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:
A Trumpeting - Dale Wood
(c.1996, Sacred Music Press)
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:
Amazing Grace - Craig Curry
(c.1999, Glory Sound)
"Amazing Grace" was written by the English poet and clergyman John Newton (1725–1807). With the message that forgiveness and redemption are possible regardless of sins committed and that the soul can be delivered from despair through the mercy of God, "Amazing Grace" is one of the most recognizable songs in the English-speaking world.
Newton wrote the words from personal experience. He grew up without any particular religious conviction, but his life's path was formed by a variety of twists and coincidences that were often put into motion by his recalcitrant insubordination. He was drafted into the Royal Navy, and after leaving the service became involved in the Atlantic slave trade. In 1748, a violent storm battered his vessel so severely that he called out to God for mercy, a moment that marked his spiritual conversion. However, he continued his slave trading career until 1754 or 1755, when he ended his seafaring altogether and began studying Christian theology.
Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became curate of Olney, Buckinghamshire, where he began to write hymns with poet William Cowper. "Amazing Grace" was written to illustrate a sermon on New Year's Day of 1773. It was first printed in 1779 in Newton and Cowper's Olney Hymns, but settled into relative obscurity in England. In the United States however, "Amazing Grace" was used extensively during the Second Great Awakening in the early 19th century. It has been associated with more than 20 melodies, but in 1835 it was joined to a tune named "New Britain" to which it is most frequently sung today.
The melody sung to John Newton’s 1779 hymn “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound” is, without a doubt, America’s best-loved hymn tune. Unlike Lowell Mason’s “Nearer, my God, to thee,” the “Amazing grace” tune is of unknown origin. It first appeared in print in 1829 without any composer attribution, and there were thought to be no earlier surviving instances of the tune. However, an 1828 manuscript by Lucius Chapin (1760-1842), who was famous in his day as a hymn tune writer, raises the possibility that Lucius was its composer.
Lucius and his brother Amzi (1768-1835) were among the first and most influential composers to harmonize American folk hymns, using principles they had absorbed from New England and English church music, and perhaps from the oral tradition as well. They also composed hymns in a similar style. The brothers came from a large, musical Massachusetts family. Their mother was an exceptional singer, though she did not read music, and two of their brothers also became singing masters. Lucius and Amzi moved south and west as young men and taught singing schools throughout their lives. In 1828, Lucius was living in central Kentucky and Amzi in western Pennsylvania. The 1828 manuscript was mentioned in passing in James Scholten’s 1972 dissertation on Lucius and Amzi Chapin. On July 25, 1828, Lusius’ son Cephas died from typhus in Oxford, Ohio en route home to visit his parents. There are three tender expressions of paternal love and grief on the back of Cephas’ last letter penned there by Lucius, the tunes AMAZING GRACE and BRAINARD and a brief poem.
The familiar melody had a number of titles in its early publications: ST. MARY’S, GALLAHER, HARMONY GROVE (Shenandoah Harmony), NEW BRITAIN (Sacred Harp), and more. The one title it did not have was AMAZING GRACE, though that title was used for at least two other melodies. The tune wasn’t paired with Newton’s text until 1835. The great nineteenth-century scholar W.E. Chute (1832-1900) attributed the melody to the Chapins.
It is possible that NEW BRITAIN was added to the manuscript after 1828, or copied from a source that does not survive. However, the version here doesn’t exactly match any tune found, either published or in manuscript, in Nikos Pappas’ exhaustive index of over 60,000 early American hymn tunes (1700-1870). It is closest to the tune ST. MARY’S found in Shaw and Spilman’s Columbian Harmony (1829). Like Lucius, Shaw and Spilman lived in central Kentucky.
Even if Lucius were the first to notate the tune, the concept of “authorship” in this repertoire is difficult. Composers felt free to write arrangements of popular sacred or secular melodies in oral tradition and publish them, either as unattributed tunes or with their own names attached. They also made their own versions of tunes in books or manuscripts, appropriated and rearranged European classical music, and composed music from scratch in a folk idiom.
If Lucius didn’t compose NEW BRITAIN, then who did? The basic structure of the tune is ancient. NEW BRITAIN is a folk hymn—a sacred melody that existed, in some form, in oral tradition prior to being notated. It belongs to a recognized “tune family,” or group of tunes, sacred or secular, that share enough structure and melodic phrases that they seem to be descended from a common root. Other related tunes include Amzi Chapin’s TWENTY-FOURTH (written in the 1790s) and, more distantly, the African-American spiritual “Swing low, sweet chariot” (published in 1873, but definitely older). The folk hymn CONSOLATION (attributed to the Chapins when first published in 1812) has the same contour, but is in the minor mode. However, just because a tune is a folk hymn doesn’t mean that there wasn’t an originator for a particular variant of the tune family. There were at least ten slightly different versions of NEW BRITAIN written down from 1828 to 1840 in Kentucky, Virginia, Tennessee, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and South Carolina. Three of these were from central Kentucky. This argues for oral transmission, but the fact that each version differs from the others only in the amount of ornamentation notated suggests that one person, perhaps an itinerant preacher or singing master, was the “vector” that spread the tune through this area in the late 1820s to 1830s.
Another interesting story, though tangential, is the Chapin family’s connection to the antislavery movement. If you’ve read the story of John Newton (the author of the words to “Amazing Grace”), you know that he was the captain of a slave ship who later rejected his past and advocated against slavery. The Chapin family lived in central Kentucky and some of their neighbors owned slaves, though there weren’t large plantations in the area. However, the diary of Cephas’ sister Harriet survives, and she was profoundly antislavery, though as a woman she didn’t have power to make decisions about her household. She thanks God that her father is “an Emancipator.” I don’t know if that means that he had slaves and set them free or if he didn’t believe in slavery and never owned slaves. Harriet considered it her duty to educate the two young African-Americans who worked for the family, an act that would have been illegal in many states. Harriet died in 1827, just a year before Cephas.
In general, the early revivals in Kentucky were far more democratic than were churches later in the 19th century. Both white women and African-Americans—even slaves—were called on to testify and even preach, and everyone participated in group singing, which was one of the hallmarks of these revivals. So the fact that this particular tune, whoever wrote it, is often associated with black spirituals and related to “Swing Low Sweet Chariot” is not surprising, as it was first popular in a mixed environment.
Amazing grace! How sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found, Was blind but now I see.
Shout, shout for glory, Shout, shout aloud for glory;
Brother, sister, mourner, All shout glory hallelujah.
'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears relieved;
how precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed!
Through many dangers, toils and snares I have already come:
'tis grace has brought me safe thus far, and grace will lead me home.
The Lord has promised good to me, his word my hope secures;
he will my shield and portion be as long as life endures.
Yes, when this flesh and heart shall fail, and mortal life shall cease:
I shall possess, within the veil, a life of joy and peace.
The earth shall soon dissolve like snow, the sun forbear to shine;
but God, who called me here below, will be forever mine.
When we’ve been there ten thousand years, Bright shining as the sun,
We’ve no less days to sing God’s praise Than when we’d first begun.
Craig Curry is a composer/arranger and pianist based in Wichita, Kansas. He holds degrees from Wheaton College (B.M., Piano Performance) and the University of Miami (M.M., Media Writing and Production). For twelve years, Craig served as the worship pastor at First Baptist Church of Wichita, and he remains actively involved in church music. Craig serves as adjunct faculty at Friends University and directs the jazz vocal ensemble.
About the Choral Music:
Many Gifts, One Spirit - Allen Pote
(c.1986, Coronet Press)
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working but in all of them, and in everyone, it is the same God at work.” I Corinthians 12:4–6
The lyrics of Allen Pote’s beautiful song simultaneously describe the diversity and the unity of the church. While we walk on different paths, with different programs and services, there are many intersections as we all work to reach and uplift those most in need.
Allen Pote (b. 1945) was born in Halstead, Kansas, and educated at Texas Christian University, where his diploma was in Church Music. A Fulbright Scholar, he studied in Brussels, Belgium, and took advanced work at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. For twenty-two years he served as a full-time Director of Music in churches in Texas and Florida. He is currently a full-time composer living in Pensacola, Florida, where, with his wife Susan, he is co-director of the Pensacola Children's Choir, an organization of over 200 singers which has achieved national recognition.
Many gifts, one spirit, many songs, one voice
Many reasons, one promise, many questions, one choice.
O, God, we pray for unity, give guidance from above.
In our differences unite us in the circle of your love.
O, God, remind us we are not alone.
Though we move on different pathways, we are walking to your throne.
Help us learn to love each other, show us ways to understand.
We are members of one family, growing strong by joining hands.
Take our many ways of working, blend the colors of each soul into the
beauty of a rainbow.
Give us life, Lord, make us whole.
About the Hymns:
Take Time to Be Holy
“Take Time to Be Holy” was written by William Longstaff (1822-1894) in 1882. Longstaff, an English businessman, had often meditated on 1 Peter 1:16, “Be ye holy, for I am holy”, and considered it to be the heart of the gospel. Upon hearing Dr. Griffith John, a missionary from China, speak and use the phrase, “Take time and be holy”, he was inspired to write this hymn. Longstaff showed the hymn to Ira Sankey, who in turn passed it on to American songwriter George C. Stebbins (1846-1945) to set in 1882. Stebbins laid it aside and did not recall it until an evangelistic meeting in India, during which the theme of holiness was explored. Stebbins recalled Longstaff’s hymn and set it to music for the revival. He sent his tune “HOLINESS” to Sankey, who published the hymn in New Songs and Sacred Solos (1888).
Take time to be holy, speak oft with thy Lord;
Abide in Him always, and feed on His Word.
Make friends of God’s children, help those who are weak,
Forgetting in nothing His blessing to seek.
Take time to be holy, the world rushes on;
Spend much time in secret, with Jesus alone.
By looking to Jesus, like Him thou shalt be;
Thy friends in thy conduct His likeness shall see.
Take time to be holy, let Him be thy Guide;
And run not before Him, whatever betide.
In joy or in sorrow, still follow the Lord,
And, looking to Jesus, still trust in His Word.
Take time to be holy, be calm in thy soul,
Each thought and each motive beneath His control.
Thus led by His Spirit to fountains of love,
Thou soon shalt be fitted for service above.
Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee
Jesu Dulcis Memoria is often attributed to Saint Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153). The name can refer either to the entire poem, which, depending on the manuscript, ranges from forty-two to fifty-three stanzas, or only the first part. Three sections of it are used as hymns in the Liturgy of the Hours of the Feast of the Holy Name of Jesus: "Iesu dulcis memoria" (Vespers), "Iesu rex admirabilis" (Office of Readings), "Iesu decus angelicum" (Lauds). Several English hymns sung today are based on translations of Jesu Dulcis Memoria. These include "Jesus, Thou Joy of Loving Hearts" (1858 translation by Ray Palmer) and "Jesus, the Very Thought of Thee" (1849 translation by Edward Caswall).
Bernard of Clairvaux, saint, abbot, and doctor, was born at his father's castle on the eminence of Les Fontaines, near Dijon, in Burgundy. His father, Tecelin, or Tesselin, a knight of great bravery, was the friend and vassal of the Duke of Burgundy. Bernard was educated at Chatillon, where he was distinguished for his studious and meditative habits. One would expect the world to have had overpowering attractions for a youth who had all the advantages that high birth, great beauty, graceful manners, and irresistible influence could give, but, strengthened by night visions of his mother (who had died in 1105), he chose a life of asceticism and became a monk. He entered the monastery of Citeaux, the first Cistercian foundation, in 1113. Two years later he was sent forth, at the head of twelve monks, from the rapidly increasing and overcrowded abbey, to found a daughter institution in the Valley of Wormwood, about four miles from the Abbey of La Ferté on the Aube. On the death of Pope Honorius II., in 1130, the Sacred College was rent by factions, one of which elected Gregory of St. Angelo, who took the title of Innocent II., while another elected Peter Leonis, under that of Anacletua II. Innocent fled to France, and the question as to whom the allegiance of the King, Louie VI., and the French bishops was due was left by them for Bernard to decide. At a council held at Etampes, Bernard gave judgment in favour of Innocent. Throwing himself into the question with all the ardour of a vehement partisan, he won over both Henry I., the English king, and Lothair, the German emperor, to support the same cause, and then, in 1133, accompanied Innocent II., who was supported by Lothair and his army, to Italy and to Rome. When Lothair withdrew, Innocent retired to Pisa, and Bernard went to his abbey of Clairvaux. It was not until after the death of Anacletus, the antipope, in January, 1138, and the resignation of his successor, the cardinal-priest Gregory, Victor II., that Innocent II., who had returned to Rome with Bernard, was universally acknowledged Pope. The influence of the Barnard now became paramount in the Church, as was proved at the Lateran Council of 1139, the largest council ever collected together. After having devoted four years to the service of the Pope, Bernard returned to Clairvaux. Bernard continued to exert strong influence on the appointment of bishops and cardinals and on doctrinal disputes. He was also called upon to use his powers of persuasion over the people of France and Germany to join the second crusade. The population seemed to rise en masse, and take up the cross. In 1147, the expedition started, a vast horde, of which probably not a tenth ever reached Palestine. It proved a complete failure, and a miserable remnant shared the flight of their leaders, the Emperor Conrad, and Louis, King of France, and returned home, defeated and disgraced. The blame was thrown on Bernard, and his apology for his part in the matter is extant.
One of the hymns by which St. Bernard is best known as a writer of sacred poetry is "Jesu duicis memoria," a long poem on the " Name of Jesus"—known as the "Jubilus of St. Bernard," and among mediaeval writers as the " Rosy Hymn." It is, perhaps, the best specimen of what Neale describes as the "subjective loveliness" of its author's compositions. Many other hymns and sequences are attributed to St. Bernard. Hymns, translated from, or founded on, St. Bernard's, will be found in almost every hymnal of the day.
Jesus, the very thought of Thee With sweetness fills the breast!
Yet sweeter far Thy face to see And in Thy Presence rest.
No voice can sing, no heart can frame, Nor can the memory find,
A sweeter sound than Jesus' Name, The Saviour of mankind.
O hope of every contrite heart! O joy of all the meek!
To those who fall, how kind Thou art! How good to those who seek!
But what to those who find? Ah! This Nor tongue nor pen can show
The love of Jesus, what it is, None but His loved ones know.
Jesus! our only hope be Thou, As Thou our prize shalt be;
In Thee be all our glory now, And through eternity.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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