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:
Chorale Variation uber Wie gross ist des Allmächtigen Gute - Felix Mendelssohn
Christian Fürchtegott Gellert (1715-1769) son of Christian Gellert, pastor at Hainichen in the Saxon Harz, near Freiberg, entered the University of Leipzig as a student of theology, and after completing his course acted for some time as assistant to his father. But then, as now, sermons preached from manuscript were not tolerated in the Lutheran Church, and as his memory was treacherous, he found himself compelled to try some other profession. In 1739 he became domestic tutor to the sons of Herr von Lüttichau, near Dresden, and in 1741 returned to Leipzig to superintend the studies of a nephew at the University. He also resumed his own studies. He graduated M.A. 1744; became in 1745 private tutor or lecturer in the philosophical faculty; and was in 1751 appointed extraordinary professor of philosophy, lecturing on poetry and rhetoric, and then on moral philosophy. Goethe and Lessing were among his students. His Fables (1st Ser. 1746; 2nd 1748), by their charm of style, spirit, humor and point still rank among the classics of German literature.
As a hymnwriter he prepared himself by prayer for their composition, and selected the moments when his mental horizon was most unclouded. He was distinguished by deep and sincere piety, blameless life, and regularity in attendance on the services of the Church. His hymns are the utterances of a sincere Christian morality, not very elevated or enthusiastic, but genuine expressions of his own feelings and experiences; and what in them he preached he also put in practice in his daily life. Many are too didactic in tone, reading like versifications of portions of his lectures on morals, and are only suited for private use. But in regard to his best hymns, it may safely be said that their rational piety and good taste, combined with a certain earnestness and pathos, entitle them to a place among the classics of German hymnody. They exactly met the requirements of the time, won universal admiration, and speedily passed into the hymnbooks in use over all Germany, Roman Catholic as well as Lutheran. “Wie gross ist des Allmächtgen Güte” is beautiful hymn of thanksgiving for the goodness of God, one of the finest and most popular of Gellert's productions. First published in his Geistliche Oden und Lieder, Leipzig, 1757, it appeared in translation in a number of Lutheran hymnals.
How great is the goodness of the Almighty!
Is there a person who is not stirred by it,
who with a hardened spirit strangles his gratitude, owed to him?
No, to pay tribute to his love shall always be my highest duty!
The Lord has never yet forgotten me; heart do not forget him either!
Who has cared for me wondrously? God, who did not need me.
Who has patiently stood by me?
He, whose counsel I have often rejected.
Who strengthens a peaceful conscience?
Who grants new strength to the spirit?
Who permits me to enjoy so much happiness? Is it not his arm that causes it all?
Look, O my spirit, upon that life, for which you have been created;
where you, surrounded with glory, will see God forever as he truly is.
You have a right to these joys; through God’s goodness they are yours.
See: for this Christ had to suffer, so that you might be blessed.
And this God I should not worship and his goodness not acknowledge?
He should call and I not hear him,
not walk upon the path that he indicates to me?
His will is inscribed upon my heart, his word strengthens it eternally:
I should love God above all else, and my neighbor just as myself!
This is my gratitude; this is his will. I should be as perfect as he is.
As long as I fulfill this commandment, I establish his image in myself.
If his love lives in my soul, then it urges me towards every duty.
and even though I might fall short through weakness,
sin will not rule within me.
O God, let your goodness and love be always before my eyes!
My they strengthen in me the worthy impulse
to dedicate my entire life to you.
May they comfort me at times of sorrow,
May they accompany me in times of joy;
And may they conquer within my heart the fear of my final moments.
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847), born and widely known as Felix Mendelssohn, was a German composer, pianist, organist and conductor of the early Romantic period. A grandson of the philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn was born into a prominent Jewish family. He was brought up without religion until the age of seven, when he was baptized as a Reformed Christian. Mendelssohn was recognized early as a musical prodigy, but his parents were cautious and did not seek to capitalize on his talent. Mendelssohn enjoyed early success in Germany, where he also revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach, and in his travels throughout Europe. He was particularly well received in Britain as a composer, conductor and soloist, and his ten visits there – during which many of his major works were premiered – form an important part of his adult career. His essentially conservative musical tastes, however, set him apart from many of his more adventurous musical contemporaries such as Franz Liszt, Richard Wagner and Hector Berlioz. TheLeipzig Conservatoire (now the University of Music and Theatre Leipzig), which he founded, became a bastion of this anti-radical outlook.
Mendelssohn wrote symphonies, concerti, oratorios, piano music and chamber music. His best-known works include his Overture and incidental music for A Midsummer Night's Dream, the Italian Symphony, the Scottish Symphony, the overture The Hebrides, his mature Violin Concerto, and his String Octet. His Songs Without Words are his most famous solo piano compositions. After a long period of relative denigration due to changing musical tastes and antisemitism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, his creative originality has now been recognised and re-evaluated. He is now among the most popular composers of the Romantic era.
About the Piano Music:
O Worship the King - Molly Ijames
(c.2014, Lorenz Publishing)
Of Scottish ancestry, Robert Grant (1779-1838) 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 a 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).
Grant’s text was influenced 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. Stanza 3 was omitted in the Psalter Hymnal.
Rather than being a paraphrase or versification, the text is a meditation on the creation theme of Psalm 104, focusing on God’s creation as a testimony to his “measureless might.” More personal in tone, stanzas 4 and 5 confess the compassion of God toward his creatures and affirm with apocalyptic vision that the “ransomed creation, with glory ablaze” will join with angels to hymn its praise to God. In the last verse, Grant points to Christ as the ultimate reconciler of a broken, but still beautiful creation. An original last stanza that we no longer sing reads, “The humbler creation, though feeble their lays, with true adoration shall lisp to Thy praise.”
O worship the King all-glorious above,
O gratefully sing his power and his love:
our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days,
pavilioned in splendor and girded with praise.
O tell of his might and sing of his grace,
whose robe is the light, whose canopy space.
His chariots of wrath the deep thunderclouds form,
and dark is his path on the wings of the storm.
Your bountiful care, what tongue can recite?
It breathes in the air, it shines in the light;
it streams from the hills, it descends to the plain,
and sweetly distills in the dew and the rain.
Frail children of dust, and feeble as frail,
in you do we trust, nor find you to fail.
Your mercies, how tender, how firm to the end,
our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend!
O measureless Might, unchangeable Love,
whom angels delight to worship above!
Your ransomed creation, with glory ablaze,
in true adoration shall sing to your praise!
This arrangement is by Molly Ijames, a native of Flint, Michigan, who holds a B.S. in Music Education from Bob Jones University. Her love for sacred music began as a church pianist in her teenage years, and now as an adult, her ministry as an accompanist expands to church and community choirs, Christian camps, schools, and local congregations. She spent seven years working for SoundForth Publishing and BJU in Greenville, South Carolina. She is widely recognized for her sacred compositions and arrangements in various catalogs with over 200 choral anthems, several seasonal cantatas, multiple piano solo and duet collections, keyboard magazines, and instrumental ensemble pieces in publication.
About the Choral Music:
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty - Hal Hobson
(c.1978, Sacred Music Press)
"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" is a hymn based on Joachim Neander's (1650-1680) 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.
Hal H. Hopson (b. 1933) is a full-time composer and church musician residing in Dallas, Texas. He has over 1000 published works, which comprise almost every musical form in church music. With a special interest in congregational song, he continues to make a significant contribution to the new repertoire of hymn tunes and responsorial psalm settings as evidenced by the proliferation of his settings that are included in newly published hymnals and psalm collections.
Hal is active as a conductor and clinician, having conducted choral festivals and workshops in United States, Europe, and Asia. More recently he has been recognized for his contribution to music by being included in The International Who's Who in Music, Cambridge, England, and by being awarded the esteemed title of National Patron by Delta Omicron, a national professional fraternity of musicians. He is active in several professional organizations, having served on the national boards of the Presbyterian Association of Musicians and Choristers Guild. As a member of ASCAP, Hal has received an annual award from that agency for many consecutive years.
Praise to the Lord, the Almighty, the King of creation!
O my soul, praise Him, for He is thy health and salvation!
All ye who hear, now to His temple draw near. Join me in glad adoration!
Praise to the Lord, who o’er all things so wondrously reigneth,
Shelters thee under His wings, yea, so gently sustaineth.
Hast thou not seen how thy desires e’er have been granted in what He ordaineth.
Praise to the Lord, who doth prosper thy work and defend thee;
Surely His goodness and mercy here daily attend thee.
Ponder anew what the Almighty can do if with His love He befriend thee.
Praise to the Lord, O let all that is in me adore Him!
All that hath life and breath, come now with praises before Him!
Let the Amen sound from His people again; Gladly for aye we adore Him!
Song of Hope (Canto de Esperanza)
Written in 1984 by Alvin L. Schutmaat, a PC(USA) missionary to Latin America, this joyful hymn set to a traditional Argentine folk melody, inspires us to be hopeful and work for peace and justice in the world. Bringing in images of light and darkness, the hymn references John 8:12, “Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life.’” This is a reminder of Jesus’ promise to us to never leave us in the dark, but instead, offer us eternal life. The hymn also alludes to Romans 15:13, which states, “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” This gives us the opening phrase and sets up the idea of hope—a hope that supports and encourages Christians to strive for justice. This theme is also supported in Isaiah 51:4, “Listen to me, my people, and give heed to me, my nation; for a teaching will go out from me, and my justice for a light to the peoples.”
The author and translator, Alvin L. Schutmaat (1921-1986), was born in Michigan and was appointed by the Board of Foreign Missions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) as a missionary to South America. There he taught theology and music in Colombia, Venezuela, and Mexico and worked as an educator, theologian and, on occasion, a hymn writer.
May the God of hope go with us every day,
filling all our lives with love and joy and peace.
May the God of justice speed us on our way,
bringing light and hope to every land and race.
Praying, let us work for peace;
Singing, share our joy with all;
Working for a world that’s new,
Faithful when we hear Christ’s call.
About the Hymns:
Rejoice, the Lord is King
Charles Wesley (1707-1788) was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley. As a hymn-writer Charles Wesley was unique. He is said to have written no less than 6500 hymns, and though, of course, in so vast a number some are of unequal merit, it is perfectly amazing how many there are which rise to the highest degree of excellence. His feelings on every occasion of importance, whether private or public, found their best expression in a hymn. His own conversion, his own marriage, the earthquake panic, the rumors of an invasion from France, the defeat of Prince Charles Edward at Culloden, the Gordon riots, every Festival of the Christian Church, every doctrine of the Christian Faith, striking scenes in Scripture history, striking scenes which came within his own view, the deaths of friends as they passed away, one by one, before him, all furnished occasions for the exercise of his divine gift. The saying that a really good hymn is as rare an appearance as that of a comet is falsified by the work of Charles Wesley; for hymns, which are really good in every respect, flowed from his pen in quick succession, and death alone stopped the course of the perennial stream.
“Rejoice, the Lord is King” was first published in John Wesley's Moral and Sacred Poems (1744) and is currently found in 484 hymnals. The text rejoices in the kingship of Christ whose rule extends "o'er earth and heaven". All will bow the knee to Christ when he returns in glory to judge "the living and dead". The refrain line based on Philippians 4:4, “Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice,” is the keynote of the entire text.
Composed by John Darwall (1731-1789), DARWALL'S 148TH was first published as a setting for Psalm 148 in Aaron William's New Universal Psalmodist (1770) with only soprano and bass parts. The harmonization dates from the nineteenth century. The son of a pastor, Darwall attended Manchester Grammar School and Brasenose College, Oxford, England (1752-1756). He became the curate and later the vicar of St. Matthew's Parish Church in Walsall, where he remained until his death. Darwall was a poet and amateur musician. He composed a soprano tune and bass line for each of the 150 psalm versifications in the Tate and Brady New Version of the Psalms of David (l696). In an organ dedication speech in 1773 Darwall advocated singing the "Psalm tunes in quicker time than common [in order that] six verses might be sung in the same space of time that four generally are."
Rejoice, the Lord is King! Your Lord and King adore;
Rejoice, give thanks, and sing, And triumph evermore;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
Jesus, the Savior, reigns, The God of truth and love;
When He had purged our stains He took His seat above;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
His kingdom cannot fail, He rules o’er earth and Heav’n,
The keys of death and hell Are to our Jesus giv’n;
Lift up your heart, lift up your voice; Rejoice, again I say, rejoice!
Rejoice in glorious hope! Jesus the Judge shall come,
And take His servants up To their eternal home;
We soon shall hear th’archangel’s voice; The trump of God shall sound, rejoice!
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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