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:
Siyahamba - Robert Farlee
The history of South Africa under white British rule is marked by the existence of one of the most brutal systems of racial segregation that the world has ever known. A system by the name of “Apartheid”, literally meaning “separateness” in the Afrikaans language, made Africans of color aliens in their homeland. The laws of Apartheid forced millions to live in impoverished townships where they were denied the most basic human rights. Apartheid, under which the white minority held power over the entire population, was met with strong internal and external resistance, prompting global boycotts of sales and trade with South Africa. The most powerful form of resistance, however, was the refusal of South African blacks to remain prisoners in their own land. Throughout every stage of the struggle, the “liberation music” both fueled and united the movement. Song was a communal act of expression that shed light on the injustices of apartheid, therefore playing a major role in the eventual reform of the South African government.
Siyahamba is a South African hymn that became popular in North American churches in the 1990s. The title means "We Are Marching" or "We are Walking" in the Zulu language. It is said to have been composed around 1950 by Andries van Tonder, an elder of the Judith Church. The original composition was in Afrikaans (with the title "Ons marsjeer nou in die lig van God") and was subsequently translated into Zulu by Thabo Mkhize.
Siyahamba ekukhanyen' kwenkhos
(We are marching in the light of God)
(We are marching in the light of God)
Robert Buckley Farlee (b. 1950) is Associate Pastor and Director of Music at Christ Lutheran Church in Minneapolis. Bob Farlee and his wife Jane Buckley-Farlee (pastor at Trinity Lutheran Congregation, ELCA, Minneapolis) were ordained on July 13, 1980, in St. Louis, Missouri, at Unity Lutheran Church, Bel-Nor. It was at Unity Lutheran that Bob served as music director. Then in November of 1981, Bob joined the staff at Christ Church Lutheran, Minneapolis, where he has served both as a pastor and as cantor. Farlee is a graduate of Christ Seminary-Seminex, St. Louis, Missouri. He also serves on the worship editorial staff at Augsburg Fortress Publishers, and was deeply involved in the recent publication of Evangelical Lutheran Worship, the new book of worship for the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.
Work for the Night is Coming - Harold DeCou
Annie Louisa Walker Coghill (1836-1907) was born in Staffordshire, but moved to Canada after her marriage, where several of her poetical pieces were printed in the Canadian newspapers. These were gathered together and published c. 1859 in her Leaves from the Backwoods. In addition to novels, plays for children, and magazine work, she edited the Autobiography and Letters of her cousin, Mrs. Oliphant, in 1898.
In 1854, at the age of 18, Coghill realized that even for her the daylight was fading, and she reminded us to work for the night is coming when we won't be able to work for the Lord anymore. Based on the passage in John 9:4, "I must work the works of Him who sent me while it is day; the night is coming when no one can work", she penned the words of this hymn. And over the years the hymn has reminded us that our days upon this earth are numbered, and so we should be challenged to be about the work of the Lord. "Work, for the night is coming" was published in a Canadian newspaper, from which it passed, without any acknowledgement of the authorship, into Ira D. Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos.
Work, for the night is coming, Work thru the morning hours;
Work while the dew is sparkling, Work 'mid springing flow'rs.
Work when the day grows brighter, Work in the glowing sun;
Work, for the night is coming, When man's work is done.
Work, for the night is coming, Work thru the sunny noon;
Fill brightest hours with labor - Rest comes sure and soon.
Give ev'ry flying minute Something to keep in store;
Work, for the night is coming, When man works no more.
Work, for the night is coming, Under the sunset skies;
While their bright tints are glowing, Work, for daylight flies.
Work till the last beam fadeth, Fadeth to shine no more;
Work, while the night is dark’ning, When man's work is o’er.
Harold H. DeCou (1932-2008) attended Temple University in Philadelphia and was long associated with Billy Graham and the Singspiration staff. His output as artist, composer, arranger and orchestrator ensures that he will be remembered as one of the giants of Christian gospel music. He served as church organist at Grace Presbyterian Church in Peoria from 1988 to 2001. He was also an Honorary Fellow of Shenandoah Society Award.
About the Piano Music:
He Leadeth Me - Lary Shackley
Although Joseph Gilmore (1834-1918) became a distinguished university and seminary professor, an author of several textbooks in Hebrew and English literature, and a respected Baptist minister, he is best remembered today for this one hymn, hurriedly written when he was just twenty-eight. Gilmore scribbled down these lines in 1862, while visiting with friends after preaching about the truths of the 23rd Psalm at the Wednesday evening service of the First Baptist Church in Philadelphia. He left this account:
At the close of the service we adjourned to Deacon Watson’s pleasant home, where we were being entertained. During our conversation the blessedness of God’s leading so grew upon me that I took out my pencil, wrote the text just as it stands today, handed it to my wife, and thought no more of it.
Without telling her husband, Mrs. Gilmore sent the verses to the “Watchman and Reflector Magazine”, where it first appeared the following year. Three years later Joseph Gilmore went to Rochester, New York, as a candidate to become the pastor of Second Baptist Church. He recalls:
Upon entering the chapel I took up a hymnal, thinking—I wonder what they sing here. To my amazement the book opened up at “He Leadeth Me,” and that was the first time I knew that my hurriedly written lines had found a place among the songs of the church.
After seeing Gilmore's text in the Boston Watchman and Reflector, William B. Bradbury, an important American contributor to early gospel hymnody, composed AUCHTON for those words. Bradbury arranged the text into a stanza/refrain structure, added two additional lines to the chorus: “His faithful foll’wer I would be, for by His hand He leadeth me.”, and published the hymn in his The Golden Censor in 1864. AUCHTON (also known as HE LEADETH ME) means "unknown.”
He leadeth me: O blessed thought! O words with heavenly comfort fraught!
Whate'er I do, where'er I be, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.
He leadeth me, he leadeth me; by his own hand he leadeth me:
his faithful follower I would be, for by his hand he leadeth me.
Sometimes mid scenes of deepest gloom, sometimes where Eden's flowers bloom,
by waters calm, o'er troubled sea, still 'tis God's hand that leadeth me.
Lord, I would clasp thy hand in mine, nor ever murmur nor repine;
content, whatever lot I see, since 'tis my God that leadeth me.
And when my task on earth is done, when, by thy grace, the victory's won,
e'en death's cold wave I will not flee, since God through Jordan leadeth me.
Larry Shackley (b. 1956) is a full-time composer and editor from Columbia, SC. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and his Master in Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the University of South Carolina. From 1995-2007, he taught and directed the music program at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC. Prior to that, he worked for several years at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, creating original music and producing radio programs for the Moody Broadcasting Network. He has been active in church music since his teens, and served as staff keyboardist for ten years at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. Currently, Shackley is on the staff of Gateway Baptist Church in Irmo, SC. He has produced over twenty books of keyboard arrangements and more than one hundred choral anthems. He has won ASCAP standard panel awards every year since 1998, and has received commissions from churches, schools, and community choirs across America.
About the Choral Music:
The Storm is Passing Over – Barbara Baker
Charles Albert Tindley (1851-1933) was born in Berlin, Maryland; son of a slave father and a free mother. In his Book of Sermons (1932), he speaks of being “hired out” as a young boy, “wherever father could place me.” He married Daisy Henry when he was seventeen. Together they had eight children, some of whom would later assist him with the publication of his hymns. Tindley was largely self-taught throughout his lifetime. He learned to read mostly on his own. In 1875, he took correspondence courses toward becoming a Methodist minister. He did this while working as a sexton (building caretaker) for the East Bainbridge Street Church. Beginning in 1885, he was appointed by the local bishop to serve two or three-year terms at a series of churches, until coming full circle to become pastor at East Bainbridge in 1902. Under his leadership, the church grew rapidly. They relocated in 1904 to the East Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church, then again in 1924 to the new Tindley Temple, where the membership roll blossomed to about ten thousand. Tindley was known for being a captivating preacher, and for also taking an active role in the betterment of the people in his community. His songs were an outgrowth of his preaching ministry, often introduced during his sermons. Tindley was able to draw people of multiple races to his church ministry; likewise, his songs have been adopted and proliferated by white and black churches alike. The songs of Charles Tindley were published cumulatively in two editions of Soul Echoes (1905, 1909) and six editions of New Songs of Paradise (1916-1941).
"The storm is passing over" was originally published as a hymn in Charles Tindley's Soul Echoes (1905). It did not gain significant popularity until it was adapted as a gospel choir arrangement by Donald Vails, as recorded on his album Yesterday, Today, and Forever (1985). This arrangement has largely superceded Tindley's original hymn in terms of usage and performance.
Dr. Barbara Baker is an active teacher, arranger, and clinician with a nationally recognized reputation. She currently directs choral ensembles at Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt, Maryland, as well as the Gospel Choir at the Colesville United Methodist Church in Silver Spring, Maryland. She is the recipient of the Maryland Award for Excellence.
Have courage my soul and let us journey on though the night is dark,
And I am far from home. Thanks be to God, the morning light appears.
The storm is passing over. Hallelu.
About the Hymns:
Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
Albert F. Bayly (1901-1984) was educated at London University and Mansfield College, Oxford. Beginning in the late 1920’s, he served at four Congregational churches in Northumberland, Lancashire and East Yorkshire; in 1962, he became pastor in Thaxted, Essex. After retiring in 1971, he moved to Springfield, Chelmsford, and was active in the local United Reformed Church. He wrote several pageants on mission themes, and librettos for cantatas by W. L. Lloyd Webber (father of Andrew).
Bayly wrote this text in response to a Hymn Society of America search for new hymns on social welfare. It was chosen as the theme hymn for the Second National Conference on the Churches and Social Welfare held in Cleveland, Ohio, October 23-27, 1961. The Hymn Society published the text in Seven New Social Welfare Hymns (1961).
The tune “Beach Spring” is attributed to Benjamin Franklin White, who with the help of Elisha J. King, published The Sacred Harp (Philadelphia, 1844), where it was sung with the text of “Come, ye sinners, poor and wretched.” Named after the Beech Spring Baptist Church in Harris County, Georgia, the church was given its name because of its close proximity to two beech trees at a spring. Although the original spelling of the name should be “Beech,” White’s misspelling “Beach,” has stuck with the hymn throughout the ages. White was mostly a self-taught singing school teacher from South Carolina. Eventually he moved to Hamilton in Harris County, Georgia, where he worked at many different vocations, including a stint in the Georgia Militia. Eventually White married Thurza Golightly, and together the two had 14 children (the same number of children that White’s parents had). At some point along the timeline of Benjamin Franklin White’s history, a rumor was started that he worked closely with William Walker (who was his brother-in-law) to publish Southern Harmonies, but this rumor was probably not true. The two books were wildly popular in the south, but both contained the same southern white spirituals which were popular in the more rural areas. In the 20th century, the tunes from The Sacred Harp, and Southern Harmonies entered into more denominational hymnals and inspired many different composers to arrange the melodies in various ways. The Sacred Harp is one of the most used books in the four-shape notation, and has gone through numerous editions that have been published throughout the years, and even to the present days.
Jesu, Jesu
Following African independence movements throughout the 1960s and 1970s, a number of Western missionaries encouraged the composition of Christian song in African idioms. Thomas S. Colvin (1925-2000) was one of these missionaries. Colvin was a pastoral missionary for the Church of Scotland in Ghana from 1958-1964 and Nyasaland (now Malawi) from 1954-'58 and 1964-'74. Trained as an engineer before studying theology at Trinity College in Glasgow, he was an active member of the ecumenical Iona Community for nearly 50 years.
In concert with his commitment to the rule of Iona Community members, Colvin's missionary ministry was characterized by justice issues such as Christian service committees, refugee resettlement and community development projects. Among his many activities, Colvin participated in community development training in parts of southern Africa and aided refugees from Mozambique seeking sanctuary in neighboring Malawi. These areas of service were the focus of Colvin's ministry, rather than the development of indigenous congregational song.
The songs collected by Colvin have been spread by members of the Iona Community around the world. Several of his texts set to African melodies have found a home in Western hymnals. Colvin nurtured new African congregational songs by adapting local melodies and writing new texts appropriate for African Christians and, as it turns out, Christians around the world. He introduced his hymns first to the Iona Community and then beyond in two collections, Free to Serve (1969) and Leap My Soul (1976). These collections were brought together in a single volume, Fill Us With Your Love (1983). A last volume, Come, Let Us Walk This Road Together, was added in 1997.
"Jesu, Jesu" is Colvin's most popular hymn. The melody is adapted from a Ghanaian folk song he heard during his years of service in that country. The tune name CHEREPONI comes from a town in northern Ghana, where the hymn was written. The composition of the hymn is symbolic of collaboration between two cultures. The text comes from a European Christian inspired by his service in Ghana. The melody comes from a West African country. In this composition, even the act of hymn singing may become a metaphor for neighborly relationships that are possible in Christ.
In concert with his commitment to the rule of Iona Community members, Colvin's missionary ministry was characterized by justice issues such as Christian service committees, refugee resettlement and community development projects. Among his many activities, Colvin participated in community development training in parts of southern Africa and aided refugees from Mozambique seeking sanctuary in neighboring Malawi. These areas of service were the focus of Colvin's ministry, rather than the development of indigenous congregational song.
The songs collected by Colvin have been spread by members of the Iona Community around the world. Several of his texts set to African melodies have found a home in Western hymnals. Colvin nurtured new African congregational songs by adapting local melodies and writing new texts appropriate for African Christians and, as it turns out, Christians around the world. He introduced his hymns first to the Iona Community and then beyond in two collections, Free to Serve (1969) and Leap My Soul (1976). These collections were brought together in a single volume, Fill Us With Your Love (1983). A last volume, Come, Let Us Walk This Road Together, was added in 1997.
"Jesu, Jesu" is Colvin's most popular hymn. The melody is adapted from a Ghanaian folk song he heard during his years of service in that country. The tune name CHEREPONI comes from a town in northern Ghana, where the hymn was written. The composition of the hymn is symbolic of collaboration between two cultures. The text comes from a European Christian inspired by his service in Ghana. The melody comes from a West African country. In this composition, even the act of hymn singing may become a metaphor for neighborly relationships that are possible in Christ.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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