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:
The Solid Rock - Don Hustad
(c.1963, Hope Publishing)
Edward Mote (1797-1874) falls into the rare category of hymn writers who grew up without religious training and whose parents were pub owners. He was apprenticed at a young age by his parents to a cabinetmaker, but found faith when he heard the preaching of John Hyatt at the Tottenham Court Road Chapel in London at age 15. Living in Southwark near London, he established a successful cabinet-making enterprise and became a Baptist minister in 1852, at 55 years of age. He ministered for 21 years at Strict Baptist Church in Horsham, Sussex.
Singing hymns was of great interest to him. The master cabinetmaker became a prolific hymn writer, composing more than 100 hymns. The hymn "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" was published anonymously in several hymn collections before first being attributed to Edward Mote in a collection of approximately 100 of his hymns published in 1837 under the title Hymns of Praise, A New Selection of Gospel Hymns, Combining All the Excellencies of our Spiritual Poets, with Many Originals. Hymnologists note that this is the first time the now common term “gospel hymn” appears. Mote's original title was "The Immutable Basis for a Sinner's Hope" in this collection. The refrain of "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" refers to the Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders and builds around the metaphor of Christ as a rock with a firm basis (1 Corinthians 10:4).
The Sunday school hymn writer William B. Bradbury composed SOLID ROCK in 1863 for Edward Mote's "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less." The tune name derives from that song's refrain: "On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. . . .” Bradbury published SOLID ROCK in his 1864 children's collection The Golden Censor.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
In ev’ry rough and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the vale.
When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.
Not earth, nor hell, my soul can move; I rest upon unchanging love.
I trust his righteous character, his counsel, promise, and his pow’r.
When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then in him be found,
dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ the Solid Rock I stand All other ground is sinking sand.
Don Hustad (1918-2013) was one of the giants of Christian music of the 20th century. Hustad had a distinguished ministry and a life-long profession as a recording artist, composer, arranger, teacher, conductor, hymnal editor, and author. He began work as staff musician of Chicago's WMBI in the early 1940s, worked with soloist George Beverly Shea on a weekly broadcast called "Club Time," and served for some 20 years as organist for a popular radio broadcast "Songs in the Night." He taught at Olivet Nazarene College in Kankakee, Illinois from 1946 to 1950, at which time Hustad was appointed director of the Sacred Music Department at Moody Bible Institute—a position he held until 1961. During his 11-year tenure at Moody he developed the Moody Chorale into a superior choral ensemble that achieved fame nationally and internationally. In 1961 he became Crusade organist for the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association and directed the Crusader Men Choir in the "Hour of Decision" broadcasts. His publications include over 100 articles and five books. Throughout his career, Hustad devoted considerable energy to music arranging and hymnal editing, serving as editorial consultant and musical advisor to Hope Publishing Company. Among his editorial contributions are fourteen hymnals and songbooks, as well as dozens of collections. In 1989, Hustad was awarded Fellow of the Hymn Society for his outstanding contribution to American hymnody. In 2008, he was honored by the American Choral Director's Association Southern Division Conference for his contributions to church music. He earned diplomas as an Associate of the American Guild of Organists (AAGO) and a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists (FRCO), London, UK.
About the Piano Music:
Love Lifted Me - Ruth Elaine Schram
(c.2006, Lorenz Publishing)
Author John Rowe (1865-1933) was born in Ireland and immigrated to the United States in 1889. Rowe went to work for several music publishers, including Trio Music Company in Waco, Texas; A. J. Showalter Music Company of Chattanooga, Tennessee; and James D. Vaughan Music Company of Lawrenceburg, Tennessee. Late in life, Rowe moved to Vermont where his daughter was an artist. He worked with her, writing greeting card verses. Composer Howard E. Smith (1863-1918) was a church musician and organist in Connecticut. Rowe and Smith collaborated to write this song in Saugatuck in 1912. According to Rowe’s daughter, “Howard E. Smith was a little man whose hands were so knotted with arthritis that you would wonder how he could use them at all, much less play the piano. I can see them now, my father striding up and down humming a bar or two and Howard E. playing it and jotting it down.” It gained popularity among United Methodists as one of the most frequently sung songs in The Cokesbury Hymnal.
Rowe's text uses images from two biblical stories. The first is found in Matthew 14:22-33, where the disciples were in a boat in the midst of a terrifying storm. They saw Jesus walking on the sea. He commanded Peter to join him, and Peter also began walking on the water toward Jesus. The storm frightened Peter and he began to sink, calling out to Jesus to save him. Jesus caught Peter by the hand and lifted him up as they got into the boat. The second story is Matthew 8:23-27, in which Jesus is asleep in the boat while the disciples are terrified by the fierce storm threatening to plunge them all into the sea. They wake Jesus and appeal to him. Jesus rebukes the wind and sea, and there is calm. Rowe's text skillfully draws on both stories, using sinking or being swamped into the sea as an image for "sinking deep in sin…sinking to rise no more." Jesus, "Master of the sea," hears our cry for help, reaches out to us in love, and lifts us up into the safety of salvation.
I was sinking deep in sin, far from the peaceful shore,
very deeply stained within, sinking to rise no more;
but the Master of the sea heard my despairing cry,
from the waters lifted me; now safe am I.
All my heart to Him I give; ever to Him I’ll cling,
In His blessed presence live, ever his blessings sing.
Love so mighty and so true merits my souls best songs;
Faithful, loving service, too, to Him belongs.
Souls in danger, look above, Jesus completely saves;
he will lift you by his love out of the angry waves.
He’s the Master of the sea, billows his will obey;
he your Savior wants to be – be saved today.
Love lifted me! Love lifted me!
When nothing else could help, Love lifted me.
Ruth Elaine Schram (b. 1952) wrote her first song at the age of twelve, and her first octavo was published twenty years later, in 1988. In 1992, she became a full-time composer and arranger and now has over 2,000 published works. Over seventeen million copies of her songs have been purchased in their various venues, and she has been a recipient of the ASCAP Special Award each year since 1990. In addition to her choral music for church and school choirs, her songs appear on thirty albums (four of which have been Dove Award Finalists) and numerous children's videos, including sixteen songs on four gold videos, and four songs on one multi-platinum video. Her songs have also appeared on such diverse television shows as "The 700 Club" and HBO's acclaimed series "The Sopranos.” Schram began piano and theory lessons at the age of five. She studied music at Lancaster Bible College and Millersville State College and taught Elementary Music in Pennsylvania for several years. She now lives in Birmingham, Alabama.
About the Choral Music:
Whispering Hope - Steven Tomer
(c.2023, Steven Tomer)
This beautiful and popular hymn was written by a man named Septimus Winner (1827-1902). He is best remembered for his popular songs which he usually published under the name of Alice Hawthorne. He is also the author of many classic folk tunes loved by children such as "Oh Where, Oh Where has my little dog gone?" Winner's secular works are known in American folk music history as "Hawthorne's Ballads." the most popular songs were "Listen to the Mocking Bird" which he later sold to another Philadelphia publisher for five dollars. He was a popular music instructor in Philadelphia, giving lessons in violin, guitar, and banjo and performing with several of the city's bands and orchestras. Winner produced over two hundred instructional books for more than twenty instruments. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970.
It is said that the most interesting experience in his life occurred in 1862, after Abraham Lincoln had fired General George B. McClellan for delays in attacking the Confederate Army. The firing of McClellan angered Septimus who quickly published a song entitled, "Give Us Back Our Old Commander: Little Mac, The People's Pride." The song sold over 80,000 copies in the first couple of days, leading to his arrest for treason. Septimus was released when he agreed to destroy all the remaining copies of the song and apologized.
Septimus Winner based "Whispering Hope," on Hebrews 6:19, 1Thessalonians 5:8 and Hebrews 12:1. The hymn was published in 1868. "Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil." Hebrews 6: 19. Steven Tomer has set the original text.
Steven Tomer is an LDS composer and software engineer living in Utah. He provides his arrangements on-line, free for use in all churches.
Soft as the voice of an angel, breathing a lesson unheard,
Hope, with a gentle persuasion whispers her comforting word:
Wait till the darkness is over, wait till the tempest is done,
Hope for the sunshine tomorrow, after the shower is gone.
Whispering hope, oh how welcome thy voice,
Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.
If, in the dusk of the twilight, dime be the region afar,
Will not the deepening darkness brighten the glimmering star?
That when the night is upon us, Why shoul the heart sink away?
When the dark midnight is over, watch for the breaking of day.
Whispering hope, oh how welcome thy voice,
Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.
Hope, as an anchor so steadfast, rends the dark veil for the soul,
Whither the Master has entered, robbing the grave of its goal;
Come the, oh, come, glad fruition, come to my sad weary heart;
Come, O Thou blest hope of glory, Never, oh, never depart.
Whispering hope, oh how welcome thy voice,
Making my heart in its sorrow rejoice.
My heart it can rejoice! My heart, it can rejoice!
God Be With You Til We Meet Again
Written as an expansion on the root sense of “good-bye” (God be [with] ye/you), “God Be with You till We Meet Again” has appeared in more than 900 hymnals and remains a prominent example of nineteenth-century gospel song in The United Methodist Hymnal and other collections today. Jeremiah Eames Rankin’s (1828-1904) text is often amended to include a refrain, mimicking the style and content of other hymns used to close camp meetings, revivals, or sung on the occasion of the departure of a church leader to a new assignment. This practice of singing a goodbye may also be linked to the history of shaped-note singing schools concluding with a goodbye or farewell song.
Rankin, a congregational minister and later the president of Howard University (Washington D.C.), was a prolific hymn writer and preacher. He also helped to compile several hymnals. First appearing in the collection Gospel Bells (1880), Rankin’s best-known hymn, “God Be with You till We Meet Again,” begins and ends each stanza of poetry with the same line, providing only the two interior lines for variety in the text.
As Carl P. Daw, Jr. writes in his commentary on Glory to God: The Presbyterian Hymnal: “[The task of varying the text] is somewhat limited by the invariable ending of those lines with “you,” so that the rhyming word before each such occurrence must be a transitive verb or a preposition. This sort of two-syllable rhyme is generally doggerel except in the most expert hands. Yet it may be the pedestrian qualities of this text that have so endeared this hymn to many. It is the poetry of the common person, eager to find yet another rhyme to fit before the next you.”
Hymn historians Harry Eskew and Hugh T. McElrath echo Daw’s sentiment about the poetry of the common person. Discussing the music of the camp-meeting, Eskew and McElrath write, “Singing was an important means of expressing the emotional fervor of these revival meetings. The need for simple and contagious songs, enough to appeal to unlettered folk, brought into being a simplified folk hymn… with repetition of text, the addition of a chorus to the hymn”. These types of hymns became a major force in the musical landscape during the period of urban revivalism in the 1870s led largely by the meetings of evangelist Dwight L. Moody (1837-1899) and his musical associate, Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908).
What accounts for this sending hymn’s continued popularity over 125 years later? And, perhaps more importantly, what purpose does it serve in the lyrical, sung theology of the body of Christ? Sending is a key moment in worship; it is our transition to the world where we will respond to God’s call and continue to experience God’s blessing”. “God be with You till We Meet Again” situates itself as a message of assurance in that sending. Additionally, it serves as a prayer for one another.
William G. Toner (1833-1896) wrote the tune GOD BE WITH YOU for Rankin’s text. Tomer studied singing and sang in the choir in Finesville, New Jersey, and began teaching school at age 17. He served in the Union army during the American civil war, then worked as a clerk in Washington, DC, served as music director for Grace Methodist Episcopal Church, and taught school in New Carpentersville and Greenwich, New Jersey.
God be with you till we meet again, By His counsels guide, uphold you,
With His sheep securely fold you, God be with you till we meet again.
God be with you till we meet again, ’Neath His wings protecting hide you,
Daily manna still divide you, God be with you till we meet again.
God be with you till we meet again, When life’s perils thick confound you,
Put His arms unfailing round you, God be with you till we meet again.
God be with you till we meet again, Keep love’s banner floating o’er you,
Smite death’s threatening wave before you, God be with you till we meet again.
Till we meet, till we meet, Till we meet at Jesus’ feet;
Till we meet, till we meet, God be with you till we meet again.
About the Hymns:
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was written by the 18th century pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson (1735-1790) was eight years old at the time of his father's death. He was a very bright, headstrong boy who became increasingly more difficult for his mother to handle. When Robert turned 14, she sent him to London for an apprenticeship with a barber. Robert proceeded to get into even more trouble, taking on a life of drinking and gambling.
At 17, Robert and some of his drinking buddies decided to attend an evangelistic meeting, with a plan to make fun of the proceedings. When George Whitfield began to preach, Robert felt as if the sermon was just for him. He did not respond to the altar call that night, but the words of the evangelist would haunt him for the next three years. On Dec. 10, 1755, at age 20, Robert finally yielded his life to Christ, and very soon thereafter answered a call to the ministry. Three years later, as he was preparing to preach a sermon at the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England, Robert wrote “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to complement his sermon. The music for the hymn was composed by Asahel Nettleton in 1813.
The lyrics, which dwell on the theme of divine grace, are based on 1 Samuel 7:12, in which the prophet Samuel raises a stone as a monument, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us". The English transliteration of the name Samuel gives to the stone is Ebenezer, meaning Stone of Help. The unusual word "Ebenezer" commonly appears in hymnal presentations of the lyrics.
The tune NETTLETON first appeared as a two-part tune in John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second(1813), where it was named HALLELUJAH. In the Index it is identified as a new tune, and no composer's name is given. The tune has been attributed by some to Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844), a well-known evangelist of the early nineteenth century, who compiled Village Hymns (1825). However, this compilation contained no music, and there is no evidence that Nettleton wrote any tunes during his life. It is not known where the tune name first appeared or who was responsible for it.
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I'm fixed upon it Mount of Thy redeeming love
Here I raise my Ebenezer Hither by Thy help I've come
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure Safely to arrive at home
Jesus sought me when a stranger Wandering from the fold of God
He, to rescue me from danger Interposed His precious blood
Oh, that day when freed from sinning I shall see Thy lovely face
Clothed then in blood washed linen How I'll sing Thy wondrous grace
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry Take my ransomed soul away
Send Thine angels now to carry Me to realms of endless day
Oh, to grace how great a debtor Daily I'm constrained to be
Let thy goodness like a fetter Bind my wandering heart to Thee
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it Prone to leave the God I love
Here's my heart, oh, take and seal it Seal it for Thy courts above
Great Is Thy Faithfulness
A native of the small Kentucky town of Franklin, Thomas Obediah Chisholm (1866-1960) was born in a log cabin. He lacked formal education. Nevertheless, he became a teacher at age sixteen and the associate editor of his hometown weekly newspaper, the “Franklin Advocate”, at age twenty-one. Though he was ordained a Methodist minister in 1903, he served only a single, brief appointment at Scottsville, Kentucky, due to ill health. He wrote more than 1200 poems, 800 of which were published. They often appeared in religious periodicals such as the “Sunday School Times”, “Moody Monthly”, and “Alliance Weekly”. Many of these were set to music.
Chisholm had sent a number of his poems to the Rev. William H. Runyan (1870-1957), a musician with the Moody Bible Institute and one of the editors of Hope Publishing Company in Chicago. The tune FAITHFULNESS was written in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923, and was first published in my private song pamphlets." A phrase in Lamentations 3:22-23 provides a basis for the refrain: "The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases, his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness."
Twenty years later Runyan wrote:
Mr. Chisholm and I were devoted co-workers, and I wrote harmonies to some 20 or 25 of his poems. This particular poem held such
an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carryover its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its use indicates that God answers prayer.
Showing early musical promise, Runyan was a substitute church organist by the age of twelve. He became a Methodist minister in 1891 and served several churches in Kansas but turned to evangelism in 1903; he worked for the Central Methodist Conference for the next twenty years. Following that service, Runyan became pastor at the Federated Church at John Brown University, Sulphur Springs [sic: Siloam Springs], Arkansas. Editor of Christian Workers Magazine, he also served the Moody Bible Institute and was an editor for Hope Publishing Company until his retirement in 1948. Runyan wrote a number of hymn texts, gospel songs, and hymn tunes. "Great Is Thy Faithfulness" became an unofficial school hymn at Moody Bible Institute.
George Beverly Shea (1909-2013), the famous Canadian-born singer of the Billy Graham Crusades, introduced this hymn to those attending the evangelistic meetings in Great Britain in 1954. It immediately became a favorite. This hymn appeared in many evangelical hymnals and song collections but was not chosen for an official Methodist hymnal until The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), even though the author was a Methodist. It was a very popular hymn of the former Evangelical United Brethren Church and had been included in their hymnals.
According to Carlton Young, "Great is thy faithfulness" was second only to "In the garden" as the most requested hymn for inclusion in The United Methodist Hymnal. A survey conducted in 2000 by Dean McIntyre, Director of Music Resources, General Board of Discipleship, revealed that "Great is thy faithfulness" remains one of the favorite hymns among United Methodists.
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father.
There is no shadow of turning with thee.
Thou changest not, thy compassions, they fail not.
As thou hast been thou forever wilt be.
Summer and winter, and springtime and harvest,
sun, moon, and stars in their courses above,
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love. [Refrain]
Pardon for sin and a peace that endureth,
thine own dear presence to cheer and to guide,
strength for today and bright hope for tomorrow;
blessings all mine, with ten thousand beside! [Refrain]
Great is thy faithfulness! Great is thy faithfulness!
Morning by morning new mercies I see.
All I have needed thy hand hath provided.
Great is thy faithfulness, Lord, unto me!
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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