February 4, 2018

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:

Thee We Adore, O Hidden Savior – Stephen Johnson

St. Thomas Aquinas (1227-1274), confessor and doctor, commonly called The Angelical Doctor, “on account of," says Dom Gueranger, "the extraordinary gift of understanding wherewith God had blessed him," was born of noble parents. The exact date of his birth is not known, but most trustworthy authorities give it as 1227. At the age of five, he was sent to the Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino to receive his first training, which in the hands of a large-hearted and God-fearing man, resulted in so filling his mind with knowledge and his soul with God, that it is said the monks themselves would often approach by stealth to hear the words of piety and wisdom that fell from the lips of the precocious child when conversing with his companions. After remaining at Monte Cassino for seven years, St. Thomas, "the most saintly of the learned, and the most learned of the saints," went to the University of Naples, where he was induced to petition for admission into the Dominican order, though he was not more than seventeen years of age. His mother was so against this that she caused him to be waylaid on the road to Paris  and to be kept in prison for more than two years, during which time his mother and brothers attempted to turn him away from religion.

At last, the Dominicans' influence with the Pope induced him to ask the Emperor Frederick to order Thomas’ release.  He was sent to Rome, then to Paris, and thence to Cologne. At Cologne, his studies were continued under the celebrated Albertus Magnus, with whom, in 1245, he was sent by the Dominican Chapter once more to Paris for study, under his direction, at the University. In 1248, when he had completed his three years' curriculum at Paris, St. Thomas was appointed, before he was twenty-three years of age, second professor and “magister studentium,” under Albertus at the new Dominican school at Cologne. There he attained a great reputation as a teacher; he preached and wrote.  His sermons also at that time enabled him to attract large congregations into the Dominican church. His writing and preaching were very influencial. So much so that Louis IX. insisted upon St. Thomas becoming a member of his Council of State, and referred every question that came up for deliberation to him the night before, that he might reflect on it in solitude. At this time he was only thirty-two years of age.

In 1259 he was appointed, by the Dominican Chapter at Valenciennes, a member of a Commission, in company with Albertus Magnus and Pierre de Tarentaise, to establish order and uniformity in all schools of the Dominicans. In 1261 the Pope, Urban IV., immediately upon his election to the Pontifical throne, sent for St. Thomas to aid him in his project for uniting into one the Eastern and Western Churches. St. Thomas in that same year came to Rome, and was at once appointed by the General of his Order to a chair of theology in the Dominican College in that city, where he obtained a like reputation to that which he had secured already at Paris and Cologne. Pope Urban offered him, first the Patriarchate of Jerusalem, and then a Cardinal's hat, but he refused both. After lecturing, at the request of the Pope, with great success at Vitervo, Orvieto, Perugia, and Fondi, he was sent, in 1263, as "Definitor," in the name of the Roman Province, to the Dominican Chapter held in London. In 1269 he was summoned to Paris—his last visit— to act as "Definitor" of the Roman Province at the General Chapter of his Order, and he remained there until 1271. In 1272, after visit¬ing Rome on the way, he went to Naples to lecture at the University. He remained at Naples until he was summoned, in 1274, by Pope Gregory X., by special bull, to attend the Second Council of Lyons, but he died in route at barely forty-eight years of age.

St. Thomas was a most voluminous writer, his principal work being the celebrated Summa Theologiae, which, although never completed, was accepted as such an authority as to be placed on a table in the council-chamber at the Council of Trent alongside of the Holy Scriptures and the Decrees of the Popes. Though not a prolific writer of hymns, St. Thomas has contributed to the long list of Latin hymns some which have been in use in the services of the Church of Rome from his day to this. They are on the subject of the Lord's Supper. The best known are:—
Pange lingua gloriosi Corporis Mysterium; Adoro te devote latens Deitas; Sacris sollemniis juncta sint gaudia; Lauda Sion Salvatorem; and Verbum supernum prodiens.

Adoro te devote is one of five hymns St. Thomas Aquinas composed Pope Urban IV's (1261-1264) request when the Pope first established the Feast of Corpus Christi in 1264. The hymn is found in the Roman Missal as a prayer of thanksgiving after Mass.  The translation by James Russell Woodford follows:

Thee we adore, O hidden Savior, thee,

who at this blessed feast art pleased to be;
both flesh and spirit in thy presence fail,

yet here thy presence we devoutly hail.

O blest memorial of our dying Lord,

who living bread to all doth here afford!
O may our souls forever feed on thee,

and thou, O Christ, forever precious be!

Fountain of goodness, Jesus, Lord and God,

cleanse us, unclean, with thy most cleansing blood;
increase our faith and love, that we may know
the hope and peace which from thy presence flow.

O Christ, whom now beneath a veil we see,
may what we thirst for soon our portion be,
to gaze on thee unveiled, and see thy face,
the vision of thy glory and thy grace.

Dr. Stephen P. Johnson is the founding dean of the College of Music and the Arts at Azusa Pacific University. Before joining Azusa Pacific, he served as associate professor of theory and composition and dean of the School of Church Music at Southwestern Seminary. As a composer, his repertory includes various solo, chamber ensemble, large ensemble, and choral/orchestral performing forces that have been performed in recitals, concert halls, and music festivals from Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center to 20th Century Fox Studios. 

Gift of Finest Wheat – Jeffrey Honore

This hymn unites the work of composer, Robert Kreutz, and hymn text writer, Omer Westendorf.  It was among 200 texts submitted for possible use at the 41st International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976. "You Satisfy the Hungry Heart" was selected as the official hymn of that gathering.  First embraced by Roman Catholics, this hymn has since become well-known and a favorite in many denominations.   Following the reforms of the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the role of congregational song became much more prominent in Roman Catholic worship. The ecumenical worshipping community has been the beneficiary of some music composed for Catholic worship since that time, especially music for Communion.   We would not have some of our favorite Communion hymns in The United Methodist Hymnal and The Faith We Sing without the contribution of post-Vatican II Catholic composers. “One bread, one body” and “Take our bread” are just a two of these. 

Omer Westendorf (1916-1997) was one of the leading post-Vatican II composers and his hymn, “Gift of finest wheat,” is one of the best-known Communion hymns to come from the decades immediately following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.  This hymn unites the work of composer, Robert Kreutz, and hymn text writer, Omer Westendorf.  It was among 200 texts submitted for possible use at the 41st International Eucharistic Congress in Philadelphia in 1976. "You Satisfy the Hungry Heart" was selected as the official hymn of that gathering.  The hymn was first published in We Celebrate with Song (1979).

Beginning at age 20, Westendorf received his master of music degree at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and for most of his professional musical career served as organist and choirmaster at St. Bonaventure Church in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Under his direction, the Bonaventure Choir sang concerts and recorded sacred music for several decades. One of his greatest achievements was the founding of the World Library of Sacred Music in 1950 and World Library Publications in 1957. These organizations have been primary distributors of music for the Mass in the U.S. and beyond.  Westendorf was also known for his lectures and seminars on sacred music, consultations on liturgical music, and as a hymn writer. UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young notes that Westendorf’s “People’s Mass Book, 1964, 1966, 1970, 1976, was the first vernacular hymn and service book to implement the Catholic liturgies decreed by Vatican Council II. He wrote Music Lessons for the Man in the Pew to teach the art of sight reading choral music.”

One of the prominent features of Catholic hymns from this era is a memorable and singable refrain. For example, think of how easily congregations learn the refrain by Catholic musician Daniel Schutte, “Here I Am, Lord.”  “You satisfy the hungry heart” has an equally memorable refrain, though more reflective.   The refrain evokes the agrarian image of “finest wheat,” the source of bread, a primary staple that sustains life. The hymn writer first addresses Christ directly in the second person, implying an intimate relationship, and offers a petition to Christ to “give to us... the bread of life to eat.”

The hymn is replete with biblical references. The refrain echoes John 6:25-37, a passage where Christ develops the imagery of bread and says, “I am the bread of life; he who comes to me shall not hunger.” Stanza one focuses on the metaphor of Christ as shepherd drawn from several passages, but especially from John 10. Stanza three is almost a direct quotation of I Corinthians 10:16-17: “The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not a participation in the blood of Christ. The bread which we break, is it not a participation in the body of Christ?”  The final stanza sites the selfless and self-giving gift of Christ reminding us of Philippians 2:5-11, a creedal hymn of the early church. 

You satisfy the hungry heart with gift of finest wheat,
Come give to us, O saving Lord, the bread of life to eat.

As when the shepherd calls his sheep,  They know and heed his voice;
So when You call Your family, Lord,  We follow and rejoice.

With joyful lips we sing to You, Our praise and gratitude,
That You should count us worthy Lord, To share this heavenly food.

The mystery of Your presence Lord,  No mortal tongue can tell;
Whom all the world cannot contain Comes in our hearts to dwell.

You give yourself to us, O Lord,  Then selfless let us be,
To serve each other in Your name In truth and charity. 

Jeffrey Honoré has served as a choir director in churches of many different denominations and worked as an organist, trombonist and voice teacher. He is the liturgical music director of St. Matthias Parish in Milwaukee, Wisconsin and directs the archdiocesan choir. Jeffrey received the Vatican II Award for Distinguished Service in 1999.

Verset sobre el "Pange Lingua" - Miguel Lopez

Pange Lingua Gloriosi Corporis Mysterium is a hymn written by St Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) for the Feast of Corpus Christi (now called the Solemnity of the Holy Body and Blood of Christ), which St. Thomas drew up in 1263, at the request of Pope Urban IV. This hymn is considered the most beautiful of Aquinas' hymns and one of the great seven hymns of the Church. The rhythm of the Pange Lingua is said to have come down from a marching song of Caesar's Legions: "Ecce, Caesar nunc triumphat qui subegit Gallias." There are two plainchant settings of the Pange Lingua hymn. The better known is a Phrygian mode tune from the Roman liturgy, and the other is from the Mozarabic liturgy from Spain. The Roman tune was originally part of the Gallican Rite. It is found in the Roman (Venice, 1478; and again, untouched, in 1632); Mozarabic of 1502, Sarum, York, Aberdeen, Paris of 1736, and many other Breviaries.  Pange Lingua has been translated into many different languages for worship throughout the world. However, the Latin version remains the most popular.

Tell, tongue, the mystery of the glorious Body and of the precious Blood,

which, for the price of the world, the fruit of a noble Womb,

the King of the Nations poured forth.

The Word as Flesh makes true bread into flesh by a word

and the wine becomes the Blood of Christ.

And if sense is deficient to strengthen a sincere heart

Faith alone suffices.

Miguel Lopez (1669-1723) was the first monk of Montserrat whose organ works were preserved at the monastery.  He studied music at Montserrat, where he was an altar boy and later Kapellmeister.  He also spent many years in Aragon and Castile. 

The cantus firmus of the verses on the Pange Lingua is the melody of Juan de urreda, names “Hispanic tune” which was used by many composers of the Iberian peninsula during the XVI, XVII, and XVIII centuries.

About the Choral Music:

A Covenant Prayer – Allen Pote

In 1663 Richard Alleine, a Puritan, published  Vindiciae Pietatis:  or, “A Vindication of Godliness in the Greater Strictness and Spirituality of It”. In 1753, it was again published in John Wesley's  A Christian Library. Wesley used one chapter, "The Application of the Whole," on Monday, August 11, 1755, in what probably was the first real celebration of the Covenant Service in the Methodist movement.  Wesley found the service rich and meaningful, as expressed in his Journal: "Many mourned before God, and many were comforted" (April 1756); "It was, as usual, a time of remarkable blessing" (October 1765). "It was an occasion for a variety of spiritual experiences ... I do not know that ever we had a greater blessing. Afterwards many desired to return thanks, either for a sense of pardon, for full salvation, or for a fresh manifestation of His graces, healing all their backslidings" (January 1, 1775). In London these services were usually held on New Year's Day. Around the country the Covenant Service was conducted whenever John Wesley visited the Methodist Societies.  The heart of the service, focused in the Covenant Prayer, requires persons to commit themselves to God.  Allen Pote has adapted the text of this prayer.

Allen Pote (b. 1945) was born in Halstead, Kansas, and educated at Texas Christian University, where his diploma was in Church Music. A Fulbright Scholar, he studied in Brussels, Belgium, and took advanced work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. For twenty-two years he served as a full-time Director of Music in churches in Texas and Florida. He is currently a full-time composer living in Pensacola, Florida, where, with his wife Susan, he is co-director of the Pensacola Children's Choir, an organization of over 200 singers which has achieved national recognition.

            Lord, make me what you will. I put myself into your hands.

            Put me to doing, put me to suffering,

let me be employed for you, or laid aside for you.

Lord, make me what you will.  I will no longer be my own.

Let me be full, let me be empty,

Let me have all things, let me have nothing,

Lord, I freely and with a willing heart give it all to you,

To your pleasure and disposal.

                Lord.  Make me.  Make me what you will.

About the Hymns:

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was written by the 18th century pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson (1735-1790) was eight years old at the time of his father's death. He was a very bright, headstrong boy who became increasingly more difficult for his mother to handle. When Robert turned 14, she sent him to London for an apprenticeship with a barber. Robert proceeded to get into even more trouble, taking on a life of drinking and gambling. 

At 17, Robert and some of his drinking buddies decided to attend an evangelistic meeting, with a plan to make fun of the proceedings. When George Whitfield began to preach, Robert felt as if the sermon was just for him. He did not respond to the altar call that night, but the words of the evangelist would haunt him for the next three years.  On Dec. 10, 1755, at age 20, Robert finally yielded his life to Christ, and very soon thereafter answered a call to the ministry. Three years later, as he was preparing to preach a sermon at the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England, Robert wrote “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to complement his sermon. The music for the hymn was composed by Asahel Nettleton in 1813.

The lyrics, which dwell on the theme of divine grace, are based on 1 Samuel 7:12, in which the prophet Samuel raises a stone as a monument, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us". The English transliteration of the name Samuel gives to the stone is Ebenezer, meaning Stone of Help. The unusual word "Ebenezer" commonly appears in hymnal presentations of the lyrics.

The tune NETTLETON first appeared as a two-part tune in John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second(1813), where it was named HALLELUJAH. In the Index it is identified as a new tune, and no composer's name is given. The tune has been attributed by some to Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844), a well-known evangelist of the early nineteenth century, who compiled Village Hymns (1825). However, this compilation contained no music, and there is no evidence that Nettleton wrote any tunes during his life.  It is not known where the tune name first appeared or who was responsible for it.

As We Gather at Your Table

Dr. Carl P. Daw (b. 1944), is an Episcopal priest and writer who served as the Executive Director of The Hymn Society in the United States and Canada from 1996 to 2009, while this ecumenical and international organization had its headquarters at Boston University School of Theology. Dr. Daw is an Adjunct Professor of Hymnology in the Master of Sacred Music program and acts as the Curator of the Hymnological Collections in the STH Library.  In addition to his experience as a parish priest and university chaplain, Dr. Daw has served as a retreat leader, speaker, workshop leader, and guest lecturer at many conferences and seminaries throughout the United States. He has been successively Secretary and Chair of the Standing Commission on Church Music of the Episcopal Church and was a consultant member of the Text Committee for The Hymnal 1982, to which he contributed a number of translations, metrical paraphrases, and original hymns. His texts have subsequently appeared in most denominational and ecumenical hymnals published in the United States and Canada. They also can be found in hymnals in England, Scotland, and Australia and have been translated into Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese. Born in Louisville, Kentucky, Dr. Daw grew up in a succession of towns in Tennessee where his father was a Baptist pastor. He taught for eight years in the English Department of the College of William and Mary before entering seminary. Following his ordination, he served for three years as Assistant Rector of Christ and Grace Church in Petersburg, Virginia, and for nine years as Vicar-Chaplain of St. Mark’s Chapel at the University of Connecticut at Storrs. He then spent three years as a resident Companion of the Community of Celebration in Aliquippa, Pennsylvania, and served in various interim and supply ministries in that area.

Daw was commissioned to write this hymn in 1989 for a tricentennial celebration of an Episcopal church in Virginia. The motto for the celebration was 'Repeat the sounding joy,' which the committee hoped to have incorporated into the text. The first stanza calls attention to the two interrelated parts of the Eucharist, Word and Table, by intentionally mixing the language associated with each part The second stanza is derived from parts of the liturgy for a Communion service from the Book of Common Prayer. The third stanza is based on the Parable of the Banquet, and concludes with the celebration's motto.