September 15, 2019

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:

O Jesus, I Have Promised - Wilbur Held

John Ernest Bode, M.A., (1816-1874) was educated at Eton, the Charter House, and at Christ Church, Oxford, earning a B.A. and M.A.. Taking Holy Orders in 1841, he became Rector of Westwell, Oxfordshire; and then of Castle Camps, Cambridgeshire. He was Tutor of his College, and Classical Examiner. In addition to his Bampton Lectures, and Ballads from Herodotus, he published Hymns from the Gospel of the Day for each Sunday and Festivals of our Lord, 1860; and Short Occasional Poems, Lond., Longmans, 1858. His well-known hymn, “O Jesu, I have promised" was first published in Hymns from the Gospel.

“O Jesus, I have promised” has been set to several tunes.  This setting uses LLANFYLLIN, a traditional Welsh tune which derives its name from a small town in Powys, Wales. 

O Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
be Thou forever near me, my Master and my Friend;
I shall not fear the battle if Thou art by my side,
nor wander from the pathway if Thou wilt be my guide. 

O let me feel Thee near me, the world is ever near;
I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear;
my foes are ever near me, around me and within;
but, Jesus, draw Thou nearer, and shield my soul from sin. 

O let me hear Thee speaking in accents clear and still,
above the storms of passion, the murmurs of self-will;
O speak to reassure me, to hasten or control;
O speak, and make me listen, Thou Guardian of my soul.

O Jesus, Thou hast promised to all who follow Thee,
that where Thou art in glory, there shall Thy servant be;
and, Jesus, I have promised to serve Thee to the end;
O give me grace to follow, my Master and my Friend. 

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.

Toccatina Festiva - Adrian Fish

Adrian Vernon Fish (b.1956) is a composer, broadcaster and Greenland cultural explorer. He lives in the rural land of Erris in County Mayo, Ireland. Adrian broadcasts on Erris-FM where he produces two shows Fish on Fridays where he discusses the stories behind the composers and music and The Venue - a magazine arts show.  By the age of 21 Fish had composed over 200 works and subsequently destroyed them one autumn in 1977. He has since brought his output of work up to over 200 again, including twelve symphonies, organ music, cantatas and cabaret songs.

About the Piano Music:

We Are Travelers on a Journey - Mark Hayes

Richard Gillard (b. 1953) was born in England and raised in New Zealand.  His faith background is a mixture of the Anglican Church on his mother’s side and the Pentecostal Church on his father’s side of the family.  He has had little systematic musical training, but from the age of seven began the ukulele, often to accompany his own singing, learning by experiment and later with the help of his father and of Pentecostal church musicians. “We are Travelers on a Journey (The Servant Song) was first published in 1978 on a record album by Scripture in Song called Father Make Us One and has appeared subsequently in other publications including Songs of Praise, which is widely used by New Zealand congregations.

This song is a challenge to the notion that Christianity is about a vertical relationship between the believer and God.  It is also about a horizontal relationship between all of us on this planet.  And the way we live our lives in service tells us a whole lot more about who we are as Christians than do the words we say.  Living out our salvation so that others might be redeemed and served is what it’s all about. It is about being pilgrims on a journey together.  Matthew 20:26b-28 provides the primary scriptural background for the song: “. . . Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (NIV)

Brother, sister let me serve you.  Let me be as Christ to you.

Pray that I might have the grace To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.  We are travelers on the road.

We are here to help each other Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you In the night time of your fear.

I will hold my hand out to you; Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping. When you laugh, I'll laugh with you.

I will share your joy and sorrow Till we've seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven, We shall find such harmony,

Born of all we've known together Of Christ's love and agony.

Mark Hayes is an award-winning concert pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. His personal catalog, totaling over 1,000 published works, includes work for solo voice, solo piano, multiple pianos, orchestra, jazz combo, small instrumental ensembles, and choruses of all kinds.  Mark received a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude in Piano Performance from Baylor University in 1975. He has conducted the SWACDA and MCDA Community and Church Honor Choir, and served as guest conductor at Carnegie Hall, featuring his Te Deum and Magnificat. In 2010, Baylor University Center for Christian Music Studies awarded Mark the Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music. Mark arranged and orchestrated the music for Civil War Voices, which won six awards including "Best Musical" in the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York. He conducted the world premiere of his work for chorus, orchestra and narrator, The American Spirit, at Lincoln Center in May 2011 and the world premiere of his Requiem in Lincoln Center in May 2013.  Whether concertizing on the other side of the globe or composing at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, Mark is blessed to live out his mission "to create beautiful music for the world”.

About the Vocal Solo Music:

Beautiful City, from “Godspell” - Stephen Schwartz

Tom Urrutia, baritone

Godspell is a musical composed by Stephen Schwartz (b. 1948) with the book by John-Michael Tebelak.  Godspell began as a project by the drama students at Carnegie Mellon University, then moved to the off-off-Broadway theater La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club in the East Village of Manhattan in 1971. The show was then re-scored for an off-Broadway production, which became a long-running success.

The musical is structured as a series of parables, primarily based on the Gospel of Matthew. The parables are interspersed with music set primarily to lyrics from traditional hymns, with the passion of Christ appearing briefly near the end of the show.

"Beautiful City" was written in 1972 as part of the film version and re-written in 1993 after the Rodney King riots in Los Angeles.

Out of the ruins and rubble, out of the smoke,

Out of our night of struggle, can we see a ray of hope?

One pale thin ray, reaching for the day.

We can build a beautiful city, yes, we can, yes, we can.

We can build a beautiful city, not a city of angels,

But we can build a city of man.

We may not reach the ending, but we can start,

Slowly but truly mending brick by brick, heart by heart.

Now, maybe now, we start learning how.

When your trust is all but shattered,

When your faith is all but killed,

You can give up bitter and battered,

Or you can slowly start to build 

A beautiful city, Yes, we can, yes, we can.

We can build a beautiful city, not a city of angels, 

But finally a city of man.

About the Hymns:

Lead On, O King Eternal

When Ernest Shurtleff’s seminary class was preparing for their graduation in 1887, they turned to Ernest, who had written two volumes of poetry, and asked him to write a hymn for their graduation ceremony.  He wrote “Lead on, O King Eternal” for that occasion.

This hymn is really a prayer — a prayer for God’s guidance.  It speaks of marching and “fields of conquest” and “battle song” — not because it celebrates war, but because it acknowledges the daily struggle in which good people must engage against evil.  It looks forward to the celebration of victory — not with clashing swords and stirring drums, but with “deeds of love and mercy” — acknowledging that Christ calls us to conquer the world by demonstrating love and showing mercy rather than by using force.  This hymn acknowledges the difficulties of the Christian life — standing armed only with holiness against “sin’s fierce war.  It acknowledges the reality of the cross, but celebrates the reality of the crown — the reward of those who are faithful — and closes, “Lead on, O God of might!”

Henry T. Smart composed the tune LANCASHIRE in 1835 for use at a missions festival at Blackburn, Lancashire, England. For that festival, which celebrated the three-hundredth anniversary of the Reformation in England, the tune was set to Reginald Heber's “From Greenland's Icy Mountains.” First printed in leaflets, LANCASHIRE was published In Smart's Psalms and Hymns for Divine Worship (1867). It was set to Shurtleffs text in the 1905 Methodist Hymnal. In some hymnals this tune is also associated with "The Day of Resurrection”.

Go Make of All Disciples

Leon McKinley Adkins (1896-1986) was a Methodist pastor, serving congregations between 1921-1955, and an administrator, serving at the Board of Education of the Methodist Church in Nashville from 1955-1966.  His hymn, “Go Make of All Disciples” was first sung at the commissioning of teachers and church school officials during Christian Education Week, 1955, at University Methodist Church, Syracuse, where the author was pastor.  The hymn was printed in the February 1956 issue of Church School and first appeared in a hymnal in the 1966 Book of Hymns.  This hymn begins with the Great Commission: “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, unto the end of the world. Amen.” (Matthew 28:19-20, KJV) 

Adkins’ text is also set to the hymn tune LANCASHIRE.

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

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