January 29, 2017

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:

Singing Songs of Expectation – Robert Powell

“Singing songs of expectation, onward goes the pilgrim band” is a hymn by Bernard Severin Ingemann which was translated by Sabine Baring-Gould for inclusion in The Hymnal 1982 according to the use of The Episcopal Church.  Bernhard Severin Ingemann (1789- 1862) was a Danish novelist and poet. The son of a vicar, he was left fatherless in his youth. While a student at the University of Copenhagen he published his first collection of poems (1811; vol. ii., 1812), which show great influence of German romanticism. He many plays, children’s books, and novels based on figures in Danish history and folklore. While his historical romances show a lack of accuracy, their strong nationality gives them a special interest to the student of Danish culture. In reality they mean the introduction of the historical novel in Danish literature. Known as the fourth great Danish hymn writer (after Kingo, Brorson and Grundtvig), Ingemann is considered less rooted in Biblical dogma and more borne up by a general spiritual and religious interest. A simple naivete runs through them. Especially popular were his Morgen og Aftensange (Morning and Evening Songs), a collection of religious poems of great beauty and spirituality written during 1837–39. Ingemann was regarded the unofficial poet-king of Denmark. Critics cite Ingemann's grace and delicacy, rather than strength, of style, both in prose and poetry.

Singing songs of expectation, onward goes the pilgrim band,
through the night of doubt and sorrow, marching to the promised land.
Clear before us through the darkness gleams and burns the guiding light:
trusting God we march together stepping fearless through the night.

One the light of God's own presence, o'er his ransomed people shed,
chasing far the gloom and terror, brightening all the path we tread:
one the object of our journey, one the faith which never tires,
one the earnest looking forward, one the hope our God inspires.

One the strain the lips of thousands lift as from the heart of one;
one the conflict, one the peril, one the march in God begun:
one the gladness of rejoicing on the far eternal shore,
where the one almighty Father reigns in love for evermore.

Robert Powell (b. 1932) is an American composer, organist, and choir director.  Powell earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Louisiana State University with a focus on organ and composition. He studied with Alec Wyton at Union Theological Seminary in New York, and he was also Wyton's assistant at The Episcopal Cathedral of Saint John the Divine. For three years (1965–1968), he served St. Paul's School (Concord, New Hampshire) as Director of Music. Later, Powell was Director of Music and Organist of Christ Church (Episcopal) of Greenville, South Carolina from 1968 to 2003. He has composed in nearly all genres common to church music, including anthems, service music, hymn concertatos, organ music, music for handbell choir, and large-scale oratorios. Powell's conservative, neo-Romantic style stems from his practical approach to composition. According to Powell himself, he writes for "choirs of twenty-five because that's what most choirs are. When you come right down to it, most choirs are not of cathedral ability or size. My pieces are all practical things and useful for specific occasions." His publications appear in The Hymnal 1982 as well as in the catalogs of most of the significant American publishers of church music. According to publisher GIA, Powell is "a composer whose output bridges denominational boundaries and who is able to serve the larger Church. He has made ecumenical sharing a reality–-and always with a genteel touch."  Powell is an active member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and is a Fellow of the American Guild of Organists.

Promised Land – Ralph Simpson

Samuel Stennett (1727-1795), an English Baptist, came from a long line of ministers. He was the son of a Seventh-Day Adventist pastor.  In the 18th century, university education was not easily available to nonconformist families—those who refused to swear allegiance to the Church of England.  Stennett did study at the academy at Miles End with distinction, however.  In spite of his nonconformist religious stance, Stennett was a personal friend to the reigning monarch, King George III.  Stennett was honored in 1763 with a doctor of divinity degree from King’s College, Aberdeen, for his accomplishments.  He served as an assistant to his father in his congregation in 1747 and assumed the position of pastor upon his father’s death in 1758. 

John Rippon, an English Baptist pastor, published in 1787 an influential collection, A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors. Thirty-eight of Stennett’s hymns appeared in this popular collection. Among those was a hymn under the heading of “Heaven Anticipated” with the title of “The Promised Land” in eight four-line stanzas.  The hymn as it appeared in America looked and sounded much different. William Walker’s The Southern Harmony (1835) was the first to include “The Promised Land.” This was one of the most popular of the 19th-century, oblong-tune books with shaped notes.  The tune PROMISED LAND was paired with the text. The Southern Harmony attributes the tune to “Miss M. Durham” but we know nothing else about the composer. The tune has many of the characteristics the traditional folk melodies of the time.  Originally written in a minor mode, Rigdon M. McIntosh, a Southern musician, altered the tune to the major mode, and as was customary among American evangelicals in the 19th century added a refrain beginning with “I am bound for the promised land.” This version was published in 1895 in H. R. Christie’s Gospel Light and has become the standard version for many hymnals since that time.

From the start, the four stanzas focus on heaven. The singer stands on the banks of the Jordan River looking across to the “fair and happy land” of Canaan—a metaphoric mixture of images from the books of Exodus and Revelation. Our true “possessions” lie in Canaan (Heaven) and not on the earthly side of Jordan.  metaphors of the vision, vigor, enthusiasm, and optimism of frontier life moving on to the promised land of Kentucky or Missouri.”

The hymn has appeared in each American Methodist hymnal since Francis Asbury included it in his Supplement to the Pocket Hymn Book (1808).

On Jordan's stormy banks I stand, and cast a wishful eye
to Canaan's fair and happy land where my possessions lie.

There gen'rous fruits that never fail, on trees immortal grow.
There rocks and hills and brooks and vales with milk and honey flow.

All o'er those wide-extended plains shines one eternal day;
there God the Son forever reigns and scatters night away.

No chilling wind nor pois'nous breath can reach that healthful shore;
sickness and sorrow pain and death are felt and feared no more.

When shall I reach that happy place and be forever blest?
When shall I see my Father's face and in his bosom rest?

I'm bound for the promised land, I'm bound for the promised land.
Oh, who will come and go with me? I'm bound for the promised land.

Ralph Simpson (b. 1933) is an organist and composer from Birmingham, Alabama.  He received his Bachelors in organ from Alabama State University, his Masters from Columbia University, and his PhD from Michigan State University.  He taught at Alabama State Teacher’s College and Dillard University.  He was University Organist and Chair of the Music Department at Tennessee State University until his retirement.  He is organist at First Church of Christ, Scientist, in Nashville. His choral and organ compositions feature the melodies of African-American spirituals.

Jerusalem, My Happy Home – Charles Callahan

The authorship of this text is unclear.  The fact that two versions are known, both dating from the latter part of the 16th century, (those of F. B. P. and W. Prid), points naturally to a common source from whence each was taken.  Some hymnals claim the original author is St. Augustine and that F. B. P.’s text in a 16^th or 17^th century manuscript was based on the Augustine text.  Other hymnals say Joseph Bromehead is the author. Still other hymnals attribute the text to James Montgomery.  Although the first stanza is similar to the first stanza of the hymn “Jerusalem, my happy home, O how I long for Thee” from Southern Harmony (1835), the chorus and some other stanzas are not shared by any of the F. B. P. text.

For some centuries the volume known to us as The Meditations of St. Augustine (Liber Meditationum) had been popular, and had widely influenced the thought of the Church. At the time of the Reformation, Roman Catholic and Protestant alike vied in translations of it, in whole or in part. In many editions Cardinal P. Damiani's hymn on Paradise, "Ad perennis vitae fontem," is given as a part of the Manual, and has thus become frequently ascribed to Stanza Augustine. A passage in the Liber Meditationum [ed. Divi Aurelii Augustini Hipponensis Episcopi Meditationes, Soliloquia et Manuale, Venice, 1553, c. 25], …together with Card. P. Damiani's hymn, seems to have been the source of the hymn by F. B. P., as it is certainly of that by W. Prid. 

The version by F. B. P. is in a manuscript book in the British Museum. The manuscript is undated, but is of the latter part of the 16th or the beginning of the 17th century.  In 1601, this hymn, abbreviated to 19 stanzas, was printed in The Song of Mary the Mother of Christ... with the Description of Heavenly Jerusalem (1601). These two versions, if the latter is not derived from the former, must have had one common source, and suggest the possibility of an earlier and probably printed version of the hymn now unknown being the source of both.

W. Prid's hymn on The New Jerusalem is contained in  The Glasse of vaine-glorie: Faithfully translated (out of S. Augustine his booke, intituled Speculum peccatoris) into English by W. P.[rid] (1585).  W. Prid translated direct from the work known to us as St. Augustine's Meditation; and it is highly probable that F. B. P. derived his directly from the same source, or indirectly through the translation of another.

Jerusalem, my happy home, Oh how I long for thee!
When will my sorrows have an end? Thy joys when shall I see?

We're marching through Emmanuel's ground;
We soon shall hear the welcome trumpet sound,—
Oh, there we shall with Jesus dwell, And never part again:

What, never part again? No, never part again,
No, never part again, No, never part again,
Oh, there we shall with Jesus dwell, And never part again.

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.

About the Choral Music:

Heaven’s Gonna Be My Home – Michael Barrett

Michael Barrett has written many gospel style songs.  “Heaven’s gonna be my home” was written in collaboration with J. Paul Williams, lyricist, and arranged by Brant. Adams.  This arrangement incorporates parts of “Unclouded Day” by Josiah Alwood (1828-1909), a United Brethren in Christ circuit rider, who spent many years traveling on horseback to his appointments. 

            Heaven’s gonna be my home. Allelu, someday I’m going there.  I’ll cross the river.

            Heaven’s gonna be my home, allelu, that land beyond compare.

            No more cryin’, no more tears, no more sorrow, no more fear,

            And every cloud shall disappear, oh, heaven’s gonna be my home.

            Oh, they tell me of a home far beyond the sky.  Oh, sing alleluia.

            They tell me of a home so far away.

            Oh, they tell me of a home far beyond the sky. Oh, sing alleluia,

            Oh, they tell me of an unclouded day.

            Oh, the land of cloudless day, oh the land of an unclouded day.

            Oh, they tell me of a home far beyond the sky. Oh, sing alleluia,

            Oh, they tell me of an unclouded day.

            Heaven’s gonna be my home, Alleluia. 

            Heaven’s gonna be my home one fine day.

            Oh, they tell me of a home far beyond the sky.

                        Heaven’s gonna be my home; some day I’m goin’ there.

            Oh, they tell me of a home far away, far away.

                        Heaven’s gonna be my home, that place beyond compare.

            Oh, they tell me of a home far beyond the sky.

                        Heaven’s gonna be my home; Some day I’m goin’ there.

            No more sickness, no more pain, no more dyin’, no more shame.

            I’ll hear the Savior call my name. Oh, heaven’s gonna be my home.

About the Hymns:

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.”

Soon and Very Soon

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of Andraé Crouch (1942-2015) in the gospel music field during the last fifty years. Few have had such a sustained level of accomplishment and recognition in gospel music — seven Grammys, six Dove awards, an Oscar nomination, induction into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 1998, and much more. He was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2004. A San Francisco native who grew up in the Church of God in Christ, Crouch wrote his first gospel tune at age 14. By 1960, he had formed the Church of God in Christ Singers, a group that featured Billy Preston on keyboards.  He started another group, Andraé Crouch & the Disciples, in 1965, eventually signing to a contemporary Christian label, Light Records. Crouch brought a contemporary pop and R&B melodic sensibility to gospel, making him uniquely suited to appeal to both black and white audiences during the early days of the countercultural "Jesus movement" and also bringing him attention beyond the church.  Throughout his life, Crouch struggled with dyslexia, sometimes memorizing words by the shapes of their combination of letters. He often drew simple pictures to help him comprehend words and write songs.  Crouch's sister, Sandra Crouch, served as his spokeswoman, and the siblings were pastors at the New Christ Memorial Church in San Fernando, Calif., carrying on a work begun by their parents.

“Soon and very soon” (1978) is based on Revelation 21:3-4: “And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, ‘Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.   >He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.’” (KJV)

Come Let Us Join Our Friends Above

When Charles Wesley penned and later -- with his brother John -- printed these words, he was not imagining they might be sung as a processional hymn on All Saints Day at Westminster Abbey or Coventry Cathedral. Indeed, such would have been out of the question. "Man-made" hymns such as this were not permitted in worship in the Church of England during his lifetime.

But more than this, as the text of this hymn shows, Charles had a vision of sainthood that was at once more inclusive and more demanding than any impressive public ritual one day a year could express. Charles and his brother John were both convinced that sainthood was the intended destiny not of just a few, but indeed of all Christians. God's intention in salvation is nothing less than to make saints of us all. God's desire for us is not simply to forgive us of our sins, nor even to work in our hearts and lives to deliver us entirely from the power of sin, but rather to work in us and with us "a complete salvation" that will "perfect us in love" in this life.

This hymn isn't and could not be for Wesley "special music for special worship on a special day." It was an "anthem for a lifetime," intended to be sung regularly by the early Methodists in society meetings, class meetings, and in daily life as a constant invitation to "join our friends above who have obtained the prize, and on the eagle wings of love to joys celestial rise."