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:
Jubal's Trumpet - Franklin Ashdown
(c.1990, H.W.Gray, c/o CPP/Belwin)
Jubal is a biblical figure in Genesis 4:21. Mentioned only once, he is sometimes regarded by Christians, particularly by medieval commentators, as the 'inventor of instrumental music'. A descendant of Cain, his father is Lamech and his brother is Jabal. Genesis credits him as the forefather of certain instruments: the kinnor (Hebrew: כנור) and ʿuḡāḇ (עוגב, a reed instrument, perhaps a flute). The translations of these vary depending on the edition:
"he was the ancestor of all those who play the lyre and pipe" (NRSV)
"he was the father of all such as handle the harp and organ" (KJV)
"he was the father of all who play stringed instruments and pipes" (NIV)
Franklin Ashdown is a composer and a medical doctor, and has pursued dual careers for the past three decades. Born in 1942, he was recruited to play the organ for a local congregation at age 13. He is a widely published composer of organ and choral music. A resident of Alamogordo, NM, Dr. Ashdown enjoys a full life as an internist, composer, and organist-choir director for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
About the Vocal Solo Music:
I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me - Tom Fettke and Thomas Grassi
(c.2012, Lorenz Publishing)
The name of the first person who first sang the words “I’m gonna live so God can use me, anywhere, Lord, anytime” is lost to history. This African-American spiritual is one of many that have been passed down through generations. It has been included in printed collections of hymns and spirituals for over 100 years. It was one of the songs that inspired and motivated the Civil Rights movement. Fettke and Grassi have expanded this basic text.
This setting uses the tune SHENANDOAH, a traditional American folk song of uncertain origin, dating to the early 19th century. The song appears to have originated with American and Canadian voyageurs or fur traders traveling down the Missouri River in canoes, and has developed several different sets of lyrics. Some lyrics refer to the Oneida chief Shenandoah and a canoe-going trader who wants to marry his daughter. By the mid 1800s versions of the song had become a sea shanty heard or sung by sailors in various parts of the world.
I’m gonna live so God can use me as I walk this pilgrim journey.
I’m gonna live so God can use me anytime and anywhere
as I seek to share His glory.
I’m gonna pray that God will use me as a light to pierce the darkness.
I’m gonna pray that God will use me anytime and anywhere
as a channel of His mercy.
Lord, show the way and go before me, make me worthy of Your calling.
O take me, Lord, refine and mold me anytime and anywhere.
Hear my fervent prayer, “Lord, send me,” Anytime and anywhere
hear my fervent prayer, “Lord send me.”
O teach me, Lord; o send me, Lord; use me, Lord.
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 Choral Music:
My Shepherd Will Supply My Need - Lloyd Larson
(c.2009, Lorenz Publishing)
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 composed for religious worship, "Behold the glories of the Lamb," was written at the age of twenty. 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. There is a monument to his memory in the South Choir of Westminster Abbey. The inscription reads, "Happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to imitate him in all but his non-conformity, to copy his benevolence to men, and his reverence to God."
Psalm 23 has inspired numerous paraphrases and hymn texts, including this text by Isaac Watts. Watts included it in his large 1719 collection of psalm paraphrases, The Psalms of David Imitated. Psalm 23 remains the most well-loved and often recited psalm, and Isaac Watts' powerful paraphrase, coupled with the peaceful yet strong American folk tune, make this hymn a moving rendition of that psalm. Watts’ interpretation of the last line of psalm, “and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” gives a new understanding to the original psalm: “No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.” Watts gives us a concrete image of dwelling – a child, knowing he or she is safe and secure, and in a place of love and comfort – to help us understand what it is we hope for. The same peace we find in the pasture and by the stream, we find in the house of the LORD, to which our Shepherd is leading us day by day.
Watts’ text is set to the plaintive, pentatonic folk tune RESIGNATION. The anonymous tune was first printed in Freeman Lewis’ The Beauties of Harmony, 5th ed. (1828), where it was called HOPEWELL, set to “Come, humble sinner in whose breast” by Edmund Jones (1722–1765). This tune was renamed RESIGNATION in Joseph Funk’s Genuine Church Music (1832). It was first paired with Watts’ text in J.W. Steffy’s The Valley Harmonist (Winchester VA: Robinson & Hollis, 1836). This text-tune pairing was more widely disseminated via the Revised Edition of William Walker’s Southern Harmony (Philadelphia: E.W. Miller, 1854). As with the 1828 printing, Walker used shape notes, the four-shape system originally espoused by William Little and William Smith in their Easy Instructor (1801).
Lloyd Larson (b. 1954) is an active composer and arranger for several major publishing companies of church and school music. His compositions and arrangements include well over 1,000 published works—including choral anthems, numerous extended Christmas, Easter and non-seasonal works, keyboard collections, vocal solo and duet collections, instrumental works for solo and ensembles, orchestrations, and handbell settings. It is Lloyd's work in his local church that continues to be the catalyst for much of his writing. He currently directs the adult choir in his home church in addition to being involved in worship planning and leadership.
My Shepherd will supply my need, the God of love supreme;
in pastures fresh you let me feed, beside the living stream.
You bring my wand'ring spirit back. when I forsake your ways;
and lead me, for your mercy's sake, in paths of truth and grace.
When I walk through the shades of death, your presence is my stay;
one word of your supporting breath drives all my fears away.
Your hand in sight of all my foes, does still my table spread;
my cup with Blessings overflows, your oil anoints my head.
The sure provisions gracious God attend me all my days;
oh, may your house be my abode, and all my work be praise!
There would I find a settled rest, while others go and come;
no more a stranger, nor a guest, but like a child at home;
but like a child at home.
About the Hymns:
God We See What You Have Given - Carolyn Gillette
(c.2010, Carolyn Winfrey Gillette)
A graduate of Lebanon Valley College and Princeton Theological Seminary, Carolyn Winfrey Gillette has been a pastor in rural, small town, suburban, and city churches; she has also served as a hospice chaplain, a hospital chaplain, and a school bus aide helping children with special needs. Carolyn is a gifted hymn writer who has written over 400 hymns.
In addition to I Sing to My Savior: New Hymns from the Stories in Luke's Gospel, she has written Gifts of Love: New Hymns for Today's Worship (Geneva Press) and Songs of Grace: New Hymns for God and Neighbor (Upper Room Books). Her hymns have been published in over 20 books. Two of her hymns have been published by the Choristers Guild as anthems.
Carolyn was commissioned to write the lead article for the special issue on "Singing Our Lives" for Baylor University's Christian Reflection journal. Her hymns have also been in Call to Worship journal, The Chorister (cover story), Reformed Worship, The Presbyterian Outlook and on thousands of web sites.
The World Council of Churches, National Council of Churches, Church World Service and Churches Uniting in Christ have asked her to write hymns. Habitat for Humanity International used a hymn by Carolyn for their 30th anniversary celebration. Family Promise (Interfaith Hospitality Network) did a music video of her hymn for their ministry with homeless families. The Humane Society of the United States did a music video contest of her hymn for their Blessing of the Animals service. The Presbyterian Church (USA) 216th General Assembly presented her with the "Ecumenical and Interreligious Service Recognition." Sojourners did a short video about her hymn writing. A Canadian scholar wrote her biography for the Cambridge Dictionary for Hymnology.
Feature stories about Carolyn's hymns addressing concerns facing the Church, nation and world, were done by The New Yorker, The Christian Century, America, National Public Radio, national PBS-TV, and newspapers (Philadelphia Inquirer, Washington Post, New Jersey Courier Post, Delaware News Journal, and others).
“God, We See What You Have Given” is based on Psalms 148, 22, 100, 150; Luke 1:46-55, and is set to NETTLETON. The tune NETTLETON first appeared as a two-part tune in John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second(1813), where it was named HALLELUJAH. In the Index it is identified as a new tune, and no composer's name is given. The tune has been attributed by some to Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844), a well-known evangelist of the early nineteenth century, who compiled Village Hymns (1825). However, this compilation contained no music, and there is no evidence that Nettleton wrote any tunes during his life. It is not known where the tune name first appeared or who was responsible for it.
God, we see what you have given; Signs of grace are everywhere!
All around are gifts from heaven —Gifts enough for all to share.
We are stewards of your bounty, Called to give as we've received;
And your blessings have been plenty From the day we first believed.
We are stewards of the richness That you send from heav'n above.
For in Christ, you gave up greatness, Humbly showing us your love.
In a manger — gift from heaven! On a cross — with love and pain!
You proclaimed we are forgiven; Now you send us in your name.
We are stewards of your welcome That you showed through Christ the Son.
In his living and his teaching, Jesus welcomed everyone.
To the outcast and the stranger, He showed hospitality!
By your Spirit, may we also Give the welcome we've received.
We are stewards, sent out sharing, Offering you our very best.
Through our serving and our caring May we give as we've been blessed.
God of love, may faithful living Be much more than Sunday talk.
Send us loving, serving, giving; Help us daily walk your walk!
For the Beauty of the Earth
Folliott Piermont (1835-1917) was born in Bath, England and was a lay member of the Anglican Church. Following his graduation from Queen's College, Cambridge, he taught the classics for a time at Somerset College, later becoming a freelance writer. During his 82 years of life, Pierpoint published seven volumes of poems and hymn texts, many of them showing his love for nature. He is most remembered for this beautiful hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth.
Piermont was about 29 years old when he wrote the text for this joyful hymn. It was a lovely day in late spring. While enjoying the surrounding area of his native city of Bath, in England, he was inspired by the beautiful countryside with its winding cool and peaceful river, Avon, in the distance. The tuneful songbirds, the wind whispering over a vibrantly colored hillside, all seemed to be praising the Creator with their unrestrained gladness and peace. Overwhelmed with emotion, he expressed his feelings of gratitude in the penning of this sacred song. The text was inspired by Hebrews 13:15: "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." It first appeared in 1864 in a book of Eucharistic hymns and poems entitled Lyra Eucharistica, Hymns and Verses on The Holy Communion, Ancient and Modern, with other Poems with the title "The Sacrifice of Praise".
An early form of the tune DIX was composed by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872). Trained as a teacher, Kocher moved from Germany to St. Petersburg, Russia, to work as a tutor at the age of seventeen. But his love for the music of Haydn and Mozart impelled him to a career in music. He moved back to Germany in 1811, settled in Stuttgart, and remained there for most of his life. The prestigious Cotta music firm published some of his early compositions and sent him to study music in Italy, where he came under the influence of Palestrina's music. In 1821 Kocher founded the School for Sacred Song in Stuttgart, which popularized four-part singing in the churches of that region. He was organist and choir director at the Striftsckirche in Stuttgart from 1827 to 1865. Kocher wrote a treatise on church music, Die Tonkunst in der Kirche (1823), collected a large number of chorales in Zions Harfe (1855), and composed an oratorio, two operas, and some sonatas. William H. Monk created the current form of DIX by revising and shortening Conrad Kocher's chorale melody for “Treuer Heiland, wir sind hir,” found in Kocher's Stimmen aus den Reiche Gottes (1838). Monk's tune was published in the 1861 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, of which Monk was music editor.
For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth over and around us lies.
For the wonder of each hour of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars of light,
For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind’s delight,
for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight;
For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild,
For thy church, that evermore lifteth holy hands above,
offering up on every shore her pure sacrifice of love;
For Thyself, best gift divine, to the world so freely given,
for that great, great love of Thine, peace on earth, and joy in heaven.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
Goodness of God - Jenn Johnson, Ed Cash, Jason Ingram, Ben Fielding, and Brian Johnson
(c.2018, Alletrop Music/Shout! Music Publishing Australia/Fellow Ships Music/So Essential Tunes/Bethel Music Publishing)
Jennifer "Jenn" Johnson (b.1982) is an American Christian worship singer, songwriter and worship pastor. She is a co-founding member of Bethel Music, and is one-half of the husband-and-wife worship duo Brian and Jenn Johnson. She is also a senior worship pastor at Bethel Church in Redding, California, and a Senior Overseer of WorshipU, an online school of worship sponsored by Bethel.
The story behind Bethel Music's "Goodness of God" centers on Jenn Johnson's personal experience of adopting her fourth child, Ryder Moses.
Johnson related this story: “We had just gotten home from our adoption of our son, Ryder. He was a gift that we never saw coming. We have three kids already. We thought we were done having children. Brian and I were always open to adoption. But, out of the blue, we just felt like the Lord say to us, 'I have this for you if you want this--like a gift. I have a present for you." We knew adoption was the Lord's plan for us; to have a baby again when you've been out of baby season for eight years was such a blessing. Darlene Zschech, who had been with us, told us the translation of the verse 'Here I am, send me' from Isaiah 6:8 says, 'my answer is yes before you even ask.' I was so struck with that phrase. When we had the chance to adopt, I felt myself saying yes before I was even asked. Within the next year, we were matched up. And, we brought our new son home to our family. During the adoption process, I found myself driving on a long country road. I was just singing to the Lord when I recorded a song on my phone about the "faithfulness" and "kindness of God." I wrote and sang most of "Goodness of God" as an overflow of my heart at that moment. That led to finishing and recording this song with Ed Cash, Jason Ingram, and Ben Fielding.”
This unplanned recording session became the foundation for the song, which expresses gratitude for God's unwavering presence and goodness through life's challenges and joys.
I love You, Lord. For Your mercy never failed me.
All my days I've been held in Your hands.
From the moment that I wake up Until I lay my head,
Oh, I will sing Of the goodness of God.
And all my life You have been faithful;
And all my life You have been so, so good.
With every breath That I am able,
Oh, I will sing Of the goodness of God.
I love Your voice, You have led me through the fire.
And in darkest night You are close like no other.
I've known You as a Father; I’ve known You as a Friend.
And I have lived In the goodness of God, yeah.
'Cause Your goodness Is running after, It's running after me;
Your goodness is running after, It’s running after me.
With my life laid down, I’m surrendered now.
I give You everything, ’Cause Your goodness
Is running after, It’s running after me, oh.
Deep Peace – Benjamin Harlan
(c.1998, Hal Leonard Corp.)
Dr. Benjamin Harlan has set this traditional Gaelic text. Harlan is a Professor of Church Music at New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary. He is an internationally known arranger and composer of choral, keyboard and handbell works. He has received awards from ASCAP annually since 1990. Dr. Harlan is a member of ASCAP, American Choral Directors Association and the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference.
Deep peace of the running wave to you, Deep peace of the flowing air to you.
Deep peace, deep peace, deep peace of the Father’s love to you.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
No comments:
Post a Comment