July 16, 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:

God Himself is With Us - Roberta Bitgood

A song intended specifically for the opening of a worship service, to remind us that "God Himself Is With Us." The original may be the work of a French writer Jean de Labadie (1610-1674). The text as we know it was written by Gerhardt Tersteegen (1697-1769). Originally in five stanzas, it was first published in his 1729 Geistliches Blumengartlein. The first translation, consisting of stanza 1 through 3, was made by Frederick William Foster and John Miller. Foster (1760-1835) was in West Yorkshire, England, and educated with the Moravians at Fulneck and at the Moravian College in Barnby, Prussian Saxony. Ordained a Moravian minister, he edited the Moravian Hymn Book of 1801 and its 1808 Supplement, and was made bishop in 1818. Miller (1756-1790) was born at Groshennersdorg near Herrnhut in Saxony. After receiving his education at the Moravian Theological College at Barnby, he went to Fulneck. His original hymns and translations were contributed to the 1789 Moravian Hymn Book, including "God Himself Is With Us.” 

            God Himself is with us; Let us now adore Him, And with awe appear before Him.
            God is in His temple; All within keep silence, And before Him bow with reverence.
            Him alone, God we own, To our Lord and Savior Praises sing forever.

            God Himself is with us, Whom angelic legions Serve with awe in heavenly regions.
            ‘Holy, holy, holy,’ Sing the hosts of heaven; Praise to God be ever given.
            Bow Thine ear to us here: Hear, O Christ, the praises That Thy church now raises.

            O Thou Fount of blessing, Purify my spirit; Trusting only in Thy merit,
            Like the holy angels Who behold Thy glory, May I ceaselessly adore Thee,
            And in all, great and small, Seek to do most nearly What Thou lovest dearly.

            Come, abide within me; Let my soul, like Mary, Be Thine earthly sanctuary.
            Come, indwelling Spirit, With transfigured splendor; Love and honor will I render.
            Where I go here below Let me bow before Thee, Know Thee, and adore Thee.

            Gladly we surrender Earth’s deceitful treasures, Pride of life and sinful pleasures;
            Gladly, Lord, we offer Thine to be forever, Soul and life and each endeavor.
            Thou alone shalt be known Lord of all our being, Life’s true way decreeing.

Roberta Bitgood (Wiersma) (1908-2007) was an American organist, choir director, and composer. She was a pioneer of 20th-century American church music and the first woman to serve as national president of the American Guild of Organists.  Roberta Bitgood was born in New London, Connecticut, and studied at the Williams Memorial Institute, Connecticut College for Women, and the Guilmant Organ School in New York City.  She went on to receive a master's degree in music education from the Teacher's College at Columbia University, and a master's and doctoral degree in sacred music from Union Theological Seminary.  Bitgood was the first woman, and twelfth individual in America to receive a doctorate in sacred music.  After finishing her education, she played organ for a number of churches and synagogues in Bloomfield, NJ, worked at the Bloomfield College and Seminary, served as the Director of Music for the official chorus of the State Federation of Women's Clubs, and formed Glee Clubs at the local YMCA and YWCA. She later worked as the organist and music director for the Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, Buffalo, NY, Calvary Presbyterian Church, Riverside, CA, and First Congregational Church, Battle Creek, MI. In 1975, she was elected by write-in to serve as the President of the AGO. Bitgood became the first female President of the AGO, and was elected alongside Vice President Ruth Milliken of Norwalk, Connecticut and Secretary Barbara F. Mount of Freehold Township, New Jersey. As a result, 1975 saw the largest number of women to serve in top positions for the AGO, as well as the first three non-New York based members elected to national leadership.

Holy Manna - Wilbur Held

The author of “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship” has not been positively identified. It has been traditionally attributed to George Atkins, but no further information has been found about him or the text. The five stanzas of this text first appeared in print in 1825. The fourth stanza (“Is there here a trembling jailer”) is often omitted. The final two lines of each stanza are based on these lines: “pray, and holy manna will be showered all around,” which may be a reference to the story of God providing manna to feed the Israelites in the wilderness. The opening stanza of this call to worship calls on Christians to pray for the Holy Spirit's presence as the service begins, while the final stanza calls for believers to live in the love of God in anticipation of the full redemption of creation when Christ returns.

In many of yesterday’s churches, certain leaders would gather while the pastor was preaching to pray for power and clarity in his words, and for responsive listeners and souls changed for eternity. Even a spiritually mature preacher can accomplish nothing of lasting worth without empowerment of the Holy Spirit: “For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost” (1 Thessalonians 1:5).  As God’s Word is preached in purity and with spiritual power, we can expect His blessings. The hymn writer used manna, the miraculous provision of food for the Israelites in the wilderness, to symbolize God’s answer to the church’s prayers.

Brethren, we have met to worship And adore the Lord our God;
Will you pray with all your power, While we try to preach the Word?
All is vain unless the Spirit Of the Holy One comes down;
Brethren, pray, and holy manna  Will be showered all around.

Brethren, see poor sinners round you Slunb’ring on the brink of woe;

Death is coming, hell is moving, Can you bear to let them go?

See our fathers and our mothers, And our children sinking down;

Brethren, pray and holy manna Will be showered all around.

Sisters, will you join and help us? Moses’ sister aided him;

Will you help the trembling mourners Who are struggling hard with sin?

Tell them all about the Savior, Tell them that He will be found;

Sisters, pray, and holy manna Will be showered all around.

Let us love our God supremely, Let us love each other, too;
Let us love and pray for sinners, Till our God makes all things new.
Then He'll call us home to heaven, At His table we'll sit down;
Christ will gird Himself, and serve us With sweet manna all around.

Wilbur C. Held (1914-2015) was born in Des Plaines, Illinois, and received his B.M. and M.M. degrees at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He then attended Union Theological Seminary in New York City where he earned his S.M.D. A member of the Episcopal Church, for many years Dr. Held was Professor of Organ and Church Music at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.  He remained in this position for over 30 years, and for most of that time was also organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio.  Dr. Held started composing little pieces for the organ because he felt there was a lack of teaching material aimed at developing style and registration, especially for the romantic use of the instrument.  Having written several suites primarily for pedagogical use, he turned his attention to broadening the repertoire for church use, continuing to stress modest technical requirements and flexibility of registration. To date he has published 325 organ works. He has served on the national councils of both the AGO and the Hymn Society of America, and has appeared as recitalist at their national conventions.

About the Vocal Solo Music:

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship – Anna Laura Page

          Tom Urrutia, baritone

Anna Laura Page (b. 1943) received a B.M. degree in vocal music education with a concentration in piano, and a M.M. in music theory with a concentration in organ from the University of Kentucky. Active as a composer, clinician and organist, she served on the Music Committee of the Southern Baptist 1991 Hymnal Committee and has received the ASCAP Standards Award for the past several years. She has taught organ as an adjunct faculty member at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, and theory/organ as an adjunct faculty member at Lander University in Greenwood, South Carolina. She served as director of the Austin Peay Community Children's Chorus in Clarksville, Tennessee for three years. Mrs. Page currently serves as Handbell Music Editor for Alfred Publishing Co., Inc. Her publications include choral works for children, youth and adults, and compositions for handbells, organ and piano. She is married to Dr. Oscar C. Page, President of Austin College in Sherman, Texas.

About the Hymns:

God is Here

Born in England and ordained a Methodist minister, Rev. Pratt Green wrote numerous plays and hymns. His hymns reflect his rejection of fundamentalism and show his concern with social issues. They also include many works that were written to supply obvious liturgical needs of the modern church, speaking to topics or appropriate for events for which there were few traditional hymns available. As well as writing his own hymns, Green produced translations, notably translating one of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s late poems as the hymn, "By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered.”

In the first three words of the hymn, "God Is Here," we acknowledge something that so often we forget—God is here in worship and calls us first. We thank God for the gifts in the church, through Christ, and remember together that we bring thanks to God for the “varied skills and arts” as we invoke the “coming of the Spirit” into “open minds and hearts.” Rev. Pratt Green proclaims the essence of our faith in the last words, “We believe!”

Jesus, United by Thy Grace

Charles Wesley (1707-1788) was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley.  As a hymn-writer Charles Wesley was unique. He is said to have written no less than 6500 hymns, and though, of course, in so vast a number some are of unequal merit, it is perfectly amazing how many there are which rise to the highest degree of excellence. His feelings on every occasion of importance, whether private or public, found their best expression in a hymn. His own conversion, his own marriage, the earthquake panic, the rumors of an invasion from France, the defeat of Prince Charles Edward at Culloden, the Gordon riots, every Festival of the Christian Church, every doctrine of the Christian Faith, striking scenes in Scripture history, striking scenes which came within his own view, the deaths of friends as they passed away, one by one, before him, all furnished occasions for the exercise of his divine gift.  The saying that a really good hymn is as rare an appearance as that of a comet is falsified by the work of Charles Wesley; for hymns, which are really good in every respect, flowed from his pen in quick succession, and death alone stopped the course of the perennial stream.

All of Wesley's hymns are biblical. They convey the big themes of our faith: forgiveness, love, and charity. Our Song of Prayer today is another favorite, "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling." This hymn presents the idea of incarnation: Jesus is the incarnation of God's love. There is no more central Christian concept than this: that Jesus came to be love incarnate, God with us.