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:
Savior When in Dust to Thee - Bernard Sanders
(c.2017, Concordia Publishing)
Robert Grant (1779-1838) was influenced in writing this text by William Kethe’s paraphrase of Psalm 104 in the Anglo-Genevan Psalter (1561). Grant’s text was first published in Edward Bickersteth’s Christian Psalmody (1833) with several unauthorized alterations. In 1835 his original six-stanza text was published in Henry Elliott’s Psalm and Hymns.
Of Scottish ancestry, Grant was born in India, where his father was a director of the East India Company. He attended Magdalen College, Cambridge, and was called to the bar in 1807. He had a distinguished public career as Governor of Bombay and as a member of the British Parliament, where he sponsored a bill to remove civil restrictions on Jews. Grant was knighted in 1834. His hymn texts were published in the Christian Observer (1806-1815), in Elliot’s Psalms and Hymns (1835), and posthumously by his brother as Sacred Poems (1839).
Savior, when in dust to Thee Low we bow the adoring knee;
When, repentant, to the skies Scarce we lift our weeping eyes;
O, by all Thy pains and woe Suffered once for us below,
Bending from Thy throne on high, Hear our penitential cry!
By Thy helpless infant years, By Thy life of want and tears,
By Thy days of deep distress In the savage wilderness,
By the dread, mysterious hour Of the insulting tempter's pow'r,
Turn, O turn a fav'ring eye; Hear our penitential cry!
By thine hour of dire despair, By thine agony of prayer,
By the cross, the nail, the thorn, Piercing spear, and torturing scorn,
By the gloom that veiled the skies O'er the dreadful sacrifice,
Listen to our humble sigh; Hear our penitential cry!
By Thy deep expiring groan, By the sad sepulchral stone,
By the vault whose dark abode Held in vain the rising God,
O, from earth to heav'n restored, Mighty, re-ascended Lord,
Bending from Thy throne on high, Hear our penitential cry!
Bernard Wayne Sanders (b. 1957) was born in DePere, Wisconsin and was educated at St. Norbert College, Wichita State University, and the Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, Germany. Sanders has been an active church musician in Germany since 1974, currently serving parishes in the Tuttlingen area as music director and official diocesan organ consultant. As a composer, he has published many works and composed the awardwinning piece Ornament of Grace, sponsored by the American Guild of Organists as part of a performance by organists worldwide in 2008.
Prelude on "Olivet" - John Barr
(c.1994, H. W. Gray, c/o Warner Bros. Publications)
Ray Palmer (1808-1887) wrote “My Faith Looks Up to Thee” upon receiving a vision of Christ shortly after his graduation from Yale University, while working as a tutor at a New York school. The author says concerning its composition, "I gave form to what I felt, by writing, with little effort, the stanzas. I recollect I wrote them with very tender emotion, and ended the last line with tears." However, he kept them to himself until meeting Lowell Mason on a street in Boston, Massachusetts. When Mason asked him to write something for a new hymnal, Palmer dug out his old notes and produced these lyrics, written two years earlier. After taking the lyrics home and reading them, Mason composed this tune. Several days later he saw Palmer again and said: “You may live many years and do many good things, but I think you will be best known to posterity as the author of My Faith Looks Up to Thee”. In 1831, it was published in Spiritual Songs for Social Worship: adapted to the use of Families, &c. Words and Music arranged by Thomas Hastings, of New York, and Lowell Mason of Boston.
The tune OLIVET was written by Dr. Lowell Mason (1792-1872), justly called the father of American church music; for by his labors were founded the germinating principles of national musical intelligence and knowledge, which afforded a soil upon which all higher musical culture has been founded. To him we owe some of our best ideas in religious church music, elementary musical education, music in the schools, the popularization of classical chorus singing, and the art of teaching music upon the Inductive or Pestalozzian plan. More than that, we owe him no small share of the respect which the profession of music enjoys at the present time as contrasted with the contempt in which it was held a century or more ago. In fact, the entire art of music, as now understood and practiced in America, has derived advantage from the work of this great man.
As a child, Mason he had an intense love for music and devoted all his spare time and effort to improving himself. He acquired a proficiency in composition, and his first work of this kind was a collection of church music, which contained many of his own compositions. The manuscript was published by the Boston Handel and Haydn Society in 1822, but Mason's name was omitted from the publication at his own request, because "I was then a bank officer in Savannah, and did not wish to be known as a musical man, as I had not the least thought of ever making music a profession." The book soon sprang into universal popularity, being at once adopted by the singing schools of New England and church choirs. It ran through some seventeen editions. Mason accepted an invitation to move to Boston and was also appointed director of music at the Hanover, Green, and Park Street churches, to alternate six months with each congregation. In 1827, Lowell Mason became president and conductor of the Handel and Haydn Society. It was the beginning of a career that earned him the title of "The Father of American Church Music." Charles C. Perkins stated, "First and foremost, he was not so very much superior to the members as to be unreasonably impatient at their shortcomings. Second, he was a born teacher, who, by hard work, had fitted himself to give instruction in singing. Third, he was one of themselves, a plain, self-made man, who could understand them and be understood of them." Prof. Horace Mann, one of the great educators of that day, said he would walk fifty miles to see and hear Mr. Mason teach if he could not otherwise have that advantage. Mason founded the Boston Academy of Music. The aim of this institution was to reach the masses and introduce music into the public schools. Before 1810, he had developed his idea of "Teachers' Conventions," and, as in these he had representatives from different states, he made musical missionaries for almost the entire country. He left behind him no less than fifty volumes of musical collections, instruction books, and manuals. He is also rightly called the “Father of Music in the Public Schools.”
As a composer church music. Dr. Mason was one of the most successful in this country. He was a deeply pious man. His sons, Lowell and Henry were the founders of the great organ and piano manufacturer of Mason & Hamlin.
My faith looks up to thee, thou Lamb of Calvary, Savior divine!
Now hear me while I pray, take all my guilt away;
O let me from this day be wholly thine.
May Thy rich grace impart Strength to my fainting heart, My zeal inspire!
As Thou hast died for me, Oh, may my love to Thee
Pure, warm, and changeless be, A living fire!
While life’s dark maze I tread, And griefs around me spread, Be Thou my guide;
Bid darkness turn to day, Wipe sorrow’s tears away,
Nor let me ever stray From Thee aside.
When ends life’s transient dream, When death’s cold, sullen stream Shall o’er me roll;
Blest Savior, then in love, Fear and distrust remove;
Oh, bear me safe above, A ransomed soul!
John Barr (b. 1938) studied organ and composition at Manchester College and Union Theological Seminary. Dr. Barr was music teacher at Hillcrest School for Missionary Children in Jos, Nigeria, 1962-65. He later became Professor of Organ and Piano at Bridgewater College, Bridgewater, VA, until his retirement. He is organist at Bridgewater Church of the Brethren.
About the Piano Music:
There is a Balm in Gilead - Lloyd Larson
(c.2009, Lorenz Publishing)
This is a well-known traditional African-American spiritual. The “balm in Gilead” is a reference from the Old Testament, but the lyrics of this spiritual refer to the New Testament concept of salvation through Jesus Christ. The Balm of Gilead is interpreted as a spiritual medicine that is able to heal Israel (and sinners in general). In the Old Testament, the balm of Gilead is taken most directly from Jeremiah chapter 8 v. 22: "Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then is there no healing for the wounds of my [God's] people?" (Another allusion can also be found in Jeremiah chapter 46, v. 2 and 11: “This is the message (of the Lord) against the army of Pharaoh Neco … Go up to Gilead and get balm, O Virgin Daughter of Egypt, but you multiply remedies in vain; here is no healing for you” - see also Jeremiah chapter 22, v. 6.)
The first appearance of the spiritual in something close to its current form is uncertain. A version of the refrain can be found in Washington Glass's 1854 hymn "The Sinner's Cure”. Glass attributed this hymn to himself, but like several of the hymns so attributed, it is substantially the work of another. The 1925 7-shape Primitive Baptist songbook Harp of Ages has an unattributed song "Balm in Gilead" with a similar chorus, but verses drawn from a Charles Wesley hymn, "Father I Stretch My Hands to Thee."
The second verse ("If you can't...") is also found in some versions of another well-known spiritual "(Walk That) Lonesome Valley." "Wandering verses," as they are often called, are quite common in the camp meeting and revival context, and were already found in the African-American community, as shown by Richard Allen's 1801 "A Collection of Hymns and Spiritual Songs Selected from Various Authors."
There is a balm in Gilead To make the wounded whole;
There is a balm in Gilead To heal the sin-sick soul.
Some times I feel discouraged, And think my work’s in vain,
But then the Holy Spirit Revives my soul again.
If you cannot sing like angels, If you can’t preach like Paul,
You can tell the love of Jesus, And say He died for all.
Lloyd Larson (b. 1954) is an active composer and arranger for several major publishing companies of church and school music. His compositions and arrangements include well over 1,000 published works—including choral anthems, numerous extended Christmas, Easter and non-seasonal works, keyboard collections, vocal solo and duet collections, instrumental works for solo and ensembles, orchestrations, and handbell settings. It is Lloyd's work in his local church that continues to be the catalyst for much of his writing. He currently directs the adult choir in his home church in addition to being involved in worship planning and leadership.
About the Choral Music:
Lord Jesus, Think on Me - Sam Batt Owens
(c.1998, Paraclete Press)
Synesius (370-430), a native of Cyrene, was Bishop of Ptolemaïs. As he believed a Neo-Platonic philosophy, there has been debate as to his belief, with many labelling him a “semi-Christian”. Allen Chatfield, who has translated his Odes in his Songs and Hymns of the Greek Christian Poets, 1876, contends that his tenth Ode "Lord Jesus, think on me," proves that he was a Christian and that he held the doctrine of the Resurrection. This tenth ode is the only Ode of Synesius, which is in common use.
Sam Batt Owens has taken Synesius’ text and set it to a new melody.
Sam Batt Owens (1928-1998) enjoyed a long career as a well-known organist, composer, and church musician. He received a B. Mus. in organ performance, from the Birmingham Conservatory of Music, a M. Mus. in organ performance and composition from Birmingham- Southern College, and a D.M.A. in organ performance and musicology from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Owens taught at Birmingham Conservatory of Music, Birmingham Southern College, Vanderbilt University, Fisk University, Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School, and Christ School for Boys in Arden, N.C. He held his fIrst position as an organist at age 12, and began solo organ performances at age 16. He wrote more than 200 choral, organ, instrumental and solo vocal compositions. He was one of the Episcopal Church's leading musicians. He was President of the Association of Anglican Musicians from 1989-1991. In 1996, he had left his position at St. Andrew's on-the-Sound in Wilmington, N.C., to become a consultant for parishes and dioceses in artistic matters and a crusader for fair compensation and recognition of church musicians. In his later years he taught congregations in smaller parishes how to be full participants in corporate worship, presenting "music in liturgy and how music upholds and supports corporate worship."
Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, think on me, And purge away my sin;
From earthborn passions set me free And make me pure within,
And make me pure within.
Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, think on me, With care and woe oppressed;
Let me Thy loving servant be And taste Thy promised rest,
And taste Thy promised rest.
Lord Jesus, think on me Nor let me go astray;
Through darkness and perplexity Point Thou the heavenly way.
Lord Jesus, think on me That, when the flood is past,
I may the eternal brightness see, And share Thy joy at last.
About the Hymns:
Be Thou My Vision
(c.1989, United Methodist Publishing House)
"Be Thou My Vision" (Old Irish: Rop tú mo baile or Rob tú mo bhoile) is a traditional hymn from Ireland. The most well known English version, with some minor variations, was translated by Eleanor Hull and published in 1912. In 1919, the lyrics were set to the tune of the Irish folk tune "Slane", to which the song is sung to this day, both in English and Irish. The song dates from at least the eighth century, though the text dates to the sixth-century.
The original Old Irish text, "Rop tú mo Baile" is often attributed to Saint Dallán Forgaill in the 6th century. Eochaid Mac Colla (c. 530 – 598), better known as Saint Dallan or Dallán Forgaill (Old Irish: Dallán Forchella; Latin: Dallanus Forcellius), was an early Christian Irish poet whose writings include the "Amra Choluim Chille" ("Elegy of Saint Columba") and "Rop Tú Mo Baile" ("Be Thou My Vision"). Saint Dallan was Chief Ollam of Ireland (similar to poet laureate), as well as a scholar of Latin scriptural learning. He helped to reform the Bardic Order at the Convention of Drumceat. He reputedly wrote Amra Choluim Chille, which he completed shortly after the death of Saint Columba in 597, because Columba had successfully saved poets from expulsion from Ireland at the assembly of Druim Cett in 575. The “Amra Choluim Chille,” is the earliest Irish poem that can be dated.
"Rop tú mo Baile" had been a part of Irish monastic tradition for centuries before its setting to music. The Irish text was translated into literal prose by Irish scholar Mary Elizabeth Byrne (1880-1931), a Dublin native, and then published in Eriú, the journal of the School of Irish Learning, in 1905. Byrne was also known for her academic publications, including Old and Mid-Irish Dictionary, Dictionary of the Irish Language, and a treatise, England in the Age of Chaucer.
It is at this point that Eleanor Hull (1860-1935) enters the story. Born in Manchester, England, she was the founder of the Irish Text Society and president of the Irish Literary Society of London. Hull versified the text and it was published in her Poem Book of the Gael (1912).
Following the original publication in Ireland, the hymn was included in a number of British hymnals. After World War II, the hymn came to the attention of hymnal editors in the U.S. and it has become a standard hymn in most hymnals today.
Irish liturgy and ritual scholar Helen Phelan, a lecturer at the University of Limerick, points out how the language of this hymn is drawn from traditional Irish culture: "One of the essential characteristics of the text is the use of 'heroic' imagery to describe God. This was very typical of medieval Irish poetry, which cast God as the 'chieftain' or 'High King' (Ard Ri) who provided protection to his people or clan. The lorica is one of the most popular forms of this kind of protection prayer and is very prevalent in texts of this period." The original chieftain language of the "High King of heaven" has given way to the more inclusive "Great God" in the UM Hymnal.
When Hull's versification was paired with the lovely traditional Irish tune SLANE in The Irish Church Hymnal in 1919, its popularity was sealed. The folk melody was taken from a non-liturgical source, Patrick Weston Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Airs and Songs hitherto unpublished (1909). "Most 'traditional' Irish religious songs are non-liturgical," says Dr. Phelan. "There is a longstanding practice of 'editorial weddings' in Irish liturgical music, where traditional tunes were wedded to more liturgically appropriate texts. This is a very good example of this practice.” The tune name SLANE is drawn from deep in Irish history. It was on Slane Hill in County Meath around 433 CE that St. Patrick lit candles on Easter Eve, defying a decree by High King Logaire of Tara that no one could light a fire before the king signaled the beginning of the pagan spring festival by lighting a fire on Tara Hill. King Logaire was so impressed by Patrick's devotion that, despite his defiance, he was permitted to continue his work as Ireland's first Christian missionary.
Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.
Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word;
I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.
Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tow’r:
Raise Thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.
Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.
High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.
Just As I Am
At the age of 32, Charlotte Elliott (1789-1871) suffered a serious illness that left her a semi-invalid for the rest of her life. Within a year, she went through a spiritual crisis and confessed to the Swiss evangelist Henri A. Cesar Malan that she did not know how to come to Christ. He answered, "Come to him just as you are." Thinking back on that experience twelve years later, in 1834, she wrote “Just as I Am" as a statement of her faith. Hymn writing provided a way for Elliot to cope with her pain and depression – she wrote approximately 150 hymns, which were published in her Invalid's Hymn Book (several editions, 1834-1854), Hymns for a Week (1839), and Thoughts in Verse on Sacred Subjects (1869). Many of her hymns reflect her chronic pain and illness but also reveal that faith gave her perseverance and hope.
“Just as I Am" was first published in the 1836 edition of Invalid's Hymn Book with the subheading "Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). She added a seventh stanza that same year, when the hymn was also published in her Hours of Sorrow Cheered and Comforted (1836). Widely translated, this hymn has brought consolation to millions.
Sixty years later, in 1931, a 31-year-old man riding in the sidecar of his brother's motorcycle in England finally came to the end of his internal struggle against whether Christ was indeed the Son of God. He finally knew in his soul that indeed Jesus was just who He said He was! He realized that God calls us to Him "just as we are". When C.S. Lewis stepped out of the sidecar, he was a new man, saved by grace!
Ninety-nine years after Charlotte Elliott penned her words, and 3 years after Lewis’ conversion, the 16-year-old son of a dairy farmer listened intently as he heard the message of salvation preached at a revival service in Charlotte, NC. When the song, “Just As I Am,” was sung at the end, young Billy Graham went forward to accept Christ.
Twenty years later, Billy Graham had become a successful evangelist and was invited to speak at Cambridge University in England. His nervousness over the event nearly led him to cancel it. But he was introduced to a kind man named C.S. Lewis who encouraged him to disregard the critics who had spoken out against him, and to continue with the revival. Rev. Graham went on to speak to an overflow crowd of 2,000 each night of the revival, and when he returned to England in 1989, he addressed a crowd of 80,000 at England’s Wimbley Stadium! As always, he closed the event with the same song that brought him to Christ, “Just As I Am.”
Just as I am, without one plea,
but that thy blood was shed for me,
and that thou bidd'st me come to thee,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, and waiting not
to rid my soul of one dark blot,
to thee, whose blood can cleanse each spot,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, though tossed about
with many a conflict, many a doubt,
fightings and fears within, without,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, poor, wretched, blind;
Sight, riches, healing of the mind;
Yes, all I need, in Thee to find,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, thou wilt receive,
wilt welcome, pardon, cleanse, relieve;
because thy promise I believe,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come.
Just as I am, Thy love unknown
broken every barrier down;
Now, to be Thine, yea, Thine alone,
O Lamb of God, I come, I come!
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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