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:
Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott - Georg Telemann
For centuries, "Komm, Heiliger Geist, Herre Gott" ("Come, Holy Ghost, God and Lord") has been the prominent hymn (Hauptlied) for Pentecost in German-speaking Lutheranism. The hymn inspired composers from the Renaissance to contemporary to write chorale preludes and vocal compositions. The first stanza is a translation of the Latin antiphon for Pentecost "Veni Sancte Spiritus, reple tuorum corda fidelium" (Come, Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful) from the 11th century.
Martin Luther added two more stanzas, keeping not only the meter and the tune, but also the structure, with acclamations at the beginning of lines 1 and 5, and the final Halleluja. In his stanzas, the group of "deiner Gläubigen" (your believers) is speaking directly, stating "wir" and "uns" ("we" and "us"). Luther alludes to several of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to Isaiah 11:2: wisdom, understanding, counsel, knowledge, fortitude, piety, and fear of the Lord. He also drew on Galatians 4:6 ("because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of his Son into your hearts"), Matthew 23:8-10 ("for one is your Master"), and Romans 8:26 ("the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities"). In the second stanza, Luther uses the attributes "heiliges Licht, edler Hort" (holy light, precious refuge) and words the request "protect us from strange doctrines / so that we may never look for any teacher / except Jesus in true belief". In the last stanza, the Spirit's "ardent love" and "sweet consolation" are named, asking for help "always to remain joyful and comforted / in your service" and "so that we may bravely struggle / through life and death to reach you!"
The hymn appeared first in 1524 in Eyn geystlich Gesangk Buchleyn (de), (booklet of spiritual song), collected by Johann Walter.[4] The same year it appeared also in Eyn Enchiridion in Erfurt, titled "Der gesank Veni sancte spiritus". It has been translated, for example by Catherine Winkworth as Come, Holy Spirit, God and Lord! in 1855, and has appeared in hymnals of various denominations.
Come, Holy Spirit, Lord God, fill with the goodness of your grace
The heart, spirit and mind of your believers,
Kindle in them your ardent love!
O Lord, through the spendour of your light you have gathered in faith
People from all the tonuges of the world; so that in your praise Lord,
May there be sung Halleluja! Halleluja!
You holy light, precious refuge, let the word of life enlighten us
And teach us to know God truly, to call him father from our heart!
O Lord, protect us from strange doctrines so that we may never look for any teacher
Except Jesus in true belief and may trust him wholeheartedly! Halleluja! Halleluja!
You sacred warmth, sweet consolation, now help us always to remain joyful and
And comforted in your service; do not let sorrow drive us away!
O Lord, through your power make us ready and strengthen the feebleness of our flesh
So that we may bravely struggle through life and death to reach you! Halleluja! Halleluja!
Georg Philipp Telemann (1681-1767) was a German Baroque composer and multi-instrumentalist. Almost completely self-taught in music, he became a composer against his family's wishes. After studying in Magdeburg, Zellerfeld, and Hildesheim, Telemann entered the University of Leipzig to study law, but eventually settled on a career in music. He held important positions in Leipzig, Sorau, Eisenach, and Frankfurt before settling in Hamburg in 1721, where he became musical director of the city's five main churches. Telemann was one of the most prolific composers in history, composing more than 3,000 pieces, and was considered by his contemporaries to be one of the leading German composers of the time—he was compared favorably both to his friend Johann Sebastian Bach, who made Telemann the godfather and namesake of his son Carl Philipp Emanuel, and to George Frideric Handel, whom Telemann also knew personally. Telemann's music was one of the driving forces behind the late Baroque and the early Classical styles. Starting in the 1710s he became one of the creators and foremost exponents of the so-called German mixed style, an amalgam of German, French, Italian and Polish styles. Over the years, his music gradually changed and started incorporating more and more elements of the galant style, but he never completely adopted the ideals of the nascent Classical era: Telemann's style remained contrapuntally and harmonically complex, and already in 1751 he dismissed much contemporary music as too simplistic. Equally important for the history of music were Telemann's publishing activities. By pursuing exclusive publication rights for his works, he set one of the most important early precedents for regarding music as the intellectual property of the composer.
Paraphrase sur le "Veni Creator" - Franciszek Walczynski
Veni Creator Spiritus ("Come Creator Spirit") is a hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus in the 9th century. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung in Gregorian Chant. As an invocation of the Holy Spirit, in the practice of the Roman Catholic Church it is sung during the liturgical celebration of the feast of Pentecost (at both Terce and Vespers). It is also sung at occasions such as the entrance of Cardinals to the Sistine Chapel, when electing a new pope, as well as at the consecration of bishops, the ordination of priests, when celebrating the sacrament of Confirmation, the dedication of churches, the celebration of synods or councils, the coronation of kings, the profession of members of religious institutes and other similar solemn events.
Since the English Reformation in the 16th century, there have been more than fifty English language translations and paraphrases of Veni Creator Spiritus. The version included in the 1662 revision of the Book of Common Prayer retained the Latin title and was written by Bishop John Cosin for the coronation of King Charles I of Great Britain in 1625. The same words have been used at every coronation since, and is sung by the choir after the singing of the Creed, while the sovereign is dressed in a white alb and seated in the Coronation Chair, prior to the Anointing. The first verse is:
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
and lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.
Another well known version by the poet John Dryden was first published in his 1693 work, Examen Poeticum. It may be sung to the tune "Melita" by John Bacchus Dykes. Dryden's first verse is:
Creator Spirit, by whose aid
The world's foundations first were laid,
Come, visit every pious mind;
Come, pour thy joys on humankind;
From sin and sorrow set us free,
And make thy temples worthy thee.
Monsignor Franciszek Walczyński (1852-1937) was a Polish Catholic priest, teacher, composer, author of, among others, music for two Marian songs " Mother of constant help ", " Holy Virgin, my orphans ", and 12 songs to Mary, Queen of Poland. In April 1884 he published "Church Songbook for Youth" containing 156 songs. He was the founder of the Cathedral Choir at the Cathedral in Tarnów.
Psalm 104 (Pentecost) - Emma Lou Diemer
(c.1999, The Sacred Music Press)
Diemer has based this work on “Sonne der Gerechtigkeit”, a German chorale that is perhaps particularly fitting in this time of strife in the UMC.
"Sonne der Gerechtigkeit" (Sun of justice) has a complex history. The image of a sun of justice or righteousness was created by the prophet Malachi. The text was compiled around 1930 by Otto Riethmüller from older stanzas by different hymnwriters. The hymn expresses a call for justice, renewal and unity, within the congregation and church, and among peoples. It requests the sun of justice, a symbol for Jesus, to rise in our time and appear in his church.
The image "Sonne der Gerechtigkeit" was coined by Malachi, a biblical prophet (Malachi 4:2, “But for you who revere my name the sun of righteousness shall rise, with healing in its wings. You shall go out leaping like calves from the stall.”). The theme of the hymn is a yearning for justice and unity, within the congregation and church, and among peoples. Otto Riethmüller, who later became a member of the Confessing Church, compiled the text from older stanzas. He published it in the ecumenical song book for young people Ein neues Lied (A new song) in 1932, intended as a wake-up call to the church in a Germany facing Nazi doctrines.
Riethmüller took stanzas 3 and 7 from Johann Christian Nehring, a Protestant minister in Halle who was close to August Hermann Francke and pietism. Nehring had expanded another hymn, "Sieh, wie lieblich und wie fein" by Michael Müller, which was published in Halle in 1704 in the collection Geistreiches Gesang-Buch by Johann Anastasius Freylinghausen. His focus is to promote unity among separated Christians, as God is three in one in the Trinity.
Riethmüller took stanzas 2 and 6 from Christian David (1692–1751), who was raised Catholic and worked as a carpenter and a soldier. He was impressed by the pietist movement and converted in 1714. He worked closely with Nikolaus Ludwig Graf von Zinzendorf. David went as a missionary of the Herrnhuter Brüdergemeinde to Greenland, among other places. His focus is the origin of all preaching in Jesus who is identified with the sun of justice. His stanzas were part of a hymn "Seyd gegrüßt, zu tausendmahl", published in 1728.
Riethmüller found the other stanzas in writings by Christian Gottlob Barth who worked as a minister in Stuttgart. He founded the publishing house Calwer Verlag in 1833. When he retired from church service in 1838, he became a freelance writer for young people. His focus is a missionary approach, based on his work both worldwide in the Basel Mission and locally in the regional mission (Bezirksmission) and an institution for the rescue of children (Kinderrettungsanstalt) in Calw. His stanzas were found in "Jesu, bittend kommen wir", published in 1827/1837.
Riethmüller unified the stanzas by ending each one with a fifth line, "Erbarm dich, Herr" (Have mercy, Lord), making it a late Leise. The song was first published in 1932 in Ein neues Lied (A new song), a song book for young people. It was listed under the header Kirche (Church).
A 1970 ecumenical gathering at the centre of church music education in Schlüchtern suggested a different last stanza, also found in David's hymn. The hymn became part of many hymnals, beginning with the Protestant Evangelisches Kirchengesangbuch (EKG) in 1950. It appeared in 1971 in the Hymn Book of the Anglican Church of Canada, in the Dutch Liedboek voor de kerken of 1973. The ecumenical version was included in the Swiss Gemeinsame Kirchenlieder in 1973, in the Catholic Gotteslob of 1975, and in the Czech Evangelicky Zpevnik in 1979. It appears in the current Protestant hymnal Evangelisches Gesangbuch as both EG 262 (ecumenical version) and EG 263 (Riethmüller's version), and in the Catholic Gotteslob as GL 481 in the ecumenical version. With a stress on justice "in unserer Zeit" (in our time), it has been used with a political meaning in many situations. It has been sung at church conventions such as Kirchentag, making headlines. The song was part of the demonstrations in the GDR in the 1980s, remembered as probably the most often used song in the peace prayers (Friedensgebete), a protest against injustice, suspicion and spying in a world separated into East and West. Sonne der Gerechtigkeit was sung by 130,000 visitors of the 2013 Kirchentag. It has been regarded as an expression of political protest, ecumenical unity and inner revival of the church.
The melody was originally a secular song from the 15th century, which was used for a hymn by the Bohemian Brethren in the 16th century. "Sonne der Gerechtigkeit" became part of many hymnals, sung in several Christian denominations and for ecumenical events. It inspired vocal and organ music. With its stress on justice "in unserer Zeit" (in our time), the song has been used with a political meaning. It was often sung at the peace prayers in East Germany which led to Germany's reunification.
The tune was first a secular song, "Der reich Mann war geritten aus" (The rich man went on a ride), known in Bohemia from the 15th century but possibly even older. It was printed as a five-part setting by Jobst vom Brandt in the fifth part of Georg Forster's song collection Schöner fröhlicher neuer und alter deutscher Liedlein in Nuremberg in 1556. The melody was used for a sacred song first in 1561, in a Czech hymnal of Bohemian Brethren. In 1566 it appeared with a German text of the Brethren, "Mensch, erheb dein Herz zu Gott" (Raise your heart to God). Other songs in English sung to the same tune are "At the Lamb's High Feast We Sing", "Hail this joyful day's return" and "Come, O come with sacred lays”.
Sun of Justice, arise in our time;
dawn in your church for the world to see.
Have mercy, Lord.
Awaken dead Christianity from the slumber of certainty
that they will hear Your voice and convert to Your Word.
Have mercy, Lord.
Behold the dismemberment that no man else can resist;
collect, great shepherd of men, everything that has gone astray.
Have mercy, Lord.
Open the doors of the nations; let no cunning or power hinder the
course of your kingdom of heaven . Create light in the dark night.
Have mercy, Lord.
Give the messengers strength and courage, faith, hope, ardor of love,
let rich fruit sprout where they sow with tears.
Have mercy, Lord.
Let us also see Your glory in this time and practice
good discipleship with our little strength .
Have mercy, Lord.
Let us be one, Jesus Christ, as you are with the father,
remain in you always, today and forever.
Have mercy, Lord.
Strength, praise, honor and glory be to the Most High at all times,
who, as He is three in one, lets us be one in Him.
Have mercy, Lord.
Diemer has also drawn inspiration from Psalm 104:
Bless the Lord, O my soul.
O Lord my God, you are very great.
You are clothed with honor and majesty,
wrapped in light as with a garment.
You stretch out the heavens like a tent;
you set the beams of your chambers on the waters;
you make the clouds your chariot;
you ride on the wings of the wind;
you make the winds your messengers,
fire and flame your ministers.
You set the earth on its foundations,
so that it shall never be shaken.
You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
the waters stood above the mountains.
At your rebuke they flee;
at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys,
to the place that you appointed for them.
You set a boundary that they may not pass,
so that they might not again cover the earth.
You make springs gush forth in the valleys;
they flow between the hills,
giving drink to every wild animal;
the wild asses quench their thirst.
By the streams the birds of the air have their habitation;
they sing among the branches.
From your lofty abode you water the mountains;
the earth is satisfied with the fruit of your work.
You cause the grass to grow for the cattle
and plants for people to cultivate, to bring forth food from the earth
and wine to gladden the human heart, oil to make the face shine
and bread to strengthen the human heart.
The trees of the field are watered abundantly,
the cedars of Lebanon that he planted.
In them the birds build their nests;
the stork has its home in the fir trees.
The high mountains are for the wild goats;
the rocks are a refuge for the coneys.
You have made the moon to mark the seasons;
the sun knows its time for setting.
You make darkness, and it is night,
when all the animals of the forest come creeping out.
The young lions roar for their prey, seeking their food from God.
When the sun rises, they withdraw and lie down in their dens.
People go out to their work and to their labor until the evening.
O Lord, how manifold are your works!
In wisdom you have made them all;
the earth is full of your creatures.
There is the sea, great and wide;
creeping things innumerable are there,
living things both small and great.
There go the ships and Leviathan that you formed to sport in it.
These all look to you to give them their food in due season;
when you give to them, they gather it up;
when you open your hand, they are filled with good things.
When you hide your face, they are dismayed;
when you take away their breath, they die and return to their dust.
When you send forth your spirit, they are created,
and you renew the face of the ground.
May the glory of the Lord endure forever;
may the Lord rejoice in his works—
who looks on the earth and it trembles,
who touches the mountains and they smoke.
I will sing to the Lord as long as I live;
I will sing praise to my God while I have being.
May my meditation be pleasing to him, for I rejoice in the Lord.
Let sinners be consumed from the earth,and let the wicked be no more.
Bless the Lord, O my soul. Praise the Lord!
Emma Lou Diemer (b. 1927) has written many works for orchestra, chamber ensemble, keyboard, voice, chorus (women's, men's), and electronic media. Diemer is a keyboard performer and over the years has given concerts of her own organ works at Washington National Cathedral, The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Angeles, Grace Cathedral and St. Mary's Cathedral in San Francisco, and others. Diemer's compositional style over the years has varied from tonal to atonal, from traditional to experimental. She has written works for non-professional and professional performers, originally under the "Gebrauchsmusik" philosophy, but has produced many works, particularly for keyboard, that are difficult and challenging. She was professor of theory and composition at the University of Maryland 1965-70, and joined the faculty of the University of California (UCSB) in 1971. She is professor emeritus, 1991–present. While at UCSB, Diemer helped to establish the computer/electronic music program.
About the Choral Music:
Pentecost - John Ridgway Walker
(c.2012, John Ridgway Walker)
“Pentecost” is an anthem that tells the story of the first Pentecost and quotes from Psalm 104 and Acts 2.
And when the time had fully come,
They were gathered in one place.
A Holy Feast in an upper room,
Apart in time and space.
There the Spirit spoke to them in tongues of wind and flame.
The Living Breath filled them all, God’s wonder to problaim.
In wind and word and flame God came!
And suddenly, and suddenly a sound
like the blowing of a mighty wind
came from heaven and filled the house.
How many are Your works O Lord!
In wisdom You made them all.
The earth is filled with Your creation.
How is it? How is it that each of us hears them
declaring the wonders of God in our own tongues?
In the last days I will pour out my spirit on the Earth.
For now the time is fully come,
as we gather in this place to celebrate the Holy Feast
in this time and place.
Here the Spirit speaks to us as bread and wine we share.
The Living Breath fills the room.
God’s wonders, everywhere!
John Walker is a composer, conductor and clinician who loves to teach. He studied music at Luther College and the University of Alabama. Since 1995, Walker has operated Forest Refuge Music Studio in Santiago, Chile, writing original music. He has worked over 20 years in international schools in Latin America as teacher, clinician, and festival organizer. He was the founding conductor of the Dominican Youth Philharmonic Orchestra and the Director of The Sacred Music Society of Santo Domingo. His own performing organizations have toured extensively throughout the Caribbean, North, Central, and South America. He is the recipient of the Excellence in Education Award, Dominican Republic, 1989, and the Reconocimiento de Mérito, Federación Coral del Caribe y Centroamérica, 2005.
About the Hymns:
O Spirit of the Living God
Henry Hallam Tweedy (1868-1953) hailed from the northeast, born in Binghamton, N.Y. He was granted degrees from Phillips Andover Academy, Yale University, Union Theological Seminary and the University of Berlin. A Congregational pastor, he served churches in New York and Connecticut, and later taught practical theology from 1909-1937 at Yale Divinity School. He co-authored several books, including Training the Devotional Life (1919) and Religious Training in School and Home (1917). His most important contribution, however, was as editor of the hymnal Christian Worship and Praise (1939). In addition to editing a hymnal, Tweedy published a practical volume, The Minister and His Hymnal, and won several hymn contests sponsored by the Homiletic Review and the Hymn Society of America.
Tweedy said he composed “O Spirit of the Living God” because “some of the old Pentecostal hymns were to me unsatisfactory, and I was eager to interpret the symbolism of the story in Acts in a way that modern men could understand and sincerely mean.” The text is an exposition of Acts 2, a passage focused on Pentecost. The hymn was first published in the Methodist Hymnal (1935).
FOREST GREEN is an English folk tune associated with the ballad "The Ploughboy's Dream." Ralph Vaughan Williams turned FOREST GREEN into a hymn tune for The English
O Spirit of the living God, thou light and fire divine,
descend upon thy church once more, and make it truly thine.
Fill it with love and joy and power, with righteousness and peace;
till Christ shall dwell in human hearts, and sin and sorrow cease.
Blow, wind of God! With wisdom blow until our minds are free
from mists of error, clouds of doubt, which blind our eyes to thee.
Burn, winged fire! Inspire our lips with flaming love and zeal,
to preach to all thy great good news, God's glorious commonweal.
Teach us to utter living words of truth which all may hear,
the language all may understand when love speaks loud and clear;
till every age and race and clime shall blend their creeds in one,
and earth shall form one family by whom thy will is done.
So shall we know the power of Christ who came this world to save;
so shall we rise with him to life which soars beyond the grave;
and earth shall win true holiness, which makes thy children whole;
till, perfected by thee, we reach creation's glorious goal!
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
Samuel Longfellow (1819-1892) wrote this text with the heading "Prayer for Inspiration." It was published in the Unitarian hymnal Hymns of the Spirit in 1864. Like "O Come, O Come, Immanuel”, this text is a catalog: it lists attributes of the Holy Spirit in successive stanzas. The text is a prayer that the application of the Spirit's attributes may result in more vibrant Christian living, which will then be manifest in discernment of God's will, holiness and purity, courageous servanthood, obedience to God's rule, peace and restfulness, and the experience of joy. The final stanza alludes to Numbers 21:17 ("song of the well") and to John 4:10 ("living water"). Note that this hymn addresses the Holy Spirit without any reference to the Trinity, a Unitarian position that should not, however, hamper its use.
Samuel Longfellow is not as famous as his brother, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, about whom he wrote a biography that was published in 1886. In his time, however, Samuel was well known as a Unitarian preacher and hymn writer. Educated at Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School, he became a minister in 1848 and served Unitarian congregations in Fall River, Massachusetts (1848-1851), Brooklyn, New York (1853-1860), and Germantown, Pennsylvania (1860-1883). With Samuel Johnson he compiled two hymnals: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (1846) and Hymns of the Spirit (1864). He also published a number of his hymn texts in A Book of Hymns and Tunes (1860).
The hymn tune CANTERBURY is adapted from SONG 13. Orlando Gibbons composed SONG 13 in soprano and bass parts. Used as a setting for a text from the Song of Songs, the tune was published in George Withers' Hymnes and Songs of the Church (1623) as hymn number 13 (hence the tune name). In hymnals, the melody is presented in a simplified isorhythmic (all equal rhythms) form; the more rhythmically varied original also had more notes and was better suited to solo singing.
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) was an English Rennaissance composer, virginalist and organist of the Elizabethan (late Tudor) and early Jacobean periods. Gibbons was the leading composer in early 17th century England and a pivotal transitional figure from the end of the Renaissance to the beginning of the Baroque era. He was praised in his time by a visit in 1624 from the French ambassador, Charles de L'Aubespine, who stated upon entering Westminster Abbey that “At the entrance, the organ was touched by the best finger of that age, Mr. Orlando Gibbons." Musicologist and composer, Frederick Ouseley, dubbed him to be the "English Palestrina”. Gibbons paved the way for a future generation of English composers by perfecting the Byrd's foundations of the English madrigal as well as both full and verse anthems, and especially by teaching music to his oldest son, Christopher, who in turn taught John Blow, Pelham Humfrey and most notably Henry Purcell, the English pioneer of the Baroque era.
Holy Spirit, Truth divine, dawn upon this soul of mine.
Voice of God, and inward Light, wake my spirit, clear my sight.
Holy Spirit, Love divine, glow within this heart of mine.
Kindle ev’ry high desire, purify me with your fire.
Holy Spirit, Pow’r divine, fill and nerve this will of mine.
Boldly may I always live, bravely serve and gladly give.
Holy Spirit, Law divine, reign within this soul of mine.
Be my law and I shall be firmly bound, forever free.
Holy Spirit, Peace divine, still this restless heart of mine.
Speak to calm this tossing sea, grant me your tranquility.
Holy Spirit, Joy divine, gladden now this heart of mine.
In the desert ways I sing, spring, O living Water, spring!
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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