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; most of it is copied from other websites 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, King Most Wonderful - Dale Wood
(c.1991, Sacred Music Press)
A hymn which identifies Jesus as the King whom we should extol and bless His name forever and ever is "O Jesus, King, Most Wonderful." The text is attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1090/1-1153). It comes from a section entitled "Jesu, Rex admirabilis," of the medieval Latin poem (c. 1130-1140, perhaps as late as 1150-1153) known as Jesu dulcis memoria, from which at least two other hymns, "Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee" and "Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving hearts," are also derived. The English translation of "O Jesus, King, Most Wonderful," was made by Edward Caswall (1814-1878). It first appeared in his 1849 Lyra Catholica. Caswall is perhaps best known for his English translation of hymn, "May Jesus Christ Be Praised," beginning, "When morning gilds the skies," from the German.
The Protestant Reformation largely rejected the music of the Medieval Roman Catholic Church. These Latin hymns were rediscovered in the nineteenth century, and many of them were translated into English. They were once largely popular but in more recent years have been once again dropped as reflecting the theology of the medieval monks and thus not relevant to modern times. However, while we may not agree with everything that accompanied monastic practices, Christians of all ages have many of the same aims–to seek Christ above earthly desires and dedicate themselves wholly to doing His will. Therefore, we can still use their thoughts to praise our Savior as we address Him as, "O Jesus, King, Most Wonderful."
The text of "O Jesus, King, Most Wonderful" has been set to several different tunes. Wood has chosen HIDING PLACE, a tune by Joshua Leavitt (1794-1873) Leavitt was born in Massachusetts, earned a degree from Yale College, and practiced law in Putney, VT. He then attended Yale Seminary, was ordained and served as a Congregational minister at Stratford, CT for four years before he moved to New York City to serve as Secretary of the American Seamens’ Friend Society. He was for many years musical advisor to the most famous revivalist of the Second Great Awakening, Charles Grandison Finney. In 1831 he compiled and published The Christian Lyre, the first hymnal to print music (melody and bass) for every hymn. He was a spokesman for the Liberty Party and a campaigner for cheap postage. He was editor of many periodicals including The Emancipator, the New York Independent, the New York Evangelist, etc. He was first Secretary of the American Temperance Society and co-founder of the New York City Anti-Slavery Society. He aided a slave Basil Dorsey to escape from MD to MA and formed with Lewis Tappan and Simeon Jocelyn the Amistad Committee to raise funds for the defense of Amistad captives.
O Jesus, King most wonderful; thou conqueror renowned,
thou sweetness most ineffable, in whom all joys are found!
When once thou visitest the heart, then truth begins to shine,
then earthly vanities depart, then kindles love divine.
O Jesus, light of all below! Thou fount of living fire,
surpassing all the joys we know, and all we can desire:
Jesus, may all confess thy name, thy wondrous love adore;
and, seeking thee, themselves inflame to seek thee more and more.
Thee may our tongues for ever bless, thee may we love alone,
and ever in our lives express the image of thine own.
Abide with us, and let thy light shine, Lord, on every heart;
dispel the darkness of our night, and joy to all impart.
Jesus, our love and joy, to thee, the Father's only Son,
all might, and praise, and glory be, while endless ages run.
Dale Wood (1934-2003) was a prominent composer, organist, choral director, and clinician. He was honored many times by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) for his “very important contribution towards the creation and development of contemporary American church music”. He wrote many collections of organ works, most of which are based on both old and new hymn tunes. Over eight million copies of his publications have been purchased in over 50 countries.
About the Piano Music:
We Are Travelers on a Journey - Mark Hayes
(c.2018, Lorenz Publishing Co.)
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:
Lullaby Prayer (Prayer for Children) - Heather Sorenson
(c.2013, Hal Leonard Corp)
Heather Sorenson entered the church music industry in her twenties, and her name quickly became a welcomed fixture in the publishing world. Diversity is the characteristic that makes Heather somewhat of an anomaly in the industry: she easily maneuvers both the traditional and contemporary genres of Christian music, often combining the two for a unique blend that has become her artistic fingerprint. Initially recognized for her skill as a pianist, Heather is now known for her compositions in choral anthems, solo piano collections, and orchestrations. She taught all elementary levels of music at Grace Academy of Dallas for 4 years, served as an adjunct music professor at Baylor University, and has served on many master class panels in piano and songwriting. Heather regularly is a guest speaker and conductor at churches across America and leads scores of sessions each year at various worship conferences, schools, and universities. Heather makes her home in the Dallas, TX area with her beloved (and very vocal) beagle, Lucy.
Bless these little children, Lord; tiny souls, so adored.
Little lambs to You belong. They are weak. You are strong.
When they’re scared in dark of night, be their Light; hold them tight.
Let them feel Your presence near. Give them peace. Help them sleep.
And if their path goes through the cold, in Your arms, please enfold.
Show them that Your love can melt frozen hearts, frozen souls.
Help them grow when there’s no rain. Free their hearts where they’ve been chained.
And when life can’t be explained, others go, You remain.
Give them faith for mountains tall. Guide them when faith is small.
Teach them how to follow You in their youth, walk in truth.
Help them to accept Your love. Give them wings to rise above
The noise that drowns out Your commands. Hold their hand. Help them stand.
So bless these little children, Lord; tiny souls, so adored.
Little lambs to You belong. They are weak, but You are strong.
About the Hymns:
This is a Day of New Beginnings
(c.1987, Hope Publishing Co.)
Brian Arthur Wren (b. 1936) is Emeritus Professor of Worship, Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He is a writer, preacher, worship and workshop leader, and internationally published hymn-poet, with entries in most recent denominational hymnals in North America, Britain and Australia. Some of his hymn-poems have been translated into Finnish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, Spanish and Korean. Brian holds undergraduate and doctoral degrees from Oxford University. He is a Minister of the United Reformed Church (UK). Wren provides an account of the composition of this text in notes provided in one of the collection of his texts, Faith Looking Forward (1983). The hymn was “written for a New Year’s Day service [1978] at Holy Family Church, Blackbird Leys, Oxford. In itself, the new year is an arbitrary convention, its newness a mere mark on the calendar. The recurrent awakening of life in nature is not a strong enough foundation for hope of real change. Yet by faith in the really new events of the Christian story, a day, or a month, or an hour can become charged with promise, and be a springboard to a changed life.”
As one of the leading hymnwriters of our time, Dr. Wren has contributed more hymns to the UM Hymnal (1989) than any other hymnwriter currently living. This text is supported by the melody BEGINNINGS, composed by Dr. Carlton Young (b. 1926), one of the leading tune writers of this day.
This is a day of new beginnings, Time to remember and move on,
Time to believe what love is bringing, Laying to rest the pain that’s gone.
For by the life and death of Jesus, God’s mighty Spirit, now as then,
Can make for us a world of difference, As faith and hope are born again.
Then let us, with the Spirit’s daring, Step from the past and leave behind
Our disappointment, guilt and grieving, Seeking new paths, and sure to find.
Christ is alive, and goes before us, To show and share what love can do.
This is a day of new beginnings; Our God is making all things new.
The Church’s One Foundation
Songs are a powerful means of teaching. The melodies, rhythms, and rhymes that characterize songs make the words easier to remember. The best and most effective songs combine lyrics and music to cultivate feelings that complement the meaning. The Rev. Samuel John Stone (1839-1900) was well aware of the effectiveness of singing when he wrote and published Lyra Fidelium in 1866. As a curate in the small town of Windsor, England, he was aware of his parishoners’ habit of using the Apostles’ Creed in their private prayers. But he was concerned that many of them did not grasp the meaning of what they said. The prose felt too academic, disconnected from the average worshipper, and lacking a devotional spirit.
It was in this context that he wrote Lyra Fidelium, which consisted of twelve hymns, one for each article of the Apostles’ Creed. With each hymn he included a short “summary of truths confessed” in that article, along with a list of the Scripture passages supporting it. “The Church’s One Foundation” was the hymn he wrote for article 9 of the Creed, which affirms belief in “the holy catholic church” and “the communion of saints.”
“The Church’s One Foundation” is the best known of the twelve hymns in this collection. Louis Benson quotes one English archbishop as saying that “wherever he was called upon to open or dedicate a church, he could always count on two things—cold chicken and ‘The Church’s one Foundation’.” The hymn’s long legacy undoubtedly owes to the many doctrines it includes, its use of the words and concepts of Scripture to express them, and its uniqueness in teaching the doctrine of the church. Benson describes it as embodying “practically every doctrine concerning the church [Stone] held most dear (its divine origin, its unbroken continuity, its catholicity and essential unity, its orthodoxy, its sacramental grace, its communion with God and with the departed saints, its militancy and final triumph).”
AURELIA was written by Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876), the son of Samuel Wesley and grandson of Charles Wesley. Famous in his lifetime as one of his country's leading organists and choirmasters, he composed almost exclusively for the Church of England, which continues to cherish his memory. There are memorial tablets to him in Exeter Cathedral and Winchester Cathedral, and his memorial at Gloucester Cathedral is in stained glass. Of his hymn tunes the best-known are AURELIA and HEREFORD, but CORNWALL and HAREWOOD are also particularly fine. AURELIA has been widely adopted in the United States, and is regularly heard there. Usually sung to the words "The Church's One Foundation", Wesley composed the tune for the hymn "Jerusalem the Golden”.
While at Winchester Cathedral Wesley was largely responsible for the Cathedral's acquisition in 1854 of the Father Willis organ which had been exhibited at The Great Exhibition, 1851. The success of the Exhibition organ led directly to the award of the contract to Willis for a 100-stop organ for St George's Hall, Liverpool built in 1855. Wesley, with Father Willis, can be credited with the invention of the concave and radiating organ pedalboard, but demurred when Willis proposed that it should be known as the "Wesley-Willis" pedalboard. However, their joint conception has been largely adopted as an international standard for organs throughout the English-speaking world and those exported elsewhere.
The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, our Lord;
she is his new creation by water and the Word.
From heav’n he came and sought her to be his holy bride;
with his own blood he bought her, and for her life he died.
Elect from every nation, yet one o'er all the earth,
her charter of salvation, one Lord, one faith, one birth;
one holy Name she blesses, partakes one holy food,
and to one hope she presses, with every grace endued.
Though with a scornful wonder, we see her sore oppressed,
by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed,
yet saints their watch are keeping, their cry goes up, "How long?"
And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.
The church shall never perish! Her dear Lord, to defend,
to guide, sustain, and cherish, is with her to the end;
though there be those that hate her and false sons in her pale,
against the foe or traitor she ever shall prevail.
'Mid toil and tribulation, and tumult of her war,
she waits the consummation of peace for evermore;
till with the vision glorious her longing eyes are blest,
and the great church victorious shall be the church at rest.
Yet she on earth hath union with God the Three in One,
and mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.
O happy ones and holy! Lord, give us grace that we,
like them, the meek and lowly, on high may dwell with Thee.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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