One Church - One Worship Service - 10:30 am (don't forget to reset your clocks!)
Covered dish dinner afterward in the FLC (meat provided)
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:
The Arrival - G. F. Handel
Georg Friederich Handel (1685-1759) became a musician and composer despite objections from his father, who wanted him to become a lawyer. Handel studied music with Zachau, organist at the Halle Cathedral, and became an accomplished violinist and keyboard performer. He traveled and studied in Italy for some time and then settled permanently in England in 1713. Although he wrote a large number of instrumental works, he is known mainly for his Italian operas, oratorios (including “Messiah”, 1741), various anthems for church and royal festivities, and organ concertos, which he interpolated into his oratorio performances. He composed only three hymn tunes, one of which still appears in some modern hymnals. A number of hymnal editors, including Lowell Mason, took themes from some of Handel's oratorios and turned them into hymn tunes.
“The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” sinfonia premiered in London on March 17, 1749, as the first scene of Act III in the oratorio Solomon. One of the last of Handel’s many oratorios, Solomon is rarely performed in its entirety, but Handel’s bright and lively “The Arrival of the Queen of Sheba” interlude is a widely appreciated processional set piece.
About the Choral Music:
Shall We Gather at the River - Robert H. McIver
Shall we gather at the river, where bright angel’s feet have trod;
With its crystal tide forever flowing by the throne of God?
Yes, we’ll gather by the river, the beautiful river,
Gather with the saints by the river, that flows by the throne of God.
When we reach the shining river, lay we every burden down;
Grace our spirits will deliver and provide a robe and crown.
Soon we’ll reach the shining river, soon our pilgrimage will cease,
Soon our happy hearts will quiver with the melody of peace.
Fly Away Medley - Mark Hayes
I’ll Fly Away
In the rural Smyrna Baptist Church, midway between Courtland and Moulton, Alabama, a trio rose to sing a song that was literally sweeping the South. The year was 1948, and the occasion was the funeral of my grandfather, James Terry. The song, which greatly effected the audience, was written 17 years earlier by one of our nation’s leading Christian songwriters, Albert E. Brumley.
It was in 1929 that Brumley actually composed “I’ll Fly Away.” He recalled that he was picking cotton and singing a popular song, “If I Had the Wings of an Angel.” Suddenly, he thought about flying away. He later said, “Actually, I was dreaming of flying away from that cotton field when I wrote ‘I’ll Fly Away.’” However, the song took on a spiritual meaning.
Brumley’s rural background made it natural for him to appeal to the common man. Even as a small lad picking cotton in LeFlore County, Oklahoma, he knew he would much rather be involved in music than in any other occupation. At age 17, he began his serious music study, and during the next several years received training and instruction from such notables as Homer Rodeheaver, Virgil Stamps and E. M. Bartlett, the composer of “Victory in Jesus.” In 1931, while teaching a singing school in Powell, Missouri, Brumley met Goldie Edith Schell. They were married shortly thereafter. Although he had begun his songwriting, he had done nothing with the songs. Goldie encouraged him to send his manuscripts to a publisher, assuring him that the songs had quality and that “any publisher would be glad to publish them.” Acting on Goldie’s advice and encouragement, his first submission to a publisher was “I’ll Fly Away.” As a result, the song, written during The Depression, was carried to the nation by radio and traveling Southern Gospel quartets. People everywhere were receiving renewed hope as they listened to “I’ll Fly Away” and other Brumley compositions.
Some glad morning when this life is o’er, I’ll fly away;
To a home on God’s celestial shore, I’ll fly away.
I’ll fly away, O glory, I’ll fly away;
When I die, hallelujah, by and by, I’ll fly away.
When the shadows of this life have gone, I’ll fly away;
Like a bird from prison bars has flown, I’ll fly away.
We’ll Understand it Better By and By
Charles Albert Tindley (1851-1933) was one of the eminent preachers of Methodism at the turn of the twentieth century. Hymnologist James Abbington has called Tindley a "pastor, orator, poet, writer, theologian, social activist, 'father of African American Hymnody,' 'progenitor of African American gospel music' and 'prince of preachers.’" He was born in Worchester County, Maryland, the son of Charles and Esther Tindley, but his mother died when he was only two years old, and his father raised him. Dr. Abbington comments that biographies often refer to Tindley's slave ancestry, but that an autobiographical reference in his Book of Sermons (1932) implies that he was not a slave. Economic conditions were very difficult after the death of his mother, forcing his father to "hire him out." African American scholar Bernice Johnson Reagon notes, "This practice was not unusual for freed Blacks. Hired-out workers often labored alongside slaves, experiencing much of the reality of the slave plantation. The major differences were that there was some remuneration … and hired-out workers did get the opportunity to go home."
Tindley moved to Philadelphia as a young person, attending school at night. He said, "I made a rule to learn at least one new thing -- a thing I did not know the day before -- each day." He was self-taught, never graduating from college or seminary, yet acquiring and reading more than 8,000 books in his library. He took Greek through Boston School of Theology and Hebrew through a synagogue in Philadelphia. Tindley was awarded two honorary doctorates of divinity from colleges in North Carolina and Maryland.
From 1887-1900, Tindley served short-term itinerate positions until he became the Presiding Elder in the Wilmington District in 1900. Tindley, granted a license to preach from Bainbridge Street Methodist Church where he was employed as a janitor between 1880-1885, thus became a member of the Delaware Annual Conference. In 1902 he was assigned to Bainbridge Street Methodist Episcopal Church, this time as its pastor. His return to the congregation as pastor was not universally appreciated since he had served more than fifteen years earlier as the janitor; but the 150th Anniversary Journal of the congregation notes that "All were pleasantly surprised, for as Tindley mounted the rostrum, wearing a Prince Albert Coat -- then the garb of many African American Protestant preachers -- he had the dignified bearing acquired during his previous appointments. They were further surprised when Tindley delivered a masterful, soul gripping sermon that brought loud amens and praise God exclamations from his listeners.”
"We’ll Understand It Better By and By" was one of eight hymns written during a difficult period in Tindley’s life when negotiations were underway for the purchase of Westminster Presbyterian Church on Broad Street. It reflects aspects of Tindley’s ministry through preaching aimed to lift the spirits of turn-of-the-century urban African Americans. One can imagine Tindley using this song to punctuate his sermons, offering hope to those assembled not only through exegesis of the biblical text, but also through a lyrical sung theology. Tindley’s theology is not escapist "pie in the sky by and by." It is a theology of hope that exemplifies I Corinthians 13:12: "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known " (KJV).
Trials dark on every hand, and we cannot understand
all the ways that God would lead us to that blessed Promised Land.
But He’ll guide us with His eye, and we’ll follow till we die;
We will understand it better by and by.
By and by, Lord, when the morning comes,
when the blessed saints of God are gathered home;
We will tell the story, how we’ve overcome;
We will understand it better by and by.
When the Roll is Called up Yonder
James Milton Black was born on this day, August 19, 1856 in South Hill, New York. He acquired an early musical education in singing and organ playing and knew such famous songsters of his day as Daniel Towner and John Howard. Around 1881, he moved to Williamsport, Pennsylvania where he carried on Christian work through the Methodist Episcopal church. Teaching music during the week, he was a song leader, Sunday school teacher and youth leader in his spare hours. In addition to all this work, he edited hymnals.
He loved young people and tried to win them for Christ. One day, as he passed through an alley, he met a ragged fourteen-year-old girl. She was the daughter of an alcoholic. He invited her to his Sunday school and youth group and she began to attend. However, one day when he took roll, the girl did not respond. Each child had to say a Scripture verse when his or her name was called. James saw a lesson in her silence. "I spoke of what a sad thing it would be when our names are called from the Lamb's Book of Life, if one of us should be absent.” He was not the kind of man to let the matter die with a moral lesson. After Sunday school, he went to his pupil's home to find out why she had not showed up for class. He found her dangerously ill and sent for his own doctor. The doctor said that she had pneumonia, and death was highly likely.
James returned home. He tried to find a song to fit the thought of a heavenly roll call but could not locate one. An inner voice seemed to say, "Why don't you write one." And that is what he did. "I played the music just as it is found today in the hymn-books, note for note, and I have never dared to change a single word or a note of the song," he said. The lyrics were first published in Songs of the Soul in 1894. They have been translated into over fourteen languages and sung around the world.
When the roll is called up yonder, I’ll be there.
On Jordan’s Stormy Banks
Samuel Stennett (1727-1795), an English Baptist, came from a long line of ministers. He was the son of a Seventh-Day Adventist pastor. In the 18th century, university education was not easily available to nonconformist families—those who refused to swear allegiance to the Church of England. Stennett did study at the academy at Miles End with distinction, however. In spite of his nonconformist religious stance, Stennett was a personal friend to the reigning monarch, King George III. Stennett was honored in 1763 with a doctor of divinity degree from King’s College, Aberdeen, for his accomplishments. He served as an assistant to his father in his congregation in 1747 and assumed the position of pastor upon his father’s death in 1758.
John Rippon, an English Baptist pastor, published in 1787 an influential collection, A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors. Thirty-eight of Stennett’s hymns appeared in this popular collection. Among those was a hymn under the heading of “Heaven Anticipated” with the title of “The Promised Land” in eight four-line stanzas. The hymn as it appeared in America looked and sounded much different. William Walker’s The Southern Harmony (1835) was the first to include “The Promised Land.” This was one of the most popular of the 19th-century, oblong-tune books with shaped notes. The tune PROMISED LAND was paired with the text. The Southern Harmony attributes the tune to “Miss M. Durham” but we know nothing else about the composer. The tune has many of the characteristics the traditional folk melodies of the time. Originally written in a minor mode, Rigdon M. McIntosh, a Southern musician, altered the tune to the major mode, and as was customary among American evangelicals in the 19th century added a refrain beginning with “I am bound for the promised land.” This version was published in 1895 in H. R. Christie’s Gospel Light and has become the standard version for many hymnals since that time. The hymn has appeared in each American Methodist hymnal since Francis Asbury included it in his Supplement to the Pocket Hymn Book (1808).
John Rippon, an English Baptist pastor, published in 1787 an influential collection, A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors. Thirty-eight of Stennett’s hymns appeared in this popular collection. Among those was a hymn under the heading of “Heaven Anticipated” with the title of “The Promised Land” in eight four-line stanzas. The hymn as it appeared in America looked and sounded much different. William Walker’s The Southern Harmony (1835) was the first to include “The Promised Land.” This was one of the most popular of the 19th-century, oblong-tune books with shaped notes. The tune PROMISED LAND was paired with the text. The Southern Harmony attributes the tune to “Miss M. Durham” but we know nothing else about the composer. The tune has many of the characteristics the traditional folk melodies of the time. Originally written in a minor mode, Rigdon M. McIntosh, a Southern musician, altered the tune to the major mode, and as was customary among American evangelicals in the 19th century added a refrain beginning with “I am bound for the promised land.” This version was published in 1895 in H. R. Christie’s Gospel Light and has become the standard version for many hymnals since that time. The hymn has appeared in each American Methodist hymnal since Francis Asbury included it in his Supplement to the Pocket Hymn Book (1808).
On Jordan’s stormy banks I stand and cast a wishful eye
to Canaan’s fair and happy land, where my possessions lie.
I am bound for the Promised Land; I am bound for the Promised Land.
O who will come and go with me? I’m bound for the Promised Land.
When the Saints Go Marching In
"When the Saints Go Marching In", often referred to as "The Saints", is a Black spiritual. Though it originated as a Christian hymn, it is often played by jazz bands. This song was famously recorded on May 13, 1938, by Louis Armstrong and his orchestra.The song is sometimes confused with a similarly titled composition "When the Saints Are Marching In" from 1896 by Katharine Purvis (lyrics) and James Milton Black (music). The origins of this song are unclear. It apparently evolved in the early 1900s from a number of similarly titled gospel songs, including "When the Saints Are Marching In" (1896) and "When the Saints March In for Crowning" (1908). The first known recorded version was in 1923 by the Paramount Jubilee Singers on Paramount 12073. Although the title given on the label is "When All the Saints Come Marching In", the group sings the modern lyrics beginning with "When the saints go marching in". No author is shown on the label.
O, when the saints go marchin’ in,
O, Lord, I want to be in that number when the saints go marchin’ in!
Great Are You Lord - Leslie Jordan & David Leonard
“Great Are You, Lord,” by Leslie Jordan and David Leonard (of All Sons and Daughters) and their producer Jason Ingram, came out in 2013. Ingram explains that Leonard wanted to write a song that would help his home church lean into musical worship a little more than it had in the past. He wanted a song people could engage with and sing loudly. Ingram wrote the line: “It’s Your breath in our lungs, so we pour out our praise.” The line was inspired by a Matt Redman quote, “There’s nothing like the people of God in the presence of God pouring out the praises of God.” With that as their starting point, Ingram, Leonard, and Jordan set out to write a song that gave context to the beauty of corporate worship.
You give life, You are love, You bring light to the darkness.
You give hope, You restore Every heart that is broken.
You give hope, You restore Every heart that is broken.
Great are You, Lord. It’s Your breath in our lungs,
So we pour out our praise.
So we pour out our praise.
And all the earth will shout Your praise.
Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing Great are You, Lord.
Our hearts will cry, these bones will sing Great are You, Lord.
Taste and See - James Moore
Since the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965), the Roman Catholic Church has been exploring ways to diversify its music culturally, especially music for congregational participation. The major document of the Council was Sacrosanctum Concilium (1963) that, among many other things, recognized the gifts of cultures around the world and the need to express aspects of different cultures appropriately in the Mass. Thus today one can attend Mass celebrations in several languages and musical styles in the same weekend.
Roman Catholic James E. Moore Jr. (b. 1951) brings the African-American gospel tradition to the Mass. He is a composer, conductor, pianist and master teacher who currently resides in Vienna, Austria, where he serves as a professional coach and teaches voice and conducting. A native of LaCrosse, Va., he holds undergraduate degrees in both piano and vocal music education and graduate degrees in piano and choral conducting. Dr. Moore is known for his choral conducting and leadership of congregations. His most popular songs are “Taste and See,” “I Will Be with You” and “An Irish Blessing,” all of which have been sung, recorded and appear in hymnals throughout the world. Prior to his move to Vienna, he served as director of music at St. Agnes Parish in Cincinnati, Ohio, and as assistant professor of music and liturgy at the Athenaeum of Ohio Theological Seminary.
“Taste and See” is a song to be sung during the Eucharist as people come forward to receive the communion elements. The refrain quotes Psalm 38:8a: “Taste and see that the LORD is good.” (NIV) The infusion of the African-American gospel style with this text adds a celebratory tone to communion. The refrain of the psalm invites not only a spiritual feeding of the soul, but also suggests that we can experience empirically the presence of God through the senses of tasting and seeing. Indeed, communion is a full-body encounter. Singing together suggests that hearing is also a part of receiving the elements as we come forward not just as individuals, but as members of the body of Christ to the table. Written to be sung in procession, “Taste and See” allows us to join symbolically the procession of the saints—“the faithful of every time and place,” as some of the communion liturgies attest. Communion is not just a ritual of personal penitence, but a celebration with our local body of Christ, with the faithful around the world, and with the saints—a cosmic moment in the Christian experience.
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
I will bless the Lord at all times. Praise shall always be on my lips;
my soul shall glory in the Lord for God has been so good to me.
Glorify the Lord with me. Together let us all praise God’s name.
I called the Lord who answered me; from all my troubles I was set free.
Worship the Lord, all you people. You’ll want for nothing if you ask.
Taste and see that the Lord is good; in God we need put all our trust.
About the Hymns:
For All the Saints
“For All the Saints” is the quintessential hymn for All Saints’ Day, with its uplifting text and triumphant music. It was written as a processional hymn by the Anglican Bishop of Wakefield, William Walsham How (1823-1879). How was educated at Shrewsbury School and Wadham College, Oxford (B.A. 1845). Taking Holy Orders in 1846, he became successively Curate of St. George's, Kidderminster, 1846; and of Holy Cross, Shrewsbury, 1848. In 1851, he moved to the Rectory of Whittington, Diocese of St. Asaph, becoming Rural Dean in 1853, and Hon. Canon of the Cathedral in 1860. In 1879. he was appointed Rector of St. Andrew's Undershaft, London, and was consecrated Suffragan Bishop for East London, under the title of the Bishop of Bedford, and in 1888 Bishop of Wakefield. In 1854, he published Psalms and Hymns, Compiled by the Rev. Thomas Baker Morrell, M.A., . . . and the Rev. William Walsham How, M.A. This was republished in an enlarged form in 1864, and to it was added a Supplement in 1867. To this collection Bishop How contributed several hymns, and also to the S. P. C. K. Church Hymns , of which he was joint editor, in 1871. Nearly 60 of Bishop How’s hymns are still in common use, the most popular of which are "For all the Saints who from their labors rest" and "We give Thee but Thine own".
Originally in eleven stanzas, “For All the Saints” was published in Earl Nelson's Hymns for Saints' Days (1864) with the heading, "Saints' Day Hymn. A Cloud of Witnesses. Heb. 12:1." The hymn was sung to the melody Sarum, by the Victorian composer Joseph Barnby, until the publication of the English Hymnal in 1906. This hymnal used a new setting by Ralph Vaughan Williams which he called Sine Nomine (literally, "without name") in reference to its use on the Feast of All Saints, 1 November (or the first Sunday in November, All Saints Sunday). It has been described as "one of the finest hymn tunes of [the 20th] century."
For All That You’ve Done
“For All That You’ve Done” was written by the Rend Collective. The text is based on Psalm 103:1-5 and Ephesians 4:7. Rend Collective (formerly known as Rend Collective Experiment) is a Northern Irish Christian experimental, folk rock, worship band originating from Bangor, Northern Ireland. The band was established under the name of Rend Collective Experiment between 2002-2003 at Bangor Elim Church, during a point which drummer Gareth Gilkeson described as "a bunch of us trying to figure out life." While the group comprises over 15 members, the band tours and records with 6 members. The remaining members are there for support and to encourage the band "spiritually, musically, and missionally." They explained noticing a sense of hostility from the modern culture towards the church and Christians therefore sought to create music that would draw such individuals spiritually and encourage them to come back to church.
