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:
Come, Ye Thankful People, Come - Mary McDonald
(c. 2014, Lorenz Publishing)
“Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” is considered to be one of the most choice Thanksgiving hymns in all of hymnody. It was written or the English harvest festivals, a movable feast varying with the harvest time in the various villages. Its author, Henry “Dean” Alford (1810-1871), is generally regarded as one of the most gifted Christian leaders of the nineteenth century, distinguishing himself as a theologian, scholar, writer, poet, artist, and musician. It was as a Greek scholar that he attained his greatest distinction. His four-volume edition of the Greek Testament, on which he labored for twenty years, became the standard critical commentary of the later nineteenth century. As a member of the new Testament Revision Committee, he made a notable contribution to biblical knowledge on both sides of the Atlantic. Hymnology was one of Henry Alford’s major interests, and he translated and composed numerous hymns, which he published in hi Psalms and Hymns (1844), The Year of Praise (1867), and Poetical Works (1852 and1868). Of these many works, only “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” is still in general use. The hymn first appeared in Alford’s Psalms and Hymns, in 1844. It was originally titled “After Harvest” and was accompanied by the text “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6). The hymn originally contained seven stanzas, but only four have remained in common usage. It is said that at the end of a hard day’s work, as well as after every meal, it was customary practice for Dean Alford to stand to his feet and give thanks to God for the blessings just received or enjoyed during the day. This spirit of perpetual gratitude is clearly evidenced throughout this hymn.
Come, ye thankful people, come, raise the song of harvest home;
all is safely gathered in, ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
come to God's own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.
All the world is God's own field, fruit as praise to God we yield;
wheat and tares together sown are to joy or sorrow grown;
first the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear;
Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be.
For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take the harvest home;
from the field shall in that day all offenses purge away,
giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast;
but the fruitful ears to store in the garner evermore.
Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring thy final harvest home;
gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
there, forever purified, in thy presence to abide;
come, with all thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home.
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.
About the Piano Music:
Thanksgiving and Praise Medley - Paul Tate
(c.2013, GIA Publishing)
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.
Tate has written this setting of the two hymn tunes ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR and KREMSER. They are most familiar as the tunes of “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” and “We Gather Together.
The composer of the tune ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR was George J. Elvey, who served as the organist for forty-seven years at the historic, royal chapel at Windsor Castle in England. He originally composed the music for James Montgomery’s text “Hark! the Song of Jubilee,” published in E. H. Throne’s Selection of Psalms and Hymn Tunes in 1858. In 1861, this tune first appeared wedded to Henry Alford’s text in the well-known Anglican Church hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern. It has found a place in nearly every published hymnal to the present time.
George Elvey was knighted by Queen Victoria, in 1871, for his many years of faithful service to the royal family as well as for his various musical publications, including several oratorios, anthems, and collections of service music.
The tune KREMSER owes its origin to a sixteenth-century Dutch folk song "Ey, wilder den wilt." Later the tune was combined with the Dutch patriotic hymn 'Wilt heden nu treden" in Adrianus Valerius's Nederlandtsch Gedenckclanck [sic: Nederlandtsche Gedenckclank] published posthumously in 1626. 'Wilt heden nu treden," which celebrated Dutch freedom from Spanish rule, was always popular in the Netherlands, but gained international popularity through an arrangement by Eduard Kremser in his Sechs Altniederlandische Volkslieder (1877) for men's voices. This collection of six songs in German translation from Valerius's anthology was the source of the older English text, 'We Gather Together."
About the Choral Music:
The Majesty and Glory of Your Name – Tom Fettke
(c. 1979, Word Music)
Tom Fettke has taught music in both public and Christian schools and has served as a church choir director and minister of music in churches large and small for over 30 years. He is a composer, arranger, clinician, and producer of Christian music recordings. Fettke was the creator and senior editor of the Hymnal for Worship and Celebration (1986).
Ever since The Church Music Report's "Favorite Anthem Survey" began surveying music ministers decades ago, only one anthem has appeared every year at the top of their "All-time Favorite Anthems" list: Tom Fettke's "The Majesty and Glory of Your Name." This is his story of that anthem:
This work is not mine. The text is Psalm 8 and I wasn’t the author of Psalm 8. The lyric setting is by Linda Lee Johnson and this was her first attempt at lyric writing. She was a choir member at a church where I was Minister of Music. Linda had written a children’s Sunday School Program which revealed some of her creative abilities. When I asked her to try writing a text based on my favorite Psalm, her response was less than confident, but she was willing to give it a try. A few days later she presented to me a lyric that I felt was nearly perfect and ready for my attempt at a musical setting.
The original piece ended with “little children praise You perfectly, and so would we”. However, it never felt quite right and remained in a drawer in its old form for several months. Then, during a concert in which my choir performed the Ken Medema anthem, “Moses”, I realized what was needed was a warm, emotional, more fully developed personal response to God’s majesty and glory. The next day, I wrote the “Alleluia” section. Playing through the completed work was an incredibly moving experience, and I just knew that God had chosen to touch this musical and textual creation.
That’s the story. This song is not mine, it’s God’s. It is one of those things in life that you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you had nothing to do with; you were only a tool in the hands of God to display His handiwork.
When I gaze into the night skies and see the work of your fingers;
The moon and stars suspended in space. Oh, what is man that you are mindful of him?
You have given man a crown of glory and honor,
And have made him a little lower than the angels.
You have put him in charge of all creation:
The beasts of the field, The birds of the air, The fish of the sea.
Oh, what is man? Oh, what is man that you are mindful of him?
O Lord, our God the majesty and glory of your name
Transcends the earth and fills the heavens.
O Lord, our God; little children praise You perfectly, And so would we.
Alleluia! Alleluia! The majesty and glory of Your name.
Alleluia! Alleluia!
About the Hymns:
We Gather Together
"We Gather Together" is a Christian hymn of Dutch origin written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius as "Wilt heden nu treden" to celebrate the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout. At the time the hymn was written, the Dutch were engaged in a war of national liberation against the Catholic King Philip II of Spain. “Wilt heden nu treden” resonated because under the Spanish King, Dutch Protestants were forbidden to gather for worship. The hymn first appeared in print in a 1626 collection of Dutch patriotic songs, Nederlandtsch Gedencklanck. The hymn is customarily performed to a tune known as “Kremser”, from Eduard Kremser's 1877 score arrangement and lyric translation of “Wilt Heden Nu Treden” into Latin and German. The modern English text was written by Theodore Baker in 1894. “We Gather Together” first appeared in an American hymnal in 1903. It had retained popularity among the Dutch, and when the Dutch Reformed Church in North America decided in 1937 to abandon the policy that they had brought with them to the New World in the 17th century of singing only psalms and add hymns to the church service, "We Gather Together" was chosen as the first hymn in the first hymnal. The hymn steadily gained popularity, especially in services of Thanksgiving on such occasions as town and college centennial celebrations. The "big break" came in 1935 when it was included in the national hymnal of the Methodist-Episcopal Church. This hymn is often sung at American churches the day before Thanksgiving.
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!
We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be;
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!
Now Thank We All Our God
Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) was the Bishop of Eilenberg, Germany during the Thirty Years’ War. Since Eilenberg was a walled city, it became a place of refuge for fugitives of the war, and also a place of famine and disease due to overcrowding. In 1637, at the height of their misery, Rinkart was the only clergyman left in the city who could perform the 40 or 50 daily burial services, one of which was for his wife. The city was sacked three times by invaders. During this time, Rinkart managed to write 7 dramas and 66 hymns. The hymn “Nun danket alle Gott” was originally titled “Tisch-Gebetlein” (a little prayer before the meal). This humble prayer of thanksgiving is laid out simply and beautifully in the first verse. This verse of thanks is followed by a verse asking for strength in time of trial and a doxology. The tune, “Nun Danket” is named for Rinkart's text, has been associated with it ever since they were published together by Johann Crüger (1598-1662) in his Praxis Pietatis Melica (1647).
Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices,
Who wondrous things has done, in whom the world rejoices;
Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way
With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.
O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,
With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us,
To keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed,
And free us from all ills in this world and the next.
All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,
The Son and Spirit blest, who reign in highest heaven
The one eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore;
For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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