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:
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty - Hermann Grabner
(c.1985, Concordia Publishing House)
"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" is a hymn based on Joachim Neander's German chorale Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, published in 1680. John Julian, in his A Dictionary of Hymnology, calls the German original "a magnificent hymn of praise to God, perhaps the finest creation of its author, and of the first rank in its class." Neander wrote this particular hymn while dying and it says much about his faith. While contemplating the words to go along with the melody, he reflected on Psalm 103 with its claim that everything within us should praise the Father’s holy name. It was the favorite hymn of King Frederick William III of Prussia, who first heard it in 1800. In the Neander original, first the singer calls himself (my beloved soul) to praise God, then calls for a larger group to join the praise with musical instruments as well as song. John Julian 's A Dictionary of Hymnology lists more than ten English translations of "Lobe den Herren" printed in various nineteenth century hymnals.
The melody used by Neander, first published in 1665, is probably based on a folk tune. The common name given to this melody is "Lobe den Herren". Several variants were published with various secular texts between 1665 to 1680, when Joachim Neander published his German hymn, Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, using its meter. The text paraphrases Psalm 103 and Psalm 150.
One interesting piece of history is the later use of Neander’s name. He often taught in a valley near the Düssel river, and over 100 years after his death the valley was named after him. It was in that valley that bones were later found, from which we get the name “Neanderthal.”
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise him, for he is your health and salvation!
Come, all who hear; now to his temple draw near,
join me in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord, above all things so wondrously reigning;
sheltering you under his wings, and so gently sustaining!
Have you not seen all that is needful has been
sent by his gracious ordaining?
Praise to the Lord, who hath fearfully, wondrously made thee!
Health hath vouchsafed and, when heedlessly failing, hath stayed thee.
What need or grief ever hath failed of relief?
Wings of His mercy did shade thee.
Praise to the Lord, who will prosper your work and defend you;
surely his goodness and mercy shall daily attend you.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do,
if with his love he befriends you.
Praise to the Lord! O let all that is in me adore him!
All that has life and breath, come now with praises before him.
Let the Amen sound from his people again;
gladly forever adore him.
Hermann Grabner (1886-1969) was an Austrian composer and music teacher. He studied law at the University of Graz graduating in 1909. He also played the viola for a while in the Grazer Theatherorchester. He then studied at the Leipzig Conservatory. In 1912, he worked as assistant to Max Reger in the Meininger Theater. In 1913, he became teacher of music theory at the Conservatoire de Strasbourg. He served in the Austrian Army during World War I. From 1919 to 1924, he was teacher of theory and composition at the Hochschule für Musik und Darstellende Kunst Mannheim. He also taught at the Music Academy in Heidelberg. He was then teacher of composition at the Leipzig Conservatory. From 1938 to 1946, he taught at the Berlin Musikhochschule. He was retired in June 1946, due to his SA membership and the Nazi-composition "Fackelträger", Lieder des neuen Reiches. He composed one opera, Die Richterin with libretto by Beyerlein after C. F. Meyer, premiered in the Barmen State Theater in 1930; orchestral works, chamber music, choral works, Lieder, two motets and numerous organ pieces.
About the Piano Music:
I Know Whom I Have Believed - Ruth Elaine Schram
(c.2008, Lorenz Publishing)
Daniel Webster Whittle (1840-1901) wrote multiple hymns texts under the pseudonym “El Nathan.” Whittle fought in the army during the American Civil War and marched with General William Tecumseh Sherman through Georgia. At the end of the war, he was given the title of Major, and is still known by many hymnologists as Major Whittle. After the war, Whittle became closely associated with the evangelistic campaigns of the famous Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899). Whittle’s daughter married Moody’s son. His war experiences served as a basis for the gospel song, “Hold the Fort for I Am Coming” by Philip Paul Bliss (1838-1876). Major Whittle, who composed around 200 hymn texts, continued to travel on evangelist tours in North America and Great Britain with Moody and Bliss until his death.
His hymn “I Know Whom I Have Believed” (1883) was also given the tune name EL NATHAN. The tune, written by prominent music publisher and gospel song composer James McGranahan (1840-1907), was given this tune name to match Whittle’s pseudonym. One of his more popular hymns, it was first published in Gospel Hymns, No 4 (1883), edited by a distinguished trio of gospel song musicians and promoters that included Dwight Moody’s evangelist, Ira D. Sankey (1840-1908), McGranahan, and George C. Stebbins (1846-1945). This hymn has been extremely popular in the United States, and it can be found in every Southern Baptist hymnal since The Baptist Hymn and Praise Book (1904), in The United Methodist Hymnal (1989), as well as in more than 200 other hymnals published in the United States, Canada, and Great Britain.
The tune of this hymn sounds like a typical gospel hymn tune with modest harmony and simple melodic lines. The direct quotation of Scripture results in an extended phrase in the refrain. The text of this hymn is a direct quotation from 2 Timothy 1:12: “. . . I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day” (KJV). In this letter, the apostle Paul has been imprisoned, yet he feels empowered in his suffering because it mirrors the suffering of Jesus Christ. Paul uses his plight to encourage his fellow Christian Timothy to remain strong in his faith, no matter the difficulties he is facing. Paul would argue that even though he feels that he may not able, he is made able through the love and compassion of Jesus Christ. Like in the first stanza, while we are unworthy, “Christ in love” has “redeemed me for his own.”
I know not why God’s wondrous grace To me He hath made known,
Nor why, unworthy, Christ in love Redeemed me for His own.
I know not how this saving faith To me He did impart,
Nor how believing in His Word Wrought peace within my heart.
I know not how the Spirit moves, Convincing men of sin,
Revealing Jesus through the Word, Creating faith in Him.
I know not what of good or ill May be reserved for me,
Of weary ways or golden days, Before His face I see.
I know not when my Lord may come, At night or noonday fair,
Nor if I walk the vale with Him, Or meet Him in the air.
But “I know Whom I have believed, And am persuaded that He is able
To keep that which I’ve committed Unto Him against that day.”
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:
In the Garden Medley - Johnny Mann
(c.1987, Hall Leonard Publishing)
"In the Garden" (sometimes rendered by its first line "I Come to the Garden Alone" is a gospel song written by American songwriter C. Austin Miles (1868–1946), a former pharmacist who served as editor and manager at Hall-Mack publishers for 37 years. Austin Miles used the -word vision to describe the encounter that led to his writing "In the Garden." The setting was Philadelphia, where Miles was employed as an editor for a music publisher. March 1912. At home Miles sat in a window-less room of his own-—-a combination study, photo lab, and music parlor. He reached for his Bible. "It opened at my favorite chapter, John 20," he later explained. John's account of the Resurrection: two angels and then a "gardener" ask a distraught Mary Magdalene why she is crying. Because "they" have taken my Lord away. And then gardener Jesus says one word that transforms the scene: "Mary." He speaks her name, and she knows who he is. Rabboni. As Miles read the familiar story, he felt as if he were a bystander on-site. In another century, as if this were an episode of the old Walter Cronkite television series: "You Are There: At the' Garden Tomb."
"Under the inspiration of this vision," Miles explained, he wrote "In the Garden," the words coming to mind as quickly as he could write them down. (And the text stands as first written, never being revised.) Later in the day Miles wrote the music. Miles described his activity as "reading" John 20; some would say he was praying. It's an ancient art lost on many Christians intent on studying the Scripture. One prayer pattern involves imagining oneself in a gospel scene. "You Are There." Ignatius of Loyola advised believers to "see the persons in your imagination, contemplating and meditating in detail the circumstances surrounding them, and then draw some spiritual profit from this scene." He goes on, suggesting that we imagine the sounds, smells, tastes, and touch "always endeavoring to draw some spiritual fruit from this" application of the senses. Though Austin Miles described himself as an observer in the story, he wrote "In the Garden" in first person, as if he had stepped into Mary's shoes: Jesus is walking and talking directly with him—and you and me. Calling us by name.
For more than a century, the tragic story of one man has given hope to countless thousands who have lifted their voices to sing, It Is Well With My Soul. Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) was a wealthy Chicago lawyer with a thriving legal practice, a beautiful home, a wife, four daughters and a son. He was also a devout Christian and faithful student of the Scriptures. His circle of friends included Dwight L. Moody, Ira Sankey and various other well-known Christians of the day.
At the very height of his financial and professional success, Horatio and his wife Anna suffered the tragic loss of their young son. Shortly thereafter on October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed almost every real estate investment that Spafford had. In 1873, Spafford scheduled a boat trip to Europe in order to give his wife and daughters a much needed vacation and time to recover from the tragedy. He also went to join Moody and Sankey on an evangelistic campaign in England. Spafford sent his wife and daughters ahead of him while he remained in Chicago to take care of some unexpected last minute business. Several days later he received notice that his family's ship had encountered a collision. All four of his daughters drowned; only his wife had survived. With a heavy heart, Spafford boarded a boat that would take him to his grieving Anna in England. It was on this trip that he penned those now famous words, When sorrow like sea billows roll; it is well, it is well with my soul..
Philip Bliss (1838-1876), composer of many songs including Hold the Fort, Let the Lower Lights be Burning, and Jesus Loves Even Me, was so impressed with Spafford's life and the words of his hymn that he composed VILLE DE HAVRE to accompany the lyrics. The song was published by Bliss and Sankey, in 1876.
John Russell Mann (1928-2014) was an American arranger, composer, conductor, entertainer, singer, and recording artist. Johnny Mann began his music career in the late 1940s in his hometown of Baltimore before serving in the army playing as a member of the U.S. Army Field Band from 1951 to 1953. After his honorable discharge he moved to Los Angeles to continue his professional music career.[1] As bandleader with The Johnny Mann Singers, he and the group recorded hosted the TV series titled Stand Up and Cheer (1971–1974), was the musical director for the 1967-69 ABC-TV late night talk show, The Joey Bishop Show, and performed at the White House twice. He was also musical director of The Alvin Show and was the singing voice of Theodore. Mann was also choral director for The NBC Comedy Hour. Mann was credited as "Johnnie Mann" in some of his earlier works. His group's most notable alumna was Vicki Lawrence.
I come to the garden alone while the dew is still on the roses,
And the voice I hear falling on my ear; the Son of God discloses.
He speaks and the sound of His voice is so sweet, the birds hush their singing.
And the melody that He gave to me within my heart is ringing.
And He walks with me and He talks with me, and He tells me I am His own.
And the joy we share as we tarry there, none other has ever known.
It is well, it is well.
When peace like a river attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll,
Whatever my lot Thou hast taught me to say it is well, it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul. It is well, it is well with my soul.
And Lord, haste the day when the faith shall be sight,
the clouds be rolled back as a scroll.
The trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend even so
it is well with my soul.
It is well with my soul, it is well, it is well with my soul.
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:
Spirit of God, Descend upon My Heart
The words of this sung prayer are among the most passionate in the history of hymnody. This masterpiece of Christian devotional poetry is the work of George Croly (1780-1860), an Anglican minister born in Dublin, Ireland, but whose ministry took place in London. Having served a small parish in Ireland, he moved to London to pursue a literary career where he wrote in several mediums including poetry, novels, history and biography. In 1835, Croly accepted the challenge to reopen a church in one of the worst slum areas of London, that had been closed for over a century. He was known among his peers as thoroughly conservative in theology with no tolerance for liberal views. Through personal charisma and dynamic preaching, he attracted large crowds to St. Stephen’s Church. Croly prepared a new hymnal in 1854 for his congregation and published it as Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship. “Spirit of God, Descend upon my Heart” first appeared in that hymnal under the title “Holiness Desired.” It is the only hymn by Croly to have survived.
George Croly was born in Dublin, Aug. 17, 1780, and educated at the Dublin University. After taking Holy Orders, he laboured in Ireland till about 1810, when he took up his residence in London, and devoted himself to literature. In 1835 he succeeded to the united benefices of St. Stephen's, Walbrook, and St. Benet Sherehog, retaining the same till his death, which occurred suddenly in the public street, Holborn, Nov. 24, 1860. His prose publications, in addition to contributions to Blackwood's Magazine, were numerous, and dealt with biographical, historical, and scriptural subjects. His hymns were published in Psalms and Hymns for Public Worship. Written and compiled by the Rev. George Croly, LL.D. London Kendrick, 1854.
This hymn is an intense, personal prayer for the working of the Holy Spirit (st. 1), for illumination (st. 2), for more fervent love for Christ (st. 3), for greater holiness in our walk with the Lord (st. 4), and for the fullness of the Spirit (st. 5).
MORECAMBE was composed in 1870 by Frederick C. Atkinson (1841-1896) as a setting for Henry Lyte's "Abide with Me". It was first published in G. S. Barrett and E.J. Hopkins's Congregational Church Hymnal (1887). The tune is named for a coastal town on Morecambe Bay near Lancaster, England, a town not far from Bradford, where Atkinson served as organist. As a boy Atkinson was a chorister and assistant organist at Norwich Cathedral. In 1867 he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from Cambridge and then served as organist and choirmaster in St. Luke's Church, Manningham, Bradford. He also held that position at Norwich Cathedral and at St. Mary's Parish Church in Lewisham. Atkinson wrote hymn tunes, anthems, and complete Anglican services, as well as songs and piano pieces.
The text of the first line was changed to “descend upon my heart.” The original Croly text follows:
Spirit of God, who dwells within my heart,
wean it from sin, through all its pulses move.
Stoop to my weakness, mighty as you are,
and make me love you as I ought to love.
I ask no dream, no prophet ecstasies,
no sudden rending of the veil of clay,
no angel visitant, no opening skies;
but take the dimness of my soul away.
Did you not bid us love you, God and King,
love you with all our heart and strength and mind?
I see the cross there teach my heart to cling.
O let me seek you and O let me find!
Teach me to feel that you are always nigh;
teach me the struggles of the soul to bear,
to check the rising doubt, the rebel sigh;
teach me the patience of unceasing prayer.
Teach me to love you as your angels love,
one holy passion filling all my frame:
the fullness of the heaven-descended Dove;
my heart an altar, and your love the flame.
I Surrender All
"I Surrender All" is a Christian hymn, with words written by American art teacher and musician Judson W. Van DeVenter (1855–1939), who subsequently became a music minister and evangelist. It was put to music by Winfield S. Weeden (1847–1908), and published in 1896.Van DeVenter said of the inspiration for the text:
For some time, I had struggled between developing my talents in the field of art and going into full-time evangelistic work. At last the pivotal hour of my life came, and I surrendered all. A new day was ushered into my life. I became an evangelist and discovered down deep in my soul a talent hitherto unknown to me. God had hidden a song in my heart, and touching a tender chord, He caused me to sing.
Following his decision to surrender his life to the Divine, Van DeVenter traveled throughout the United States, England, and Scotland, doing evangelistic work. Winfield S. Weeden, his associate and singer, assisted him for many years. Toward the end of his life, Van DeVenter moved to Florida, and was professor of hymnology at the Florida Bible Institute for four years in the 1920s. After his retirement, he remained involved in speaking and in religious gatherings. Van DeVenter published more than 60 hymns in his lifetime, but "I Surrender All" is his most famous.
All to Jesus I surrender, all to Him I freely give;
I will ever love and trust Him, in His presence daily live.
All to Jesus I surrender, humbly at His feet I bow,
Worldly pleasures all forsaken; take me Jesus, take me now.
All to Jesus I surrender, make me, Savior, wholly Think;
Let me feel Thy Holy Spirit, truly know that Thou art mine.
All to Jesus I surrender, Lord, I give myself to Thee;
Fill me with Thy love and power, let Thy blessing fall on me.
All to Jesus I surrender; now I feel the sacred flame.
Oh, the joy of Thy salvation! Glory, glory to His name!
I surrender all, I surrender all.
All to Thee, my blessed Savior, I surrender all.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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