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:
This Joyful Eastertide - Dale Wood
(c.1991, Sacred Music Press)
"This joyful Eastertide" is an 1894 Easter carol. The words are by George Ratcliffe Woodward, the tune is from the Netherlands (1624), and the 1894 harmonization is by Charles Wood. The original carol was published in 1894 in Carols for Easter and Ascensiontide, a publication put together by Woodward and Wood. They published it subsequently in 1902 in The Cowley Carol Book (second edition) and again in the Cambridge Carol Book of 1910.
Woodward and Wood published "This joyful Eastertide" set to Vruechten, a Dutch tune which was first published in 1624 by Dirk Rafaelsz Camphuysen. It was originally used for a secular love song, "De liefde Voortgebracht." Its earliest use as a hymn tune was in Joachim Oudaen's 1685 psalter, David' s Psalmen, in which it appeared as a setting for "Hoe groot de vruchten zijn”.
Many versions exist of the three original verses and refrain; but in its original form as written by George Ratcliffe Woodward and published in 1894, it is as follows:
This joyful Eastertide, away with sin and sorrow.
My Love, the Crucified, hath sprung to life this morrow.
My flesh in hope shall rest, and for a season slumber:
Till trump from east to west shall wake the dead in number.
Death's flood hath lost his chill, since Jesus crossed the river:
Lover of souls, from ill my passing soul deliver.
Had Christ, that once was slain, ne'er burst his three-day prison,
Our faith had been in vain: but now hath Christ arisen.
Two additional verses were penned by Basilian Father M. Owen Lee:
As Victor in the strife and knowing no surrender,
He comes to bring us life: a risen life of splendour.
In Adam all men died; then Jesus came to save us.
For He was crucified and, dying, new life gave us.
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.
Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain - James Biery
(c.1996, Concordia Publishing House)
“Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain” is a Greek Resurrection hymn written by John of Damascus (c. 675-749) in the 8th century. Around 730, John gave away everything he had and retired to the monastery of St. Sabas, where he was ordained a priest. During this time John wrote works containing a justification for orthodox faith, including his Foundation of Knowledge. John was among the greatest and most important of the Greek hymn writers. He wrote many canons, a new form of hymnody during his time, for important festivals. Canons, usually sung during monastic office of Lauds and based primarily on nine Canticles, are usually divided into nine odes. An ode is composed of short dramatic strophes in which the climax occurs in the last line. Each strophe has the same number of lines and syllables.
Organized Greek hymnody began, at the earliest, in the 7th century. From 700-900 many Canons were written that contained long odes usually in reference to the Resurrection or at least linked with Easter. The publication of John Mason Neale’s Hymns of the Eastern Church, a collection of Greek Canons from the 5th to the 11th centuries in English poetic form, contributed to a renewed interest in early Christian and Byzantine hymnody. When translated into English, these poems tended to be awkward for singing. John Mason Neale’s translations are in metrical patterns that are more accessible for English singers while remaining true to the original ideas of the Greek.
“Come, Ye Faithful” is the first ode from the Canon for St. Thomas’s Sunday and is based on the canticle “The Song of Moses” from Exodus 15. A clear connection can be seen in the hymn from Exodus 14 and 15 through the vivid language used. The main theological theme of this hymn is deliverance. Stanza one discusses the joy the Israelites had after being delivered from Pharaoh across the Red Sea. This stanza provides an easy link to Moses and his song. The next three stanzas transfer the focus to Jesus. They discuss Jesus’ resurrection and the deliverance brought to humankind from their sins through this action. The hymn serves as praise to God for continuing to deliver God’s people throughout history.
Come, you faithful, raise the strain of triumphant gladness!
God has brought forth Israel into joy from sadness,
loosed from Pharaoh’s bitter yoke Jacob’s sons and daughters;
led them with unmoistened foot through the Red Sea waters.
’Tis the spring of souls today: Christ has burst his prison,
and from three days’ sleep in death as a sun has risen.
All the winter of our sins, long and dark, is flying
from the Light to whom we give laud and praise undying.
Neither could the gates of death, nor the tomb’s dark portal,
nor the watchers, nor the seal, hold you as a mortal:
but today, among your own, you appear, bestowing
your deep peace, which ever more passes human knowing.
Alleluia! Now we cry to our Lord immortal,
who, triumphant, burst the bars of the tomb’s dark portal;
Alleluia! With the Son, God the Father praising;
Alleluia! Yet again to the Spirit raising.
James Biery (b. 1956) is an American organist, composer and conductor who is Minister of Music at Grosse Pointe Memorial Church (Presbyterian) in Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan. Biery was educated at Northwestern University, where he earned Bachelor and Master of Music degrees in Organ Performance. Biery developed his compositional skills from two disciplines: years of study of the organ and its literature and intense scrutiny of the orchestral scores of numerous composers whose music he transcribed for organ duet and organ solo. His facility at the organ combined with his demonstrated ability to perform and study a vast amount of literature has given Biery a firm basis upon which to compose for the instrument.
About the Choral Music:
Empty Now – Joseph Martin
(c.1997, Malcolm Music, div of Shawnee Press)
Joseph Martin (b. 1959 ), a native of North Carolina, earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Subsequently he earned a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the University of Texas, Austin. Joseph taught for five years in the Piano Pedagogy Department of the University of Texas.. He is a member of the staff of Shawnee Press as Director of Sacred Publications, with responsibilities for overseeing the editorial and creative direction of the company’s sacred publications and also coordinating the recording and production aspects of future sacred publishing efforts. Joseph has performed solo piano recitals and has been the featured artist with symphony orchestras in the United States and Mexico. As winner of the Nina Plant Wideman Competition, he performed with the Guadalajara Symphony Orchestra. His solo recital in Ex-convento del Carmen was broadcast nationally throughout the country. Though he continues to perform in concert, he now devotes his efforts to playing in churches and for conferences of church musicians Recognized throughout the United States for his many choral compositions, over 1200 compositions are currently in print and the list continues to grow.
“Empty Now” traces the life of Christ from the cradle to the grave, and beyond.
There is a manger far away where once a tiny child was laid,
Where angels sang and shepherds bowed, long ago, far away;
The manger is empty now.
There is a temple far away where once a teacher went to pray.
He spoke of truth to an angry crown, long ago, far away;
The temple is empty now.
There is a cross far away where once a Lamb for sin was slain.
A crown of thorns adorned His brow; the cross is empty,
The cross is empty now.
There is a tomb far away where once the Lord of Life was laid.
Come and see His linen shroud. Alleluia!
The tomb is empty now!
About the Hymns:
The Strife is O’er
"The Strife is O'er, the Battle Done" was originally a 17th-century Latin hymn, "Finita jam sun proelia”. John Mason Neale (1818-1866), the famous British translator of Latin and Greek hymnody, included the Latin text with his translation in his Mediaeval Hymns and Sequences (1851). Francis Pott (1831-1909) provided his own translation of the original Latin for his Hymns Fitted to the Order of Common Prayer (1861). Pott was on the hymnal committee for the first edition of the famous 19th-century landmark British hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861); Pott’s translation, with alterations, was included in this hymnal. It has become a staple of Easter hymnody since that time.
The text of the hymn extols the triumphant Christ whose victory over death and Hell is described as a battle, as related in the Harrowing of Hell. The hymn also makes reference to Christ breaking the chains of hell and to Christ in Majesty. Each verse concludes with an Alleluya! refrain.
"The strife is o'er" is often sung to the tune VICTORY, adapted from a 1591 setting of the Gloria by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina from a Magnificat tertii toni. The additional Alleluya refrain was set to music by Edwin George Monk.
William Hart, in his book, Hymn Stories of the 20th Century, which was published in 1948 (not long after World War II had ended), adds the unusual note that a soldier’s chorus sang this hymn at the funeral of General George Patton on December 23, 1945 after his death in an automobile accident.
The strife is o’er, the battle done; The victory of life is won;
The song of triumph has begun: Alleluia!
The pow’rs of death have done their worst; But Christ their legions has dispersed;
Let shouts of holy joy outburst: Alleluia!
The three sad days are quickly sped; He rises glorious from the dead;
All glory to our risen Head: Alleluia!
He closed the yawning gates of hell; The bars from heav’n’s high portals fell;
Let hymns of praise His triumphs tell: Alleluia!
Lord, by the stripes which wounded You, In us You’ve won the vict’ry too,
That we may live, and sing to You: Alleluia!
The Summons
(c. 1987, WGRB The Iona Community, admin. by GIA Publications)
One of the most important intentional communities of the 20th and 21st centuries is Scotland’s Iona Community. Founded on the remote Island of Iona in far western Scotland, the community traces its inspiration back to the 6th century, when St. Columba found his way from Ireland and established an outpost from which he evangelized all of Scotland. Eventually, he spread a Celtic form of Christianity that still resonates strongly today. George MacLeod (1895-1991), an iconoclastic spirit, left a popular parish in Glasgow and established the Community in the 1930s to train ministers in engaging the poor working-class people of Glasgow and also in working alongside artisans to rebuild the abandoned Benedictine Abbey on the Island of Iona.
John Bell (b. 1949) grew up in Kilmarnock, a rural town south of Glasgow. He received degrees in arts and theology from the University in Glasgow. He was ordained by the Church of Scotland in 1978 and appointed youth coordinator for the Presbytery of Glasgow. In 1980 he was admitted to membership of the Iona Community, having applied not primarily because it was a place of liturgical innovation but because it was “a place where the potentials of the socially marginalized as well as the socially successful would be attested.” Since then he has become the international troubadour of the Community, guiding its publications in worship and music, preaching at conferences around the world and composing many songs that enumerate the themes of the Community. For Rev. Bell, the purpose for singing is to engage people in a fuller participation in the congregation’s song, stretch their faith and encourage them to live in a manner that reflects justice.
“Will you come and follow me” (called “The Summons” in The Faith We Sing) is perhaps the most famous of Mr. Bell’s hymns. The hymn appeared initially in the first collection of music produced by the Wild Goose Worship Group, Heaven Shall Not Wait: Songs of Creation, the Incarnation, and the Life of Jesus (1987). The song asks a series of 13 questions, perhaps a record in the annals of hymnody. Characteristic of Mr. Bell’s style, the text is prophetic, using many words not usually found in traditional hymns. “The Summons” of Christ is to a radical Christianity.
The tune is a traditional Scottish ballad entitled KELVINGROVE, named after a section of Glasgow. Mr. Bell often uses traditional melodies from Ireland, Scotland and England for his hymns. These tried and true tunes make the songs not only singable, but often provide a Celtic flavor that is popular today.
Will you come and follow me If I but call your name?
Will you go where you don't know And never be the same?
Will you let my love be shown, Will you let my name be known,
Will you let my life be grown In you and you in me?
Will you leave yourself behind If I but call your name?
Will you care for cruel and kind And never be the same?
Will you risk the hostile stare Should your life attract or scare?
Will you let me answer prayer In you and you in me?
Will you let the blinded see If I but call your name?
Will you set the prisoners free And never be the same?
Will you kiss the leper clean, And do such as this unseen,
And admit to what I mean In you and you in me?
Will you love the 'you' you hide If I but call your name?
Will you quell the fear inside And never be the same?
Will you use the faith you've found To reshape the world around,
Through my sight and touch and sound In you and you in me?
Lord, your summons echoes true When you but call my name.
Let me turn and follow you And never be the same.
In your company I'll go Where your love and footsteps show.
Thus I'll move and live and grow In you and you in me.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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