May 31, 2020 - Pentecost

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:

Spirit of God, Descend upon my Heart - Mark Hayes

The words of this sung prayer are among the most passionate in the history of hymnody.  This masterpiece of Christian devotional poetry is the work of George Croly (1780-1860), an Anglican minister born in Dublin, Ireland, but whose ministry took place in London. Having served a small parish in Ireland, he moved to London to pursue a literary career where he wrote in several mediums including poetry, novels, history and biography.  In 1835, Croly accepted the challenge to reopen a church in one of the worst slum areas of London, that had been closed for over a century. He was known among his peers as thoroughly conservative in theology with no tolerance for liberal views. Through personal charisma and dynamic preaching, he attracted large crowds to St. Stephen’s Church.  Croly prepared a new hymnal in 1854 for his congregation and published it as Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship. “Spirit of God, Descend upon my Heart” first appeared in that hymnal under the title “Holiness Desired.” It is the only hymn by Croly to have survived. 

George Croly was born in Dublin, Aug. 17, 1780, and educated at the Dublin University. After taking Holy Orders, he laboured in Ireland till about 1810, when he took up his residence in London, and devoted himself to literature. In 1835 he succeeded to the united benefices of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, and St. Benet Sherehog, retaining the same till his death, which occurred suddenly in the public street, Holborn, Nov. 24, 1860. His prose publications, in addition to contributions to Blackwood's Magazine, were numerous, and dealt with biographical, historical, and scriptural subjects. His hymns were published in Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship. Written and compiled by the Rev. George Croly, LL.D. London Kendrick, 1854.

This hymn is an intense, personal prayer for the working of the Holy Spirit (st. 1), for illumination (st. 2), for more fervent love for Christ (st. 3), for greater holiness in our walk with the Lord (st. 4), and for the fullness of the Spirit (st. 5). 

MORECAMBE was composed in 1870 by Frederick C. Atkinson (1841-1896) as a setting for Henry Lyte's "Abide with Me". It was first published in G. S. Barrett and E.J. Hopkins's Congregational Church Hymnal (1887). The tune is named for a coastal town on Morecambe Bay near Lancaster, England, a town not far from Bradford, where Atkinson served as organist. As a boy Atkinson was a chorister and assistant organist at Norwich Cathedral. In 1867 he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Cambridge and then served as organist and choirmaster in St. Luke's Church, Manningham, Bradford. He also held that position at Norwich Cathedral and at St. Mary's Parish Church in Lewisham. Atkinson wrote hymn tunes, anthems, and complete Anglican services, as well as songs and piano pieces.

The text of the first line was changed to “descend upon my heart.”  The original Croly text follows:

Spirit of God, who dwells within my heart,  

wean it from sin, through all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as you are,
and make me love you as I ought to love. 

I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
no sudden rending of the veil of clay,
no angel visitant, no opening skies;
but take the dimness of my soul away. 

Did you not bid us love you, God and King,
love you with all our heart and strength and mind?
I see the cross there teach my heart to cling.
O let me seek you and O let me find! 

Teach me to feel that you are always nigh;
teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,
to check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
teach me the patience of unceasing prayer. 

Teach me to love you as your angels love,
one holy passion filling all my frame:
the fullness of the heaven-descended Dove;
my heart an altar, and your love the flame. 

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”.

Praise God, from Whom All Blessings Flow - Lynette Maynard

From Hertfordshire, Bishop Thomas Ken (1637-1711) was orphaned as a child and raised by his sister Anna and her husband Izaak Walton. They enrolled him in the all-boys school at Winchester College (1651-1656), and after his education there, he attended Hart Hall, Oxford, and New College, Oxford (BA 1661, MA 1664). He was ordained as an Anglican priest in 1662, served as Rector to several parishes, and as a Chaplain to Princess Mary of Orange (1679-80), King Charles II (1683), and the Tangier Expedition (1683-84). In 1685, he was appointed Bishop of Bath and Wells. During the reign of King James II, he was imprisoned in the Tower of London for refusing to sign the Declaration of Indulgence. Ken was acquitted of the charge, but when King William III ascended to the throne Ken refused to swear loyalty to him, he resigned his office and lived the rest of his life at the home of his friend, Lord Weymouth, at Longleat, Wilshire.

The original date of composition by Ken for the text of “Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow” is unknown, but the first mention of the hymn is in 1674 as the presumed final stanza of two longer hymns: “Awake, My Soul and with the Sun” and “Glory to Thee, My God, This Night.” These two hymns were referenced along with a third as Morning, Evening and Midnight hymns in a pamphlet written for his students titled A Manual of Prayers For the Use of the Scholars of Winchester College, which was accompanied by the directive:  “Be sure to sing the Morning and Evening Hymn in your chamber devoutly, remembering that the Psalmist, upon happy experience, assures you that it is a good thing to tell of the loving kindness of the Lord early in the morning and of his truth in the night season.”  This directive is most often interpreted to mean that the hymns were meant for private devotion, not the gathered assembly, and yet these four lines, often referred to as The Lesser Doxology, have “been sung more often than any other lines ever written.” The hymn texts were published later as an appendix in his 1695 pamphlet as ‘revised’ versions.

Much of beauty of these four lines lies in its reflection of the joyous outbursts of the Psalms. Here we see both the ‘host’ of heaven and the ‘creatures here below’ of earth praising God as in Psalm 96:11-12a and the final jubilant line of Psalm 150:6:

Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice; let the sea roar, and all that fills it; let the field exult, and everything in it.  (Psalm 96: 11-12a, NRSV)

Let everything that breathes praise the Lord! Praise the Lord! (Psalm 150:6, NRSV)

The Trinitarian structure of Ken’s hymn has also led to its common liturgical use. The first line describes the person of God the Father as the source of all blessings (Ephesians 1:3, 2 Corinthians 1:3). The second line, though, speaks to God the Spirit through whom all creatures praise God (Psalm 104:24-30, 1 Corinthians 2:10-13). The third line points to God the Son who is begotten of the Father, firstborn of heaven and superior to angels and the heavenly host (Hebrews 1:4). The fourth line summarizes the stanza and all of praise in general, since all praise is directed toward God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

OLD HUNDREDTH is a hymn tune in Long Metre from Pseaumes Octante Trois de David (1551) (the second edition of the Genevan Psalter) and is one of the best known melodies in all Christian musical traditions. The tune is usually attributed to the French composer Louis Bourgeois.  Loys "Louis" Bourgeois (c.1510-1559) was a composer and music theorist of the Renaissance. He is most famous as one of the main compilers of Calvinist hymn tunes in the middle of the 16th century.  In 1549 and 1550 he worked on a collections of psalm-tunes, most of which were translated by Clément Marot and Théodore de Bèze. Unfortunately, he fell foul of local musical authorities and was sent to prison in December, 1551 for changing the tunes for some well-known psalms "without a license." He was released on the personal intervention of John Calvin, but the controversy continued: those who had already learned the tunes had no desire to learn new versions, and the town council ordered the burning of Bourgeois's instructions to the singers, claiming they were confusing. Shortly after this incident, Bourgeois left Geneva never to return: he settled in Lyon, and his Geneva employment was terminated.

The Genevan Psalter was compiled over a number of years in the Swiss city of Geneva, a center of Protestant activity during the Reformation, in response to the teaching of John Calvin that communal singing of psalms in the vernacular language is a foundational aspect of church life. This contrasted with the prevailing Catholic practice at the time in which sacred texts were chanted in Latin by the clergy only. Calvinist musicians including Bourgeois supplied many new melodies and adapted others from sources both sacred and secular. The final version of the psalter was completed in 1562. Calvin intended the melodies to be sung in plainsong during church services, but harmonized versions were provided for singing at home.

The Genevan Psalter, the source for the hymns of both the Reformed Church in England and the Pilgrims in America. In the original versions by Bourgeois, the music is monophonic, in accordance with the dictates of John Calvin, who disapproved not only of counterpoint but of any multiple parts; Bourgeois though did also provide four-part harmonizations, but they were reserved for singing and playing at home. Many of the four-part settings are syllabic and chordal, a style which has survived in many Protestant church services to the present day.

Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow;

Praise God, all creatures here below;

Praise God above, ye heavenly host;

Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Lynette Maynard is organist and pianist at Woodinville Community United Methodist Church, Woodinville, Washington.

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty - Zach Unke 

"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" is a hymn based on Joachim Neander's German chorale Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, published in 1680. John Julian, in his A Dictionary of Hymnology, calls the German original "a magnificent hymn of praise to God, perhaps the finest creation of its author, and of the first rank in its class."  Neander wrote this particular hymn while dying and it says much about his faith. While contemplating the words to go along with the melody, he reflected on Psalm 103 with its claim that everything within us should praise the Father’s holy name.  It was the favorite hymn of King Frederick William III of Prussia, who first heard it in 1800.  In the Neander original, first the singer calls himself (my beloved soul) to praise God, then calls for a larger group to join the praise with musical instruments as well as song.  John Julian‍‍ '​‍s A Dictionary of Hymnology lists more than ten English translations of "Lobe den Herren" printed in various nineteenth century hymnals. 

The melody used by Neander, first published in 1665, is probably based on a folk tune. The common name given to this melody is "Lobe den Herren". Several variants were published with various secular texts between 1665 to 1680, when Joachim Neander published his German hymn, Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, using its meter. The text paraphrases Psalm 103 and Psalm 150.  

One interesting piece of history is the later use of Neander’s name. He often taught in a valley near the Düssel river, and over 100 years after his death the valley was named after him. It was in that valley that bones were later found, from which we get the name “Neanderthal.”

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation! 

O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation! 

All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near, 

Join me in glad adoration. 

Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth, 

Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth! 

Hast thou not seen how thy desires e’er have been 

Granted in what He ordaineth? 

Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee! 

Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee; 

Ponder anew what the Almighty can do 

If with His love He befriend thee. 

Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him! 

All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him! 

Let the amen sound from His people again; 

Gladly forever adore Him. 

A native of Tacoma, Washington, Zach Unke grew up playing the piano and began playing in church as a second grader and accompanied several services as well as choir and classroom singing.  He studied piano both at Lakeland College and Martin Luther College.  He has played for several art openings, the 2008 Unity Music Festival in Sheboygan, and at both The Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, WI and The American Club in Kohler, WI. He says: “I grew up as a church pianist.  I write music for the church pianist.  My goal is to create music that excites and challenges the pianist but is easily enjoyed by the listener.”

About the Hymns:

Spirit of Faith, Come Down

Exploring the hymns of Charles Wesley (1707-1788) is like examining a trove of treasures excavated from the pages of his writings. While the church has preserved many of these treasures intact within its hymnals, sometimes a single gem is lost or forgotten. When such a jewel is recovered, it provides fresh color to the hymn as newly shed light streams through it and dances across the page. One such gem is the excised third stanza of “Spirit of Faith Come Down.”

“Spirit of Faith Come Down” by Charles Wesley was first published in Hymns of Petition and Thanksgiving for the Promise of the Father (1746) and is also found in the collection Whitsunday [Pentecost] Hymns (1746). The original hymn is composed of five stanzas, though in most hymnals today, there are only four, sometimes three, stanzas. This is due to the long lasting editorial change made by John Wesley when he included the hymn in his famous Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780). As observed by Carlton Young in the Companion to the United Methodist Hymnal, John Wesley removed the original third stanza and slightly altered the second line of the original fourth stanza.

The hymn is filled with references to Scripture. Charles Wesley directly quotes both 1 Corinthians 12:3 and John 20:28 in the second stanza. His construction of this stanza makes it clear, using Scripture as the basis, that one desperately needs the Spirit to have the faith required to fully accept Jesus and redemption through him.  Wesley’s theology of atonement also plays a key role in the text of this hymn, infusing the entirety of the hymn. The first stanza quickly delivers a statement of the ongoing process of redemption, pleading (possibly demanding) that the “Spirit of faith come down” to “reveal the things of God” so to “give us eyes to see who did for every sinner die, hath surely died for me.” In their Companion to Hymns and Psalms, Richard Watson and Kenneth Trickett note that Wesley often uses the expression, “Tis thine the blood to apply,” as he does in the first stanza, fifth line. This phrase is a poetic manifestation of Charles Wesley’s belief that the Spirit’s mission is to the individual person. Salvation is encountered through the Spirit and is delivered as an intimate gift, given through faith. This first stanza is a condensed teaching of Wesleyan redemption. Indeed, the entire hymn is written as a proclamation on the extraordinarily active and vital role the Spirit plays in giving, sustaining, and nurturing faith so one might believe and accept Jesus as the Redeemer.

While the hymn as we know it contains the Wesleyan standard of attention to Scripture and theological depth, the words of the original third stanza enrich the hymn as a whole and fulfill a role that stanzas currently available cannot hope to do.  The text of the individual stanza as it appears in the original 1746 hymnal is as follows:

I know my Savior lives, He lives who died for me,

My inmost Soul his Voice receives Who hangs on yonder Tree:

Set forth before my Eyes Ev’n Now I see Him bleed,

And hear his Mortal Groans and Cries While suffering in my stead.    

                                                               

Here, in the original third stanza, is a vivid depiction of Jesus’ act of redemption and victory over death.  The stanza opens with a paradox of life and death and then moves on to a brutally vivid and deeply personal vision of the crucifixion.  In light of the vivid scene (known by the poetic device, hypotyposis) just painted in the original third stanza, to claim Jesus’ redemption as deeply personal gives a rather stirring and evocative opening statement. The words do not inspire a general claim or reality, but one that is intimately personal, which a person cannot help but share with the world. By omitting the third stanza, the hymn loses a key turning point in the journey through the hymn as well as a climactic follow up to the second stanza. The second stanza ends, “Thou art my Lord, my God,” and then the third stanza depicts in a shockingly graphic manner the one whom the individual is claiming as Lord and God. Stanza four then affirms that indeed, the one who is “my Lord and God…who hangs on yonder tree” truly and surely is “My dear atoning Lamb.”

The tune BEALOTH was first published in Sacred Harp, a songbook created and published by Lowell Mason and his sons in 1840.

Sacred Harp singing is a tradition of sacred choral music that originated in New England and was later perpetuated and carried on in the American South of the United States. The name is derived from The Sacred Harp, a ubiquitous and historically important tunebook printed in shape notes. The work was first published in 1844 and has reappeared in multiple editions ever since. Sacred Harp music represents one branch of an older tradition of American music that developed over the period 1770 to 1820 from roots in New England, with a significant, related development under the influence of "revival" services around the 1840s. This music was included in, and became profoundly associated with, books using the shape note style of notation popular in America in the 18th and early 19th centuries.

Brothers Lowell and Timothy Mason published their own Sacred Harp in 1840 in Cincinnati.  Originally from Boston, the Mason family is hardly associated with the promotion of shape-note (or “patent note”) notation—indeed, Lowell Mason would become a famously successful antagonist of shape-notes, which he derided as an obstacle to “scientific” music education.  Shape-notes were flourishing in the Ohio Valley in the 1830s, and the music publishers recognized that a shape-note version of the hymnal would boost its commercial prospects. The Masons were clear that their use of shape-notes was in no way intended as an endorsement, however: the preface acknowledges that “the Sacred Harp is printed in patent notes (contrary to the wishes of the Authors) under the belief that it will prove much more acceptable to a majority of singers in the West and South.

If the notation style of both Sacred Harps is the same, the contents are dramatically different. While B. F. White’s Sacred Harp largely followed its shape-note predecessors in reprinting a broad range of early American singing-school repertoire, southern vernacular hymnody, and new compositions based on those styles, the Masons’ Sacred Harp features music by European composers and new compositions based on a European aesthetic, many by Lowell Mason himself. In fact, the Masons intended their volume to supplant the American hymnody then popular in the region—the “patent notes” would be but a minor concession if the tunebook could succeed in pushing local musical taste toward the style that the Masons favored.   In the few examples of eighteenth-century American music they included, Lowell and Timothy Mason altered the harmonies to better conform to the European style they favored, eliminating parallel fifths and open chords.  

Holy Spirit, Truth Divine

Samuel Longfellow (1819-1892) wrote this text with the heading "Prayer for Inspiration." It was published in the Unitarian hymnal Hymns of the Spirit in 1864.  Like "O Come, O Come, Immanuel" (328), this text is a catalog: it lists attributes of the Holy Spirit in successive stanzas. The text is a prayer that the application of the Spirit's attributes may result in more vibrant Christian living, which will then be manifest in discernment of God's will (st. 1), holiness and purity (st. 2), courageous servanthood (st. 3), obedience to God's rule (st. 4), peace and restfulness (st. 5), and the experience of joy (st. 6). The final stanza alludes to Numbers 21:17 ("song of the well") and to John 4:10 ("living water"). Note that this hymn addresses the Holy Spirit without any reference to the Trinity, a Unitarian position that should not, however, hamper its use.

Samuel Longfellow is not as famous as his brother, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, about whom he wrote a biography that was published in 1886. In his time, however, Samuel was well known as a Unitarian preacher and hymn writer. Educated at Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School, he became a minister in 1848 and served Unitarian congregations in Fall River, Massachusetts (1848-1851), Brooklyn, New York (1853-1860), and Germantown, Pennsylvania (1860-1883). With Samuel Johnson he compiled two hymnals: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (1846) and Hymns of the Spirit (1864). He also published a number of his hymn texts in A Book of Hymns and Tunes (1860).

The hymn tune CANTERBURY is adapted from SONG 13.  Orlando Gibbons composed SONG 13 in soprano and bass parts. Used as a setting for a text from the Song of Songs, the tune was published in George Withers' Hymnes and Songs of the Church (1623) as hymn number 13 (hence the tune name).  In hymnals, the melody is presented in a simplified isorhythmic (all equal rhythms) form; the more rhythmically varied original also had more notes and was better suited to solo singing.

Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) was an English Rennaissance composer, virginalist and organist of the Elizabethan (late Tudor) and early Jacobean periods. Gibbons was the leading composer in early 17th century England and a pivotal transitional figure from the end of the Renaissance to the beginning of the Baroque era. He was praised in his time by a visit in 1624 from the French ambassador, Charles de L'Aubespine, who stated upon entering Westminster Abbey that “At the entrance, the organ was touched by the best finger of that age, Mr. Orlando Gibbons." Musicologist and composer, Frederick Ouseley, dubbed him to be the "English Palestrina”.  Gibbons paved the way for a future generation of English composers by perfecting the Byrd's foundations of the English madrigal as well as both full and verse anthems, and especially by teaching music to his oldest son, Christopher, who in turn taught John Blow, Pelham Humfrey and most notably Henry Purcell, the English pioneer of the Baroque era.

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus

#joychurch   #lovelikeJesus  #vision

May 23, 2020

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:

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing - Zach Unke

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was written by the 18th century pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson (1735-1790) was eight years old at the time of his father's death. He was a very bright, headstrong boy who became increasingly more difficult for his mother to handle. When Robert turned 14, she sent him to London for an apprenticeship with a barber. Robert proceeded to get into even more trouble, taking on a life of drinking and gambling.  

At 17, Robert and some of his drinking buddies decided to attend an evangelistic meeting, with a plan to make fun of the proceedings. When George Whitfield began to preach, Robert felt as if the sermon was just for him. He did not respond to the altar call that night, but the words of the evangelist would haunt him for the next three years.  On Dec. 10, 1755, at age 20, Robert finally yielded his life to Christ, and very soon thereafter answered a call to the ministry. Three years later, as he was preparing to preach a sermon at the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England, Robert wrote “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to complement his sermon. The music for the hymn was composed by Asahel Nettleton in 1813.

The lyrics, which dwell on the theme of divine grace, are based on 1 Samuel 7:12, in which the prophet Samuel raises a stone as a monument, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us". The English transliteration of the name Samuel gives to the stone is Ebenezer, meaning Stone of Help. The unusual word "Ebenezer" commonly appears in hymnal presentations of the lyrics.

The tune NETTLETON first appeared as a two-part tune in John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second(1813), where it was named HALLELUJAH. In the Index it is identified as a new tune, and no composer's name is given. The tune has been attributed by some to Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844), a well-known evangelist of the early nineteenth century, who compiled Village Hymns (1825). However, this compilation contained no music, and there is no evidence that Nettleton wrote any tunes during his life.  It is not known where the tune name first appeared or who was responsible for it.

Come, Thou Fount of every blessing, Tune my heart to sing Thy grace.
Streams of mercy, never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above.
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it, Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer; Hither by Thy help I've come,
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure, Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger Wandering from the fold of God.
He, to rescue me from danger Interposed His precious blood.

Oh, that day when freed from sinning, I shall see Thy lovely face,
Clothed then in blood washed linen How I'll sing Thy wondrous grace.
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry, Take my ransomed soul away.
Send Thine angels now to carry Me to realms of endless day.

Oh, to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be.
Let thy goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it; Prone to leave the God I love.
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it, Seal it for Thy courts above.

A native of Tacoma, Washington, Zach Unke grew up playing the piano and began playing in church as a second grader and accompanied several services as well as choir and classroom singing.  He studied piano both at Lakeland College and Martin Luther College.  He has played for several art openings, the 2008 Unity Music Festival in Sheboygan, and at both The Osthoff Resort in Elkhart Lake, WI and The American Club in Kohler, WI. He says: “I grew up as a church pianist.  I write music for the church pianist.  My goal is to create music that excites and challenges the pianist but is easily enjoyed by the listener.”

Nocturne on a Silesian Folk Tune - David Angerman

“Beautiful Savior” is thought to have originated as early as 1607, possibly written by German Jesuits, and called “Schönster Herr Jesu“. It first appeared in print in 1677, in the Münster Gesangbuch, with author unknown. It was translated and the fourth stanza was added by Lutheran pastor and theologian, Joseph A. Seiss in 1873.  Originally this song was most likely sung to a Gregorian Chant by the Jesuit monks. The music that was most popular with 17th Century German peasants was a tune from an ancient Silesian folk song.  The tune and the German text were printed together for the first time in 1842 by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben and Ernst Richter under the name “Schönster Herr Jesu” (Most beautiful Lord Jesus). In 1850 the Danish hymnwriter B. S. Ingemann wrote “Dejlig Er Jorden”, which he set to the same melody. An English translation by Jens C. Aaberg was published as “Fair Is Creation”.  Apart from their musical setting, the Danish and German lyrics are unrelated.  According to some accounts, “Fairest Lord Jesus” is called "Crusader's Hymn" because it was sung by German Crusaders as they made their way to the Holy Land.

Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.

Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,

Robed in the blooming garb of spring;

Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,

Who makes the woeful heart to sing.

Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight,

And all the twinkling starry host;

Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer

Than all the angels heav’n can boast.

All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,

Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;

None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,

Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.

Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!

Son of God and Son of Man!

Glory and honor, praise, adoration,

Now and forevermore be Thine.

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.

You are Strong, You are Holy - Paul Tate

After a brief, arduous battle with liver cancer, Canadian Sylvia Dunstan (1955-1993) at the age of 38. For thirteen years, Dunstan had served the United Church of Canada as a parish minister and prison chaplain. She is remembered by those who knew her for her passion for those in need, her gift of writing, and her love of liturgy.  “You are Strong, You are Holy” (also known as “Lord, You lead through Sea and Desert”) is a peace and justice hymn, first published in the Gather hymnal in 1991.  

The tune JUSTICE was written for this text by Paul Tate.  Paul A. Tate, a graduate of the University of Georgia, is a professional musician living in Sugar Hill, Georgia. As an active workshop presenter and concert performer, Paul has released a dozen recordings and published over 100 original songs and arrangements. His liturgical compositions appear in a number of hymnal resources, and his voice has been heard around the world on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Lord, You lead through sea and desert, You lead to promised lands.

We are Your own holy people, in Your covenant we stand!

Lord, You lead to cooling waters, You lead to greening fields.

Lord, You lead to deepening valleys where Your comfort is revealed!

So we follow where You lead us, where You walk along the shore,

Where You suffer in the garden, where You rise to die no more!

You are strong, You are holy, You are mercy and peace,

You are love, You are justice, Your grace and favor never cease.

About the Hymns:

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

Charles Wesley (1707-1788) was a prolific hymn writer of the 18th century. Coming from a musical family, he left a lasting legacy of congregational song.  The youngest of 18 children, Charles possessed prodigious talents that soon blossomed. Little did he know that “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” would rise to become one of the most popular and consistently vocalized Christian songs.  Writing hymn texts that are solidly based on the Scriptures gives them an appeal across denominational lines. It is estimated that during his lifetime, Wesley penned more than 9,000 poems of a spiritual nature, 6,000 of which are hymns. What really set Charles apart from other hymn writers was his effective use of scriptural allusions, providing a spiritual roadmap whereby individuals could imagine a Christ-centered life. His writings were passionate and well-crafted, conveying the true essence of Christian teaching. 

A substantial number of his writings were completed while riding on horseback to his evangelical meetings.  Scholars suggest that he was able to compose about 10 lines of verse daily for 50 years. Charles’ brother John sometimes served as editor to his hymns. John’s typical response was, “some were good, some were mediocre, and some were exceptional.” John can also be credited with improving the sing-ability of Charles’ hymns.

Both John and Charles were instrumental in changing the spiritual environment of Britain during the 18th century. In doing so, they formed the bedrock of what Methodism has become worldwide. Their unwavering devotion to expressing Christian spirituality through hymns has impacted individuals across all denominational lines.  We are fortunate to be the recipients of the poetic genius of Charles Wesley. He influenced Methodism more than any other hymn writer. Upon hearing of Charles’ death, an elderly Londoner asked, “Who will write poetry for us now?” 

“Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” was first published in a collection of hymns entitled Hymns for those that Seek, and those that Have, Redemption in the Blood of Christ (1747). The incipit (opening line) was a play on the opening line of John Dryden’s (1631-1700) poem “Fairest Isle, All Isles Excelling” set to music by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) in the generation before Charles Wesley was born.  The hymn is written around a progression of thoughts: (1) our prayers for the Holy Spirit, (2) praying for the return of our Lord through the second coming, and (3) prayers for the finalization of his new creation.

Stanza 2 expresses the Wesleyan concept of the “second rest.” When Charles referred to this in his hymns, it specifically applies to the “second birth,” “second blessing,” “second gift.” All of these are directed toward achieving full “sanctification” or “Christian perfection.” This is an important theological tenet of Methodist preaching from the very beginning.

There is no better way of describing the culmination of adhering to the biblical teachings of Christ, than in stanza four of this hymn. Wesley’s phrase, “changed from glory into glory” is almost a direct quotation from 2 Corinthians 3:18 (KJV). Wesley describes that day in heaven when “we take our place, till we cast our crowns before thee, lost in wonder, love, and praise.”

After receiving an education in Germany, John Zundel (1815-1882) went to St. Petersburg, Russia, where he served as organist of St. Anne Lutheran Church and was bandmaster of the imperial horse guards. He came to New York in 1847 and became the organist at Plymouth Congregational Church in Brooklyn (1850-1878). Henry Ward Beecher, the famous abolitionist preacher, was pastor of that congregation, and their joint ministry caused the Plymouth Church to become well known for its preaching, organ playing, and congregational singing. Dissatisfied with existing hymnals, Beecher asked Zundel to help compile several new hymnals. Temple Melodies (1851) and the Plymouth Collection of Hymns (1855) were the result. Zundel provided twenty-eight hymns tunes for the Plymouth Collection. He also published The Choral Friend (1855), Psalmody (1855), and Christian Heart Songs, and he edited the Monthly Choir and Organ Journal until his retirement in Germany in 1880.  John Zundel's BEECHER (named after Henry Ward Beecher, his pastor) was first published in his Christian Heart Songs (1870) as a setting for Charles Wesley's "Love Divine, All Loves Excelling". 

Sent Forth by God’s Blessing

This Catholic hymn from 1964 was written to direct the congregation out into the world as they depart the sanctuary. A song about transitions, it was also written at a time of great transition. Less than a year earlier, the Second Vatican Council (1962-1965) released a document called Sacrosanctum Concilium. Best known for allowing the use of the vernacular language in Mass, it also encouraged the use of congregational music—psalms, responses, and even hymns—to increase the participation and unity of the whole church. It flung open the doors of Catholic worship and practice, elevating and blessing local expressions of tradition, encouraging the involvement of all believers, and focusing that involvement both in the church and outside its walls

No event, however, especially one this large, is the result of a single moment. Even before the council was convened, ideas about different ways to live their faith and traditions were welling up in Catholic laity and clergy. Omer Westendorf (1916-1997), organist and choirmaster at St. Bonaventure Catholic Church in Cincinnati and author of this hymn alongside other familiar hymns of this era such as “You Satisfy the Hungry Heart” and “Where Charity and Love Prevail”, a translation of the classic Latin hymn Ubi Caritas, was one such lay Catholic who was hard at work spreading new music. Inspired by a trip to Holland, Westendorf started the World Library of Sacred Music (now World Library Publications) in his garage in Cincinnati in 1950 to bring European music to America. He published The People’s Hymnal (1955), the first hardbound English hymnal to be used in the Mass.

What began with a trickle of Catholic authors writing music in their vernacular language for their local situations became a massive flood of hymns and liturgies with the release of the Sacrosanctum Concilium. It gave permission for dramatic change in the liturgy because of pastoral concerns, as seen in its opening lines from which it also takes its name: “This sacred Council (literally Sacrosanctum Concilium) has several aims in view: it desires to impart an ever increasing vigor to the Christian life of the faithful; to adapt more suitably to the needs of our own times those institutions which are subject to change; to foster whatever can promote union among all who believe in Christ; to strengthen whatever can help to call the whole of mankind into the household of the Church.”  To these ends, it focuses on the liturgy, “the summit toward which the activity of the Church is directed,” and the “full and active participation by all the people” in that liturgy and liturgical life. It calls for education of clergy and laity, reforms of the rites, calendar, and daily worship schedules of Catholic life, and allows for the use of local cultural music and instruments, and the use of the common tongue alongside the traditional use of Latin, Gregorian chant and organs.

Most important, for “Sent Forth by God’s Blessing,” it also calls for “composers, filled with the Christian spirit, should feel that their vocation is to cultivate sacred music and increase its store of treasures”. With the experience, publisher, and connections needed, Westendorf moved quickly to answer that call. In 1964, less than a year after the Sacrosanctum Concilium, the People’s Hymnal was transformed to the People’s Mass Book, and expanded with settings for the mass and newly-written, specifically Catholic hymns. 

“Sent Forth by God’s Blessing,” written in 1964 for that publication of the People’s Mass Book, was composed under the name pen name J. Clifford Evers. Despite this initial unenthusiastic reception among congregations, the People’s Mass Book sold over two million copies in three years and was instrumental in introducing ecumenical hymnody to its Roman Catholic audience.

“Sent Forth by God’s Blessing” is in many ways the direct child of the Sacrosanctum Concilium, not only by its very existence, but in its contents and usage. This is a bit clearer in its original text, much of which has been adapted for a more ecumenical and modern audience. The original text refers to the Eucharist, part of every mass, by noting “God’s sacrifice ended.” Some have adapted this to “the supper is ended.” Others, including The United Methodist Hymnal, avoid the reference to the Eucharist altogether and have changed the phrase to “the service is ended.” Most non-Catholics wouldn’t find much familiar in singing about “the fruits of this Mass” which is adapted to “the fruits of our worship.” The original text, however, consists of almost direct quotations from the papal document itself. The second stanza’s focus on the unity of a people who were fed together, and now live “as one in this life that we share” for the purpose of “God’s children of each tribe and race” also reflects the unifying and evangelical purpose of the reforms. The metaphor of seeds blossoming in “receptive souls” echoes the parable of the sower, conforming to the instruction to “[draw] chiefly from holy scripture and from liturgical sources”.

“Sent Forth by God’s Blessing” also faithfully follows the directions of the Council to direct attention and “proper dispositions” to the liturgy. Singing a closing hymn following the Eucharist was initiated with Vatican II. This new practice served to extend the rather terse traditional closing, “It missa est” (the Mass is ended), and provide a direction for the assembly as they concluded the liturgy. It has a distinct place within the liturgy as a sending hymn, and it sums up what has happened in that liturgy and its purpose as the congregation moves out into the world. It balances neatly between the world within the church walls where God’s word is planted and the world without where that word grows by actions out of the good soil of our hearts.

Westendorf’s choice of music helps with this movement. ASH GROVE, an upbeat and flowing Welsh harp tune already familiar to many when it was paired with the popular text “Let All Things Now Living” by Katherine K. Davis (1892-1980) as an anthem, sends people out energized and encouraged for action.

“Sent Forth by God’s Blessing” is a song that moves the church forward in daily life and in history. As the effects of the Second Vatican Council have spread over the world, bringing new life and vigor (and challenges) to the whole Christian world, it calls for us be sent forth as well, empowered to change the world we meet outside our doors.

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus

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