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:
Voluntary on "Diademata" - Robert Lind
(c.2011, Paraclete Press)
"Maker, in whom we live" is well-known in the Methodist tradition. The text was written by Charles Wesley in 1747. Originally, Wesley titled the hymn "To the Trinity" and published it in the Hymns for Those that Seek and Those that Have Redemption in the Blood of Jesus Christ in 1747. Wesley was one of the first to incorporate the idea of the Trinity in hymns and poetry. In each stanza, he described a member of the Trinity, with the final stanza focusing on God, the Three-in-One. The hymn entered the Methodist hymnal in 1821. It was omitted in the 1905 and 1935 editions but returned in 1966.
"Maker, In Whom We Live" first appeared in the 1822 hymnal titled A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the Methodist Episcopal Church. The hymn, for the most part, remains in its entirety in today's modern hymnal. Despite some minor alterations in grammatical structure, there are really only two significant changes to the text. The principal changes were made in order to make the hymn's language more inclusive, avoiding male-only imagery for God. The original version begins with "Father" instead of "Maker." In the last stanza, Wesley originally wrote, "Let all the sons of men," which has now been changed to "Let all on earth below."
Each stanza in this hymn describes a member of the Trinity. The first stanza discusses angels and earth giving praise and singing to God, the Maker and Creator. The second stanza expresses praise to God the Son, who gives redeeming grace to all, even sinners. The third stanza conveys God as the Holy Spirit, with all energy and power, and expresses how we cannot explain God's love for us. The last stanza invites all to sing and praise God the Three-in-One. The first three stanzas have strong scriptural references. The first stanza refers to Acts 17:28 and Luke 2:14. The second stanza recalls Revelation 7:10 and the third stanza alludes to Titus 3:5.
The tune most commonly associated to this hymn is DIADEMATA, composed by George J. Elvey, during the Romantic Era, in 1868. In the 1878 hymnal, this hymn was paired with the tune WAUGH, and only contained the first two stanzas. Both in the original form and in today's modern hymnal, the text is set in the familiar four-part style. The tune works well with the text, complimenting the rise and fall of the lines.
Maker in whom we live, in whom we are and move,
the glory, power, and praise receive of thy creating love.
Let all the angel throng give thanks to God on high,
while earth repeats the joyful song, and echoes to the sky.
Incarnate Deity, let all the ransomed race
render in thanks their lives to thee for thy redeeming grace.
The grace to sinners showed ye heavenly choirs proclaim,
and cry: 'Salvation to our God, salvation to the Lamb!’
Spirit of holiness, let all thy saints adore
thy sacred energy, and bless thine heart-renewing power.
Not angel tongues can tell thy love's ecstatic height,
the glorious joy unspeakable, the beatific sight.
Eternal triune God! Let all the hosts above,
let all the sons of men, record and dwell upon thy love.
When heaven and earth are fled before thy glorious face,
sing all the saints thy love hath made thine everlasting praise.
Robert Lind studied at North Park College at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, majoring in organ, composition, and music theory. At the age of 20, he worked with Leo Sowerby and became his assistant at the Cathedral of St. James, Chicago. He succeeded his mentor, Dr. Sowerby, as organist-choirmaster at the Cathedral two years later. After serving in the US Army during the Vietnam era, Lind entered the publishing world, while continuing to serve various churches in the Chicago area. He is currently organist at Lord of Life Lutheran church in Schaumburg, IL. He has played recitals in Chicago area for several decades, has presented organ repertory workshops for the American Guild of Organists, and has composed extensively for the church. Mr. Lind has approximately 180 works published for the organ.
About the Piano Music:
We Are Travelers on a Journey - Mark Hayes
(c.2018, Lorenz Publishing)
Richard Gillard (b. 1953) was born in England and raised in New Zealand. His faith background is a mixture of the Anglican Church on his mother’s side and the Pentecostal Church on his father’s side of the family. He has had little systematic musical training, but from the age of seven began the ukulele, often to accompany his own singing, learning by experiment and later with the help of his father and of Pentecostal church musicians. “We are Travelers on a Journey (The Servant Song) was first published in 1978 on a record album by Scripture in Song called Father Make Us One and has appeared subsequently in other publications including Songs of Praise, which is widely used by New Zealand congregations.
This song is a challenge to the notion that Christianity is about a vertical relationship between the believer and God. It is also about a horizontal relationship between all of us on this planet. And the way we live our lives in service tells us a whole lot more about who we are as Christians than do the words we say. Living out our salvation so that others might be redeemed and served is what it’s all about. It is about being pilgrims on a journey together. Matthew 20:26b-28 provides the primary scriptural background for the song: “. . . Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (NIV)
Brother, sister let me serve you. Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace To let you be my servant, too.
We are pilgrims on a journey. We are travelers on the road.
We are here to help each other Walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you; Speak the peace you long to hear.
I will weep when you are weeping. When you laugh, I'll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow Till we've seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven, We shall find such harmony,
Born of all we've known together Of Christ's love and agony.
Mark Hayes is an award-winning concert pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. His personal catalog, totaling over 1,000 published works, includes work for solo voice, solo piano, multiple pianos, orchestra, jazz combo, small instrumental ensembles, and choruses of all kinds. Mark received a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude in Piano Performance from Baylor University in 1975. He has conducted the SWACDA and MCDA Community and Church Honor Choir, and served as guest conductor at Carnegie Hall, featuring his Te Deum and Magnificat. In 2010, Baylor University Center for Christian Music Studies awarded Mark the Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music. Mark arranged and orchestrated the music for Civil War Voices, which won six awards including "Best Musical" in the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York. He conducted the world premiere of his work for chorus, orchestra and narrator, The American Spirit, at Lincoln Center in May 2011 and the world premiere of his Requiem in Lincoln Center in May 2013. Whether concertizing on the other side of the globe or composing at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, Mark is blessed to live out his mission "to create beautiful music for the world".
About the Vocal Solo Music:
My Jesus, I Love Thee - Tom Fettke & Thomas Grassi
(c.2012, Lorenz Publishing Co)
Sixteen year old William Featherston (1846-1873) of Montreal, Canada wrote this simple but profound hymn in 1862, not long after he was converted to Christ. William wrote no other hymns that we know of and his brief life ended just before his twenty-seventh birthday. Featherstone, a Weslyan Methodist, sent the poem to his aunt in Los Angeles, and somehow, it made its way to England where it was published anonymously in The London Hymn Book two years later.
The tune used here is a traditional Irish folk song, usually set to “The Last Rose of Summer.” The Last Rose of Summer was published in Moore’s Irish Melodies which was immensely popular in the first half of the 19th century. The words were set to an old Irish folk tune by Moore’s collaborator, the Irish musician Sir John Stevenson. The tune he used was The Young Man’s Dream. In 1792 ten mostly elderly Irish harpers met in Belfast. They realized that the old medieval harping tradition was dying out and needed preservation. The oldest of the harpers was Donnchadh Ó Hámsaigh, or Dennis O’Hampsay. He was said to be 97 years old at the time of the meeting and he was the only one playing the really old repertoire. He had learned the harp from Bridget O’Cahan, who was from the great clan around Limavady. At the meeting there was also a 19-year old boy, Edward Bunting. He was given the task of writing the music down for preservation. His notebooks survived the ages and are now preserved at Queens University in Belfast.” Aisling An Óig-fhir (the Young Man’s Dream) is found in this notebook.
This arrangement uses a derivative of “Young Man’s Dream” known as “The Groves of Blarney”. Other editors of Irish songbooks made use of his variant. The first one was George Thomson in Edinburgh. He had already produced several volumes of his Select Collection of Scottish Airs (since 1793) as well as two books of Welsh tunes (1809/11) and at that time was busy working on an Irish collection, no doubt inspired by the great success of Moore's series. Thomson had hired Ludwig van Beethoven in Vienna to write the arrangements and in April 1814, very shortly after the publication of the 5th volume of the Irish Melodies he send him two of its highlights, not only "Groves of Blarney" but also the tune of "Minstrel Boy”"Groves of Blarney" appeared in 1816 in the second volume of George Thomson's Select Collection of Original Irish Airs, arranged by Ludwig van Beethoven. Interestingly, Beethoven later also wrote some instrumental variations for this tune that were published in 1819 in Vienna (Six Themes Varies, op. 105, No. 4, "Air Ecossais” at Beethoven-Haus, Bonn).
My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;
for thee all the follies of sin I resign;
my gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
I love thee because thou hast first loved me
and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;
I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight,
I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright;
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow:
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
If ever I loved thee, my Jesus, ’tis now.
Tom Fettke earned degrees from Oakland City College and California State University at Hayward. He holds a California Lifetime Music Credential in Secondary Music. For many years, he taught vocal music in California's public school systems. He served as church choir director and minister of music in churches large and small for over thirty years. While at the Redwood Christian School System in Castro Valley, California, Fettke held the positions Director of Choral Activities and Supervisor of Music. A high demand calls for Fettke as a guest conductor, clinician and workshop leader. In addition, he is a composer, arranger and producer of music and recordings for the church and school. His published works and recordings number in the hundreds. Thousands of church and school choirs throughout the world sing his classic choral work, The Majesty and Glory of Your Name. Fettke was the creator and Senior Editor of The Hymnal for Worship and Celebration. Fettke also is Senior Editor of The Celebration Hymnal.
Thomas W. Grassi is a composer, arranger, and orchestrator with Lorenz Music. His anthems have appeared in the catalogs of many publishers since the beginning of his publishing career in 1998. He has received a variety of awards over the years from the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers; Gospel Music Association; The John Lennon Songwriting Foundation; and the Billboard Magazine Song Contest. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Thomas’s past professional experience includes ministerial positions at Valley Community Church of Pleasanton, California and Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. Currently, Thomas is the Minister of Worship & Music at Kindred Community Church in Anaheim Hills, California. He is a graduate of San Diego Christian College with a BA in Music with an emphasis in sacred choral literature. He has earned his Evangelical Teacher Training Certificate as well, and has taught voice, piano, and guitar privately and in secondary schools for twenty years.
About the Hymns:
When We All Get to Heaven
Eliza Edmunds Hewitt (1851-1950) was born in Philadelphia. Educated in the local school system, she graduated as valedictorian of the Girl's Normal School that she attended. She became a teacher in the public schools. But then came misery. Her career screeched to a halt when she was forced to bed with a painful spinal problem, caused by an reckless student striking her with a piece of slate. Lying in bed, she could have been bitter. Instead, she studied English literature and began to sing and write: “Sing the wondrous love of Jesus; sing his mercy and his grace….” Professor John R. Sweeney set a few of her songs to music, including one of the better known: "Will there be any Stars in My Crown?" Sweeney and William J. Kirkpatrick published her first hymns. Among the best known are, "Give Me Thy Heart, Says the Father Above," "When We All Get to Heaven," "Sunshine in My Soul," "Will there be any Stars in My Crown?" and "More About Jesus Would I Know." Later Eliza's well-being improved, although she suffered re-occurrences for the rest of her life. Despite her health problems, she was deeply interested in Sunday school work, and superintended a Sunday school for the Northern Home for Friendless Children.
Sing the wondrous love of Jesus, Sing His mercy and His grace;
In the mansions bright and blessed He'll prepare for us a place.
While we walk the pilgrim pathway Clouds will overspread the sky;
But when trav'ling days are over Not a shadow, not a sigh.
Let us then be true and faithful, Trusting, serving ev'ry day;
Just one glimpse of Him in glory Will the toils of life repay.
Onward to the prize before us! Soon His beauty we'll behold;
Soon the pearly gates will open– We shall tread the streets of gold.
When we all get to heaven, what a day of rejoicing that will be!
When we all see Jesus, we'll sing and shout the victory!
Spirit of the Living God
This is one of the most long-lasting and widely used choruses in Christian worship. Every aspect of the song embodies a simple sincerity. The melody encompasses only five notes, and three of the four lines repeat the same nine words. Yet for many, the straightforward petitions of this song draw the singer into an attitude of prayer.
During January and February of 1926, the George T. Stephans Evangelistic Party conducted a citywide revival in the tabernacle in Orlando, Fla. Daniel Iverson, a Presbyterian minister from Lumberton, N.C., spent several days in Orlando visiting with the Stephans team. The day he arrived, he was greatly impressed by a message on the Holy Spirit given by Dr. Barron, a physician from Columbia, S.C. Later that day Iverson went to the First Presbyterian Church in Orlando, sat down at the piano, and wrote this song. Miss Birdie Loes, the pianist for the Stephans team, wrote it out on manuscript paper. E. Powell Lee, the team song leader, was immediately impressed and taught it to the people that evening in the tabernacle, and used it throughout the campaign.
While the inspiration for the hymn is not known for certain, it is likely that Iverson knew a hymn by Adelaide Pollard (1862-1934), “Have Thine Own Way, Lord,” based on Jeremiah 18:6: “O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel” (KJV). The first stanza of Pollard’s hymn uses similar language (“Mold me and make me”). The final stanza also contains a petition to the Spirit (“Fill with thy Spirit”). Pollard’s hymn was written about 25 years before Iverson’s 1926 composition.
The authorship of “Spirit of the Living God” was lost for a time because the song could so easily be taught without music or even printed words. It first appeared in Revival Songs (1929) in a slightly revised version. Southern Baptist gospel song composer B.B. McKinney made slight alterations and published it again in his Songs of Victory (1937). E. Powell Lee, the song leader for the Stephans evangelistic team, brought Iverson’s name to light and his name was restored to the song in later printings of the Baptist Hymnal in the 1960s.
Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on me.
Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on me.
Melt me, mold me, Fill me, use me.
Spirit of the Living God, Fall afresh on me.
Soul of heaven, heart of God, wash over me.
Soul of heaven, heart of God, wash over me.
Cleanse me, teach me, hold me, reach me.
Soul of heaven, heart of God, wash over me.
Holy presence, love divine, cast out all my fear.
Holy presence, love divine, cast out all my fear.
Shield me, free me, call me, lead me.
Holy presence, love divine, cast out all my fear.
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.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
No comments:
Post a Comment