October 6, 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:

St. Peter - Healey Willan

William Arthur Dunkerley (1852-1941) was a prolific English journalist, novelist and poet. He was born in Manchester, spent a short time after his marriage in America before moving to Ealing, west London, where he served as deacon and teacher at the Ealing Congregational Church from the 1880s, and he then moved to Worthing in Sussex in 1922, where he became the town's mayor.  He wrote under his own name, and also as John Oxenham for his poetry, hymn-writing, and novels. His poetry includes Bees in Amber: a little book of thoughtful verse (1913) which became a bestseller. He also wrote the poem "Greatheart." He used another pseudonym, Julian Ross, for journalism. Dunkerley was a major contributor to Jerome K. Jerome's The Idler magazine.

The poem, “In Christ There is no East or West”, was originally part of a libretto, “Darkness and Light,” prepared in 1908 for an exhibition for the London Missionary Society on the theme “The Orient in London.” He then included this poem in his collection, Bees in Amber (1913). This popular volume was rejected by publishers; when Oxenham self-published it, the book sold 285,000 copies. From here the hymn found its way into many English-language hymnals, beginning with England’s Songs of Praise (1931).  English literary scholar and hymnologist J.R. Watson states that the hymn takes its opening idea from Rudyard Kipling’s famous lines, “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” from “The Ballad of East and West,” published in Barrach-Room Ballads, and Other Verses (1892). However, Oxenham’s hymn is the antithesis of Kipling’s verse.   As UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young observes, “The theme of Oxenham’s hymn, one of the most durable hymnic statements of Christian unity in the twentieth century, is from Galatians 3:28: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ.’” 

Composed by Alexander R. Reinagle (1799-1877), ST. PETER was published as a setting for Psalm 118 in Reinagle's Psalm Tunes for the Voice and Pianoforte (c. 1836). The tune first appeared with Newton's text in Hymns Ancient and Modern(1861); it is now usually associated with this text, for which it is a better match than for Psalm 118. The tune was named after St. Peter-in-the-East, the church in Oxford, England, where Reinagle was organist from 1822-1853. Little is known of Reinagle's early life. Of Austrian descent, he came from a family of musicians and became a well-known organ teacher. A writer of teaching manuals for string instruments, Reinagle also compiled two books of hymn tunes, the 1836 collection and A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes(1840). 

In Christ there is no east or west, In him no south or north,

But one great fam'ly bound by love Throughout the whole wide earth.

In him shall true hearts ev’rywhere Their high communion find;

His service is the golden cord Close binding humankind.

Join hands, disciples in the faith, Whate'er your race may be!

Who serve each other in Christ's love Are surely kin to me.

In Christ now meet both east and west, In him meet south and north,

All Christly souls are one in him Throughout the whole wide earth.

Healey Willan (1880-1968) was an Canadian organist and composer.  He composed more than 800 works including operas, symphonies, chamber music, a concerto, and pieces for band, orchestra, organ, and piano, but is best known for his religious music.  Willan was born in England, and he began musical training at age eight, with studies at St. Saviour's Choir School in Eastbourne.  He earned, by examination in organ playing, harmony, counterpoint, history and orchestration, the Royal College of Organists' Associateship in 1897 and Fellowship in 1899. The Anglo-Catholic Tractarian movement led to an Anglican revival of plainsong, and in 1910, Willan joined the London Gregorian Association (which strove to preserve and revive "plain-chant").  In 1913, Willan emigrated to Canada.  In 1921, he become Precentor of the Church of St. Mary Magdalene (Toronto), where he remained until his death.  St. Mary Magdalene, under Willan, became a North American mecca for choral and Anglican church musicians.  In 1920, the Toronto Conservatory (now the Royal Conservatory of Music) appointed Willan Head of its Theory Department.  In 1934, he founded the Tudor Singers, which he conducted until it disbanded in 1939.  From 1937 to 1950, Willan was University of Toronto Professor of Music and Organist. When the Order of Canada was established in 1967, it named Willan a Companion. In Britain, it was customary for the Archbishop of Canterbury to occasionally grant very distinguished English cathedral musicians the Lambeth Doctorate, Mus. D Cantaur; in 1956, Willan, "the Dean of Canadian composers", became the first non-English church musician to be so honoured.  People who remember Willan from his time at St Mary Magdalene's like to moderate his somewhat dourly pious public image by quoting him: "English by birth; Canadian by adoption; Irish by extraction; Scotch by absorption.”

Petite Marche Brilliante - Betty Roe

Betty Roe was born the daughter of a fishmonger in North Kensington, London, England. Roe took piano lessons from the age of six and began writing music and arrangements in her teens during World War II when she assisted with choirs at the local church. She studied at the Royal Academy of Music, but left school in 1947 and took a job as a filing clerk. She continued at the Royal Academy in 1949, studying piano, cello, voice, and composition. In the 1950s she became involved with a drama group where she began writing musicals. She also worked as a sessions singer with London ensembles.  She was Director of Music at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art from 1968–78, and founded Thames Publishing with her husband in 1970.  Roe received an MBE for services to Classical Music and Composition in the 2011 New Year Honours.

About the Piano Music:

I’m Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table - Stan Pethel

In this spiritual, the “welcome table” refers to the marriage feast of the Lamb referred to in the New Testament book of Revelation. This event takes place  when those who put their trust  in the Jesus Christ are joined with him in heaven. African-American’s bound in slavery were never welcome to their master’s table and this song echoed their hope of the tables turning in future glory.

This song was modified and used extensively during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s. In the civil rights song, "welcome table" alludes to the sit-in protests at lunch counters in public facilities where Black people were refused service, including a verse: “I’m gonna sit at the Woolworth counter”.

"... The Welcome Table, honored in the Jewish tradition by the Seder table at which one seat is left empty for Elijah, or for the stranger. Modeled in the Christian tradition by Jesus' radical table fellowship with sinners and prostitutes.  Today, we join and eat at a Welcome Table.  It is “not a First Lewisville table, not a United Methodist table, but God’s table, where all are welcome to receive the love of God.”  On this World Communion Sunday, we sit together with all God’s children.

I'm gonna sit at the welcome table

I'm gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days, hallelujah

Sit at the welcome table one of these days, one of these days

I'm gonna feast on milk and honey

Oh yes, I'm gonna feast on milk and honey one of these days, hallelujah

Feast on milk and honey one of these days, one of these days

All God's children gonna sit together

Yes, all God's children gonna sit together one of these days, hallelujah

All God's children gonna sit together, one of these days, one of these days

I'm gonna sit at the welcome table

Yes, I'm gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days, hallelujah

Yes, gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days, one of these days

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.

About the Choral Music:

Make Me an Instrument of Thy Peace - Mary McDonald

The Prayer of Saint Francis, also known as Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace, is attributed to the thirteenth-century Saint Francis of Assisi. The prayer in its present form cannot be traced back further than 1912, when it was printed in Paris in French, in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell), published by La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The Holy Mass League). The author's name was not given, although it may have been the founder of La Ligue, Fr. Esther Bouquerel.

A professor at the University of Orleans in France, Dr. Christian Renoux, published a study of the prayer and its history in French in 2001.  Summarizing the Renoux book on the prayer, an article by Egidio Picucci on the 19–20 January 2009 issue of L'Osservatore Romano says that the earliest record of the prayer is its appearance, as "a beautiful prayer to say during Mass" in the December 1912 number of the small devotional French publication La Clochette, "the bulletin of the League of the Holy Mass". In 1915, Marquis Stanislas de La Rochethulon, president of the Anglo-French association Souvenir Normand, which called itself "a work of peace and justice inspired by the testament of William the Conqueror, who is considered to be the ancestor of all the royal families of Europe", sent this prayer to Pope Benedict XV.

The Pope had an Italian translation published on the front page of L'Osservatore Romano of 20 January 1916. It appeared under the heading, "The prayer of Souvenir Normand for peace", and with the explanation: "Souvenir Normand has sent the Holy Father the text of some prayers for peace. We have pleasure in presenting in particular the prayer addressed to the Sacred Heart, inspired by the testament of William the Conqueror". On 28 January 1916, the French newspaper La Croix reprinted, in French, the Osservatore Romano article, with exactly the same heading and explanation. La Rochethulon wrote to the newspaper to clarify that it was not a prayer of Souvenir Normand, but he chose not to mention La Clochette, the first publication in which it had appeared. Because of its appearance on L'Osservatore Romano and La Croix as a prayer for peace during the First World War, this prayer then became widely known. 

The prayer has been known in the United States since 1927 when its first known translation in English appeared in January of that year in the Quaker magazine Friends' Intelligencer (Philadelphia), where it was attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.   Cardinal Francis Spellman and Senator Albert W. Hawkes distributed millions of copies of the prayer during and just after World War II.

Mary McDonald’s sacred music career spans over thirty-five years. More than eight hundred anthems, seasonal musicals and keyboard collections testify to her significant contribution to sacred literature. In 2000, Mary became the first ever woman President of the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference. In addition, she has served as accompanist for the Tennessee Men's Chorale since 1985. Her greatest desire is "to give God glory for the songs He has allowed me to compose. He alone, is the true Creator behind my pen."  In 2011, after serving as sacred music editor for The Lorenz Corporation in Dayton, Ohio for more than twenty years, Mary answered a new call. Now she takes her tremendous passion and love for music making directly to churches as an independent artist by holding Composer Weekend workshops. 

Lord, make me an instrument of Thy peace.

Where there is hatred, let me sow love.

Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith.

Where there’s despair, hope.  Where there’s darkness, light.

Where there’s sadness, joy.

O Lord, grant that I may not so much seek to be consoled as to console,

to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive.  For it is by faith that we believe.

For in forgiving, we are forgiven.  It is in dying that we are born to eternal life!

About the Hymns:

All Creatures of Our God and King

The words of the hymn were initially written by St Francis of Assisi (1181-1226) in 1225 in the Canticle of the Sun poem, which was based on Psalm 148. The words were translated into English by William Draper, who at the time was rector of a Church of England parish church at Adel near Leeds. Draper paraphrased the words of the Canticle and set them to music. It is not known when Draper first composed the hymn but it was between 1899 and 1919. Draper composed the hymn for his church's children's Whitsun festival celebrations and it was later published in 1919 in the Public School Hymn Book. The hymn is currently used in 179 different hymn books. The words written by St Francis are some of the oldest used in hymns after "Father We Praise Thee", written in 580 AD. The hymn is set to the tune of "Lasst uns erfreuen herzlich sehr", a German Easter hymn written by Friedrich Spee, published in 1623 in his book Auserlesene, Catholische, Geistliche Kirchengesäng. It was first used in English hymn books in 1906. 

St. Francis is famous for many things, including love of animals.  Pictures of him usually have birds flying nearby and small animals at his feet.  A popular story tells of him stopping to preach a sermon to a flock of birds.  He reminded them that God had blessed them with beautiful clothing even though they had never learned to spin or weave–– and that God had blessed them with food even thought they had never learned to sow or reap.  Then he called them to sing their songs as praises to God.  St. Francis wrote this hymn near the end of his life.  Sick and suffering bouts of blindness, he was going home to die when he stopped to visit friends at the St. Damien monastery.  While there, he felt the inspiration to compose this joyful hymn.  It calls all God's creatures ––sun and moon ––wind and water––fruits and flowers––and all who are of tender heart––to sing, "Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia!" to honor our God.

LASST UNS ERFREUEN was originally published in the Jesuit hymnal, Ausserlesene Catlwlische Geistliche Kirchengesänge, in 1623 in Cologne, Germany. The tune is believed to have been composed by Friedrich Spee, a Jesuit priest and hymn writer who was most well known as an activist who opposed trials for witchcraft. Spee’s 1631 book, Cautio Criminalis, or a Book on Witch Trials, is one of the first written works to present strong arguments against the use of torture.  Spee’s opening melodic phrase in “LASST” has its origins in a setting of Psalm 68 in the Genevan Psalter, a collection of psalm settings composed between 1539-62 in Geneva, Switzerland. While its original publication featured an Easter text, “Lasst uns erfreuen herzlich sehr” (“let us rejoice most heartily”), its most well-known version appeared in the English Hymnal in 1906, edited by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Vaughan Williams reharmonized the tune and set it in a triple meter.

For the Bread Which You Have Broken

Louis F. Benson (1855-1930), who wrote the lyrics of “For the Bread Which You Have Broken,” was educated at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and practiced law for seven years before pursuing theological studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1886, he was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  Benson served as pastor for six years at Christ the Redeemer in Germantown, PA, before stepping down to devote himself to literary work in the service of the church.

Benson did extensive work as an editor for several hymnals authorized for use by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the USA. These hymnals include The Hymnal 1895, The Chapel Hymnal 1898, and The School Hymnal 1899. In 1905, he also edited the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America with Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933), who was the author of the well-known hymn, "Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee." Benson’s seminal publication The English Hymn: Its Development and Use in Worship 1915 is regarded as a definitive work on the subject and secured him a place among American hymnological scholars.

“For the Bread Which You Have Broken” is a post-Communion hymn that first appeared in Louis F. Benson’s private collection, Hymns Original and Translated (Philadelphia, 1925). The first three stanzas were written on November 21, 1924. A fourth stanza was suggested by Henry Sloane Coffin (1877-1954), who, at the time, was pastor of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, that shows a relationship between the sacrament of Communion and going into the world to serve. In the first stanza, Benson recalls Christ’s actions at the Last Supper in which the Eucharist was instituted. However, instead of Christ giving thanks, the church gives thanks for the gift of the Eucharist as reflected in the phrase: “now we give you thanks, O Lord." Because of the sacrifice Christ made for the church, it proves his love for his people. This truth is reflected in the second stanza and is also reminiscent of the Apostle Paul’s reflection on love in Romans 12:9-21. “With our sainted ones in glory” begins the third stanza and recalls the “great a cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1-2. In the second half of the third stanza, Benson makes a request for the church to keep the love of Christ until the second coming.  The call to service in the fourth stanza ends with the hope expressed in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10, “your kingdom come.”

The hymn tune FOR THE BREAD (also known as KINGDOM) was written by V. Earle Copes (1921–2014).  Copes was a distinguished composer, teacher, performer, editor, and elder in the United Methodist Church, an important force in the development of Methodist’s professional standards, a champion of Wesleyan and ecumenical hymnody, and leader in the expansion of church music repertory, styles, and performance practices. He was educated at Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina (BA, 1942), and Union Theological Seminary, New York, (MSM, 1944, BD, 1945). He served as minister of music at Highland Park Methodist Church, Dallas, Texas, and served as a consultant for the 1966 revision of the United Methodist Hymnal.

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

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