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:
"Jupiter" Theme - Eric Thiman
(c.1962, J. Curwen & Sons, Ltd.)
The origin of the hymn's text is a poem by diplomat Cecil Spring Rice, written early in the 20th century, entitled Urbs Dei ("The City of God") or The Two Fatherlands. The poem described how a Christian owes his loyalties to both his homeland and the heavenly kingdom.
In 1908, Spring Rice was posted to the British Embassy in Stockholm. In 1912, he was appointed as Ambassador to the United States of America, where he influenced the administration of Woodrow Wilson to abandon neutrality and join Britain in the war against Germany. After the United States entered the war, he was recalled to Britain. Shortly before his departure from the US in January 1918, he re-wrote and renamed Urbs Dei as "I Vow to Thee, My Country" significantly altering the first verse to concentrate on the themes of love and sacrifice rather than "the noise of battle" and "the thunder of her guns", creating a more sombre tone in view of the dreadful loss of life suffered in the Great War.
In 1921 Gustav Holst changed the music from a section of the song Jupiter from his suite The Planets to create a setting for the poem. The music was made a bit longer so that it would fit the last two lines of the first verse; the result is usually called the Thaxted (named after the village where Holst lived for many years). This was first performed in 1925 and became very common at Armistice memorial ceremonies.
I vow to thee, my country, all earthly things above,
Entire and whole and perfect, the service of my love;
The love that asks no question, the love that stands the test,
That lays upon the altar the dearest and the best;
The love that never falters, the love that pays the price,
The love that makes undaunted the final sacrifice.
And there's another country, I've heard of long ago,
Most dear to them that love her, most great to them that know;
We may not count her armies, we may not see her King;
Her fortress is a faithful heart, her pride is suffering;
And soul by soul and silently her shining bounds increase,
And her ways are ways of gentleness, and all her paths are peace.
Eric Harding Thiman (1900 – 1975) was an English composer and organist.Largely self-taught, he was awarded an FRCO in 1921. From 1930 he was Professor of Harmony at the Royal Academy of Music and later, from 1956 to 1962, was Dean of the Faculty of Music at the University of London. From 1958, having moved from Park Chapel (a Congregational Church in Crouch End, later to join with Ferme Park Baptist Church to form a Union Church in the same district, he was organist of the City Temple in London, a Congregational Church where he increased his renown as an improviser of great skill. He was a keen advocate of amateur music-making and in the 1960s was the conductor and Musical Director of the Purley Choral Society. A prolific composer of small-scale works, he wrote much educational music for piano and other instruments, as well as accessible music for church choirs.
About the Piano Music:
O Day of Peace - William Ringham
(c.2018, Lorenz Publishing)
Carl Pickens Daw Jr. (b. 1944) was born in Louisville, Ky. He holds a doctoral degree in English from the University of Virginia and the masters of divinity degree from the University of the South. He has been the executive director of the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada since 1996. An Episcopal priest, Dr. Daw has served congregations in Virginia, Connecticut and Pennsylvania. Daw began writing hymns as a consultant member of the Text committee for The Hymnal 1982, the current hymnal of the Episcopal Church. Since that time, he has been recognized as one of the leading hymn writers in North America, with texts in most denominational and ecumenical hymnals published on this continent.
Episcopal hymnologist Raymond Glover provides the background for the composition of this hymn: “[It] was created in response to two special requests received by the Standing Commission of Church Music during its preparation of The Hymnal 1982 . . . the General Convention’s Joint Commission on Peace . . . and an appeal from many sources, request[ing] the inclusion of [Charles Hubert Hasting Parry’s] tune “Jerusalem”. . . . To satisfy both of these appeals, the Commission called on [Dr. Daw], a Consultant to the Text Committee . . . to compose a text on the theme of peace that could be sung to the popular Parry tune.”
Dr. Daw was influenced in his composition by the book Turning to Christ by Urban T. Holmes III, one of his seminary professors. Daw’s] attention was drawn to Isaiah 11:6-8, and the heart of the hymn [focused on] the peaceable kingdom, paradise regained. The second stanza was drawn from this prophetic passage of Scripture. Daw describes his thinking about the hymn: “This hymn deals with two aspects of peace: pax, an understanding of peace based on the cessation of conflict, and shalom, the condition of living abundantly in harmony and mutual goodwill. . . . Although this hymn affirms that peace is always God’s gift, it also recognizes the importance of human responsibility in preparing an environment in which peace can flourish.”
The tune JERUSALEM plays prominently in the interpretation and success of this text. For British singers, this tune has a long history having been paired with a William Blake poem on social justice, the first line of which was drawn form the author’s Preface to his book Milton. Sir Charles Hubert Hastings Parry (1848-1918), music scholar and professor of composition and music history at the Royal College of Music, wrote a setting for Blake’s text that became so popular that the hymn became an unofficial British national anthem. Dr. Daw succeeds admirably in composing a text with a majesty that matches Parry’s music. The most important words of each stanza—“grace” in stanza one and “peace” in stanza two—coincide powerfully with the apex of the melody. In doing so, he provides English-speaking Christians worldwide with perhaps the finest hymn on peace in the closing decades of the 20th century.
O day of peace that dimly shines through all our hopes and prayers and dreams,
Guide us to justice, truth, and love, delivered from our selfish schemes.
May swords of hate fall from our hands, our hearts from envy find release,
Till by God’s grace our warring world shall see Christ’s promised reign of peace.
Then shall the wolf dwell with the lamb, nor shall the fierce devour the small;
As beasts and cattle graze, a little child shall lead them all.
Then enemies shall learn to love, all creatures find their true accord;
The hope of peace shall be fulfilled, for all the earth shall know the Lord.
William Ringham holds Bachelor of Music and Master of Music degrees in Piano Performance from Indiana University, where he also studied composition. He has performed as a piano soloist in concerts across the U.S. and Mexico. During many years of teaching music and serving various congregations as organist and conductor, Ringham continued to compose and arrange for the groups he was leading. After retiring from teaching, he turned his full attention to his writing, first publishing in 2000. A member of ASCAP, AGEHR, and ACDA, he has received consecutive annual ASCAP awards since 2003. In 2013, Ringham retired from his position of Director of Music at Mission Del Sol Presbyterian Church in Tempe, Arizona.
About the Choral Music:
Prayer of St. Francis – Rene Clausen
(c.1992, Fostco Music Press)
The Prayer of Saint Francis, also known as Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace, is attributed to the thirteenth-century Saint Francis of Assisi. The prayer in its present form cannot be traced back further than 1912, when it was printed in Paris in French, in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell), published by La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The Holy Mass League). The author's name was not given, although it may have been the founder of La Ligue, Fr. Esther Bouquerel.
A professor at the University of Orleans in France, Dr. Christian Renoux, published a study of the prayer and its history in French in 2001. Summarizing the Renoux book on the prayer, an article by Egidio Picucci on the 19–20 January 2009 issue of L'Osservatore Romano says that the earliest record of the prayer is its appearance, as "a beautiful prayer to say during Mass" in the December 1912 number of the small devotional French publication La Clochette, "the bulletin of the League of the Holy Mass". In 1915, Marquis Stanislas de La Rochethulon, president of the Anglo-French association Souvenir Normand, which called itself "a work of peace and justice inspired by the testament of William the Conqueror, who is considered to be the ancestor of all the royal families of Europe", sent this prayer to Pope Benedict XV.
The Pope had an Italian translation published on the front page of L'Osservatore Romano of 20 January 1916. It appeared under the heading, "The prayer of Souvenir Normand for peace", and with the explanation: "Souvenir Normand has sent the Holy Father the text of some prayers for peace. We have pleasure in presenting in particular the prayer addressed to the Sacred Heart, inspired by the testament of William the Conqueror". On 28 January 1916, the French newspaper La Croix reprinted, in French, the Osservatore Romano article, with exactly the same heading and explanation. La Rochethulon wrote to the newspaper to clarify that it was not a prayer of Souvenir Normand, but he chose not to mention La Clochette, the first publication in which it had appeared. Because of its appearance on L'Osservatore Romano and La Croix as a prayer for peace during the First World War, this prayer then became widely known.
The prayer has been known in the United States since 1927 when its first known translation in English appeared in January of that year in the Quaker magazine Friends' Intelligencer (Philadelphia), where it was attributed to St. Francis of Assisi. Cardinal Francis Spellman and Senator Albert W. Hawkes distributed millions of copies of the prayer during and just after World War II.
René Clausen (b. 1953) is an American composer, conductor of The Concordia Choir, and professor of music at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. Clausen's compositional style is varied and eclectic, and put to sacred as well as secular texts. He has created compositions and arrangements that range over many artistic media including choral, orchestral, wind ensemble, film, video, and solo voice. Clausen's most popular harmonies are mostly based on close dissonances such as the major and minor second. These chords based on dissonance are also called "tone clusters". His style is sometimes classified as Neo-Romantic but this term can mean many things. All of his works are unmistakably tonal yet they push the boundaries of chordal language. The traditional functions of choral progression are blurred by his use of tone clusters.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring love,
Where there is injury, help me to pardon.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is doubt, let me bring faith,
Where there is despair, let me bring love, let me bring hope.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace.
Where there is darkness, let me bring light,
Where there is sorrow, where there is sorrow,
Let me bring joy, let me bring joy, let me bring joy, let me bring joy!
O Lord, master divine, grant that I not so much seek to be consoled, as to console,
to be understood, as to understand;
to be loved, as to love, to love, to love, to love.
For it is in giving that we receive, and in pardoning that we are pardoned.
For in dying we are born to eternal life.
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Amen.
About the Hymns:
This is My Song
This is of the most stirring tunes in the United Methodist Hymnal. The melody comes from a symphonic tone poem by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) by the name of “Finlandia”, Op. 26. It was adapted for the 1933 hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in the United States to be sung to the text “Be Still, My Soul”. Not only is the spirit of the music appropriate for “This Is My Song,” but the history of Sibelius’ composition also adds meaning. He wrote “Finlandia” as a patriotic offering in 1899. The composition was performed as the last of seven musical pieces that accompanied a series of tableaus, each reflecting portions of Finnish history. Out of agitated and tumultuous opening music symbolizing the struggles of the Finnish people, the serenity of the hymn-like melody emerges, symbolizing hope and resolution. In February 1899, a manifesto from Tsar Nicholas II declared Russia’s right to rule Finland without the consent of local legislators. Sibelius’ choice of “Finlandia” as a title for the composition served as a subtle form of protest against Russian censorship; however, that censorship was so intense that it couldn’t be performed publically as “Finlandia”, so other titles were devised including “Happy Feelings at the Awakening of Finnish Spring.”
Lloyd Stone (1912-1993), an American public school teacher who lived in Hawaii, authored 10 books of poetry and two children’s books. He wrote the first two stanzas of “This Is My Song” for its inclusion in the collection, Sing a Tune (1934). During the brief time of peace between two world wars, it was a song of hope for all nations—“for lands afar and mine.” The poet acknowledges love for his own country, but balances that with the love that others feel around the world for their nations. The second stanza begins by alluding to the blue skies, the ocean, sunlight, “cloverleaf and pine” of Stone’s own country, but then acknowledges that in other countries, “skies are everywhere as blue as mine.” The stanza concludes: “O hear my song, O God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and for mine.”
Methodist theologian Georgia Harkness (1881-1974) added a third stanza at the request of Marion Norris, then executive secretary of the Wesleyan Service Guild of the Methodist Church. Harkness related: “[Marion Norris] wrote me that they had been using the first two verses but wanted something with a more distinctly religious note as a supplement to them. I cannot tell you exactly how long ago this was, but since I can recall writing the stanza at my desk when I was teaching at Mount Holyoke 1937-39, it was within this period.” The hymn was adopted as the official hymn of the Wesleyan Service Guild and was widely sung throughout the former Methodist Church.
Harkness, one of the first women ordained in the Methodist Church and a leading ecumenical theologian of her day, added two additional stanzas, the second of which appears in our hymnal as the final stanza of the hymn. It is a prayer to the “Lord of all earth’s kingdoms.” Harkness skillfully ties the reference to “earth’s kingdoms” to a petition found in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.” Christ becomes the central figure in Harkness’ stanza, as one who will unite us in service to each other and help us to “learn to live as one.” Her stanza ends with a personal dedication: “Myself I give thee; let thy will be done.” In this stanza, Harkness transforms a hymn of peace with vague religious overtones into a prayer for peace that comes from the author of peace, Jesus Christ.
This is my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for lands afar and mine.
This is my home, the country where my heart is;
Here are my hopes, my dreams, my holy shrine;
But other hearts in other lands are beating
With hopes and dreams as true and high as mine.
My country's skies are bluer than the ocean,
And sunlight beams on clover- leaf and pine.
But other lands have sunlight too and clover,
And skies are everywhere as blue as mine.
Oh, hear my song, O God of all the nations,
A song of peace for their land and for mine.
May truth and freedom come to every nation;
may peace abound where strife has raged so long;
that each may seek to love and build together,
a world united, righting every wrong;
a world united in its love for freedom,
proclaiming peace together in one song.
The Voice of God is Calling
John Haynes Holmes (1879-1964) was born in Philadelphia and educated at Harvard University and Harvard Divinity School. A Unitarian minister serving congregations in Massachusetts and New York City, Holmes was an articulate spokesperson on a variety of issues. Among his notable causes was a debate on prohibition, in which he took a supportive stance against Clarence Darrow.
A principled man, Holmes left the American Unitarian Association in 1918 over the Association’s policies toward World War I. His New York City congregation, Church of the Messiah, left the Unitarian Association with him and became a non-denominational congregation, The Community Church of New York. A pacifist spanning two world wars, Holmes was not without his critics. None other than Theodor Geisel (also known as Dr. Seuss) mocked Holmes in a cartoon in PM, a New York newspaper, on January 13, 1942. The result was a considerable outcry from Holmes’ supporters to which Geisel provided a revealing response on January 21, 1942:
“In response to the letters defending John Haynes Holmes... sure, I believe in love, brotherhood and a cooing white pigeon on every
man’s roof. I even think it's nice to have pacifists and strawberry festivals...in between wars.”
Holmes was a prolific writer in a variety of forms. In addition to composing hymn texts, he also wrote If This Be Treason, a play that ran a short while on Broadway. Selected book titles include: Palestine To-Day and To-Morrow: A Gentile’s Survey of Zionism (1929); A Sensible Man’s View of Religion (1932); My Affirmation of Immortality (1947). Notable accomplishments include helping to found the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) in 1909, and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) in 1920, serving as the chair of the latter. He was known for his work with Rabbi Stephen Wise of New York on social, religious, and political causes. Holmes was among those who publicized the work of Gandhi in the United States, including publishing the book My Gandhi (1953). He became a Gandhi Peace Award Laureate in 1961, the year after Eleanor Roosevelt received the same honor.
Based on Isaiah 6:8 – “Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me.” (KJV) – this social gospel hymn was written while Holmes was returning from England, Scotland, and Wales on board a ship in September 1913. Upon his arrival in the United States, the hymn was sung at the 1913 convention of the Young People’s Religious Union and then first published in New Hymn and Tune Book (1914). Holmes had many of the same concerns as did Methodist Minister Frank Mason North (1850-1935) whose hymn, “Where cross the crowded ways of life,” articulated the suffering of those living and working in the cities in 1903.
William Lloyd (1786-1852) composed MEIRIONYDD, which was first published in manuscript form with the name BERTH in Caniadau Seion (Songs of Zion, 1840). The tune is named after the Welsh county Meirionydd in which Lloyd lived; that county is also the site of the Harlech Castle made famous in story and song. A cattle farmer and dealer, Lloyd was also a self-taught musician. He had a fine voice and conducted various singing societies in his hometown as well as in other cities. Although generally attributed to Lloyd, MEIRIONYDD could be a traditional Welsh melody that he arranged.
The voice of God is calling; It summons in our day;
Isaiah heard in Zion, And we now hear God say.
"Whom shall I send to succor My people in their need?
Whom shall I send to loosen The bonds of shame and greed?
"I hear my people crying In slum and mine and mill;
No field or mart is silent, No city street is still.
I see my people falling In darkness and despair.
Whom shall I send to shatter The fetters which they bear?”
We heed, O Lord, your summons, And answer: "Here are we!
Send us upon your errand, Let us thy servants be.
Our strength is dust and ashes, Our years a passing hour;
But you can use our weakness To magnify thy power.
From ease and plenty save us; From pride of place absolve;
Purge us of low desire; Lift us to high resolve;
Take us, and make us holy; Teach us thy will and way.
Speak, and, behold! we answer; Command, and we obey!”
The Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve
(c.1993, Delores Dufner, adm. OCP Pub)
“Let us bring to life and liturgy the gifts that differ . . . for the building up of our sisters and brothers into the one Body of Christ,” proclaims Delores Dufner in her introduction to her hymn collection, Sing a New Church. She actively motivates us in this collection to “Sing a new church into being, one in faith and love and praise.” Sister Dufner (b. 1939), a member of St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minn., has published over 155 hymns in her lifetime, much to the acclaim of Alan Hommerding who named her the foremost female Roman Catholic hymn text writer in the United States in the October 2000 issue of the journal, The Hymn.
Sr. Dufner holds master’s degrees in liturgical music and liturgical studies and is a very active member of her monastery as well as the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minn. She has received several awards throughout her lifetime for her contributions to liturgy and music following Vatican II (1962-1965), from institutions such as St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., and the University of Notre Dame. Her work has taken her to various conventions, hymn festivals and meetings throughout the United States and the world. Music consultant work has even taken her on a 15-month journey to the Diocese of Ballarat, Victoria in Australia. Several of her texts have appeared in anthems, cantatas and even an opera/oratorio by prolific contemporary composers. One of her most famous texts is “Sing a New Church,” commissioned for the 1991 convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.
Her hymnody is derived from her experiences of the Roman Catholic Church during Vatican II along with her involvement with liturgy and music. Sr. Dufner writes texts that function within Catholic liturgy, as well as texts which speak centrally from the Word of God. It was her realization that the Catholic Church was in need of English texts after the Vatican II reforms which challenged her to follow in the ways of Martin Luther. She began her hymn writing by creating texts for specific public domain tunes, free of copyright restrictions.
Her texts challenge congregations to keep the church progressing into the future and have earned her a respected presence in hymnals of several denominations throughout the world. Sr. Dufner is also known for her award-winning hymn texts centered on the Virgin Mary and her passion to speak out about women’s rights and injustices.
“The Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve,” based on Isaiah 61:1-4 and Luke 4:16-22, highlights our Christian mission here on Earth by challenging readers to live out the gospel. Sr. Dufner’s modern English writing style is simple and dynamic, calling the assembly into vibrant prayer and action. This hymn flourishes with action verbs: bring, comfort, help, serve. Sr. Dufner cleverly reiterates the first stanza through the last stanza, as she sends the congregation forth in Jesus’ name through the working of the Holy Spirit. Her texts are often paired with familiar hymn tunes, for practical purposes and to remind us as citizens of the world of our rich ecumenical heritage shared between all. We sing tunes from the past to connect us with our past, and by pairing a fresh text with a durable and loved tune, we bridge the gaps between the past and present and become active witnesses to our evolving faith and church.
LAND OF REST is an American folk tune with ballad roots from Northern England and Scotland. It is traced back to The Christian’s Harp, published in 1832, and has associations with the Appalachians as a shape note tune. Previously assigned the title NEW PROSPECT in the 1844 edition of The Sacred Harp, it was named LAND OF REST for its pairing with the hymn, “O Land of Rest! For Thee I Sigh.” Annabel Morris Buchanan is responsible for the common harmonization of this tune, as she published it in her 1938 Folk Hymns of America.
The spirit sends us forth to serve; we go in Jesus' name
to bring glad tidings to the poor, God's favor to proclaim.
We go to comfort those who mourn and set the burdened free:
where hope is dim, to share a dream and help the blind to see.
We go to be the hands of Christ, to scatter joy like seed
and all our days, to cherish life, to do the loving deed.
Then let us go to serve in peace, the Gospel to proclaim.
God's Spirit has empowered us; we go in Jesus' name.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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