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:
Jesus, Bread of Life, I Pray Thee - Richard Wegner
(C.2001, Birnamwood Publications)
Richard Wegner studied at Concordia College and has been the Minister of Music at Immanuel Lutheran Church, Baltimore, for over 50 years. He has combined the 6th verse of “Soul, Adorn Thyself with Gladness” and Mozart’s “Ave Verum”.
"Schmücke dich, o liebe Seele" ("Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness", literally: Adorn yourself, O dear soul) is a Lutheran hymn in German, with lyrics by Johann Franck and a melody by Johann Crüger from 1649. It is a song for Lutheran Communion, and first appeared in 1649 in Crüger's hymnal Geistliche Kirchen-Melodien, later also in the 1653 edition of his Praxis pietatis melica. The hymn was often set to music to be played or sung under communion. A translation by Catherine Winkworth, "Deck thyself, my soul, with gladness" of 1858, appears in 100 hymnals. The hymn is a song for Abendmahl, the Lutheran Communion. The hymn lyrics were written in nine stanzas by Johann Franck, who was not a minister but a politician and mayor, between 1646 and 1653. Franck compared the unity between Jesus and a Christian receiving communion to the closeness of bridegroom and bride. With a melody by Johann Crüger from 1649, the song appeared first in Crüger's hymnal Geistliche Kirchen-Melodien (Sacred church melodies) of 1649, and was included, now in nine stanzas in his Praxis pietatis melica in the 1653 edition.
Soul, adorn yourself with gladness, leave the gloomy haunts of sadness;
come into the daylight's splendour, there with joy thy praises render
unto him whose grace unbounded hath this wondrous banquet founded:
high o'er all the heavens he reigneth, yet to dwell with thee he deigneth.
Hasten as a bride to meet Him, And with loving rev'rence greet Him.
for with words of life immortal He is knocking at your portal.
Open wide the gates before Him, Saying, as you there adore Him:
Grant, Lord, that I now receive You, That I nevermore will leave You.
He who craves a precious treasure Neither cost nor pain will measure;
But the priceless gifts of heaven God to us has freely given.
Though the wealth of earth were proffered, None could buy the gifts here offered:
Christ's true body, for you riven, And His blood, for you once given.
Now I sink before thee lowly, filled with joy most deep and holy,
as with trembling awe and wonder on thy mighty works I ponder:
how, by mystery surrounded, depth no mortal ever sounded,
none may dare to pierce unbidden secrets that with thee are hidden.
Sun, who all my life dost brighten, light, who dost my soul enlighten,
joy, the sweetest heart e'er knoweth, fount, whence all my being floweth,
at thy feet I cry, my Maker, let me be a fit partaker
of this blessed food from heaven, for our good, thy glory, given.
Jesus, Bread of Life, I pray thee, let me gladly here obey thee;
never to my hurt invited, be thy love with love requited:
from this banquet let me measure, Lord, how vast and deep its treasure;
through the gifts thou here dost give me, as thy guest in heaven receive me.
Jesus, sun of life, my splendor, Jesus, friend of friends, most tender,
Jesus, joy of my desiring, Fount of life, my soul inspiring:
At Your feet I cry, my maker, Let me be a fit partaker
Of this blessèd food from heaven, For our good, Your glory, given.
Lord, by love and mercy driven, You once left Your throne in heaven
On the cross for me to languish And to die in bitter anguish.
To forego all joy and gladness And to shed Your blood in sadness.
By this blood redeemed and living, Lord, I praise You with thanksgiving.
"Ave verum corpus" is a short Eucharistic hymn that dates from the 14th century and has been attributed to Pope Innocent VI. During the Middle Ages it was sung at the elevation of the host during the consecration. It was also used frequently during Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament. The hymn's title means "Hail, true body", and is based on a poem deriving from a 14th-century manuscript from the Abbey of Reichenau, Lake Constance. The poem is a meditation on the Catholic belief in Jesus's Real Presence in the sacrament of the Eucharist, and ties it to the conception of the redemptive meaning of suffering in the life of all believers.
It was set by Mozart in a motet, Ave verum corpus ("Hail, True Body"), (K. 618).. Mozart wrote it for Anton Stoll, a friend who was the church musician of St. Stephan in Baden bei Wien. The motet was composed for the feast of Corpus Christi; the autograph is dated 17 June 1791. The motet was composed less than six months before Mozart's death. It foreshadows aspects of the Requiem such as declamatory gesture, textures, and integration of forward- and backward-looking stylistic elements. While the Requiem is a dramatic composition, the motet expresses the Eucharistic thoughts with simple means, suited for the church choir in a small town.
Hail, true body, born of the Virgin Mary,
Having suffered and been sacrificed for men,
From whose pierced side flowed blood.
Be sustenance for us in the trials of death.
Variations on Azmon - Dan Miller
"O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing" was written by Charles Wesley, who wrote over 6,000 hymns. Wesley was suffering a bout of pleurisy in May, 1738, while he and his brother were studying under the Moravian scholar Peter Böhler in London. At the time, Wesley was plagued by extreme doubts about his faith. Taken to bed with the sickness on May 21, Wesley was attended by a group of Christians who offered him testimony and basic care, and he was deeply affected by this. He read from his Bible and found himself deeply affected by the words and at peace with God. Shortly, his strength began to return. He wrote of this experience in his journal and counted it as a renewal of his faith; when his brother John had a similar experience on the 24th, the two men met and sang a hymn Wesley had written in praise of his renewal.
One year from the experience, Wesley was taken with the urge to write another hymn, this one in commemoration of his renewal of faith. This hymn took the form of an 18-stanza poem, beginning with the opening lines “Glory to God, and praise, and love Be ever, ever given” and was published in 1740 and entitled “For the anniversary day of one's conversion”. The seventh verse, which begins, 'O for a thousand tongues to sing', and which now is invariably the first verse of a shorter hymn, recalls the words of Peter Böhler who said, “Had I a thousand tongues I would praise Him with them all.” The hymn was published first in John Wesley's A Collection of Hymns for the People Called Methodists in 1780. It has traditionally held a place of honor as the opening hymn in Methodist hymnals ever since.
Apparently the only publication of all original eighteen stanzas was in the 1740 hymnal. Seventeen stanzas were included as number 58 in The United Methodist Hymnal (1989). The number, ordering, and wording of the text stanzas have varied in the different hymnals. The original stanza seventeen was omitted from the 1989 hymnal as being perceived as possibly racist, and stanza six includes an editorial note that it may be omitted because it may be perceived discriminatory or offensive to people who cannot hear, speak, or see. Stanza seven of the 1989 hymnal's number 5, (which is the original stanza eighteen) has also been altered, changing "With me, your chief" to "In Christ, your head." In the original language, Charles Wesley was identifying himself with Paul in 1 Timothy 1:15 as "the chief of sinners.”
Lowell Mason adapted AZMON from a melody composed by Carl G. Gläser in 1828. Mason published a duple-meter version in his Modern Psalmist (1839) but changed it to triple meter in his later publications. Mason used (often obscure) biblical names for his tune titles; Azmon, a city south of Canaan, appears in Numbers 34:4-5.
Glory to God, and praise and love be ever, ever given,
by saints below and saints above, the church in earth and heaven.
On this glad day the glorious Sun of Righteousness arose;
on my benighted soul he shone and filled it with repose.
Sudden expired the legal strife, 'twas then I ceased to grieve;
my second, real, living life I then began to live.
Then with my heart I first believed, believed with faith divine,
power with the Holy Ghost received to call the Savior mine.
I felt my Lord's atoning blood close to my soul applied;
me, me he loved, the Son of God, for me, for me he died!
I found and owned his promise true, ascertained of my part,
my pardon passed in heaven I knew when written on my heart.
O for a thousand tongues to sing my dear Redeemer's praise!
The glories of my God and King, the triumphs of his grace.
My gracious Master and my God, assist me to proclaim,
to spread through all the earth abroad the honors of thy name.
Jesus! the name that charms our fears, that bids our sorrows cease;
'tis music in the sinner??s ears, 'tis life, and health, and peace!
He breaks the power of canceled sin, he sets the prisoner free;
his blood can make the foulest clean; his blood availed for me.
He speaks, and listening to his voice new life the dead receive;
the mournful, broken hearts rejoice, the humble poor believe.
Hear him, ye deaf, his praise, ye dumb, your loosened tongues employ;
ye blind, behold your Savior come, and leap, ye lame, for joy.
Look unto him, ye nations, own your God, ye fallen race!
Look, and be saved through faith alone, be justified by grace!
See all your sins on Jesus laid; the Lamb of God was slain,
his soul was once an offering made for every soul of man.
Harlots and publicans and thieves, in holy triumph join!
Saved is the sinner that believes From crimes as great as mine.
Murderers and all ye hellish crew, ye sons of lust and pride,
believe the Savior died for you; for me the Savior died.
Awake from guilty nature's sleep, and Christ shall give you light;
cast all your sins into the deep, and wash the Ethiop white.
With me, your chief, you then shall know, shall feel your sins forgiven;
anticipate your heaven below and own that love is heaven.
Dan Miller (b. 1954) Church Music Diploma from Moody Bible Institute. He majored in organ performance at the American Conservatory of Music, holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Florida Atlantic University, and a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance from Winthrop University. Miller is in his 18th year at Rodgers Instruments in Hillsboro, Oregon. His responsibilities include Tonal Director, Product Manager, Marketing Manager, and Regional Sales Manager for Western USA. He also is an Adjunct Professor of Organ at George Fox University in Newberg, Oregon. A church organist since age fifteen, Dan Miller has served at Calvary Church in Charlotte, North Carolina, and Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church, Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Currently, he is the Organist for St. Matthew Lutheran Church and Artist-in-Residence for Bethel Congregational Church, both in Beaverton, Oregon.
About the Piano Music:
I'm Gonna Sit at the Welcome Table - Stan Pethel
(c.2018, Lorenz Publishing)
In this spiritual, the “welcome table” refers to the marriage feast of the Lamb referred to in the New Testament book of Revelation. This event takes place when those who put their trust in the Jesus Christ are joined with him in heaven. African-American’s bound in slavery were never welcome to their master’s table and this song echoed their hope of the tables turning in future glory.
This song was modified and used extensively during the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s and 1960’s. In the civil rights song, "welcome table" alludes to the sit-in protests at lunch counters in public facilities where Black people were refused service, including a verse: “I’m gonna sit at the Woolworth counter”.
"... The Welcome Table, honored in the Jewish tradition by the Seder table at which one seat is left empty for Elijah, or for the stranger. Modeled in the Christian tradition by Jesus' radical table fellowship with sinners and prostitutes. Today, we join and eat at a Welcome Table. It is “not a First Lewisville table, not a United Methodist table, but God’s table, where all are welcome to receive the love of God.” On this World Communion Sunday, we sit together with all God’s children.
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days, hallelujah
Sit at the welcome table one of these days, one of these days
I'm gonna feast on milk and honey
Oh yes, I'm gonna feast on milk and honey one of these days, hallelujah
Feast on milk and honey one of these days, one of these days
All God's children gonna sit together
Yes, all God's children gonna sit together one of these days, hallelujah
All God's children gonna sit together, one of these days, one of these days
I'm gonna sit at the welcome table
Yes, I'm gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days, hallelujah
Yes, gonna sit at the welcome table one of these days, one of these days
Dr. Stan Pethel is Chair of the Fine Arts at Berry College near Rome, Georgia. He has been on the music faculty there since 1973. In addition to his duties as Chair of Fine Arts at Berry College Dr. Pethel teaches music theory, composition and arranging, world music, and low brass lessons. He is a widely published composer and arranger with over 1000 works in publication with 26 different publishers. His writing includes works for choir, piano, organ/piano duet, symphonic band, jazz ensemble, orchestra, handbells, solo instrument and piano, and various chamber music ensembles. He is a regular recipient of the ASCAP Standard Award.
About the Vocal Solo Music:
A Place at the Table - Lori True
(c.1998, Hope Publishing/c.2001, GIA Publications)
In recent decades, an influential and significant force has developed within the world of congregational song. That force is Shirley Erena Murray (b. 1931), who has written some of the most convicting and challenging hymns of this era by addressing issues and concerns relevant to modern-day audiences through the paradigm of the Christian tradition. In her hymn, “A Place at the Table” (1998), Ms. Murray presents a Christian equivalent to the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights,” drafted by the U.N. General Council, thus connecting the global concern of Christianity with the global concerns of the United Nations and, indeed, all humanity. She notes: “I couldn't find anything to reflect a broad overview of human rights in any hymnbook. You can see that I have used some of the very basic ideas of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights – the right to shelter, safety, food, and later, the right to a job, to freedom of speech and worship. I've tried to put them in a context which relates directly to the Gospel, but without excluding those who are not of the Christian faith. . .. “
A close examination of the hymn reveals thematic connections with the Declaration, thereby demonstrating the relevance of Christianity with contemporary affairs.
For example, in the first stanza, “clean water and bread, a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing” stems from Article 25: “Everyone has the right to a standard of adequate living for . . . health and well-being . . . including food, clothing, housing and medical care and necessary social services . . ..” The next phrase, “a star overhead,” relates, according to the poet, to Article 26 and the aspiration for education.
A fourth generation New Zealander, Murray holds a master’s degree with honors in Classics and French from Otago University. Her awards and honors include the New Zealand Order of Merit (2001) and an Honorary Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music (2006). Her hymn "God, In Your Grace" was chosen as the theme song for the IX Assembly of the World Council of Churches in Porto Alegre, Brazil (2006), and she has been honored as a Fellow of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada (2009). Shirley Erena Murray describes her ecclesial affiliation as ecumenical in nature. Though born to a Methodist family, she later became Presbyterian through her marriage to a Presbyterian minister. As she writes in one of the collections of her hymns, “The Methodist tradition nurtured me, the Presbyterian tradition claimed all my adult life, and the ecumenical movement called me out of both.” Murray describes her identity and perspective as “that of a woman, a mother, a grandparent, a citizen, [and] a layperson.”
Shirley Murray began writing hymns in the 1970s to accompany her husband’s sermons, because he had difficulty finding traditional hymns that truly captured and articulated his messages with language relevant to contemporary life. The fruit of her labor resulted in a plethora of Christian hymns that poignantly address modern concerns in a relevant way. Fellow New Zealander and Methodist hymn writer Colin Gibson notes that the most common themes of her hymns address “peace, justice, human rights, inclusiveness, gender equality, environmental concerns, and social responsibility.” Her work is included in more than 100 different collections and has been translated into several different languages. Additionally, she contributed to the groundbreaking hymnal Sound the Bamboo (2000), wherein she collaborated with Dr. I-to Loh, an ethnomusicologist from Taiwan, to provide English lyrics for Asian Christians with a distinctly Eastern-Asian style of music.
In this hymn, Shirley Murray finds a way to incorporate the Christian imperative of equality and justice for the entire world. In the first stanza, she begins with the statement, “For everyone born, a place at the table … for everyone born, a star overhead.” At first glance, the song appears as if it will address global hunger, which indeed it does. But on a metaphysical level, she clearly expresses that the justice and equality humanity needs actually comes as a result of the birth of Jesus Christ. Here, she has flipped our understanding of what “the table” actually means. The table does not simply represent the proverbial dining table or the political forum (such as the United Nations), but also stands as a metaphor for the Kingdom of God. The table embodies a world where everyone has a place, because God became human in Jesus Christ, expressed by the star on Christmas night. “The table” of abundance and equality is the prophetic expression of God’s will manifest in creation.
She continues her theme of justice and equality in the subsequent stanzas by providing a series of binary expressions, thereby articulating the need for Christians to extend justice and joy across the diversity of humanity: “for woman and man” (stanza 2), “for young or for old” (stanza 3), and “for just and unjust” (stanza 4). In the fourth stanza, Murray presents us with perhaps a more difficult challenge by including both “abuser” and “abused” at the table. She draws the language of “abuser/abused” from the Lord’s Prayer: “forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors,” acknowledging that all humanity stands in need of God’s grace, love, and mercy: even those who have committed acts of abuse in its many forms.
The author states her theological premise in the introduction of the collection, A Place at the Table: "I have used the words of the hymn 'A Place at the Table' as title for this book, because there are still Christian people not welcome, either at the communion table or at the common table of society. . ..” Such hospitality, however, is already apparent in the Invitation to the Table found in The United Methodist Hymnal: “Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, who earnestly repent of their sin and seek to live in peace with one another.” The invitation is extended to all regardless of gender, cultural background, social class, or sexual orientation. Here she challenges us to recognize the sacrament as a place of unconditional inclusivity. According to the refrain, we understand the Christian’s role to play in offering “justice and joy” because paradoxically, “God will delight when we are creators of justice and joy.” In this way, the Creator expresses delight when humanity “creates” justice and joy. Murray’s hymn gives new voice to Christians crying out for God’s justice and joy as they enact God’s will “on earth as it is in heaven.”
For everyone born, a place at the table,
for everyone born, clean water and bread,
a shelter, a space, a safe place for growing,
for everyone born, a star overhead,
For woman and man, a place at the table,
revising the roles, deciding the share,
with wisdom and grace, dividing the power,
for woman and man, a system that's fair,
For young and for old, a place at the table,
a voice to be heard, a part in the song,
the hands of a child in hands that are wrinkled,
for young and for old, the right to belong,
For gay and for straight, a place at the table,
a covenant shared, a welcoming space,
a rainbow of race and gender and colour,
for gay and for straight, the chalice of grace,
For just and unjust, a place at the table,
abuser, abused, with need to forgive,
in anger, in hurt, a mindset of mercy,
for just and unjust, a new way to live,
For everyone born, a place at the table,
to live without fear, and simply to be,
to work, to speak out, to witness and worship,
for everyone born, the right to be free,
and God will delight when we are creators
of justice and joy, compassion and peace:
yes, God will delight when we are creators
of justice, justice and joy!
Lori True is from Richfield, Minnesota and is Director of Ritual and Liturgy for the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, in St. Paul, Minnesota. Lori is active as a workshop and retreat leader, concert performer, composer, and recording artist, presenting at various conventions of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the National Catholic Education Association, the Los Angeles Religious Education Congress, the Hawaiian Islands Liturgy and Arts Conference; and the Knockadoon Folk Liturgy Course in Southern Ireland. She is the former Associate Director for Music Ministry Alive, a liturgical formation program for youth and adults, and has five original recorded collections of her compositions with GIA Publications: A Place At the Table, There Is Room for Us All, Let This Be the Time, Mass of Mercy, and Show By Your Life.
As We Go - Jeremy Johnson
(c.2007, Van Ness Press, admin by LifeWay Worship)
Jeremy Johnson is a full-time songwriter and producer for LifeWay Worship Music Group. Originally from Shreveport, Louisiana, Jeremy moved to Nashville in 1994 to attend Belmont University. He signed an exclusive publishing deal with LifeWay in 2004 when his songs gained the attention of producer/songwriter Greg Nelson. Jeremy is the pianist/band leader at The Church at Station Hill in Spring Hill, TN.
This hymn is a simple, sincere call to carry the message and Spirit with us wherever we go. The words and music were written by Jeremy Johnson in 2011. The text is based on Psalm 48:14 and Matthew 28:16-20.
As we go, may your Spirit go before us.
As we go, may we follow where you lead.
May we live what we have learned,
share the message we have heard,
and be a light unto the world as we go.
About the Hymns:
Let Us Break Bread Together
(c.1989, United Methodist Publishing House)
This spiritual was formed in the West African Gullah/Geechee slave culture that developed in the costal areas of South-Eastern colonial America, including St Helena Island, Beaufort, and Charleston, South Carolina. The text of the version that is commonly sung in the United States was first published in The Journal of American Folklore (1925). The Journal included spirituals, as well as African American folk tales and proverbs that were collected by students at the Penn School on Saint Helena Island, South Carolina. A second version appeared in Saint Helena Island Spirituals (1925) by Nicholas Ballanta, a very significant collection that included 103 Gullah spirituals.
Some of the stanzas of this African American spiritual may date back to the eighteenth century. Other stanzas have been added by oral tradition. A look through modern hymnals will reveal an array of variations on the text. The most notable alteration in the Psalter Hymnal is the phrase "to the Lord of life" in place of the original "to the rising sun," in which "rising sun" was a metaphor referring to the Son rising. The song's use at communion services probably dates from after the American Civil War. Miles Mark Fisher notes in Negro Slave Songs in the United States (1953): [Originally the hymn] relates hardly at all to holy communion, which does not necessarily require early morning administration or a devotee who faces east. It was a signal song of Virginia slaves during the eighteenth century who used it and similar ones to convene their secret meetings.
The text describes participation in the Lord's Supper as a humble act in which we not only eat the bread and drink the wine, but also praise our God "on our knees." The refrain ends with a prayer for mercy, an African-American Kyrie that reminds us of the tax collector's prayer in Luke 18:13.
African American composer John Rosamond Johnson (1873-1954) arranged the first solo version with the three stanzas that are common to most hymnals in the United States. He also established the precedent of singing the final stanza up the octave. This practice is observed in several hymnals including The United Methodist Hymnal. This version of the spiritual was popularized by notable African American soloists in the mid-twentieth century such as Paul Robeson, Roland Hayes, and Marian Anderson.
Let us break bread together on our knees, let us break bread together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.
Let us drink wine together on our knees, let us drink wine together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.
Let us praise God together on our knees, let us praise God together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun, O Lord, have mercy on me.
O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
Though John Wesley is called the father of Methodism, his brother Charles Wesley (1707-1788) may be called the father of Methodist congregational singing. Charles disliked the prevalence of the psalms in worship songs of his time. Out of that, he gave Methodism and modern hymnody hundreds of original hymn texts, including “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing,” which he wrote for Sunday, May 21, 1739—the first anniversary of his conversion on Pentecost Sunday, or Whitsunday as it was known then. The conversion had preceded by three days John Wesley’s famous reaffirmation of his faith at Aldersgate Chapel.
Lowell Mason’s (1792-1872) arrangement of the Carl G. Gläser (1784-1829) tune AZMON is used with “O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing” in the UM Hymnal. Gläser was a German composer and contemporary of Beethoven. Though Charles Wesley’s text has been sung to a number of tunes through the years, AZMON is the dominant choice throughout the hymnody of the mainline denominations.
Though most arrangements are basically the same, there are differences in the number of stanzas used. For example, some hymnals contain just four or five stanzas as opposed to the seven present in the UM Hymnal. More than two centuries after its composition, the hymn still has international appeal, combining Wesley’s 18th-century English sensibility with a sturdy German tune by Gläser and harmonization by Mason, a 19th-century American.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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