conferred a Lambeth Doctorate of Music upon him in recognition of his contributions to church music.

About the Vocal Solo Music:

On to Higher Ground – Mark Hayes

          Paul Burnett, solo

Mark Hayes is an award-winning concert pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. His personal catalog, totaling over 1,000 published works, includes work for solo voice, solo piano, multiple pianos, orchestra, jazz combo, small instrumental ensembles, and choruses of all kinds.  Mark received a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude in Piano Performance from Baylor University in 1975. He has conducted the SWACDA and MCDA Community and Church Honor Choir, and served as guest conductor at Carnegie Hall, featuring his Te Deum and Magnificat. In 2010, Baylor University Center for Christian Music Studies awarded Mark the Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music. Mark arranged and orchestrated the music for Civil War Voices, which won six awards including "Best Musical" in the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York. He conducted the world premiere of his work for chorus, orchestra and narrator, The American Spirit, at Lincoln Center in May 2011 and the world premiere of his Requiem in Lincoln Center in May 2013.  Whether concertizing on the other side of the globe or composing at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, Mark is blessed to live out his mission "to create beautiful music for the world".  This arrangement by Mark Hayes combines two gospel hymns, “When the Morning Comes” and “Higher Ground”.

“When the Morning Comes” is a revision of Charles Tindley’s "We are tossed and driven (We'll understand it better by and by)" (1905) was produced byB.B. McKinney for Songs of Victory (1937). It reduces and reorders Tindley's original four stanzas into three, with some of the text being heavily edited.  Charles Tindley was born near Berlin, Maryland, in July of 1851, the son of a slave, Albert Tindley, and a freewoman, Hester Miller Tindley. Hester passed away when Charles was only four, and a year later he was separated from his father. When he became old enough to work, he was hired out to work with slaves, although his status as “freeborn” was recognized. Little did the people of Berlin realize that a theological and musical giant was springing up in their midst. Tindley is often called a founding father of American gospel music. In 1902, after finishing his educational ventures and pastoring several churches in Philadelphia, he became pastor of the church where he had served as janitor 25 years earlier. After bearing eight children, his wife Daisy, passed away in 1924, the very day the congregation entered the new sanctuary for the first time.  Initially struggling with her death, he would later explain, “one day I will understand it better by and by”.

Johnson Oatman, Jr. (1856-1922) wrote “I’m Pressing On (Higher Ground)”. His father was an excellent singer, and it always delighted the son to sit by his side and hear him sing the songs of the church. Oatman received his education at Herbert's Academy, Princetown, N. J., and the New Jersey Collegiate Institute. At the age of nineteen, he joined the M.E. Church, and a few years later, he was granted a license to preach the Gospel, and still later he was regularly ordained by Bishop Merrill.  He wrote over three thousand hymns, and no gospel song book is considered complete unless it contains some of his hymns.

            Trials dark on every hand, and we cannot understand

all the ways that God would lead us to that blessed promised land.

But he’ll guide us with His eye, and we’ll follow till we die;

We will understand it better by and by.

Of our cherished plans have failed, disappointments have prevailed,

And we’ve wandered in the darkness, heavy hearted and alone.

But we’re trusting in the Lord, and, according to His Word,

We will understand it better by and by.

By and by, when the morning comes, when the saints of God are gathered home,

We will tell the story how we’ve overcome; We will understand it better by and by.

I’m pressing on the upward way, new heights I’m gaining every day.

Still praying as I’m onward bound,  “Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.”

I want to scale the utmost height and catch a gleam of glory bright.

But still I’ll pray till heaven I’ve found, “Lord, lead me on to higher ground.”

Lord, lift me up and let me stand, by faith, on heaven’s tableland.

                A higher plane than I have found; Lord, plant my feet on higher ground.

About the Choral Music:

Revive Us Again – Mark Hayes

When, at the age of seventeen, William MacKay (1839-1885)  left his humble Scottish home to attend college, his godly mother gave him a Bible in which she wrote his name and a verse of Scripture. Away from home, he began well. But as time went by he drifted further and further from the way he had been raised. He began drinking heavily. At a low point, to satisfy his thirst for whiskey, he carelessly pawned the Bible his mother had given him.  Many years went by. Eventually, MacKay completed medical training and took up his work in a city hospital. There one day the Lord met him in a special way. I imagine it started out like any other day, doing rounds, writing reports. But in one room he had an encounter that changed everything. It was a sad case. The patient was nearing the end. No hope for him. “Bring me my book!” he cried. “I need my book!” And the words seemed to echo in the flinty soul of Dr. MacKay.  Awhile later, he was told the fellow had died. And the doctor went back to the room, curious to find out what “book” had been so precious that holding it once more had been a dying man’s greatest desire. Soon his search uncovered a Bible. But not just any Bible. There inside the front cover, in his mother’s hand, was his own name, William Paton MacKay. It had been many years since he had seen it, but there could be no mistake. Someone had reclaimed the Bible from that pawn shop, and it had become a priceless treasure to a dying man.  MacKay went to his office and closed the door. He opened the Bible, slowly turning the worn and weathered pages.  Many contained specially marked verses his mother hoped he would read. He was alone in that room for many hours. But when he emerged the long night of sin had been blasted away by the life-changing light of heaven. With a newly tender heart, and a desire to reclaim wasted years, he resigned his place at the hospital. After training he went on to serve the Lord as a pastor. It is W. P. MacKay who wrote the hymn Revive Us Again.

            We praise Thee, O God, for the Son of Thy love,

for Jesus who died and is now gone above.

We praise Thee, O God, for Thy Spirit of light,

Who has shown us our Savior and scattered our night.

All glory and praise to the Lamb that was slain,

Who has borne all our sins and has cleansed every stain.

Revive us again, fill each heart with Thy love;

May each soul be rekindled with fire from above.

Hallelujah, Thine the glory!  Hallelujah, amen!

Hallelujah, Thine the glory! Revive us again.

About the Hymns:

O Spirit of the Living God 

Henry Hallam Tweedy (1868-1953) at­tend­ed Phil­lips An­do­ver Acad­e­my, Yale Un­i­ver­si­ty, Un­ion The­o­lo­gic­al Sem­in­ary, and the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Ber­lin. He was or­dained a Con­gre­ga­tion­al­ist min­is­ter in 1898: he pas­tored at Ply­mouth Church, Uti­ca, New York, and South Church, Bridge­port, Con­nec­ti­cut. He then be­came Pro­fess­or of Hom­i­le­tics at Yale Di­vin­i­ty School. He taught lit­ur­gy, mu­sic, and the arts, and was in­ter­est­ed in re­li­gious ar­chi­tect­ure. Tweedy wrote this Pentecost hymn in 1933. Robert G. McCutchan quotes Tweedy on his hymn: “Some of the old Pentecostal hymns were to me unsatisfactory, and I was eager to interpret the symbolism of the story in Acts in a way that modern men could understand and sincerely mean”. The text was first published in The Methodist Hymnal of 1935.  In the story of Pentecost, the Holy Spirit's presence is perceived through three images: a mighty rushing wind, tongues of fire, and speaking in many tongues (Acts 2:2-4). The first three stanzas of this hymn elaborate on each image, as a request that the fire of God purify our hearts, that the wind of God strengthen our knowledge, and that we may speak abroad God's love to people of all nations. The final stanza is a picture of the new earth.

I’m Gonna Sing When the Spirit Says Sing

Music has always played a central role in African American worship. The songs sung by slaves belonged to no single individual, for they represented the collective experience and voice of the community at large. There were no rehearsals, for the songs were communally composed and orally transmitted. They were fixed in neither time nor space.  The congregation and the choir were one and the same. In the song “I’m Gonna Sing,” the three repeated lines of text “I’m gonna sing when the Spirit says a-Sing,” followed by a recurring fourth line helps to identify this song as a spiritual. By changing only one word in the introductory line, new verses can be created infinitely, thereby facilitating its oral transmission and inviting the full participation of every one present. References to the Holy Spirit in the text attest to the widely held African American premise that music can and must be an expression of the heart.

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.