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:
In Christ There is no East or West - Anthony Giamanco
(c.2019, Lorenz Publishing)
William Arthur Dunkerley (1852-1941) was a prolific English journalist, novelist and poet. He was born in Manchester, spent a short time after his marriage in America before moving to Ealing, west London, where he served as deacon and teacher at the Ealing Congregational Church from the 1880s, and he then moved to Worthing in Sussex in 1922, where he became the town's mayor. He wrote under his own name, and also as John Oxenham for his poetry, hymn-writing, and novels. His poetry includes Bees in Amber: a little book of thoughtful verse (1913) which became a bestseller. He also wrote the poem "Greatheart." He used another pseudonym, Julian Ross, for journalism. Dunkerley was a major contributor to Jerome K. Jerome's The Idler magazine.
The poem, “In Christ There is no East or West”, was originally part of a libretto, “Darkness and Light,” prepared in 1908 for an exhibition for the London Missionary Society on the theme “The Orient in London.” He then included this poem in his collection, Bees in Amber (1913). This popular volume was rejected by publishers; when Oxenham self-published it, the book sold 285,000 copies. From here the hymn found its way into many English-language hymnals, beginning with England’s Songs of Praise (1931). English literary scholar and hymnologist J.R. Watson states that the hymn takes its opening idea from Rudyard Kipling’s famous lines, “Oh, East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet” from “The Ballad of East and West,” published in Barrach-Room Ballads, and Other Verses (1892). However, Oxenham’s hymn is the antithesis of Kipling’s verse. As UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young observes, “The theme of Oxenham’s hymn, one of the most durable hymnic statements of Christian unity in the twentieth century, is from Galatians 3:28: ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ.’”
Composed by Alexander R. Reinagle (b. Brighton, Sussex, England, 1799; d. Kidlington, Oxfordshire, England, 1877), ST. PETER was published as a setting for Psalm 118 in Reinagle's Psalm Tunes for the Voice and Pianoforte (c. 1836). The tune first appeared with Newton's text in Hymns Ancient and Modern(1861); it is now usually associated with this text, for which it is a better match than for Psalm 118. The tune was named after St. Peter-in-the-East, the church in Oxford, England, where Reinagle was organist from 1822-1853.
Little is known of Reinagle's early life. Of Austrian descent, he came from a family of musicians and became a well-known organ teacher. A writer of teaching manuals for string instruments, Reinagle also compiled two books of hymn tunes, the 1836 collection and A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes(1840). He also composed a piano sonata and some church music.
In Christ there is no east or west, in him no south or north,
but one great fellowship of love throughout the whole wide earth.
In Christ shall true hearts ev’rywhere their high communion find.
His service is the golden cord close binding humankind.
Join hands, then, people of the faith, whate’er your race may be.
All children of the living God are surely kin to me.
In Christ now meet both east and west, in him meet south and north.
All Christly souls are joined as one throughout the whole wide earth.
Anthony Giamanco (b. 1958), born in Detroit, Michigan, has been a professional church musician since the age of 17. Currently he serves as music director at St. Mary Catholic Parish in Pinckney, Michigan, where he oversees an adult choir, two children's choirs, a handchime ensemble, instrumental ensembles, and two contemporary ensembles. Anthony's many choral, organ, and piano works are featured in the catalogs of numerous publishers, including GIA, for whom the octavo "Love Comes Trick-a-lin' Down" was a top ten seller in 2007.
About the Piano Music:
A Place at the Table - Paul Tate
(c. 2006, GIA Publications)
In recent decades, an influential and significant force has developed within the world of congregational song. That force is Shirley Erena Murray (b. 1931), who has written some of the most convicting and challenging hymns of this era by addressing issues and concerns relevant to modern-day audiences through the paradigm of the Christian tradition. In her hymn, “A Place at the Table” (1998), Ms. Murray presents a Christian equivalent to the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” drafted by the U.N. General Council, thus connecting the global concern of Christianity with the global concerns of the United Nations and, indeed, all humanity. She notes: “I couldn't find anything to reflect a broad overview of human rights in any hymnbook. You can see that I have used some of the very basic ideas of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the right to shelter, safety, food, and later, the right to a job, to freedom of speech and worship. I've tried to put them in a context which relates directly to the Gospel, but without excluding those who are not of the Christian faith. . .. “
A close examination of the hymn reveals thematic connections with the Declaration, thereby demonstrating the relevance of Christianity with contemporary affairs.
For example, in the first stanza, “clean water and bread, a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing” stems from Article 25: “Everyone has the right to a standard of adequate living for . . . health and well-being . . . including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services . . ..” The next phrase, “a star overhead,” relates, according to the poet, to Article 26 and the aspiration for education.
A fourth generation New Zealander, Murray holds a master’s degree with honors in Classics and French from Otago University. Her awards and honors include the New Zealand Order of Merit (2001) and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music (2006). Her hymn "God, In Your Grace" was chosen as the theme song for the IX Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil (2006), and she has been honored as a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada (2009). Shirley Erena Murray describes her ecclesial affiliation as ecumenical in nature. Though born to a Methodist family, she later became Presbyterian through her marriage to a Presbyterian minister. As she writes in one of the collections of her hymns, “The Methodist tradition nurtured me, the Presbyterian tradition claimed all my adult life, and the ecumenical movement called me out of both.” Murray describes her identity and perspective as “that of a woman, a mother, a grandparent, a citizen, [and] a layperson.”
Shirley Murray began writing hymns in the 1970s to accompany her husband’s sermons, because he had difficulty finding traditional hymns that truly captured and articulated his messages with language relevant to contemporary life. The fruit of her labor resulted in a plethora of Christian hymns that poignantly address modern concerns in a relevant way. Fellow New Zealander and Methodist hymn writer Colin Gibson notes that the most common themes of her hymns address “peace, justice, human rights, inclusiveness, gender equality, environmental concerns, and social responsibility.” Her work is included in more than 100 different collections and has been translated into several different languages. Additionally, she contributed to the groundbreaking hymnal Sound the Bamboo (2000), wherein she collaborated with Dr. I-to Loh, an ethnomusicologist from Taiwan, to provide English lyrics for Asian Christians with a distinctly Eastern-Asian style of music.
In this hymn, Shirley Murray finds a way to incorporate the Christian imperative of equality and justice for the entire world. In the first stanza, she begins with the statement, “For everyone born, a place at the table … for everyone born, a star overhead.” At first glance, the song appears as if it will address global hunger, which indeed it does. But on a metaphysical level, she clearly expresses that the justice and equality humanity needs actually comes as a result of the birth of Jesus Christ. Here, she has flipped our understanding of what “the table” actually means. The table does not simply represent the proverbial dining table or the political forum (such as the United Nations), but also stands as a metaphor for the Kingdom of God. The table embodies a world where everyone has a place, because God became human in Jesus Christ, expressed by the star on Christmas night. “The table” of abundance and equality is the prophetic expression of God’s will manifest in creation.
She continues her theme of justice and equality in the subsequent stanzas by providing a series of binary expressions, thereby articulating the need for Christians to extend justice and joy across the diversity of humanity: “for woman and man” (stanza 2), “for young or for old” (stanza 3), and “for just and unjust” (stanza 4). In the fourth stanza, Murray presents us with perhaps a more difficult challenge by including both “abuser” and “abused” at the table. She draws the language of “abuser/abused” from the Lord’s Prayer: “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” acknowledging that all humanity stands in need of God’s grace, love, and mercy: even those who have committed acts of abuse in its many forms.
The author states her theological premise in the introduction of the collection, A Place at the Table: "I have used the words of the hymn 'A Place at the Table' as title for this book, because there are still Christian people not welcome, either at the communion table or at the common table of society. . ..” Such hospitality, however, is already apparent in the Invitation to the Table found in The United Methodist Hymnal: “Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another.” The invitation is extended to all regardless of gender, cultural background, social class, or sexual orientation. Here she challenges us to recognize the sacrament as a place of unconditional inclusivity. According to the refrain, we understand the Christian’s role to play in offering “justice and joy” because paradoxically, “God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy.” In this way, the Creator expresses delight when humanity “creates” justice and joy. Murray’s hymn gives new voice to Christians crying out for God’s justice and joy as they enact God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven.”
For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread,
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star overhead,
For woman and man, a place at the table,
revising the roles, deciding the share,
with wisdom and grace, dividing the power,
for woman and man, a system that's fair,
For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong,
For gay and for straight, a place at the table,
a covenant shared, a welcoming space,
a rainbow of race and gender and colour,
for gay and for straight, the chalice of grace,
For just and unjust, a place at the table,
abuser, abused, with need to forgive,
in anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy,
for just and unjust, a new way to live,
For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out, to witness and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be free,
and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy!
This setting also quotes the hymn “Fresh as the Morning”, a hymn of praise celebrating God’s faithfulness by Shirley Erena Murray. The poet’s inspiration comes from scripture and from life itself. It is a personal hymn of praise in the tradition of psalmists through the ages. If we want a specific text that serves as inspiration, it is the Book of Lamentations. The Book of Lamentations, whether written by Jeremiah or someone else, is both a personal and a community’s outburst of lament because Jerusalem, God’s chosen city, has been ransacked by invading armies. The city, its leaders and its people have been taken captive. Many will now face a long and painful exile. Many of the Psalms are laments. There are passages of lament in the writings of the prophets.
Suffering, alienation and devastation are written into our family, community and global narratives. We often seek closure, or are counselled to seek closure, when heart and soul need lament, and lament that others will share. The heart that has not been broken, that has not endured personal or communal agony, is unlikely to sing of God’s faithfulness nor feel the need to. Faith, hope, and trust grow despite hardship. The light shines in the dark, and the dark does not overcome it. Faith, hope and trust spring to life within the context of God’s love and faithfulness. Their coming to life allows room for love to take root, to claim and empower us so that we can choose life and blessing, we can believe it possible that we can play a part (for ourselves and others) to create new and good day.
This hymn asserts that God is our home in our times of imprisonment as much as in our times of celebrated freedom. God is in our struggles and our hungers. This hymn comes from a heart that understands emptiness and exile. It is the lament and praise of a woman who knows the hurt of a Mothering God who weeps for a suffering and alienated people. Despite the hurt and the hurting there is yet hope joyfully affirmed.
The tune, TRAYNOR, was written by Ron Klusmeier for this text.
God of the Bible, God in the Gospel, hope seen in Jesus, hope yet to come,
you are our center, daylight or darkness, freedom or prison, you are our home.
God in our struggles, God in our hunger, suffering with us, taking our part,
still you empower us, mothering Spirit, feeding, sustaining, from your own heart.
Those without status, those who are nothing, you have made royal, gifted with rights,
chosen as partners, midwives of justice, birthing new systems, lighting new lights.
Not by your finger, not by your anger, will our world order change in a day,
but by your people, fearless and faithful, small paper lanterns, lighting the way.
Hope we must carry, shining and certain, through all our turmoil, terror and loss,
bonding us gladly, one to the other, till our world changes, facing the Cross.
Fresh as the morning, sure as the sunrise,
God always faithful, you do not change.
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.
About the Vocal Solo Music:
Orphans of God - Joel Lindsey & Twila LaBar
(c.2006 Bridge Building Music, admin by Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing)
Joel Lindsey is one of the most celebrated and award-winning writers in the genres of Contemporary Christian music and Southern Gospel. He has penned over 800 songs for a “who’s who” list in both genres. Over the years he has earned a staggering twenty No. 1 songs on Christian radio. His songs have been recorded by mainstream artists like Chris Mann, Clay Aiken, and The Backstreet Boys.
Twila LaBar is an award-winning songwriter with songs recorded by Avalon, (Orphans of God), Point of Grace, Jeff and Sheri Easter with Vince Gill, Dottie Peoples, Karen Peck and New River, and more. Twila's extensive background in songwriting and music production made transitioning into filmmaking a natural next step. Twila made her narrative film directorial debut in the independent feature film "Blanche." Twila received "Best First Time Filmmaker" and "Best Woman Filmmaker" awards in the Royal Wolf Film Awards. Twila is also the recipient of the Hollywood Gold Awards Silver Award for Best Original Song for "The Miles Don't Even Matter." In 2020 and 2021 “Blanche”received 16 film festival awards. In addition to directing Blanche, Twila composed background music for the film and wrote and recorded two songs for the “Blanche” soundtrack, "Saddle Up" and "The Miles Don't Even Matter." Country artist Jordan Kirkdorffer, a contestant on The Voice 2018, is featured on "The Miles Don't Even Matter." “Blanche” is available on Amazon, iTunes, and Vimeo on Demand. Twila is currently in post-production on the documentary film "Where the Horses Heal the Soul."
“Orphans of God" is a song of hope by Joel Lindsey and Twila LaBar that was first performed by Avalon, a contemporary Christian music group. “Orphans of God” was recorded and released as a single by country artist Ty Herndon and singer and actress Kristin Chenoweth, going to #1 on the iTunes Christmas Songs chart.
Who here among us has not been broken?
Who here among us is without guilt or pain?
So often abandoned by out transgressions,
If such a thing as grace exists, then grace was made for lives like this.
There are no strangers, there are no outcasts,
there are no orphans of God.
So many fallen, but, hallelujah,
There are no orphans of God.
Come ye, unwanted, and find affection,
Come all ye weary, come and lay down your head.
Come, ye unworthy, we are a family.
If such a thing as grace exists, then grace was made for lives like this.
There are no strangers, there are no outcasts,
There are no orphans of God.
So many fallen, but, hallelujah,
There are no orphans of God.
O blessed Father, look down upon us,
We are Your children, we need Your love.
We bow before Your throne of mercy,
and seek your face to rise above.
There are no strangers, there are no outcasts,
There are no orphans of God.
So many fallen, but, hallelujah,
There are no orphans.
There are no strangers, there are no outcasts,
there are no orphans of God
So many fallen, but, hallelujah,
There are no orphans of God.
There are no orphans of God.
About the Hymns:
Help Us Accept Each Other
(c.1977, Hope Publishing Co.)
Fred Kaan (1929-2009), though ordained in the United Reformed Church and serving in England, was a native of Haarlem, The Netherlands. Carlton R. Young, editor of The UM Hymnal, says of Kaan, “His linguistic ability, ecumenical service, and fervent concern for the powerless are apparent in his hymns, numbering more than 200.” Collections of his hymns appear in this country as The Hymn Texts of Fred Kaan (1985), Planting Trees and Sowing Seeds (1989) and The Only Earth We Know (1999). He was elected Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada in 2001. His hymns have been translated into more that 15 languages. Kaan died at the age of 80 after a long struggle with cancer and Alzheimer’s disease. Though one of the most prophetic and vigorous voices in 20th-century hymnody has been silenced, we shall continue to sing his hymns.Kaan explains the origins of the hymn, “Help us accept each other”: “This text was set in motion upon reading a Bible study article Mrs. Jackie Mattonen had written for the Cumberland Presbyterian Church in the USA. . . . It was almost accidentally and at the last moment included in the fourth edition of Cantate Domino [an ecumenical and cross-cultural hymnal published by the World Council of Churches in 1974], … and it so happened that my “Hymn of acceptance” was just the right length to fill the two blank pages that needed filling.” The text appeared in Kaan’s collection Break Not the Circle (1975) for the first time in the U.S. This is one of the most powerful hymns on reconciliation and forgiveness composed in the last half of the 20th century. Romans 15:7 provides a scriptural basis for stanza 1: “Receive one another, then, just as Christ also received you, to God’s glory.” The hymn also reflects Ephesians 4:15: “But practicing the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into Christ, who is the head.”
The hymn tune ACCEPTANCE, by John Ness Beck (1930-1987), was originally published as a four-part anthem to "Help Us Accept Each Other" (1977) by Fred Kaan. The tune features a consistently syncopated rhythmic pattern in each of its four lines.
Help us accept each other as Christ accepted us;
teach us as sister, brother, each person to embrace.
Be present, Lord, among us and Bring us to believe:
we are ourselves accepted and meant to love and live.
Teach us, O Lord, your lessons, as in our daily life
we struggle to be human and search for hope and faith.
Teach us to care for people, for all - not just for some,
to love them as we find them or as they may become.
Let your acceptance change us so that we may be moved
in living situations to do the truth in love;
to practice your acceptance until we know by heart
the table of forgiveness and laughter's healing art.
Lord, for today's encounters with all who are in need,
who hunger for acceptance, for justice and for bread,
we need new eyes for seeing, new hands for holding on:
renew us with your Spirit; Lord, free us, make us one!
Where Charity and Love Prevail
(c.1961, World Library Publications)
Omer Westendorf (1916-1997) was one of the leading composers following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council. Beginning at age 20, he received his master’s degree in music at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and for most of his professional musical career served as organist and choirmaster at St. Bonaventure Church in Cincinnati. Under his direction the Bonaventure Choir sang concerts and recorded sacred music for several decades. One of his greatest achievements was the founding of the World Library of Sacred Music in 1950 and World Library Publications in 1957. These organizations have been primary distributors of music for the Mass in the United States and beyond.
Westendorf was also known for his lectures and seminars on sacred music, consultations on liturgical music and as a hymn writer. Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book, 1964, was the first vernacular hymn and service book to implement the Catholic liturgies decreed by Vatican Council II. He wrote Music Lessons for the Man in the Pew to teach the art of sight reading choral music.
“Where charity and love prevail” (1961) provides an English hymn version of a 9th-century Latin hymn, “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est” (Where there is charity and love, God is there) based on 1 John 4:16. Traditionally, this is the final hymn on Maundy Thursday, called in the Latin tradition Mandatum novum (New Commandment), referring to the act of washing of the disciples’ feet initiated by Jesus.
Scholar H. Myron Braun comments on this ancient ritual: “[The Latin chant] is said to date from the ninth century . . . with its emphasis on community within the faith, on Christians holding one another in love and concern . . . It is appropriate for . . . [Maundy Thursday] when we note the “new commandment” that we love one another, and also several times in Eastertide when the lectionary leads us to reading on love from the Gospel and the epistles of John.”
The text draws directly on John 13:34, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This version appeared first in Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book (1976).
Composed by Alexander R. Reinagle (1799-1877), ST. PETER was published as a setting for Psalm 118 in Reinagle's Psalm Tunes for the Voice and Pianoforte (c. 1836). The tune first appeared with Newton's text in Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861); it is now usually associated with this text, for which it is a better match than for Psalm 118. The tune was named after St. Peter-in-the-East, the church in Oxford, England, where Reinagle was organist from 1822-1853. Little is known of Reinagle's early life. Of Austrian descent, he came from a family of musicians and became a well-known organ teacher. A writer of teaching manuals for string instruments, Reinagle also compiled two books of hymn tunes, the 1836 collection and A Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1840). He also composed a piano sonata and some church music.
Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found;
Brought here together by Christ’s love, by love are we thus bound.
With grateful joy and holy fear His charity we learn;
Let us with heart and mind and soul now love him in return.
Forgive we now each other’s faults as we our faults confess;
And let us love each other well in Christian holiness.
Let strife among us be unknown, let all contention cease;
Be His the glory that we seek, be ours His holy peace.
Let us recall that in our midst dwells God’s begotten Son;
As members of His body joined, we are in Him made one.
No race or creed can love exclude, if honored be God’s name;
Our family embraces all whose Father is the same.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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