September 17, 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:

Just a Closer Walk with Thee – Gordon Young

"Just a Closer Walk With Thee" is a traditional gospel song, performed either as an instrumental or vocal song. While the precise author of "Just A Closer Walk With Thee" is unknown, circumstantial evidence suggest it dates back to southern African-American churches of the 19th century. The first known recording was by the Selah Jubilee Singers in October, 1941.  Performed as either an instrumental or vocal, "A Closer Walk" is perhaps the most frequently played number in the hymn and dirge section of traditional New Orleans jazz funerals. The title and lyrics of the song allude to the Biblical passage from 2 Corinthians 5:7 which states, "We walk by faith, not by sight" and James 4:8, "Come near to God and he will come near to you."

Some personal African American histories recall "slaves singing as they worked in the fields a song about walking by the Lord's side."  Songs with similar chorus lyrics were published in the 1800s, including "Closer Walk with Thee" with lyrics by Martha J. Lankton (a pseudonym for Fanny Crosby) and music by William Kirkpatrick, which was published in 1885. Some references in Atchison, Kansas credit an African-American foundry worker and vocalist, Rev. Elijah Cluke (1907-1974), for the current rendition of the song. "Just a Closer Walk with Thee" became better known nationally in the 1930s when African-Americanchurches held huge musical conventions. In 1940 Kenneth Morris arranged and published for the first time the well-known version after gospel musicians Robert Anderson and R.L. Knowles listened to William B. Hurse direct a performance of it in Kansas City and then brought it to Morris' attention.^[7] Morris added some new lyrics and a choral arrangement. In the 1940s, a boom of recordings recorded the number in many genres, ranging from Southern gospel to jazz and brass bands.

I am weak, but Thou art strong, Jesus, keep me from all wrong,
I’ll be satisfied as long As I walk, let me walk close to Thee.

Just a closer walk with Thee, Grant it, Jesus, is my plea,
Daily walking close to Thee, Let it be, dear Lord, let it be.

Through this world of toil and snares, If I falter, Lord, who cares?
Who with me my burden shares? None but Thee, dear Lord, none but Thee.

When my feeble life is o’er, Time for me will be no more,
Guide me gently, safely o’er To Thy kingdom's shore, to Thy shore.

Gordon Young (1919-1998) was born in McPherson, Kansas, and during his lifetime was recognized as one of this country's great church organists. He was a prolific and talented composer for both organ and choir, with nearly 1000 published works.  During the course of his career, he was a radio organist in Tulsa, a music critic and columnist for daily newspapers in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, and choirmaster in churches in Philadelphia and Kansas City. Mr. Young taught organ in conjunction with Wayne State University and for 15 years was organist and choir director at the First Presbyterian Church in Detroit.

Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah – David Cherwein

William Williams (1717-1791) is considered by many to be the father of Welsh hymnody.  In 1738, Williams heard a sermon by the revivalist preacher Howell Harris, a fiery Welsh layman who had been influenced by the Methodist movement in England. It was through this sermon that Williams discerned his calling to go into the ministry.  Williams first pursued becoming an Anglican priest (in the Church of Wales) and entered as a deacon in 1740. However, he soon came to discover that his heart was with Harris and his itinerant work, and before long he left his small curacy in the mountains to join with the traveling Methodist preachers.
The revivalists realized that the Welsh language was lacking in hymns—the church in Wales was still primarily singing metrical psalms in their worship services. In order to promote the creation of hymns, Harris put together a hymn-writing competition between the different preachers.  As Louis Benson relates, “the prize fell easily to Williams, who had the poet’s passion and a gift of verse-writing. Therefore it was not very long before he was recognized as poet laureate of the Welsh revival.”

Williams would go on to write many hymns in both Welsh and English. “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” appeared in Welsh in 1745. Twenty six years later, in 1771, a Rev. Peter Williams translated the first verse into English, prompting William Williams to translate the rest of it into English as well.  It is fitting that Williams should be the author of a hymn about the Christian’s pilgrimage on earth since as a traveling Methodist preacher, he was a pilgrim in both the spiritual and physical sense.

Williams made an extraordinary record as an itinerant evangelist. He took the whole of Wales for his parish. His travels for forty-three years are said to make an average of 2230 miles a year, at a time when there were no railroads and few stage-coaches. In this way the greater part of Williams’ life was spent, not in a preacher’s study, but in the great world of out of doors. 

The popularity of Williams's text ("Guide me, O thou great Jehovah") is undoubtedly aided by its association with CWM RHONDDA, composed in 1905 by John Hughes (b. Dowlais, Glamorganshire, Wales, 1873; d. Llantwit Fardre, Wales, 1932) during a church service for a Baptist Cymanfa Ganu(song festival) in Capel Rhondda, Pontypridd, Wales. Hughes received little formal education; at age twelve he was already working as a doorboy at a local mining company in Llantwit Fardre. He eventually became an official in the traffic department of the Great Western Railway. Much of his energy was devoted to the Salem Baptist Church in Pontypridd, where he served as both deacon and precentor. Hughes composed two anthems, a number of Sunday school marches, and a few hymn tunes, of which CWM RHONDDA is universally known.

At first widely disseminated in leaflet form, CWM RHONDDA gradually was adopted into various hymnals. The tune is named after the valley of the Rhondda River, a coal mining area in Wales. Though composed with simple melodic means, CWM RHONDDA is a vigorous melody in major tonality (contrary to the popular belief that most Welsh tunes are minor).

Guide me, O my great Redeemer, pilgrim through this barren land;
I am weak, but you are mighty; hold me with your powerful hand.
Bread of heaven, bread of heaven, feed me now and evermore,
feed me now and evermore.

Open now the crystal fountain, where the healing waters flow.
Let the fire and cloudy pillar lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer, strong Deliverer, ever be my strength and shield,
ever be my strength and shield.

When I tread the verge of Jordan, bid my anxious fears subside.
Death of death, and hell's Destruction, land me safe on Canaan's side.
Songs of praises, songs of praises I will ever sing to you,
I will ever sing to you. 

Dr. David Cherwien (b. 1957) is currently serving as Director of Music at Mt. Olive Lutheran Church, Minneapolis, MN, and in 2002 was appointed Music Director for the National Lutheran Choir, also based in the Twin Cities. He has also held full time parish music positions in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area, Chicago, Seattle, and Berlin.  He completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance, and the Master of Arts degree in Theory and Composition, both from the University of Minnesota. His undergraduate work was in organ performance and music education at Augsburg College, Minneapolis, where he was honored as distinguished alumni in the fall of 2000.

About the Handbell Music:

Festival Capriccio - Barbara Kinyon

     Jubilation Ringers

Barbara Baltzer KIinyon (b. 1929) received her Bachelor of Music Education Degree from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, and her Masters Degree from the Eastman School of Music (University of Rochester) in Rochester, NY. Barbara has spent her professional life as a solo pianist, college professor, church organist, private piano and pipe organ instructor, as well as handbell conductor, composer and clinician. Ms. Kinyon's college teaching career has spanned 25 years as professor of music theory and composition at Suffolk Community College on Long Island. She has been deeply involved with the church music ministry as organist and conductor of handbell choirs at the Setauket Presbyterian Church in Setauket, NY. Barbara has written and has had published over 225 handbell compositions. Barbara is also a composer/arranger of choral music, and she resides in Stony Brook, NY.

About the Choral Music:

The Gift of Love – Hal Hopson

Among the most prominent New Testament texts is the discourse on love found in I Corinthians 13. Hal H. Hopson has paraphrased part of this beautiful text in what has become one of the most popular late 20th-century hymns, appearing in many major hymnals published in the U.S. since 1980. "The Gift of Love" first appeared as a very popular anthem in 1972. Both the text and the music are effective paraphrases -- the text of I Corinthians 13:1-3 and the melody as an adaptation of the beautiful folk melody "O Waly, Waly." The original tune was collected by American folksong specialist Cecil Sharp and published in his Folk Songs from Somerset (1906).  "The Gift of Love" is very flexible and, according to Hope Publishing Co., is Mr. Hopson's most popular composition -- widely used as an anthem, solo and as a hymn. Speaking of the popularity of his hymn, Hopson said: "The first 'Gift of Love' was a two-part choral arrangement. Years later, at the suggestion of George Shorney at Hope Publishing Company, I cast it in a form to be used as a congregational hymn. Since then it has become a standard hymn to be included in many hymnals. It is noteworthy that The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989, was the first hymnal that included 'The Gift of Love.' I was once surprised to be introduced at a seminar as the Gift-of-Love-Man."

Mr. Hopson (b. 1933) is a native of Mound, Texas, and now resides in Dallas. He has an international reputation as a clinician and composer, and has published more than 1,300 compositions, which comprise almost every musical form in church music. With a special interest in congregational song, he continues to make a significant contribution to the new repertoire of hymn tunes and responsorial psalm settings as evidenced by the proliferation of his settings that are included in newly published hymnals and psalm collections.

            Though I may speak with bravest fire,

            And have the gift to all inspire,

And have not love; my words are vain

As sounding brass and hopeless gain.

            Though I may give all I possess,

            And striving so my love profess,

But not be given by love within,

The profit soon turns strangely thin.

Come, Spirit come, our hearts control.

Our spirits long to be made whole.

Let inward love guide every deed.

By this we worship and are freed.
Amen.

About the Hymns:

Maker, in Whom We Live

"Maker, in whom we live" is well-known in the Methodist tradition. The text was written by Charles Wesley in 1747. Originally, Wesley titled the hymn "To the Trinity" and published it in the Hymns for Those that Seek and Those that Have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ in 1747.  Wesley was one of the first to incorporate the idea of the Trinity in hymns and poetry. In each stanza, he described a member of the Trinity, with the final stanza focusing on God, the Three-in-One. The hymn entered the Methodist hymnal in 1821. It was omitted in the 1905 and 1935 editions but returned in 1966.

"Maker, In Whom We Live" first appeared in the 1822 hymnal titled A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The hymn, for the most part, remains in its entirety in today's modern hymnal. Despite some minor alterations in grammatical structure, there are really only two significant changes to the text. The principal changes were made in order to make the hymn's language more inclusive, avoiding male-only imagery for God. The original version begins with "Father" instead of "Maker." In the last stanza, Wesley originally wrote, "Let all the sons of men," which has now been changed to "Let all on earth below."

Each stanza in this hymn describes a member of the Trinity. The first stanza discusses angels and earth giving praise and singing to God, the Maker and Creator. The second stanza expresses praise to God the Son, who gives redeeming grace to all, even sinners. The third stanza conveys God as the Holy Spirit, with all energy and power, and expresses how we cannot explain God's love for us. The last stanza invites all to sing and praise God the Three-in-One. The first three stanzas have strong scriptural references. The first stanza refers to Acts 17:28 and Luke 2:14. The second stanza recalls Revelation 7:10 and the third stanza alludes to Titus 3:5.

The tune most commonly associated to this hymn is DIADEMATA, composed by George J. Elvey, during the Romantic Era, in 1868. In the 1878 hymnal, this hymn was paired with the tune WAUGH, and only contained the first two stanzas. Both in the original form and in today's modern hymnal, the text is set in the familiar four-part style. The tune works well with the text, complimenting the rise and fall of the lines.

Help Us Accept Each Other

Fred Kaan (1929-2009), though ordained in the United Reformed Church and serving in England, was a native of Haarlem, The Netherlands.  Carlton R. Young, editor of The UM Hymnal, says of Kaan, “His linguistic ability, ecumenical service, and fervent concern for the powerless are apparent in his hymns, numbering more than 200.”   Collections of his hymns appear in this country as The Hymn Texts of Fred Kaan (1985), Planting Trees and Sowing Seeds (1989) and The Only Earth We Know (1999). He was elected Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in 2001. His hymns have been translated into more that 15 languages. Kaan died at the age of 80 after a long struggle with cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Though one of the most prophetic and vigorous voices in 20th-century hymnody has been silenced, we shall continue to sing his hymns.

Kaan explains the origins of the hymn, “Help us accept each other”: “This text was set in motion upon reading a Bible study article Mrs. Jackie Mattonen had written for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the USA. . . . It was almost accidentally and at the last moment included in the fourth edition of Cantate Domino [an ecumenical and cross-cultural hymnal published by the World Council of Churches in 1974], … and it so happened that my “Hymn of acceptance” was just the right length to fill the two blank pages that needed filling.”   The text appeared in Kaan’s collection Break Not the Circle (1975) for the first time in the U.S. This is one of the most powerful hymns on reconciliation and forgiveness composed in the last half of the 20th century. Romans 15:7 provides a scriptural basis for stanza 1: “Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God’s glory.” The hymn also reflects Ephesians 4:15: “But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.” 

The hymn tune ACCEPTANCE, by John Ness Beck (1930-1987), was originally published as a four-part anthem to "Help Us Accept Each Other" (1977) by Fred Kaan. The tune features a consistently syncopated rhythmic pattern in each of its four lines.