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.
Standing on
the Promises – Timothy Albrecht
Standing
on the promises of Christ my King.
Through
eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory
in the highest, I will shout and sing.
Standing
on the promises of God.
Standing,
standing, standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing,
standing, I’m standing on the promises of God.
Standing
on the promises that cannot fail,
When
the howling storms of doubt and fear asail,
By
the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing
on the promises of God.
Standing
on the promises I now can see
Perfect,
present cleansing in the blood for me.
Standing
in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing
on the promises of God.
Standing
on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound
to Him eternally by love’s strong cord.
Overcoming
daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing
on the promises of God.
Standing
on the promises I shall not fall,
Listening
every moment to the Spirit’s call.
Resting
in my Savior as my All in all,
Standing
on the promises of God.
Dr. Timothy Albrecht spent his childhood in Los Angeles
and Wisconsin. He received his Bachelors
in organ from Oberlin College and Oberlin Conservatory, and his masters and
doctorate from the Eastman School of Music, where he won the Performer’s
Certificate. Shortly after graduation, he represented the United States at the
Sixth International Johann Sebastian Bach Competition in Leipzig. He has spent
two sabbaticals at Cambridge University in England, which has conferred on him
Life Membership. At Emory University,
Albrecht holds a joint faculty appointment as Professor of Music at Candler
Theological Seminary, where he has taught since 1982, and in the Graduate
School of Arts and Sciences’ Department of Music He also serves as University Organist. Albrecht
has authored twelve published volumes of organ
music and has recorded nine solo compact discs, including several Bach CDs
and recordings of his own compositions.
Toccatina
– Cuthbert Harris
Dr Cuthbert Harris (1870-1932) studied at the London
Organ School. He served as organist of St. Andrew’s, Streatham, London, and St. Leonard’s Parish Church, Streatham, London, 1903. He taught music and was author of a
method book, “First Studies for the Organ”.
March
Religieuse - Alexandre Guilmant
Félix-Alexandre Guilmant (1837-1911) was a French organist and composer. In 1871, he was
appointed to play the organ regularly at la Trinité church in Paris, and this position he held for 30 years. Guilmant
was known for his improvisations, both in the concert and church setting. His
inspiration came from gregorian chants, and he was greatly noted amongst his colleagues
for his mastery of the melodies. From
then on, Guilmant followed a career as a virtuoso; he gave concerts in the United States (the
first major French organist to tour that country), and in Canada, as well as in
Europe, making especially frequent visits to England. His American achievements
included a 1904 series of no fewer than 40 recitals on the largest organ in the
world, the St. Louis Exposition Organ, now preserved as the nucleus of Philadelphia's Wanamaker Organ.
In 1894
Guilmant founded the Schola Cantorum with Charles Bordes and Vincent d'Indy. He taught there up until his death at his home in Meudon, near Paris, in 1911. In addition, he taught at the Conservatoire de Paris where he succeeded Charles-Marie Widor as organ teacher in 1896. As a teacher, Guilmant was noted for
his kindness and attention to detail. His students' recollections feature
accounts of a particular focus on all facets of a note: attack, release,
character. Marcel Dupré was
the most celebrated of his many students.
About the Choral Music:
God
of the Women – Carolyn Winfrey Gillette
Carolyn Winfrey Gillette grew up in a family that was,
and continues to be, active in the United
Methodist Church. She remembers being a very small child and
standing on the pew next to her parents and brother in worship, holding a
hymnal (before she could even read it), and trying to sing along as the
congregation sang the beloved hymns of the Christian faith. She received her
M.Div. from Princeton Theological Seminary in 1985. Carolyn met her husband,
Bruce Gillette, at Princeton Seminary, and was ordained as a minister in the
Presbyterian Church (USA) in 1986. Carolyn started writing hymn texts in 1998
while attending Synod School, a summer church conference of the Synod of the
Trinity of the Presbyterian Church (USA).
Carolyn's latest book, Songs of Grace: New Hymns for God and
Neighbor, was published by Discipleship Resources/Upper Room
Books in 2009. This collection of 77 new hymns to well-known tunes celebrates
biblical stories, the church year, and a wide range of church activities, from
older adult ministries and stewardship to social justice and many other topics
in between. Accompanying each new hymn is a meditation that can be used for
personal, family or group devotions. Carolyn and her husband Bruce are the
co-pastors of Overbrook Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
“God of
the Women” celebrates women in ministry and mentions specific women in the
Bible and faithful women of today. It was
first published in The Presbyterian Outlook. The Episcopal women's
magazine titled Communiqué distributed
it widely and it is included in Voices Found: Women in the
Church's Song, the supplement to the Episcopal Hymnal. It
has been translated into Japanese by a Roman Catholic group for publication
there. In July 2005, it was sung at the church-wide Triennial Gathering of the
Women in the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America that celebrated the 35th
anniversary of the ordination of the first Lutheran woman pastor in North
America. In January 2006, the United Methodist Church Office on Worship posted
"God of the Women" on their web site to celebrate the 50th
anniversary year of the ordination of women in The
United Methodist Church (2006).
O God of Phoebe and ministers all,
May we be joyful in answering your call.
Give us the strength of your Spirit so near
That we may share in your ministry here.
God of
the women who answered your call,
Trusting your promises, giving their all,
Women like Sarah and Hannah and Ruth —
Give us their courage to live in your truth.
Trusting your promises, giving their all,
Women like Sarah and Hannah and Ruth —
Give us their courage to live in your truth.
God of the women long put to the test,
Left out of stories, forgotten, oppressed,
Quietly asking: "Who smiled at my birth?" —
In Jesus' dying you show us our worth.
Left out of stories, forgotten, oppressed,
Quietly asking: "Who smiled at my birth?" —
In Jesus' dying you show us our worth.
May we be joyful in answering your call.
Give us the strength of your Spirit so near
That we may share in your ministry here.
About the Hymns:
The words of the hymn were initially written by St Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) in 1225 in the Canticle of the Sun poem, which was based on Psalm 148. The words were translated into English by William Draper, who at the time was rector of a Church of England parish church at Adel near Leeds. Draper paraphrased the words of the Canticle and set them to music. It is not known when Draper first composed the hymn but it was between 1899 and 1919. Draper composed the hymn for his church's children's Whitsun festival celebrations and it was later published in 1919 in the Public School Hymn Book. The hymn is currently used in 179 different hymn books. The words written by St Francis are some of the oldest used in hymns after "Father We Praise Thee", written in 580 AD. The hymn is set to the tune of "Lasst uns erfreuen herzlich sehr", a German Easter hymn written by Friedrich Spee, published in 1623 in his book Auserlesene, Catholische, Geistliche Kirchengesäng. It was first used in English hymn books in 1906.
St.
Francis is famous for many things, including love of animals. Pictures of
him usually have birds flying nearby and small animals at his feet. A
popular story tells of him stopping to preach a sermon to a flock of
birds. He reminded them that God had blessed them with beautiful clothing
even though they had never learned to spin or weave–– and that God had blessed
them with food even thought they had never learned to sow or reap. Then he
called them to sing their songs as praises to God. St. Francis wrote this hymn near the end of
his life. Sick and suffering bouts of blindness, he was going home to die
when he stopped to visit friends at the St. Damien monastery. While
there, he felt the inspiration to compose this joyful hymn. It calls all
God's creatures ––sun and moon ––wind and water––fruits and flowers––and all
who are of tender heart––to sing, "Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!" to
honor our God.
On
Eagle’s Wings
Michael
Joncas (b. 1951) was ordained in 1980 to the Roman Catholic priesthood, and has
served since 1991 on the faculty of the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul,
Minnesota. He has written three books,
more than a hundred published articles, and has compiled more than 20
collections of liturgical music. Father Joncas was visiting a friend at the
major seminary in Washington. One evening, Father Joncas’ friend got word that
his father had suffered a fatal heart attack. Father Joncas wrote “On Eagle’s
Wings” in the days that followed and it was was sung for the first time
publicly at the friend’s father’s wake service.
The song is based on Psalm 91 and Isaiah 4031:, its lyrics drawing from
the Scripture’s descriptions of God’s protection and providence.
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.”
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