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:
All You Works of God, Bless the Lord - Benjamin Culli
(c.2015, Hope Publishing)
“All You Works of God, Bless the Lord” has the unique distinction of being Ancient-Roman Catholic-Contemporary Lutheran- and Jamaican. The text of the hymn is a paraphrase of the Song of the Three Young Men, which has often been included in the book of Daniel, as Daniel 3:26-90. The authenticity of this text, along with other books called the “Deuterocanonical” books, or the “Apocryphal books”, have been called into question throughout history. These writings include 1st and 2nd Macabees (the story of Hanukah), Tobias, and others. They were included in the ancient Greek Septuagint translation of the Bible, but not Jerome’s Latin version of the bible called the Vulgate. At the reformation, these books were not considered to be Scripture by the Protestants and I would guess that many Protestants today do not even know they exist. These writings continue to be included in many Roman Catholic bibles to this day, and so we often think of them as “Roman Catholic”. However, a few years ago, contemporary Lutheran hymn-writer named Stephen Starke wrote a paraphrase of part of the “Song of Three Young Men” called “All You Works of God Bless the Lord”; it was placed together with a Jamaican tune and now we have the Ancient-Roman Catholic-Contemporary Lutheran- Jamaican hymn.
The text of the “Song of Three Young Men” is included in Daniel chapter 3 in the story often called “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego” (although their proper Hebrew names were Mishael, Hananiah, and Azariah). The three young men are thrown into a fire for refusing to bow down and worship an image of the king. As they are thrown into the fire, Azariah prays a powerful prayer admitting that Israel deserves to be in exile for their sins. He also prays to God to accept their sacrifice of a contrite heart since the temple has been destroyed. The young men are thrown into the fire and God sends an angel to rescue them. They then praise God, while still in the fire, with the following song (verses 28-68):
Then the three, as out of one mouth, praised, glorified, and blessed, God in the furnace,
saying, Blessed art thou, O Lord God of our fathers: and to be praised and exalted above
all for ever. And blessed is thy glorious and holy name: and to be praised and exalted
above all for ever. Blessed art thou in the temple of thine holy glory: and to be praised
and glorified above all for ever. Blessed art thou that beholdest the depths, and sittest
upon the cherubims: and to be praised and exalted above all for ever. Blessed art thou
on the glorious throne of thy kingdom: and to be praised and glorified above all for ever.
Blessed art thou in the firmament of heaven: and above all to be praised and glorified for
ever. O all ye works of the Lord, bless ye the Lord : praise and exalt him above all for
ever, O ye heavens, bless ye the Lord : praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye
angels of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O all ye
waters that be above the heaven, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye powers of the Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all
for ever. O ye sun and moon, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye stars of heaven, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O every
shower and dew, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O all ye
winds, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever, O ye fire and heat,
bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye winter and summer, bless
ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye dews and storms of snow, bless
ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye nights and days, bless ye the
Lord: bless and exalt him above all for ever. O ye light and darkness, bless ye the Lord:
praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye ice and cold, bless ye the Lord: praise and
exalt him above all for ever. O ye frost and snow, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him
above all for ever. O ye lightnings and clouds, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him
above all for ever. O let the earth bless the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O ye mountains and little hills, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever.
O all ye things that grow in the earth, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all
for ever. O ye mountains, bless ye the Lord: Praise and exalt him above all for ever. O
ye seas and rivers, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye
whales, and all that move in the waters, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all
for ever. O all ye fowls of the air, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for
ever. O all ye beasts and cattle, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for
ever. O ye children of men, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O
Israel, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye priests of the
Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye servants of the
Lord, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye spirits and souls of
the righteous, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O ye holy and
humble men of heart, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever. O
Ananias, Azarias, and Misael, bless ye the Lord: praise and exalt him above all for ever:
far he hath delivered us from hell, and saved us from the hand of death, and delivered us
out of the midst of the furnace and burning flame: even out of the midst of the fire hath he
delivered us. O give thanks unto the Lord, because he is gracious: for his mercy endureth
for ever. O all ye that worship the Lord, bless the God of gods, praise him, and give him
thanks: for his mercy endureth for ever.
Whether or not the three young men ever spoke these words, it is a meaningful song of praise and thanksgiving. They are overjoyed that even under captivity and persecution, God heard their prayer and delivered them from the burning flame. They call upon all creation to join them in their song.
All you works of God, bless the Lord! All you angels, now bless the Lord;
Come, you heavens and pow’rs that be, Praise the Lord and His majesty:
Sing, you sun and you moon above, Stars of heaven, now sing His love;
Dew and showers, you winds that blow, Heat and fire, you ice and snow:
Frost of winter with song so cold, Dews of summer, your song unfold;
Light and darkness, you day and night, Clouds and thunder, you lightnings bright:
Hills and mountains, now sing His worth, All you green things that grow on earth;
Seas and rivers, you springs and wells, Beasts and cattle, you birds and whales:
Come, humanity, sing along, Sing, you people of God, a song;
Priests and servants, your Lord now bless, Join, you spirits and souls at rest:
Bless the Lord, all you pure of heart; All you humble, His praise impart;
God the Father and Son adore, Bless the Spirit forevermore!
Raise your voices high, praise and magnify,
Benjamin M. Culli is an active composer, a church musician, and a senior keyboard publications editor at the Hal Leonard Corporation. He is the organist at Peace Lutheran Church in New Berlin, Wisconsin. Culli studied music education at Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois, and after graduation worked as a high school and elementary school band director. In addition to his duties as a band director, Benjamin also directed the children’s choir and the adult handbell choir. He has composed music for organ, choir, chamber ensembles, and concert bands.
Postlude on "Foundation" - David Lasky
(c.2019, Lorenz Publishing)
The authorship of this great hymn of the faith is one of the great hymnological mysteries. When John Rippon, pastor of Carter Lane Baptist Church in London, published A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors in 1787, the attribution for this hymn appeared only as “K—.” Hymnologist William Reynolds notes that the 1822 edition designated the author as “Kn,” and the 1835 edition of the collection indicated “Keen.” Finally, an 1844 edition ascribed authorship to “Kirkham.” Robert Keene (or Keen), a close friend of Rippon’s, was the song leader at the Carter Lane Church from 1776-1793. Mr. Reynolds believes that Keene assisted Rippon in preparing the compilation. But no hymn in the early editions appears to have been written by Keene. Six tunes bear the attribution “R. Keene” or “Keene,” and logic would dictate that if Keene had written the text, this would have also been clearly indicated. It is safe to say that compilers of collections in the 18th and 19th century did not take the same care to assign authorship as we have come to expect in modern hymnals.
We know that Rippon’s Selection was very popular, with 11 editions published in England and one in the U.S. (1820) before his death in 1836. “How firm a foundation” was sung frequently in both the North and the South before the Civil War. Mr. Reynolds notes that it was a favorite hymn of Theodore Roosevelt, and that Andrew Jackson requested it be sung at his deathbed, and that Robert E. Lee asked it be sung at his funeral.
The anonymous folk tune FOUNDATION is an American contribution to the hymn that first appears with the text in Joseph Fund’s 1832 Genuine Church Music under the tune name PROTECTION. Hymnology scholar Harry Eskew has concluded that PROTECTION was a new tune and not previously published. The composer remains unknown. The tune appears in other famous American 19th-century collections such as The Sacred Harp(1844) and Southern Harmony (1854) with some melodic variations and with changes in harmony, but R.M. McIntosh’s Tabor: or, the Richmond Collection of Sacred Music (1866) provides us the present form found in most Baptist and Methodist hymnals.
Originally written with seven four-line stanzas, five are included in The United Methodist Hymnal with only one small alteration. Much of the hymn’s text is straight from The Bible, such as Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 43:2, 2 Corinthians 12:9 and Hebrews 13:5.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
David Lasky (b.1957) has been Organist and Director of Music at Saint Cecilia Catholic Church in Leominster, Massachusetts since 1981. Prior to that he served as Organist and Director of Music at Saint John Church and School in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, and as Organist at Holy Spirit Church in Gardner, Massachusetts. He earned his Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. He also earned his Master of Arts degree in Church Music and Liturgy from the Rensselaer Program of Church Music and Liturgy at Saint Joseph College, Rensselaer, Indiana. Lasky has performed as an organ soloist and in ensembles throughout Massachusetts, and has performed recitals at Washington National Cathedral and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, both in Washington DC, and at Saint Mary Cathedral in Lafayette, Indiana. He has taught classes and workshops on improvisation and service playing for the American Guild of Organists and for the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.
Lasky is very active as a composer and arranger of sacred organ and choral music. His music, which is widely performed in churches throughout the United States, Canada, and England, has been favorably reviewed in the professional organist journals The American Organist and The Diapason, as well as in the British journal, Church Music Quarterly and in the American worship magazine, Creator.
In 1992, Mr. Lasky won a national hymn tune-writing competition, sponsored by the Lutheran Home for the Aged in Arlington Heights, Illinois. In 1994, he was commissioned to compose a concert work, Variations on Austria, for the renowned organist and long-time head of the organ department at The University of Michigan, Marilyn Mason. He has also accepted commissions from Worcester (Massachusetts) State College; Christ Church (Fitchburg, Massachusetts); Saint John Episcopal Church (Charlotte, South Carolina); the Tappan Zee Bridgemen Brass Ensemble (New York City); Jane Errera (Saint Anne Catholic Church, Bethlehem, PA); King's College (Wilkes-Barre, PA); the M.I.T. Concert Band; the Market Street Presbyterian Church (Lima, Ohio); and David Tierney for the Rivers School Conservatory in Weston, Massachusetts. In 2010, he was one of eleven winners in a composition competition co-sponsored by Region IV of the American Guild of Organists and Wayne Leupold Editions. Most recently, he was commissioned by the Boston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists to compose a piece for the 2014 National Convention of the American Guild of Organists.
From 1985 to 2005, Mr. Lasky served as a classical music reviewer for The Worcester (MA) Telegram & Gazette, and has written CD and composition reviews for The New England Organist. He taught as an adjunct professor at Quinsigamond Community College in Worcester, Massachusetts (1989-1990), and in the Music Theory department at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst (1991-1992).
About the Choral Music:
In This Very Room - Ron Harris
(c.1979, Ron Harris Music)
Ronald Harris (b. 1941) is a composer, author, and arranger who lives in Los Angeles, Calif. He is probably best known for the song “In This Very Room”. Ron Harris wrote the following about the this song:
“Because there are now more than 350 recordings and over a million copies of “In This Very Room” in print, a great many people have wondered which room the song is about. In truth, the song will always be about whatever room it is sung in at any given moment. But the genesis of the song actually happened in a most unlikely place: a big old lonely hotel room at the Fairmont Hotel in New Orleans, Louisiana. I had been working in that very hotel as conductor for Carol Lawrence (Maria in West Side Story) for about a week. This particular night, after the show, I went back to my room and before going to bed I called home to my wife and children in Los Angeles to talk for a few minutes. During that conversation I really ached to be home with them. I fantasized crawling through the phone wire to magically be home with them in California.
After hanging up the phone, I turned off the lights and tried to go to sleep. I felt exceptionally lonely that night. I missed my family. Then, out of nowhere and in that pitch-dark room, the ideas of what became “In This Very Room”, came to me. And they came to me in the specific words that are now part of the song – with a heavy emphasis on "this VERY room". It was the word "very" that truly electrified me. I started thinking about what an awesome thing was happening in my VERY room in that VERY hotel. The word VERY enabled me to express, even to myself, how special I must be that, in the whole world; this was taking place in my VERY room. My loneliness vanished and I felt powerful and healed.
Well, being a songwriter, I was always on the alert to inspiring ideas. I knew then as I do now that any time words alone can do something like that to me, it was my job to ask if they could become a song. So I got out of bed in the total darkness and, without turning on a light, I found a pencil and wrote the first line of the song on some paper. I wrote in really large letters because I couldn't actually see anything in the dark. I got back in bed and fell asleep rather quickly, as I remember. My wife, Carol, arrived a couple of days later for a New Orleans weekend with me. We worked on the song at the piano in the hotel showroom. By the time she left for Los Angeles, the song was finished.
The song has never again been about my lonely hotel room. The song has its own life, its own ability to transform and inspire that no longer has anything to do with me at all. And that, I believe is why it has been so successful. Because whenever it is performed, due to the nature of the words, it is expressing something powerful and electrifying and entirely specific to the moment and the place. Its reach continues to amaze me."
In this very room there's quite enough love for one like me,
And in this very room there's quite enough joy for one like me,
And there's quite enough hope and quite enough power to chase away any gloom,
For Jesus, Lord Jesus ... is in this very room.
And in this very room there's quite enough love for all of us,
And in this very room there's quite enough joy for all of us,
And there's quite enough hope and quite enough power to chase away any gloom,
For Jesus, Lord Jesus ... is in this very room.
In this very room there's quite enough love for all the world,
And in this very room there's quite enough joy for all the world,
And there's quite enough hope and quite enough power to chase away any gloom,
For Jesus, Lord Jesus ... is in this very room.
Peace I Leave with You - Matthew Glandorf
(c.1993, Randall M. Egan)
“Peace I Leave with You” is a text from John 14:27, which has been set by many composers. Matthew Glandorf is active as a conductor, composer, church musician, and educator. He was raised in Germany, where he received early instruction at the organ of Bremen Cathedral with Wolfgang Baumgratz. At age sixteen he entered the Curtis Institute of Music. He pursued graduate studie at the Manhattan School of Music. In 2004 he was appointed artistic director of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, and in 2008 he became the artistic director of the Bach Festival of Philadelphia. He has served as director of music for many Philadelphia churches, including Old St. Joseph’s, Old Pine Street Presbyterian, and Lutheran Church of the Holy Communion. Mr. Glandorf joined the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music in 1995. He has also served on the faculties of Swarthmore College and Westminster Choir College.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you;
not as the world gives do I give unto you.
Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you;
not as the world gives do I give unto you.
About the Hymns:
Stand Up, and Bless the Lord
James Montgomery (1771-1854) was a Moravian orphan who grew up to be a prominent British journalist. He composed over 400 hymns, some of which were included in his collection, Songs of Zion: Being Imitations of Psalms. Among the most popular of his hymns are “Angels from the Realms of Glory,” “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed,” and “Prayer is the Soul’s Sincere Desire.” On March 15, 1824, Montgomery introduced a hymn written for the Red Hill Wesleyan Sunday School Anniversary in his town of Sheffield, England. It began, “Stand up and bless the Lord, ye children of His choice.” When the hymn was published the next year, Montgomery changed the word “children” to “people.” He based the text on Nehemiah 9:5: “Stand up and bless the Lord your God from everlasting to everlasting. Blessed be your glorious name, which is exalted above all blessing and praise” (NRSV).
As a newspaper editor in Sheffield, England, James Montgomery was known as an outspoken advocate for many humanitarian causes. He wrote against slavery and promoted democracy in government and the end of the exploitation of child chimney sweeps. His ideas for social reform were considered so radical that he was imprisoned twice for his editorials. The first time was in 1795 for printing a poem celebrating the fall of the Bastille; the second, in 1796, was for criticizing a magistrate for forcibly dispersing a political protest in Sheffield. His later account of this episode was published in 1840. Turning the experience to some profit, in 1797 he published a pamphlet of poems written during his captivity, as Prison Amusements. Other causes he championed included hymn singing in the Anglican church services, foreign missions, and the British Bible Society.
Montgomery himself expected that if his name would live at all, it would be in his hymns. The monument at his grave in the Sheffield cemetery reads: “Here lies interred, beloved by all who knew him, the Christian poet, patriot, and philanthropist. Wherever poetry is read, or Christian hymns sung, in the English language, ‘he being dead, yet speaketh’ by the genius, piety and taste embodied in his writings.”
The hymn “Stand Up and Bless the Lord,” having been written originally for children, uses simple and clear language to proclaim the glory of God and the call for God’s people to praise and “stand up” and proclaim their faith. The writer Alfred H. Miles wrote that “His Christian songs are vigorous in thought and feeling, simple and direct in action, broad in Christian charity, and lofty in spiritual aspiration.” No doubt this is part of the reason the hymn has been popular for so long.
The tune ST. MICHAEL was written for the Genevan Psalter (1551) by Louis Bourgeois (1510-1561). In both his early and later years Bourgeois wrote French songs to entertain the rich, but in the history of church music he is known especially for his contribution to the Genevan Psalter. Apparently moving to Geneva in 1541, the same year John Calvin returned to Geneva from Strasbourg, Bourgeois served as cantor and master of the choristers at both St. Pierre and St. Gervais, which is to say he was music director there under the pastoral leadership of Calvin. Bourgeois used the choristers to teach the new psalm tunes to the congregation.
The extent of Bourgeois's involvement in the Genevan Psalter is a matter of scholarly debate. Calvin had published several partial psalters, including one in Strasbourg in 1539 and another in Geneva in 1542, with melodies by unknown composers. In 1551 another French psalter appeared in Geneva, Eighty-three Psalms of David, with texts by Marot and de Beze, and with most of the melodies by Bourgeois, who supplied thirty four original tunes and thirty-six revisions of older tunes. This edition was republished repeatedly, and later Bourgeois's tunes were incorporated into the complete Genevan Psalter (1562). However, his revision of some older tunes was not uniformly appreciated by those who were familiar with the original versions; he was actually imprisoned overnight for some of his musical arrangements but freed after Calvin's intervention. In addition to his contribution to the 1551 Psalter, Bourgeois produced a four-part harmonization of fifty psalms, published in Lyons (1547, enlarged 1554), and wrote a textbook on singing and sight-reading, La Droit Chemin de Musique (1550). He left Geneva in 1552 and lived in Lyons and Paris for the remainder of his life.
Stand up, and bless the Lord, ye people of His choice;
stand up, and bless the Lord your God with heart, and soul, and voice.
Tho' high above all praise, above all blessing high,
who would not fear His holy Name, and laud and magnify?
O for the living flame, from His own altar brought,
to touch our lips, our minds inspire, and wing to heav'n our thought!
There, with benign regard, our hymns He deigns to hear;
though unrevealed to mortal sense, the spirit feels Him near.
God is our strength and song, and His salvation ours;
then be His love in Christ proclaimed with all our ransomed pow'rs.
Stand up and bless the Lord, the Lord your God adore;
stand up, and bless His glorious Name henceforth for evermore.
What Gift Can We Bring
Jane Manton Marshall (b. 1924) has established herself as a leading composer of church music, teaching conducting and composition for more than two decades at Southern Methodist University. From 1975-2010, she served an integral role in the Church Music Summer School, hosted by Perkins School of Theology, to provide training for musicians who have not usually attended seminary. As a clinician and composer, Marshall has had a profound influence on at least two generations of church musicians.
Her anthems are carried by numerous publishers, and she has received lifetime achievement awards for her contribution to church music by the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference and the Fellowship of United Methodist Musicians and Worship Arts. In addition to "What Gift Can We Bring," Marshall contributed greatly to The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), especially in the area of responses for the psalms. Grace, Noted, a collection of her homilies and essays, was published in 1992. Many of her compositions are standard items in academic and church choral libraries. Marshall is in a very select group of successful composers/lyricists, a dual-talent exemplified in her early works: 'Awake my heart,' 'My Eternal King,' 'He Comes to Us,' the first setting of Albert Schweitzer's words; and 'Fanfare for Easter.'"
The Rev. John Thornburg, a United Methodist hymn writer, served as her pastor during the 1990s. She mentored the Rev. Thornburg, and they often partnered, pairing texts he wrote with tunes she composed for them. Examples of their work may be found in Can God Be Seen in Other Ways (2003) and What Gift Can We Bring (2003). The second volume derives its title from her most well known hymn, "What gift can we bring."
Jane Marshall’s "What gift can we bring" is a hymn of pure gratitude. A lifelong Dallas resident, she composed this hymn in 1980 for the twenty-fifth anniversary of her congregation, Northaven United Methodist Church. Stanza two reflects on heritage, giving thanks for the past and those "who planted and watered so dreams could come true." Stanza three looks to the future that is "full of surprises," yet knowing that regardless of what happens, "we rest in God’s keeping and live in God’s love."
What gift can we bring, what present, what token?
What words can convey it the joy of this day?
When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing,
what song can we now offer in honor and praise?
Give thanks for the past, for those who had vision,
who planted and watered so dreams could come true.
Give thanks for the Now, for study, for worship,
for mission that bids us turn prayer into deed.
Give thanks for Tomorrow, full of surprises,
for knowing whatever Tomorrow may bring,
the Word is our promise always, forever,
we rest in God's keeping and live in God's love.
This gift we now bring, this present, this token,
these words can convey it the joy of this day!
When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing,
this song we now offer in honor and praise.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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