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:
Prelude and Fugato on "Crusader's Hymn" - Gordon Young
(c.1960, Harold Flammer)
“Beautiful Savior” is thought to have originated as early as 1607, possibly written by German Jesuits, and called “Schönster Herr Jesu“. It first appeared in print in 1677, in the Münster Gesangbuch, with author unknown. It was translated and the fourth stanza was added by Lutheran pastor and theologian, Joseph A. Seiss in 1873. Originally this song was most likely sung to a Gregorian Chant by the Jesuit monks. The music that was most popular with 17th Century German peasants was a tune from an ancient Silesian folk song. The tune and the German text were printed together for the first time in 1842 by August Heinrich Hoffmann von Fallersleben and Ernst Richter under the name “Schönster Herr Jesu” (Most beautiful Lord Jesus). In 1850 the Danish hymnwriter B. S. Ingemann wrote “Dejlig Er Jorden”, which he set to the same melody. An English translation by Jens C. Aaberg was published as “Fair Is Creation”. Apart from their musical setting, the Danish and German lyrics are unrelated. According to some accounts, “Fairest Lord Jesus” is called "Crusader's Hymn" because it was sung by German Crusaders as they made their way to the Holy Land.
ST. ELIZABETH appears to be an eighteenth-century tune from the Glaz area of Silesia. It has always been associated with “Fairest Lord Jesus”. No factual data exists for the legend that this text and tune date back to the twelfth-century crusades, although those apocryphal stories explain one of the names by which this tune is known, namely, CRUSADER'S HYMN. After Franz Liszt used the tune for a crusaders' march in his oratorio The Legend of St. Elizabeth (1862), the tune also became known as ST. ELIZABETH.
Fairest Lord Jesus, Ruler of all nature,
O Thou of God and man the Son,
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy and crown.
Fair are the meadows, fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing.
Fair is the sunshine, fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer
Than all the angels heav’n can boast.
All fairest beauty, heavenly and earthly,
Wondrously, Jesus, is found in Thee;
None can be nearer, fairer or dearer,
Than Thou, my Savior, art to me.
Beautiful Savior! Lord of all the nations!
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise, adoration,
Now and forevermore be Thine.
Gordon Young (1919-1998) was born in McPherson, Kansas, and during his lifetime was recognized as one of this country's great church organists. He was a prolific and talented composer for both organ and choir, with nearly 1000 published works. During the course of his career, he was a radio organist in Tulsa, a music critic and columnist for daily newspapers in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania, and choirmaster in churches in Philadelphia and Kansas City. Mr. Young taught organ in conjunction with Wayne State University and for 15 years was organist and choir director at the First Presbyterian Church in Detroit.
About the Piano Music:
How Great Thou Art - Jim Martinez
(c.2019, Stuart Hine Trust, admin Capitol CMG Publishing)
"How Great Thou Art" is a based on a Swedish poem written by Carl Gustav Boberg (1859–1940) in Sweden in 1885. “O Store Gud” (O Great God) is a paraphrase of Psalm 8 and has nine verses. It was sung in the underground church in Sweden in the late 1800s when the Baptists and Mission Friends were persecuted. Boberg himself gave the following information about his inspiration for this hymn:
It was that time of year when everything seemed to be in its richest colouring;; the birds were singing in trees and everywhere. It was very warm; a thunderstorm appeared on the horizon and soon thunder and lightning. We had to hurry to shelter. But the storm was soon over and the clear sky appeared. When I came home I opened my window toward the sea. There evidently had been a funeral and the bells were playing the tune of “When eternity’s clock calling my saved soul to its Sabbath rest”. That evening, I wrote the song, “O Store Gud”.
Boberg first published "O Store Gud" in the “Mönsterås Tidningen” (Mönsterås News) on 13 March 1886.The poem became matched to an old Swedish folk tune and sung in public for the first known occasion in a church in the Swedish province of Värmland in 1888. It was soon published in additional hymn collections and was translated into German and Russian.
British Methodist missionary Stuart Wesley Keene Hine (1899-1989) heard the Russian translation of the German version of the song while on an evangelistic mission to the Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine, near the Polish border, in 1931. Upon hearing it, Hine was inspired to create his English paraphrase known as “How Great Thou Art". According to Michael Ireland, "Hine and his wife, Edith, learned the Russian translation, and started using it in their evangelistic services. Hine also started re-writing some of the verses --- and writing new verses (all in Russian) --- as events inspired him." Hine finalized his English translation in 1949
When the Billy Graham team went to London in 1954 for the Harringay Crusade, they were given a pamphlet containing Hine's work. They worked closely with Hine to prepare the song for use in their campaigns. They sang it in the 1955 Toronto campaign, but it didn't really catch on until they took it to the Madison Square Garden in 1957. According to Cliff Barrows (Dr. Graham's longtime associate), they sang it one hundred times during that campaign because the people wouldn't let them stop.
George Beverly Shea's recording of the beloved hymn ranks number 204 on the top recordings of the 20th century according to the Recording Industry Association of America. It was voted the United Kingdom's favourite hymn by BBC's Songs of Praise. "How Great Thou Art" was ranked second (after "Amazing Grace") on a list of the favorite hymns of all time in a survey by Today's Christian magazine in 2001. Evangelist Billy Graham indicated: “The reason I like 'How Great Thou Art' is because it glorifies God. It turns Christian’s eyes toward God, rather than upon themselves. I use it as often as possible because it is such a God-honoring song.”
O Lord my God, when I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds Thy hands have made,
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.
When through the woods and forest glades I wander
And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees,
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur,
And see the brook, and feel the gentle breeze,
And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,
Sent Him to die - I scarce can take it in.
That on the Cross, my burden gladly bearing,
He bled and died to take away my sin.
When Christ shall come with shout of acclamation
And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart.
Then I shall bow, in humble adoration,
And there proclaim: "My God, how great Thou art!"
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, my Savior God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, how great Thou art!
Jim Martinez (b. 1966) is a Steinway Piano Artist and has performed/recorded with Jazz notables Lionel Hampton, Christian McBride, Roy Hargrove, Cheryl Bentyne (of the Manhattan Transfer), and many others. His performances have taken him from New York to Sydney, Australia. Martinez worked as pianist/musical director for Joan Rivers and Bob Newhart at Harrah’s in Lake Tahoe. He is the founder, Executive and Artistic Director of the Roseville Jazz Festival, which takes place annually near Sacramento, CA.
About the Choral Music:
How Can I Keep From Singing - Taylor Davis
(c.2010, Birnamwood Publications, div of MorningStar)
How Can I Keep From Singing?" (also known by its incipit "My Life Flows On in Endless Song") is a Christian hymn with music written by American Baptist minister Robert Wadsworth Lowry. The song is frequently, though erroneously, cited as a traditional Quaker or Shaker hymn. The original composition has now entered into the public domain, and appears in several hymnals and song collections, both in its original form and with a revised text. Though it is not, in fact, a Quaker hymn, twentieth-century Quakers adopted it as their own and use it widely today.
The first known publication of the words was on August 7, 1868, in The New York Observer, Titled "Always Rejoicing", and, attributed to "Pauline T." These words were published by Robert Lowry in the 1869 song book, Bright Jewels for the Sunday School. Here Lowry claims credit for the music, but gives no indication as to who wrote the words. These words were also published in a British periodical in 1869, The Christian Pioneer, but no author is indicated. Lewis Hartsough, citing Bright Jewels as source of the lyrics and crediting Lowry for the tune, included "How Can I Keep from Singing?" in the 1872 edition of the Revivalist. Ira D. Sankey published his own setting of the words in Gospel Hymns, No. 3 (1878), writing that the words were anonymous. The song has often been attributed to "early" Quakers, but Quakers did not permit congregational singing in worship until after the American Civil War. It was published in the Quaker songbook Songs of the Spirit, and the original words were included in the much more ambitious Quaker hymnal project, Worship in Song: A Friends Hymnal] in 1996.
During the 20th century, this hymn was not widely used in congregational worship. Diehl's index to a large number of hymnals from 1900 to 1966 indicates that only one hymnal included it: the 1941 edition of The Church Hymnal of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, titled "My Life Flows On". It was also published in the earlier 1908 Seventh-day Adventist hymnal, Christ In Song, under the title "How Can I Keep From Singing?" The United Methodist Church published it in its 2000 hymnal supplement, The Faith We Sing, giving credit for the lyrics as well as the tune to Robert Lowry. The Faith We Sing version changes some of the lyrics and punctuation from the 1868 version.
Taylor Davis (b. 1980) is currently the Director of Music and Worship at Holy Covenant United Methodist Church in Houston, TX. A 2003 graduate of Centenary College of Louisiana, Taylor earned a Bachelor of Sacred Music degree. In 2004 he became a Fellow of Melodious Accord. In demand across the country, with commissions coming from a wide variety of groups, his music has been performed throughout the US, Europe, South America and South Africa by youth and adults.
My life goes on in endless song Above earth´s lamentations,
I hear the real, though far-off hymn That hails a new creation.
Through all the tumult and the strife I hear its music ringing,
It sounds an echo in my soul; How can I keep from singing?
While though the tempest loudly roars, I hear the truth, it liveth.
And though the darkness 'round me close, Songs in the night it giveth.
No storm can shake my inmost calm, While to that rock I´m clinging.
Since love is lord of heaven and earth How can I keep from singing?
When tyrants tremble sick with fear And hear their death knell ringing,
When friends rejoice both far and near How can I keep from singing?
In prison cells and dungeon vile Our thoughts to them are winging,
When friends by shame are undefiled How can I keep, How can I keep,
How can I keep from singing?
About the Hymns:
The Servant Song
(c.1977, Scripture in Song, div of Integrity Music)
Richard Gillard (b. 1953) was born in England and brought at age 3 to New Zealand, where he has lived since on the northern island. 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. Australian hymnologist Wesley Milgate (1916-1999) spoke of Mr. Gillard’s musical background: “[He] has had little systematic musical training, but from the age of seven began the ukulele and other such instruments, often to accompany his own singing, learning by experiment and later with the help of his father and of Pentecostal church musicians. He usually invokes the aid of ‘the experts’ to set out his songs on paper.”
Attending a teacher’s training college, he worked until 1975 as a teacher in primary schools and then in a warehouse. A member with his wife for many years at St. Paul’s Anglican Church in central Auckland, they were inspired by an early folk-praise group called the Fisherfolk originally from Houston, Texas. Gillard solidified his compositional style by participating in the St. Paul’s Singers, a group of mostly young students. Taken with this style, the Gillards introduced many folksongs to New Zealand congregations. Mr. Gillard began writing his own songs in the late 1970s.
“The Servant Song” began in 1977 when Richard Gillard jotted down verse 3 on a piece of paper which, on returning from travels in Britain, Europe and Israel, he found in his guitar-case. The song was first recorded in New Zealand and has been sung around the world, appearing in many hymnals. 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 may have the grace to let you be my servant , too.
We are pilgrims on a journey; We’re together on this 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 nighttime 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 will find such harmony,
Born of all we’ve known together Of Christ’s love and agony.
Brother, sister, let me serve you, let me be as Christ to you;
pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant , too.
Forth in Thy Name, O Lord
For the writer of this hymn, Charles Wesley (1707-1788), the Christian life was all-inclusive. Skimming through the hymns that he wrote, which range from praising God’s grace with surprise to singing of the lowly circumstances of Jesus’ birth, we find conclusive evidence of his total commitment to God. His brother John Wesley shared this commitment with him. In A Plain Account of Christian Perfection (1777) under the subtitle of “No Half Christians,” John states “. . . I determined, through His grace, to be all devoted to God, to give Him all my soul, my body, and my substance.”
Through this hymn, Charles expressed his dedication to Christian discipleship and service. From stanza one through four, he repeatedly conveys a central theme: devotion to God only in all our work. The six stanzas of the hymn were first published in Hymns and Sacred Poems, Volume I (1749), under the category of “Hymns for Believers” with the heading “Before Work.” Both stanza three and five of the original version, which warn us about the risks of personal ambition and call us to be alert, were omitted in John Wesley’s A Collection of Hymns for the Use of the People Called Methodists (1780), and also the United Methodist Hymnal (1989).
According to Frank Baker, author of Charles Wesley’s Verse (Epworth Press, 1988), repeating the central theme with different language was a key element in his style of writing. In this hymn, Charles employed the poetic device of tautology, or repeating the same concept in several ways. The exclamation, “Forth in thy name, O Lord I go,” is followed by phrases of total commitment: “Thee, only thee, resolved to know, in all I think, or speak, or do,” “In all my works thy presence find,” and “Thee may I set at my right hand,” all resonating with the same theme. The Rev. Carlton Young, editor of the UM Hymnal, notes that this hymn is “an expression of the Protestant work ethic.” Church historian, the Rev. S T Kimbrough Jr., states: “Charles Wesley was deeply concerned that the attitudes with which we approach the endeavors of each day reflect our Christian posture and character.”
The tune used with this hymn is DUKE STREET. 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, its composer, other than that he lived on Duke Street in St. Helen's and that his funeral was conducted at the Presbyterian chapel there.
Forth in Thy name, O Lord, I go My daily labour to pursue,
Thee, only Thee, resolved to know In all I think, or speak, or do.
The task your wisdom has assigned here let me cheerfully fulfill,
in all my work your presence find and prove your good and perfect will.
Preserve me from my calling’s snare, And hide my simple heart above,
Above the thorns of choking care, The gilded baits of worldly love.
Thee may I set at my right hand, Whose eyes my inmost purpose see,
And labour on at Thy command, And offer all my works to Thee.
Give me to bear Thy easy yoke And every moment watch and pray,
And still to things eternal look And hasten to Thy glorious day.
For Thee delightfully employ Whate’er Thy bounteous grace hath given,
And run my course with even joy, And closely walk with Thee to Heaven.
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
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