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:
Foundation - Raymond H. Haan
(c.1998, MorningStar Publishers)
The authorship of “How Firm a Foundation” is one of the great hymnological mysteries. When John Rippon, pastor of Carter Lane Baptist Church in London, published A Selection of Hymns from the Best Authors in 1787, the attribution for this hymn appeared only as “K—.” Hymnologist William Reynolds notes that the 1822 edition designated the author as “Kn,” and the 1835 edition of the collection indicated “Keen.” Finally, an 1844 edition ascribed authorship to “Kirkham.” Robert Keene (or Keen), a close friend of Rippon’s, was the song leader at the Carter Lane Church from 1776-1793. Mr. Reynolds believes that Keene assisted Rippon in preparing the compilation. But no hymn in the early editions appears to have been written by Keene. Six tunes bear the attribution “R. Keene” or “Keene,” and logic would dictate that if Keene had written the text, this would have also been clearly indicated. It is safe to say that compilers of collections in the 18th and 19th century did not take the same care to assign authorship as we have come to expect in modern hymnals.
We know that Rippon’s Selection was very popular, with 11 editions published in England and one in the U.S. (1820) before his death in 1836. “How firm a foundation” was sung frequently in both the North and the South before the Civil War. Mr. Reynolds notes that it was a favorite hymn of Theodore Roosevelt, and that Andrew Jackson requested it be sung at his deathbed, and that Robert E. Lee asked it be sung at his funeral.
The anonymous folk tune FOUNDATION is an American contribution to the hymn that first appears with the text in Joseph Fund’s 1832 Genuine Church Music under the tune name PROTECTION. Hymnology scholar Harry Eskew has concluded that PROTECTION was a new tune and not previously published. The composer remains unknown. The tune appears in other famous American 19th-century collections such as The Sacred Harp(1844) and Southern Harmony (1854) as BELLEVUE with some melodic variations and with changes in harmony, but R.M. McIntosh’s Tabor: or, the Richmond Collection of Sacred Music (1866) provides us the present form found in most Baptist and Methodist hymnals.
Originally written with seven four-line stanzas, five are included in The United Methodist Hymnal with only one small alteration. Much of the hymn’s text is straight from The Bible, such as Isaiah 41:10, Isaiah 43:2, 2 Corinthians 12:9 and Hebrews 13:5.
How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,
Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!
What more can He say than to you He hath said,
You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?
In every condition, in sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.
Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,
For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;
I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand
Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.
When through the deep waters I call thee to go,
The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;
For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,
And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.
When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,
My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
Even down to old age all My people shall prove
My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;
And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,
Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.
The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to its foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.
Raymond H. Haan (b.1938) was born in Falmouth, Michigan in 1938. He is a graduate of Calvin College and the University of Michigan. He studied music education with Joseph L. Sullivan, organist and choirmaster with St. Andrew’s Cathedral in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Mr. Haan is the Director of Music for the Cutlerville East Christian Reformed Church in Grand Rapids, and has had this position since 1960. He is the composer of hundreds of compositions for organ, voice, choir, handbells, piano, and other instruments.
About the Piano Music:
O Day of Peace - Marianne Kim
(c.2015, Augsburg Fortress)
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.
A Chicago-based composer, pianist, organist, and harpsichordist, Marianne Kim (b. 1972) has been noted for her vibrant performances and compositions in a wide diversity of musical styles, including classical, jazz, Broadway musicals, R&B, and gospel, alongside traditional and contemporary church music. Born and raised in Korea, Marianne studied piano and composition at Pusan High School of Arts and earned a BM in composition at Pusan National University. After working professionally for more than a decade in the United States, she returned to school and earned dual Masters of Music in jazz studies and organ performance with scholarships and prizes from Northern Illinois University.
About the Choral Music:
I Choose Love - Mark Miller
(c.2019, Choristers Guild)
Lindy Thompson wrote the words to the song “I Choose Love” in response to the murder of nine people who were at their church bible study. The people of Emmanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church of Charleston, S.C., chose love when they offered forgiveness in the face of hatred and violence. We either choose love or we don’t. We either love people not regardless of who they are but precisely because of who they are no differently than any of us seeks to be loved, or we don't. The choice to love is not dependent on those who agree with me. The power of love, God’s love, is that agreement has nothing to do with it because if it did, it wouldn’t be love at all. Love is to be given. Love is to be received, freely and without reservation or condition.
Mark Miller believes that everyone is a Child of God and that music is intrumental in healing the world. He also adheres to Cornel West’s belief that “Justice is what love looks like in public.” Mark believes that music, social justice, and the beloved community are inextricably tied.
Miller is a Lecturer in Sacred Music at Yale’s Institute of Sacred Music and Divinity School. He is also Associate Professor of Church Music, Director of Chapel, and Composer In Residence at Drew University in Madison NJ, and is the Minister of Music of Christ Church (UCC & Am Baptist) in Summit, New Jersey. In 2017 he was appointed to serve on the Hymnal Revision Committee of the United Methodist Church. Miller is a graduate of Julliard and Yale University and was Assistant Organist and Music Associate at The Riverside Church and Director of Contemporary Worship at Marble Collegiate Church, both in the city of New York. Mark Miller “believes passionately that music can change the world.His dream is that the music he composes, performs, teaches and leads will inspire and empower people to create the beloved community.”
In the midst of pain, I choose love. In the midst of pain, I choose love.
In the midst of pain, sorrow falling down like rain,
I await the sun again, I choose love. I choose love.
In the midst of war, I choose peace. In the midst of war, I choose peace.
In the midst of war, hate and anger keeping score,
I will seek the good once more, I choose peace. I choose peace.
When my world falls down, I will rise. When my world falls down, I will rise.
When my world falls down, explanations can’t be found,
I will climb to holy ground, I will rise. I will rise.
In the midst of pain, I choose love. In the midst of pain, I choose love.
In the midst of pain, sorrow falling down like rain,
I await the sun again, I choose love. I choose love.
About the Hymns:
Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee
"The Hymn of Joy" (often called "Joyful, Joyful We Adore Thee" after the first line) is a poem written by Henry van Dyke in 1907 with the intention of musically setting it to the famous "Ode to Joy" melody of the final movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's final symphony, Symphony No. 9. Van Dyke wrote this poem in 1907 while staying at the home of Williams College president Harry Augustus Garfield. He was serving as a guest preacher at Williams at the time. He told his host that the local Berkshire Mountains had been his inspiration. The lyrics were first published in 1911 in Van Dyke's Book of Poems.
Van Dyke wrote of this hymn: “These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings and desires in this present time—hymns of today that may be sung together by people who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that any truth of science will destroy religion, or any revolution on earth overthrow the kingdom of heaven. Therefore this is a hymn of trust and joy and hope.” This hymn is generally considered by hymnologists to be one of the most joyous expressions of hymn lyrics in the English language.
Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933) chaired the committee that wrote the first Presbyterian printed liturgy, The Book of Common Worship of 1906. In 1908–09 Dr. van Dyke was an American lecturer at the University of Paris. By appointment of President Wilson, a friend and former classmate of van Dyke, he became Minister to the Netherlands and Luxembourg in 1913. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters and received many other honors. Among his popular writings are the two Christmas stories, The Other Wise Man (1896) and The First Christmas Tree (1897). Various religious themes of his work are also expressed in his poetry, hymns and the essays collected in Little Rivers (1895) and Fisherman’s Luck (1899).
Joyful, joyful, we adore Thee, God of glory, Lord of love;
Hearts unfold like flow’rs before Thee, Op’ning to the sun above.
Melt the clouds of sin and sadness; Drive the dark of doubt away;
Giver of immortal gladness, Fill us with the light of day!
All Thy works with joy surround Thee, Earth and heav’n reflect Thy rays,
Stars and angels sing around Thee, Center of unbroken praise.
Field and forest, vale and mountain, Flow’ry meadow, flashing sea,
Singing bird and flowing fountain Call us to rejoice in Thee.
Thou art giving and forgiving, Ever blessing, ever blest,
Wellspring of the joy of living, Ocean depth of happy rest!
Thou our Father, Christ our Brother, All who live in love are Thine;
Teach us how to love each other, Lift us to the joy divine.
Mortals, join the happy chorus, Which the morning stars began;
Father love is reigning o’er us, Brother love binds man to man.
Ever singing, march we onward, Victors in the midst of strife,
Joyful music leads us Sunward In the triumph song of life.
My Soul Gives Glory to My God
(c.1987 Medical Mission Sisters; c.1989, United Methodist Publishing House)
Dr. Miriam Therese Winter (b. 1938) has provided us with a metrical paraphrase of Mary’s song, the Magnificat, one of the great canticles of Luke (1:46b-55).
Born Gloria Winter in Passaic, N.J., she became a Medical Mission Sister at age 17. She is now professor of liturgy, worship, spirituality and feminist studies at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. Dr. Winter also directs the Women’s Leadership Institute at Hartford, composes liturgical music and writes on biblical women and women’s liturgy. Dr. Winter had planned on becoming a physician, but her love for music was not to be denied.
“M.T.,” as she is known by many, is perhaps most recognized for her recording Joy Is Like the Rain (1966), a series of biblical narratives in an accessible folk style, and “Mass of a Pilgrim People,” recorded live in 1967 at Carnegie Hall. She recorded with 10 other Medical Mission Sisters their first album, Joy Is Like the Rain, in a seven-hour recording session during the mid-1960s in New York City. The album went gold. “Singing is part of healing, it’s medicine,” she said. “It’s tonic to the spirit!”
She received a bachelor’s degree in music from Catholic University, a master’s degree in religious education from McMaster Divinity College and a Ph.D. in liturgical studies from Princeton Theological Seminary. Dr. Winter has traveled the world, ministering to homeless and helpless people in places such as the Thai-Cambodian border and to starving children in Ethiopia. At home, she has ministered to the women at the Niantic State Correctional Institution since 1988.
This hymn was first included in Dr. Winter’s God With Us: Resources for Prayer and Praise (1979). Following a revision to make the hymn language-inclusive, the song appeared in WomanPrayer, WomanSong (1987). “Often through the centuries the Magnificat has been considered a dangerous hymn because it sings of overturning the status quo, promising food for the hungry, power for the powerless and a reversal of economic fortunes,” Dr. Winter notes. “It is a song of hope for times of disparity and for any situation in which we feel personally or systemically overwhelmed. It is just the song for a time such as this.”
The hymn was composed in 1978 to the tune of MORNING SONG, an early 19th–century American folk hymn. The author says the text, with an earlier version of stanza five, “was sung at student-led vespers service at a time when the male pronouns in the scriptural text were becoming unacceptable to a growing number of women.” In The United Methodist Hymnal and several other denominational hymnals, stanza two begins, “My God has done great things for me: yes, holy is this name.” The song was recorded on the album of WomanSong as “holy is her name.” Dr. Winter comments, “I suspect God smiles on this. I know I do.”
She has given workshops and lectures on justice and gender, peace and reconciliation, global inequality and personal piety in places such as Botswana, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya and India. She has performed throughout the U.S. and Canada as well as Australia and New Zealand.
Dr. Winter has honorary doctorates from Albertus Magnus and St. Joseph’s Colleges, and Mount Saint Vincent University in Halifax (Nova Scotia). She has been selected for the Connecticut Woman’s Hall of Fame. One of her most recent books is Out of the Depths: The Story of Ludmila Javorova, Ordained Roman Catholic Priest (2001), a book about a woman ordained a priest in the underground church of Czechoslovakia.
My soul gives glory to my God, My heart pours out its praise.
God lifted up my lowliness In many marvelous ways.
My God has done great things for me: Yes, holy is this Name.
All people will declare me blessed, And blessings they shall claim.
From age to age to all who fear, Such mercy love imparts,
Dispensing justice far and near, Dismissing selfish hearts.
Love casts the mighty from their thrones, Promotes the insecure,
Leaves hungry spirits satisfied; The rich seem suddenly poor.
Praise God, whose loving covenant Supports those in distress,
Remembering past promises With present faithfulness.
May God Bless and Keep You - Jim Strathdee
(c.1994, Desert Flower Music)
Internationally known artists, Jim and Jean Strathdee sing with thousands of people each year as they offer their music in concerts, worship, conferences, reteats, and workshops. Most often they travel throughout the United States and Canada, but over the 40 year span of their ministry they have shared their music in India, New Zealand, Cuba, and Central America. Their music spans a diversity of sound and style and includes use of guitar, piano, mandolin, harmonica, African drums, and Native American flute. They see music as an agent of transformation where ecumenical and inter-faith communities come together to make a stand for positive change. Jim and Jean have served on the staff of United Methodist churches in southern and northern California and Hawaii. They have written hundreds of hymns, songs, and anthems.
May God bless and keep you,
May God's loving face now shine on you and be gracious, gracious, Amen.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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