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.
Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain – Wayne Wold
“Come,
Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain” is a Greek Resurrection hymn written by John of
Damascus (c. 675-749) in the 8th century. Around 730, John gave away everything
he had and retired to the monastery of St. Sabas, where he was ordained a
priest. During this time John wrote works containing a justification for
orthodox faith, including his Foundation of Knowledge. John was among the
greatest and most important of the Greek hymn writers. He wrote many canons, a
new form of hymnody during his time, for important festivals. Canons, usually
sung during monastic office of Lauds and based primarily on nine Canticles, are
usually divided into nine odes. An ode is composed of short dramatic strophes
in which the climax occurs in the last line. Each strophe has the same number
of lines and syllables.
Organized Greek hymnody began, at the earliest, in the 7th century. From 700-900 many Canons were written that contained long odes usually in reference to the Resurrection or at least linked with Easter. The publication of John Mason Neale’s Hymns of the Eastern Church, a collection of Greek Canons from the 5th to the 11th centuries in English poetic form, contributed to a renewed interest in early Christian and Byzantine hymnody. When translated into English, these poems tended to be awkward for singing. John Mason Neale’s translations are in metrical patterns that are more accessible for English singers while remaining true to the original ideas of the Greek.
Organized Greek hymnody began, at the earliest, in the 7th century. From 700-900 many Canons were written that contained long odes usually in reference to the Resurrection or at least linked with Easter. The publication of John Mason Neale’s Hymns of the Eastern Church, a collection of Greek Canons from the 5th to the 11th centuries in English poetic form, contributed to a renewed interest in early Christian and Byzantine hymnody. When translated into English, these poems tended to be awkward for singing. John Mason Neale’s translations are in metrical patterns that are more accessible for English singers while remaining true to the original ideas of the Greek.
“Come,
Ye Faithful” is the first ode from the Canon for St. Thomas’s Sunday and is
based on the canticle “The Song of Moses” from Exodus 15. A clear connection
can be seen in the hymn from Exodus 14 and 15 through the vivid language
used. The main theological theme of this
hymn is deliverance. Stanza one discusses the joy the Israelites had after
being delivered from Pharaoh across the Red Sea. This stanza provides an easy
link to Moses and his song. The next three stanzas transfer the focus to
Jesus. They discuss Jesus’ resurrection and the deliverance brought to
humankind from their sins through this action. The hymn serves as praise to God
for continuing to deliver God’s people throughout history.
Come, you faithful, raise the strain
of triumphant gladness!
God has brought forth Israel into joy from sadness,
loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters;
led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.
God has brought forth Israel into joy from sadness,
loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters;
led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.
’Tis the spring of souls today: Christ
has burst his prison,
and from three days’ sleep in death as a sun has risen.
All the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying
from the Light to whom we give laud and praise undying.
and from three days’ sleep in death as a sun has risen.
All the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying
from the Light to whom we give laud and praise undying.
Neither could the gates of death, nor
the tomb’s dark portal,
nor the watchers, nor the seal, hold you as a mortal:
but today, among your own, you appear, bestowing
your deep peace, which ever more passes human knowing.
nor the watchers, nor the seal, hold you as a mortal:
but today, among your own, you appear, bestowing
your deep peace, which ever more passes human knowing.
Alleluia! Now we cry to our Lord immortal,
who, triumphant, burst the bars of the tomb’s dark portal;
Alleluia! With the Son, God the Father praising;
Alleluia! Yet again to the Spirit raising.
who, triumphant, burst the bars of the tomb’s dark portal;
Alleluia! With the Son, God the Father praising;
Alleluia! Yet again to the Spirit raising.
Wayne
L. Wold (b. 1954) is active as a teacher, church musician, composer, author,
performer, and clinician. He serves as Associate Professor of Music and College
Organist at Hood College in Frederick, Md. Over 200 of his compositions are
published by fourteen different companies in the U.S. and Australia and include
twenty volumes of works for organ and instruments with organ, 30 choir anthems,
a children's musical, a recorder suite, and several hymn tunes. He is the
author of numerous hymn and anthem texts, articles in professional journals,
and two books -- Tune My Heart to Sing: Devotions for Choirs Based on the
Revised Common Lectionary and Preaching to the Choir: The Care and
Nurture of the Church Choir.
Here’s
One – Marilyn Rinehart
Of all Negro Spirituals, "Here's
One" can undoubtedly be counted among the most affecting of all. The
lyrics are a simple expression of devotion to God.
Talk about a child who do love Jesus,
Here's one, here's one.
Ever since I heard the gospel story,
I've been walking up the road to glory.
Talk about a child who do love Jesus,
Here's one.
Talk about a child who's been forgiven,
Here's one, I said, here's one,
Here's one, here's one.
Ever since I heard the gospel story,
I've been walking up the road to glory.
Talk about a child who do love Jesus,
Here's one.
Talk about a child who's been forgiven,
Here's one, I said, here's one,
Ever since I heard the gospel story,
I've been walking up the road to glory.
Talk about a child who’s been forgiven,
Here's one.
Talk about a child who's been converted,
Here's one, here's one.
Ever since I heard the gospel story,
I've been walking up the road to glory.
Talk about a child who's been converted,
Here's one.
Talk about a child who do love Jesus,
Here's one, here's one.
Here's one, here's one.
Here's one, here's one.
I've been walking up the road to glory.
Talk about a child who’s been forgiven,
Here's one.
Talk about a child who's been converted,
Here's one, here's one.
Ever since I heard the gospel story,
I've been walking up the road to glory.
Talk about a child who's been converted,
Here's one.
Talk about a child who do love Jesus,
Here's one, here's one.
Here's one, here's one.
Here's one, here's one.
Marilyn Rinehart (1926-2012) was a church organist in Tucson for 18 years at First United Methodist Church, seven years at Catalina United Methodist Church, and was a composer of organ and choral works. After graduating from Ashland College (Ohio), she did advanced studies at the University of Arizona. She was a member of the American Guild of Organists and a long-time volunteer at the Community Food Bank.
Pious Jubilation
Pious Jubilation
About the Choral Music:
Lift
High the Cross – Lani Smith
George W. Kitchin
(1827-1912) wrote the original version of this text in 1887 for the Society for
the Propagation of the Gospel. The hymn was intended to be used for a festival
service at Winchester Cathedral, England. Michael R. Newbolt (1874-1956)
revised the text for the 1916 Supplement to Hymns Ancient and Modern. Sir Sydney H. Nicholson (1875-1947) composed the tune
“Crucifer” for the text as revised by Newbolt. The tune name means
"cross-bearer" and refers to one who carries the cross in a
liturgical procession. Often considered
Nicholson's finest tune, “Crucifer” has broad melodic gestures and an effective
cadence to the stanzas, which leads right back into the refrain without
interruption, pause, or slowing down. Perhaps similar to
Constantine's vision of Christ's cross, this text makes clear that the cross is
a symbol of Christ's love.
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.
Lift high the cross, the love of Christ proclaim, Till all the world
adore His sacred Name.
Come, Christians, follow where
our captain trod, Our King victorious, Christ, the Son of God.
Led on their
way by this triumphant sign, The hosts of God in conquering ranks combine.
All
newborn soldiers of the Crucified Bear on their brow the seal of Him who died.
So shall
our song of triumph ever be: Praise to the Crucified for victory!
Amen! Alleluia
About the Hymns:
Easter
People, Raise Your Voices
Following in the tradition of many pastors who write hymns,
William Marceus James (1913-2013) wrote "Easter People, Raise Your
Voices" for his congregation at Metropolitan Community United Methodist
Church in New York City. Born in
Meadville, Mississippi, and educated at Mt. Beulah College, Butler University,
and Drew University, the Rev. James received his license to preach in
Lexington, Kentucky, in 1936 and was ordained an elder in 1940. In 1944, he was appointed to the Trinity
(Morrisania) Methodist Church in the Bronx, a church he founded with no
members. In only eight years, it grew into a 900-member congregation. In an
interview with the United Methodist Interpreter, James noted, "It
was during that time I learned to minister to gangs and street
people." In 1952 he began serving
Community Methodist Church in Harlem, which later became the Metropolitan
Community United Methodist Church in 1971. The Rev. James ministered to this
congregation for 33 years until "retiring" in 1985, but he continued
his ministry to young people and to the Harlem community.
The author of more than fifty hymns, James noted to this
writer in 2005 that "I wrote hymns for my congregation whenever I needed
one. 'Easter People' is not the greatest hymn I have, but it took better than
the others. Most of my hymns have themes around the social gospel." Originally
in five stanzas, the hymn first appeared in the United Methodist collection, Songs
of Zion (1981), in its present form.
The triumph of the Resurrection over evil is the theme of "Easter
People." In stanza two, the poet reminds us that the "fear of
death" cannot stop us from doing all we can to overcome evil "here
below." The final stanza insists: "Every day to [Christians] is
Easter" because our God is one who "rights the wrong."
Christ
is Risen
This text was
written in 1984 by Brian Wren (b. 1936), an internationally published hymn
writer whose work appears in hymnals from many denominations and traditions.
Ordained in Britain’s United Reformed Church, he holds BA and PhD degrees from
Oxford University. On July 1, 2000, he was appointed the first John and Miriam
Conant Professor of Worship at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta. "Christ Is Risen! Shout Hosanna!"
celebrates God's surprising Easter turnaround of the Good Friday events.
A Charge to Keep I Have
As is the case with hymns by Charles Wesley, “A charge
to keep I have” is grounded in Scripture. In this case, Leviticus 8:36 is the
primary source: “Keep the charge of the Lord, that ye die not” (KJV). The
hymn was included in Short Hymns on Select Passages of Holy Scripture (1762), a massive two-volume
collection of 2,030 hymns based on biblical texts from Genesis to Revelation.
Wesley scholars F. Hildebrandt and Oliver A. Beckerlegge propose in their commentary on the important Wesley hymnbook A Collection of Hymns for Use of the People Called Methodists (1780) that Charles Wesley (1708-1788) based his text on Mathew Henry’s Commentary on Leviticus. Henry notes: “We have every one of us a charge to keep, an eternal God to glorify, an immortal soul to provide for, needful duty to be done, our generation to serve; and it must be our daily care to keep this charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our Master, who will shortly call us to an account about it, and it is our peril if we neglect it. Keep it ‘that ye die not’; it is death, eternal death, to betray the truth we are charged with.”
This hymn is an unequivocal call to commitment to follow the Master and to fulfill our vocation through service. The language is unambiguous. Our calling is to save a “never dying soul” and “fit it for the sky”—that is for eternal life with Christ. This eschatological goal is central to Charles Wesley’s hymns: Our goal is heaven. In the second stanza, we find that we fulfill this calling by our service to “the present age.” Fulfilling this calling requires us to engage “all [our] powers.” The third stanza is a petition that God should “arm [us] with jealous care” as we live in God’s sight. Wesley is not afraid to offer a stern admonition that we will one day be required to give “a strict account” of our activities in pursuit of our calling. The final stanza is perhaps the most uncompromising. The singer begins with the imperative verb—a petition to the unnamed Holy Spirit—to “Help me to watch and pray . . . ” Rather than suggesting a positive reward for faithfulness, Wesley warns us of the outcome “if [we] our trust betray”: we “shall forever die.”
The tune BOYLSTON was composed by the famous New England music educator Lowell Mason (1792-1872) and was first found in his The Choir, or Union Collection of Church Music (1832).
Wesley scholars F. Hildebrandt and Oliver A. Beckerlegge propose in their commentary on the important Wesley hymnbook A Collection of Hymns for Use of the People Called Methodists (1780) that Charles Wesley (1708-1788) based his text on Mathew Henry’s Commentary on Leviticus. Henry notes: “We have every one of us a charge to keep, an eternal God to glorify, an immortal soul to provide for, needful duty to be done, our generation to serve; and it must be our daily care to keep this charge, for it is the charge of the Lord our Master, who will shortly call us to an account about it, and it is our peril if we neglect it. Keep it ‘that ye die not’; it is death, eternal death, to betray the truth we are charged with.”
This hymn is an unequivocal call to commitment to follow the Master and to fulfill our vocation through service. The language is unambiguous. Our calling is to save a “never dying soul” and “fit it for the sky”—that is for eternal life with Christ. This eschatological goal is central to Charles Wesley’s hymns: Our goal is heaven. In the second stanza, we find that we fulfill this calling by our service to “the present age.” Fulfilling this calling requires us to engage “all [our] powers.” The third stanza is a petition that God should “arm [us] with jealous care” as we live in God’s sight. Wesley is not afraid to offer a stern admonition that we will one day be required to give “a strict account” of our activities in pursuit of our calling. The final stanza is perhaps the most uncompromising. The singer begins with the imperative verb—a petition to the unnamed Holy Spirit—to “Help me to watch and pray . . . ” Rather than suggesting a positive reward for faithfulness, Wesley warns us of the outcome “if [we] our trust betray”: we “shall forever die.”
The tune BOYLSTON was composed by the famous New England music educator Lowell Mason (1792-1872) and was first found in his The Choir, or Union Collection of Church Music (1832).
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