June 3, 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 Piano Music:

We Gather Together – Larry Dalton

"We Gather Together" is a Christian hymn of Dutch origin written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius as "Wilt heden nu treden" to celebrate the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout.  At the time the hymn was written, the Dutch were engaged in a war of national liberation against the Catholic King Philip II of Spain.  “Wilt heden nu treden” resonated because under the Spanish King, Dutch Protestants were forbidden to gather for worship.  The hymn first appeared in print in a 1626 collection of Dutch patriotic songs, Nederlandtsch Gedencklanck.  The hymn is customarily performed to a tune known as KREMSER, from Eduard Kremser's 1877 score arrangement and lyric translation of “Wilt Heden Nu Treden” into Latin and German. The modern English text was written by Theodore Baker in 1894.  “We Gather Together” first appeared in an American hymnal in 1903.  It had retained popularity among the Dutch, and when the Dutch Reformed Church in North America decided in 1937 to abandon the policy that they had brought with them to the New World in the 17th century of singing only psalms and add hymns to the church service, "We Gather Together" was chosen as the first hymn in the first hymnal.   The hymn steadily gained popularity, especially in services of Thanksgiving on such occasions as town and college centennial celebrations.  The "big break" came in 1935 when it was included in the national hymnal of the Methodist-Episcopal Church.   This hymn is often sung at American churches the day before Thanksgiving.

The text is also appropriate as we look toward the annual gathering of our church conference.

We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing;
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be;
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

The son of a minister, Larry Dalton (1946-2009) was a regular performer on such Christian-oriented cable television shows as Hour Of Power and the 700 Club. Dalton traveled with a Southern gospel quartet called The Songsmen before attending Oral Roberts University (ORU). As a student he became an organist for Oral Roberts' crusades.  Dalton served as music director for Oral Roberts TV, penning more than one thousand tunes performed on the show.

Here, O My Lord, I See Thee Face to Face – David Angerman

Adoro te devote is one of five beautiful hymns St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) composed in honor of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament at 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 paraphrase of the Latin text found in our hymnal is:

            Here, O my Lord, I see thee face to face;

            Here would I touch and handle things unseen,

            Here grasp with firmer hand eternal grace,

            And all my weariness upon thee lean.

Here would I feed upon the bread of God,
here drink with Thee the royal wine of heav'n;
here would we lay aside each earthly load,
here taste afresh the calm of sin forgiv'n.

This is the hour of banquet and of song;
this is the heav'nly table spread for me;
here let me feast, and feasting, still prolong
the brief, bright hour of fellowship with Thee.

Too soon we rise, the symbols disappear;
the feast, though not the love, is past and done;
gone are the bread and wine, but Thou art here,
nearer than ever, still my Shield and Sun.

Feast after feast thus comes, and passes by;
yet passing, points to the glad feast above;
giving sweet foretaste of the festal joy,
the Lamb's great bridal feast of bliss and love.

David Angerman (b. 1955) has been Director of Music and organist at Bethany Lutheran Church, Austin, Texas, since 1980. He holds a Bachelor of Music Education Degree and Master of Church Music Degree from Baylor University and a Master of Music Degree in Organ Performance from the University of Texas in Austin.  As a composer he has to his credit more than 100 published works including choral and handbell music as well as organ and piano solos. He has also written the music for several youth and children's musicals, and co-authored, along with Joseph Martin and Mark Hayes, KEYS FOR THE KINGDOM, a piano method for the Christian student, published by Shawnee Press. Many of his published works have been awarded Editor's Choice designations.

They’ll Know We Are Christians by Our Love – John Wilson

Peter Scholtes (1938–2009) wrote the hymn "They'll Know We Are Christians by Our Love" while he was a parish priest at St. Brendan's on the South Side of Chicago in the 1960s. At the time, he was leading a youth choir out of the church basement and was looking for an appropriate song for a series of ecumenical, interracial events. When he couldn't find such a song, he wrote the now-famous hymn in a single day. It is inspired by John 13:35. It was released on an LP of the same name featuring the congregation of Scholtes' church singing this hymn and others.  His experiences at St. Brendan's, and in the Chicago Civil Rights movement, influenced him for the rest of his life.

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord,
and we pray that all unity may one day be restored.

We will walk with each other, will walk hand in hand,
We will walk with each other, will walk hand in hand,
And together we'll spread the news, that God is in our land

We will work with each other, we will work side by side,
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll save each man's dignity, and guard each man's pride.

All praise to the Father, from whom all things come,
And all praise to Christ Jesus, His only Son
And all praise to the Spirit, that makes us one.

And they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.
Yes, they’ll know we are Christians by our love.

John F. Wilson (1929-2014) was a conductor, performer, composer, teacher and worship leader.  His educational background includes undergraduate work at the Chicago Evangelistic Institute and American Conservatory of Music as well as graduate work at Northwestern University, where he received the Master of Music degree and pursued doctoral studies.  He spent the first half of his career and directing choirs and teaching music at Mountain View Bible College (Alberta, Canada), Fort Wayne Bible College (Indiana), Moody Bible Institute (Chicago), Indiana Wesleyan University and West Suburban Hospital School of Nursing.  He then joined the editorial staff of Hope Publishing Company, where he served for twenty-eight years as Executive Editor, Senior Editor and then, Editor Emeritus.  Over more than 40 years, he served as choir director of several church choirs as well as his own professional group, the John Wilson Singers.  He has composed over 400 published works for choirs and instrumental groups, including a number of full length musicals for adult and children’s voices.  As a long-time member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), he has received several awards for his contribution to serious contemporary music.

About the Choral Music:

We Are One, Lord – Stan Pethel

Dr. Stan Pethel is Chair of the Fine Arts at Berry College near Rome, Georgia. He has been on the music faculty there since 1973. In addition to his duties as Chair of Fine Arts at Berry College Dr. Pethel teaches music theory, composition and arranging, world music, and low brass lessons. He is a widely published composer and arranger with over 1000 works in publication with 26 different publishers. His writing includes works for choir, piano, organ/piano duet, symphonic band, jazz ensemble, orchestra, handbells, solo instrument and piano, and various chamber music ensembles. He is a regular recipient of the ASCAP Standard Award.

            We are one, Lord, united in your Spirit,

            We are one, Lord, surrounded by your love,

            We are one, Lord, one of heart and soul;

            Gathered as your children, we are one.

            We are free, Lord, free to serve each other,

            We are filled, Lord; our grateful voice we raise

            To your name, Lord, as you sustain us now.

            Gathered as your children, we are one.

            Though we come from many places, we share amazing grace;

            Though we be of different ages, we share one voice of praise,

            Though our talents, Lord, may vary, it’s the message that we carry

            That binds us all together in this place.

            We are one.

About the Hymns:

God of Grace and God of Glory

“God of grace and God of glory” was written in 1930 by Harry Emerson Fosdick (1878-1969) for the dedication of the famous Riverside Church in New York City.   Fosdick was granted degrees from Colgate University and Union Theological Seminary. He was ordained in 1903 to ministry in the Baptist Church and became pastor of First Baptist Church, Montclair, N.J.   Fosdick served as a chaplain during World War I and then was pastor of First Presbyterian Church in New York City. From this congregation he was called to pastor Park Avenue Baptist Church, which was renamed Riverside Church.

“God of grace and God of glory” was written while the United States was in the throes of the Great Depression between the two World Wars. Fosdick was a champion of the social gospel, a movement that recognized the plight of the poor, especially in the urban Northeast during the Industrial Revolution.   UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young has noted: “Fosdick’s stirring radio sermons, books, and public pronouncements established Riverside as a forum for the critique of the same wealth and privilege whose gifts had made possible the building of the church.  Under his leadership Riverside Church was interdenominational, interracial, without a creed, and, astonishingly for Baptists, required no specific mode of baptism. At the center of Fosdick’s ministry was urban social ministry.”   Fosdick was perhaps the most vocal proponent of the social gospel of his time—a position that brought both wide acclaim and broad disdain. 

CWM RHONDDA was composed in 1905 by John Hughes (1873-1932) 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 WesternRailway. 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.

One Bread, One Body

John Foley, S.J., (b. 1939) is an American Jesuit priest who is a composer of Catholic liturgical music and a professor of liturgy. Among his better-known compositions are One Bread, One Body (1978), Earthen Vessels (1975), Come to the Water (1978), The Cry of the Poor (1978), For You Are My God (1970), and the album As a River of Light (1989).  Much of Foley's early work on liturgical music was as a member of a group called the St. Louis Jesuits, composed of fellow Jesuit seminarians, with whom he released several albums. Other members of the St. Louis Jesuits were Dan Schutte, Bob Dufford, Roc O'Connor, and Tim Manion. He has also released several solo collections of liturgical music. Foley went on to earn a doctorate in liturgical theology from the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.  In 1993 he returned to Saint Louis University where he founded the Stroble Center for Liturgy, of which he has served as director since its founding.

Written in 1978, “One Bread, One Body” is based on I Corinthians 10:16-17, ”Is not the cup of blessing which we bless a sharing in the blood of Christ? Is not the bread which we break a sharing in the body of Christ? Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body; for we all partake of the one bread.”  The first verse is readily identifiable as a paraphrase of Galatians 3:28, which reads, “There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.” In the second verse, we have more Scriptural paraphrase.  This time, the text is clearly taken from 1 Corinthians 12:4-5, which reads, “Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit.  And there are varieties of ministries, but the same Lord.”  You don’t have to be a preacher to serve.  You don’t have to be a song leader to serve.  Even if your work is visiting the sick or cleaning the church building, you are no less important a part of the body of Christ than its most visible members.  Ultimately, every kind of service gets back to serving Jesus. The third verse echoes various Biblical texts (Matthew 13:3-9 and John 12:23-26 among them).  As Christ assembles us into one body, so too He plants us, causes us to grow, and gathers us in.