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:
Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein - Johann Pachelbel
"Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g'mein" ((Dear Christians, one and all rejoice) is a Lutheran hymn, whose lyrics and melody were both written in 1523 by Martin Luther. It his based on Rom. 3: 28. For his first song, Ein neues Lied wir heben an war, Luther was inspired by the Martyrium of the two Augustinian monks Hendrik Vos and Johannes van Esschen who had converted to the Reformation. Both had been executed at the stake in Brussels on July 1, 1523. Luther’s song is a ballad-like narrative song and was not intended for church and worship, but for market and street. In hymnological research, it is certain that Nun freut euch, lieben Christen g’mein immediately followed the martyr song. Like this, it is a narrative song without a literary model, now referring to the supertemporal-temporal salvation act of God, and like this it is not a hymn, but a Reformation folk song, which was sung by traders, craftsmen and maids and a large share in the spread of the Reformation thought.
It was published as one of eight songs in 1524 in the first Lutheran hymnal, the Achtliederbuch (Etlich' christliche Lieder, Wittenberg, 1524), which contained four songs by Martin Luther, three by Paul Speratus, and one by Justus Jonas. It appeared also in 1524 in the Erfurt Enchiridion, in second place of 26 songs It is considered one of his first and theologically most important poems and belongs to this day to the core of German-speaking Protestant hymnals.
The hymn was translated from German by Richard Massie in 1854. The core of Luther’s tribute is pertinent today and emphasizes music’s power to nurture and teach. This hymn reminds us that God loved us first, and God continues to shower us with grace and mercy.
Dear Christians, one and all, rejoice, with exultation springing,
and with united heart and voice and holy rapture singing,
proclaim the wonders God has done, how his right arm the vict'ry won.
How dearly it has cost him!
Fast bound in Satan's chains I lay; death brooded darkly o'er me.
Sin was my torment night and day; in sin my mother bore me.
Yet deep and deeper still I fell; life had became a living hell,
so firmly sin possessed me.
My own good works availed me naught, no merit they attaining;
my will against God's judgment fought, no hope for me remaining.
My fears increased till sheer despair left only death to be my share
and hell to be my sentence.
But God beheld my wretched state before the world's foundation,
and, mindful of his mercies great, he planned for my salvation.
A father's heart he turned to me, sought my redemption fervently;
he gave his dearest treasure.
He spoke to his belovèd Son: "It's time to have compassion.
Then go, bright jewel of my crown, and bring to all salvation.
From sin and sorrow set them free; slay bitter death for them that they
may live with you forever."
The Son obeyed his Father's will, was born of virgin mother,
and, God's good pleasure to fulfill, he came to be my brother.
No garb of pomp or pow'r he wore; a servant's form like mine he bore
to lead the devil captive.
To me he spoke, "Hold fast to me, I am your rock and castle.
Your ransom I myself will be; for you I strive and wrestle.
For I am yours, your friend divine, and evermore you shall be mine;
the foe shall not divide us.
"The foe will shed my precious blood, me of my life bereaving;
all this I suffer for your good; be steadfast and believing.
Life will from death the vict'ry win; my innocence shall bear your sin,
and you are blest forever.
"Now to my Father I depart, the Holy Spirit sending
and, heav'nly wisdom to impart, my help to you extending.
He will a source of comfort be, teach you to know and follow me,
and in all truth will guide you.
"What I on earth have lived and taught be all your life and teaching;
so shall the kingdom's work be wrought and honored in your preaching.
Take care that no one's man-made laws should e'er destroy the gospel's cause;
this final word I leave you."
Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706) was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era. Pachelbel's music enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime; he had many pupils and his music became a model for the composers of south and central Germany. Today, Pachelbel is best known for the Canon in D, as well as the Chaconne in F minor, the Toccata in E minor for organ, and the Hexachordum Apollinis, a set of keyboard variations.
Pachelbel studied music at Altdorf and Regensburg and held posts as organist in Vienna, Stuttgart, and other cities. In 1695 he was appointed organist at the St. Sebalduskirche in Nürnberg, where he remained until his death. He also taught organ, and one of his pupils was Johann Christoph Bach, who in turn gave his younger brother Johann Sebastian Bach his first formal keyboard lessons.
About the Handbell Music:
Jubilance - Kevin McChesney
(c.1997, Choristers Guild)
Jubilation Ringers
Kevin McChesney (b. 1963) graduated with highest honors from the University of Colorado at Boulder with a BMus in Composition and Theory. A composer and arranger of handbell music, Kevin currently has nearly 1000 titles in print and is one of the very few musicians who makes handbells a full-time vocation. He has won numerous awards for his work, including winning American Guild of English Handbell Ringers Composition Contests and Jeffers Composer of the Year. He is Music Director of the Pikes Peak Ringers and his work with that organization for over 20 years has brought them to national prominence, including a recording with world-renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. Kevin is also Music Director of the Atlanta Concert Ringers.
About the Choral Music:
Go Into the World - Natalie Sleeth
(c.1979, Choristers Guild)
Natalie Allyn Sleeth (née Wakeley) (1930-1992) was born in Evanston, Illinois. In 1934, she began to study the piano at the early age of four. In 1952, she received an Academic major in music theory and a BA in music theory at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. She married a Professor of Homiletics, Reverend Ronald E. Sleeth. In her later life she received an honorary doctorate from West Virginia Wesleyan College in 1959, and from Nebraska Wesleyan College in 1990. An organist, she wrote over 180 selections for church and school. She was a member of the Highland Park United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX.
Sleeth has set the text of the Great Commission from Matthew 28: 19-20 in this energetic anthem.
Go ye, go ye into the world and make disciples of all the nations,
Go ye, go ye into the world and I will be with you there!
Go ye, go ye into the world and take the Gospel to all the people,
Go ye, go ye into the world and I will be with you there!
I am the vine, you are the branches, ever the fruit to bear;
I am the light, you, the reflection ev’ry- where.
Go ye, go ye into the world and tell the story to all believers.
Go ye, go ye into the world and I will be with you there!
Go ye now and make disciples of all the nations,
Go ye now and I will be with you there.
Go ye now and take the Gospel to all the people,
Go ye now and I will be with you there.
I am the vine and you, the branches,
I am the light for you to share.
Go ye now and tell the story to all believers,
Go ye now and I will be with you there!
Go ye, go ye into the world and make disciples of all the nations,
Go ye now and make disciples of all the nations,
Go ye, go ye into the world and I will be with you there!
Go ye now and I will be with you there.
Go ye, go ye into the world and take the Gospel to all the people,
Go ye now and take the Gospel to all the people,
Go ye, go ye into the world and I will be with you there!
Go ye now and I will be with you there.
I am the vine, you are the branches, ever the fruit to bear;
I am the vine and you, the branches,
I am the light, you the reflection everywhere.
I am the light for you to share.
Go ye, go ye into the world and tell the story to all believers,
Go ye now and tell the story to all believers,
Go ye, go ye into the world and I will be with you there.
Go ye now and I will be with you there.
And I will be with you there!
Abide With Us - Greg Scheer
(c.2021, Greg Scheer)
Greg Scheer has composed over a thousand pieces of music in a variety of styles. Jeremy Begbie calls it “music that will disturb your imagination and delight your heart–a rare combination. Scheer’s sacred music appears in numerous hymnals and choral catalogs: over 300 Psalm settings, global worship song translations, choral anthems, and hymn arrangements. Scheer has received commissions from the Holland Symphony Orchestra, Baylor University, the Chagall String Quartet, the St. Cecilia Music Society, and others. Scheer’s symphonic rock group, The St. Sinner Orchestra, has released three albums; he also performs his original jazz with Outside Pocket.
This Gospel chorus attempts to distill some key elements of the story of Jesus appearing to his disciples on the road to Emmaus. Abide with us. Something about the stranger makes them want to spend more time with him. The disciples, recalling their conversation with Jesus say, “Didn’t our hearts burn within us?”
Abide with us. Abide with us.
Our eyes are opened, our hearts awoken, abide with us.
Our eyes are opened, our hearts awoken, abide with us.
About the Hymns:
Jesus Shall Reign
Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was the son of a schoolmaster and was born in Southampton. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor. The number of Watts' publications is very large. His collected works, first published in 1720, embrace sermons, treatises, poems and hymns. His "Horae Lyricae" was published in December, 1705. His "Hymns" appeared in July, 1707. The first hymn he is said to have composed for religious worship, is "Behold the glories of the Lamb," written at the age of twenty. It is as a writer of psalms and hymns that he is everywhere known. Some of his hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he had preached. Montgomery calls Watts "the greatest name among hymn-writers," and the honor can hardly be disputed. His published hymns number more than eight hundred.
Isaac Watts based this hymn text on Psalm 72:12-19 and referred to verses 5 and 8 of the psalm as well. Originally in eight stanzas entitled "Christ's Kingdom among the Gentiles," the text was published in Watts' Psalms of David, Imitated (1719). In this hymnal, he paraphrased many of the Psalms, but in a very different style than many of his predecessors. The order of the day was to keep any paraphrase as close to the text as possible. Watts decided to do otherwise, and his interpretations of the psalms are quite loose, in an effort to write something new while keeping the spirit of the Psalm. His versification of Psalm 72 is no different. He interprets the psalm using a Christological lens. The king referenced in the psalm is Christ, and could be no one else. Watts understood that the Old Testament makes sense in light of the New, and vice versa.
G. J. Stevenson’s Notes on the Methodist Hymn Book relates:
Perhaps one of the most interesting occasions on which this hymn was used was that on which King George, the sable, of the South Sea Islands, but of blessed memory, gave a new constitution to his people, exchanging a heathen for a Christian form of government. Under the spreading branches of the banyan trees sat some thousand natives from Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa, on Whitsunday, 1862, assembled for Divine worship. Foremost amongst them all sat King George himself. Around him were seated old chiefs and warriors who had shared with him the dangers and fortunes of many a battle—men whose eyes were dim, and whose powerful frames were bowed down with the weight of years. But old and young alike rejoiced together in the joys of that day, their faces most of them radiant with Christian joy, love, and hope. It would be impossible to describe the deep feeling manifested when the solemn service began, by the entire audience singing Dr. Watts’ hymn…
Who so much as they could realize the full meaning of the poet’s words? For they had been rescued from the darkness of heathenism and cannibalism and they were that day met for the first time under a Christian constitution, under a Christian king, and with Christ Himself reigning in the hearts of most of those present. That was indeed Christ’s kingdom set up in the earth.
First published anonymously in Henry Boyd's Select Collection of Psalm and Hymn Tunes (1793), DUKE STREET was credited to John Hatton (1710-1793) in William Dixon's Euphonia (1805). Virtually nothing is known about Hatton other than that he lived on Duke Street in St. Helen's and that his funeral was conducted at the Presbyterian chapel there.
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run,
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.
To him shall endless prayer be made, and praises throng to crown his head.
His name like sweet perfume shall rise with every morning sacrifice.
People and realms of every tongue dwell on his love with sweetest song,
and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name.
Blessings abound where'er he reigns: the prisoners leap to lose their chains,
the weary find eternal rest, and all who suffer want are blest.
Let every creature rise and bring the highest honors to our King,
angels descend with songs again, and earth repeat the loud amen.
Crown Him with Many Crowns
The song was originally penned in 1851 by Matthew Bridges (1800-1894), an Anglican scholar who once wrote a book condemning Roman Catholic theology, and then later converted to Catholicism. Bridges wrote six stanzas, based upon Revelations 19:12, “...and on His head were many crowns.” The text of this hymn was first published 1852 in The Passion of Jesus, a Collection of Original Pieces Corresponding with the Five Sorrowful Mysteries in the Rosary of Our Blessed Lady, a collection of devotional poetry. The prayers of the rosary are said in sets of ten, each focused on a "mystery" concerning the life of Christ; the mysteries themselves are in groups of five: the "Joyful Mysteries" concerning Christ's birth and childhood, the "Sorrowful Mysteries" concerning His death, and the "Glorious Mysteries" concerning the Resurrection and events following. (In the 20th century the "Luminous Mysteries" of Christ's earthly ministry were added.) Bridges's collection was dedicated to the five Sorrowful Mysteries: Christ's agony in Gethsemane, His scourging, the crown of thorns, Christ carrying His cross, and finally the Crucifixion itself. "Crown Him with many Crowns," therefore, was a reflection on the central mystery of the original 15 mysteries of the rosary. Bridges employs an unexpected approach to the topic, however, taking the cruel mockery intended by that original crown and turning it on its head by contemplating the glorious coronation of Christ in heaven. Each verse of Bridge’s poem was to describe of a different kind crown (Many Crowns, Virgin’s Son, Lord of Love, Lord of Peace, Lord of Years, and Lord of Heaven).
Godfrey Thring (1823-1903) was a devout Anglican clergyman who was concerned that this popular hymn was allowing Catholic theology to be sung by protestant congregations. Thring wrote an entirely new hymn of six verses to serve as a substitute for that of Bridges, using the same meter and basic plan of successive stanzas extolling Jesus' lordship over various domains. It was decided to keep the two versions separate but publish them both in 1874 in Thring’s hymnbook: Hymns and Sacred Lyrics. Thring’s version was also published in the Church of England Hymn-Book. The 12 stanzas have been mixed and matched down through the years. Of the following four verses found in our hymnal, three were written by Bridges (vs 1,3,and 4) and one by Thring (vs 2).
Composed for Bridges's text by George J. Elvey, DIADEMATA was first published in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern. Since that publication, the tune has retained its association with this text. The name DIADEMATA is derived from the Greek word for “crowns."
Crown him with many crowns, the Lamb upon his throne.
Hark! how the heavenly anthem drowns all music but its own.
Awake, my soul, and sing of him who died for thee,
and hail him as thy matchless king through all eternity.
Crown him the Lord of life, who triumphed o'er the grave,
and rose victorious in the strife for those he came to save;
his glories now we sing who died and rose on high,
who died eternal life to bring, and lives that death may die.
Crown him the Lord of love; behold his hands and side,
rich wounds, yet visible above, in beauty glorified;
no angels in the sky can fully bear that sight,
but downward bends their burning eye at mysteries so bright.
Crown him the Lord of years, the potentate of time,
creator of the rolling spheres, ineffably sublime.
All hail, Redeemer, hail! for thou hast died for me;
thy praise shall never, never fail throughout eternity.
About the Poem:
Ascension by Colleen Corah Hitchcock (1987)
And if I go,
while you’re still here…
Know that I live on,
vibrating to a different measure
―behind a thin veil you cannot see through.
You will not see me,
so you must have faith.
I wait for the time when we can soar together again,
―both aware of each other.
Until then, live your life to its fullest.
And when you need me,
Just whisper my name in your heart,
…I will be there.
Hitchcock is the world-renowned author of the poem, Ascension. Her masterpiece poem is featured on thousands of websites. Recognized as a poet as early as her first grade, she feels that her poetic roots have sculpted a rhythmic beat that moves throughout her prose. Hitchcock has always been drawn to comedy, action, and suspense, for its passion. And she artfully weaves stories and morals throughout every story, poem, or song she writes. She has lived in Ft. Lauderdale and Santa Monica, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and currently resides in Scottsdale, Arizona.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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