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:
Fantasy on "Ubi caritas" - Brenda Portman
(c.2020, Sacred Music Press)
“Ubi caritas” is a hymn of the Western Church, long used as one of the antiphons for the washing of feet on Maundy Thursday. The Gregorian melody was composed sometime between the fourth and tenth centuries, though some scholars believe the text dates from early Christian gatherings before the formalization of the Mass. It is usually sung at the Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament and on Holy Thursday evening at the Mass of the Lord's Supper. Richard Proulx wrote the translation “Where True Love and Charity are Found” in 1975.
Where true love and charity are found, God is always there.
Since the love of Christ has brought us all together,
Let us rejoice and be glad, now and always.
Let everyone love the Lord God, the living God
And with sincere hearts, let us love each other now.
Therefore, when we gather as one in Christ Jesus,
Let our love enfold each race, creed, every person.
Let envy, division, and strife cease among us.
May Christ our Lord dwell among us in every heart.
Bring us with your saints to behold your great beauty,
There to see you, Christ our Lord, throned in great glory.
There to posess heaven’s peace and joy, your truth and love,
For endless ages of ages, world without end.
Trumpet Tune - Brenda Portman
(c.2018, Sacred Music Press)
Following a decade of successes in performance competitions, and now with her compositions increasingly in demand, Brenda Portman has established a well-respected dual career as both a concert organist and composer. She serves as the Resident Organist at Hyde Park Community United Methodist Church in Cincinnati, Ohio, where she is also the Executive Director of the church’s Organ Concert Series. She is the Organ Instructor at Xavier University in Cincinnati, and also teaches organ and piano privately. She studied at Wheaton College (B.Mus.Ed. 2002), Northwestern University (M.Mus. 2003), and University of Cincinnati’s College-Conservatory of Music (D.M.A. 2016), where she was first prize winner of the Strader Organ Competition and served as a teaching assistant for the organ department.
About the Piano Music:
From All That Dwell Below the Skies - Lloyd Larson
(c.2018, Lorenz Publishing)
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin at age four, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. The number of Watts' publications is very large. His collected works, first published in 1720, embrace sermons, treatises, poems and hymns. His "Horae Lyricae" was published in December, 1705. His "Hymns" appeared in July, 1707. The first hymn he is said to have composed for religious worship, is "Behold the glories of the Lamb," written at the age of twenty. It is as a writer of psalms and hymns that he is everywhere known. Some of his hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he had preached. Montgomery calls Watts "the greatest name among hymn-writers," and the honor can hardly be disputed. His published hymns number more than eight hundred.
Dr. Isaac Watts wrote based the first two stanzas of this hymn on Psalm 117. It was first published in his Psalms of David in 1719. All four stanzas were printed in the “York” Pocket Hymn Book, which was was edited and published in 1781 by Robert Spence, a Methodist class leader and bookseller residing in York, England. The author of the last two stanzas is unknown, but may have been written by Spence. He has, however, succeeded wonderfully in imitating Watts’ style and so completed one of the finest hymns in the language. John Wesley published this hymn again in 1786 in a new edition of the York book. This “York” book was very popular in its day, and was adopted by Bishops Coke and Asbury as the official hymn book of the Methodist Episcopal Church in America.
LASST UNS ERFREUEN derives its opening line and several other melodic ideas from GENEVAN 68 (68). The tune was first published with the Easter text "Lasst uns erfreuen herzlich sehr" in the Jesuit hymnal Ausserlesene Catlwlische Geistliche Kirchengesänge (Cologne, 1623). LASST UNS ERFREUEN appeared in later hymnals with variations in the "alleluia" phrases. The setting is by Ralph Vaughan Williams; first published in The English Hymnal (1906), it has become the most popular version of LASST UNS ERFREUEN. In that hymnal the tune was set to Athelstan Riley's "Ye watchers and ye holy ones" (thus it is sometimes known as VIGILES ET SANCTI).
From all that dwell below the skies,
Let the Creator’s praise arise;
Let the Redeemer’s Name be sung,
Through every land, by every tongue.
In every land begin the song;
To every land the strains belong.
In cheerful sounds all voices raise
And fill the world with loudest praise.
Your lofty themes, ye mortals, bring;
In songs of praise divinely sing.
The great salvation loud proclaim,
And shout for joy the Savior’s name.
Eternal are thy mercies, Lord;
Eternal truth attends thy word.
Thy praise shall sound from shore to shore,
Till suns shall rise and set no more.
Lloyd Larson (b. 1954) is an active composer and arranger for several major publishing companies of church and school music. His compositions and arrangements include well over 1,000 published works—including choral anthems, numerous extended Christmas, Easter and non-seasonal works, keyboard collections, vocal solo and duet collections, instrumental works for solo and ensembles, orchestrations, and handbell settings. It is Lloyd's work in his local church that continues to be the catalyst for much of his writing. He currently directs the adult choir in his home church in addition to being involved in worship planning and leadership.
About the Choral Music:
John 3:16 - Michael Patch
(c. 1975, Crescendo Publications)
Michael Patch received his doctorate in choral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conserva- tory of Music and Dance. He is the founder and artistic director of Choral Spectrum, an LGBTQIA-Mix ensemble in Kansas City. Currently, he is the guest director of choirs at Avila University. Michael has also had an extensive performance career, singing with choirs of all shapes and sizes, including the Grammy award-winning Kansas City Chorale, Kansas City Symphony Chorus, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, and the Oakland Symphony Chorus. Michael’s voice can be heard on a Grammy-nominated recording of Rheinberger’s music performed by the Kansas City Chorale, and as a soloist and chorister on a recording of Elinor Remick Warren’s music performed by the Pacific Mozart Ensemble.
For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son,
That whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish,
but have everlasting life.
About the Hymns:
Break Thou the Bread of Life
Mary Artemisia Lathbury (1841-1913) was a person of many talents -- professional artist, poet, and author. The daughter of a Methodist minister and sister to two Methodist ministers, she is remembered as the founder of the Look-Up Legion, a Methodist Sunday school organization, her work on behalf of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and her literary activity at the Lake Chautauqua, New York, summer assemblies. The Chautauqua Institution, originally the Chautauqua Lake Sunday School Assembly, was founded in 1874 by two Methodists as an educational experiment in out-of-school, vacation learning. The Assembly's ecumenical spirit and programming was successful and broadened almost immediately beyond courses for Sunday school teachers to include academic subjects, music, art, and physical education. Lathbury was so integral to the Assembly's life that she was called the "Poet Laureate of Chautauqua.”
Chautauqua's ethos permeates "Break thou the bread of life" (1877). Inspired by Jesus' feeding of the multitude (Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:39-44), this hymn was composed on the shores of Lake Chautauqua in 1877 for the Normal Class, the most prominent educational experience at the Assembly at that time for training Sunday school teachers during the summer. It was included in The Chautauqua Carols later that year. This hymn and Lathbury's "Day is dying in the west" are still sung regularly at the Institute's Sunday evening vesper services. More than sixty of Lathbury's hymns appear in hymnals in the United States in the twentieth century, but these two are her most used by far. "Break Thou the Bread of Life" was included in Methodist hymnals in 1905.
Though sung often as a Communion hymn, this is one of the few classic hymns on Christian Scripture. "Break thou the bread of life" focuses on the relationship between the Christ found in the "sacred page" and the individual reader of the Bible. Whereas William Walsham How's hymn on Scripture, "O Word of God Incarnate" (1866), focuses on the relationship of Scripture to the church serving as a "beacon above the darkling world," Lathbury's message is that the Christ of the Scripture brings "truth," breaks the power of "bondage," and provides "peace" to each person who shares the "bread of life.”
William Fiske Sherwin (1826-1888) was a student of Lowell Mason,("Sherwin") and his straightforward, no-nonsense writing is in Mason's style. Sherwin wrote a simple, functional tune that works well for the text. Sherwin was the first music director at the Chautauqua program, and no doubt he and Lathbury were acquainted there.
Break Thou the bread of life, dear Lord, to me,
As Thou didst break the loaves beside the sea;
Beyond the sacred page I seek Thee, Lord;
My spirit pants for Thee, O living Word!
Bless Thou the truth, dear Lord, to me, to me,
As Thou didst bless the bread by Galilee;
Then shall all bondage cease, all fetters fall;
And I shall find my peace, my all in all.
Thou art the bread of life, O Lord, to me,
Thy holy Word the truth that saveth me;
Give me to eat and live with Thee above;
Teach me to love Thy truth, for Thou art love.
O send Thy Spirit, Lord, now unto me,
That He may touch my eyes, and make me see:
Show me the truth concealed within Thy Word,
And in Thy Book revealed I see the Lord.
Close to Thee
Many hymn texts are inspired by a preexisting tune. Such is the case with “Close to Thee.” Silas Jones Vail (1881-1884) was born in Brooklyn and became a prominent and successful businessman, a manufacturer of hats. Though an amateur composer, he was very prolific in compiling song collections. His Athenaeum Collection (1863) contained unpublished songs by the well-known American composer Stephen Foster. His Chapel Melodies was a collection of hymns for “Prayer and Social Meetings and Family Devotion” (1868).
Prohibitionists Horace Walters and W. F. Sherwin requested his services to compile Songs of Grace and Glory (1874) to support this movement. Vail also prepared The Diadem: A Collection of Tunes and Hymns for Sunday School and Devotional Meetings (1885), as well as wrote the music for a number of lesser-known gospel songs including “Scatter Seeds of Kindness” by May R. Smith, “The Guiding Hand” by Fanny Crosby, “Nothing but Leaves” by Lucy Ackerman, and “The Gate Ajar for Me” by Lydia Baxter.
Fanny Crosby (1820-1915), one of the most famous American hymn writers of her time, often composed hymns texts to previously composed music. For example, Crosby immediately was inspired by Phoebe Palmer Knapp’s (1839-1908) tune for the hymn that became “Blessed Assurance”. According to her book, Memories of Eighty Years (1906), Crosby had a similar experience when Vail brought the poet one of his new melodies: “Toward the close of a day in 1874 I was sitting in my room thinking of the nearness of God through Christ as the constant companion of my pilgrim journey, when my heart burst out with the words.” Vail published the hymn in his Songs of Grace and Glory the same year.
The desire for an intimate relationship with Jesus is a primary theme of many of the hymn writers during the nineteenth century, especially women poets on both sides of the Atlantic. Englishwoman Sarah Flower Adams (1805-1848) expressed a similar relationship in “Nearer, My God, to Thee”. Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871) conveyed the idea of total surrender to Jesus in her famous hymn, “Just as I Am”. Fanny Crosby often described her relationship to Jesus in intimate terms in her hymns. “Close to Thee” employs a technique common to gospel songs, the repetition of the key theme. If all three stanzas are sung, one will sing the key phrase, “close to thee,” twelve times. A companion idea, “walk with thee,” is mentioned an additional four times.
As a Methodist, the poet understood that Christian perfection is achieved in heaven where one experiences closeness to Christ for eternity. Fanny Crosby, blind at the age of six weeks, was a lifelong Methodist. She began composing hymns at age six. She became a student at the New York Institute of the Blind at age fifteen and joined the faculty of the Institute at twenty-two, teaching rhetoric and history. In 1885, Crosby married Alexander Van Alstyne, also a student at the Institute, and later a faculty member. He was a fine musician and, like Fanny, a lover of literature.
An author of more than 8,000 gospel hymn texts, she drew her inspiration from her own faith. Crosby published hymns under several pen names including “Ella Dale,” “Mrs. Kate Gringley,” and “Miss Viola V. A.” Her hymn texts were staples for the music of the most prominent gospel songwriters of her day. Because of her long life, Fanny Crosby had an extraordinary relationship with several United States presidents, even penning poems in their honor on occasion, and she was influential on the spiritual life of or a friend to Presidents Martin Van Buren (8th), John Tyler (10th), James K. Polk (11th), and Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th). She addressed a joint session of Congress on the topic of education for the blind.
Middleclass women in nineteenth-century United States had little voice in worship. One of the only ways for a woman to claim the authority to be heard was by direct personal revelation from God. Fanny Crosby readily claimed God’s personal revelation as a source for her hymns; her personal revelation then became a communal inspiration as Christians throughout the world sang her hymns and confirmed her faith experience as their own.
Thou my everlasting portion, More than friend or life to me,
All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee, Close to Thee, close to Thee;
All along my pilgrim journey, Savior, let me walk with Thee.
Not for ease or worldly pleasure, Nor for fame my prayer shall be;
Gladly will I toil and suffer, Only let me walk with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee, Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Gladly will I toil and suffer, Only let me walk with Thee.
Lead me through the vale of shadows, Bear me o’er life’s fitful sea;
Then the gate of life eternal May I enter, Lord, with Thee.
Close to Thee, close to Thee, Close to Thee, close to Thee,
Then the gate of life eternal May I enter, Lord, with Thee.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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