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.
The Way of the Cross
script and music
Agnus Dei - John Merbecke
(public domain)
In the sixteenth century both Catholics and Reformers disliked church music that obscured the text. The chief offender in chant was the melisma, many notes on the same syllable. Church authorities of all persuasions maintained that the text, the Word, was more important than the music, or at least should be of equal importance. Therefore both Catholics and Reformers proposed limiting music to one note per syllable, as much chant in fact already did.
Probably a native of Beverley in Yorkshire, John Merbecke (1510-1585) was a boy chorister at St George's Chapel, Windsor, and was employed as an organist there from about 1541. He was an ardent Protestant. Two years later, under Queen Mary, he was convicted with four others of heresy and sentenced to be burnt at the stake, but received a pardon owing to the intervention of Stephen Gardiner, Bishop of Winchester,who said he was "but a musitian". An English Concordance of the Bible which Merbecke had been preparing at the suggestion of Richard Turner, was however confiscated and destroyed. A later version of this work, the first of its kind in English, was published in 1550 with a dedication to Edward VI.
In the same year, Merbecke published his Booke of Common Praier Noted, intended to provide for musical uniformity in the use of the First Prayer Book of Edward VI. This set the liturgy to semi-rhythmical melodies partly adapted from Gregorian chant. It was used only briefly, because under Queen Elizabeth all service music fell into disfavor.
In the first half of the 19th century, the Oxford Movement inspired renewed interest in liturgical music within the Church of England. John Jebb first drew attention to Merbecke's Prayer Book settings in 1841. In 1843, William Dyce published plainsong music for all the Anglican services, which included nearly all of Merbecke's settings, adapted for the 1662 Book of Common Prayer. Merbecke's Communion setting was very widely sung by choirs and congregations throughout the Anglican Communion. His setting has also been adapted for the liturgy of many other denominations; the Catholic Church drew on it for the new English-language form of the Mass of Paul VI following the Second Vatican Council of 1962–65.
O Lamb of God, that takes away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sins of the world, have mercy upon us.
O Lamb of God, that takest away the sings of the world, grant us thy peace.
Elegie, Op. 150 - Joseph Rheinberger
(public domain)
Javi Betancourt, cello
Josef Gabriel Rheinberger (1839- 1901) was an organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein but resident for most of his life in Germany. Rheinberger showed exceptional musical talent at an early age. When only seven years old, he was already serving as organist of the Vaduz parish church, and his first composition was performed the following year. In 1851, his father, who had initially opposed his son's desire to embark on the life of a professional musician, relented and allowed him to enter the Munich Conservatorium. Not long after graduating, he became professor of piano and of composition at the same institution.
The stylistic influences on Rheinberger ranged from contemporaries such as Brahms to composers from earlier times, such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert and, above all, Bach. He was also an enthusiast for painting and literature (especially English and German). Rheinberger was a prolific composer. His religious works include twelve Masses (one for double chorus, three for four voices a cappella, three for women's voices and organ, two for men's voices and one with orchestra), a Requiem and a Stabat Mater. His other works include several operas, symphonies, chamber music, and choral works. Today Rheinberger is remembered above all for his elaborate and challenging organ compositions; these include two concertos, 20 sonatas in 20 different keys (of a projected set of 24 sonatas in all the keys), 22 trios, and 36 solo pieces.
Opening Reading
In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy
Spirit. Amen.
Lord, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
We will glory in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ:
In whom is our salvation, our life and resurrection.
Hymn
Were You There
(c.1989, United Methodist Publishing House)
Were You There was likely composed by African-American slaves in the 19th century. It was first published in William Eleazar Barton's 1899 Old Plantation Hymns. In 1940, it was included in the Episcopal Church hymnal, making it the first spiritual to be included in any major American hymnal. As reported in Howard Thurman's autobiography, the song was one of Mahatma Gandhi's favorites.
For a time, the slaves simply by-passed the New Testament, especially since their white taskmasters used it to justify slavery. But there was something about the man Jesus, hanging there upon the hard, wooden cross. Here was a man who was beaten like they were. He was spit upon. He was falsely accused. He was imprisoned for a crime he did not commit. Finally, he was hung on a tree, a method of execution familiar to the slaves. Through all of these indignities, Jesus prayed, "Father forgive them, for they know not what they do."
"How was he able to forgive?" they questioned. "What was it that enabled him to love those who were unlovable?" Was he in pain? They were in pain. Did he have to drink the cup of suffering? They had to drink theirs, too. Yes, their cross was one with his cross. Jesus died for the sins of all men, of every color. He had to be who he said he was. How else could he have done what he did? In time, they embraced Jesus as their Savior, and they experienced His peace, His grace and forgiveness, and His hope for the future. From this relationship they were able to sing. From the cross they felt a mighty emergence of the divine will, breaking down the barriers that separated man from man, and man from God. And so, instead of taking the destructive road to violence, many began to hum, then to sing, and sometimes to shout the spirituals - a cry to God for freedom and a declaration of faith in His ability to provide it.
“Were You There” utilizes a system of coded language in its lyrics like most, if not all, African-American spirituals. Metaphors, especially those involving Old Testament figures, as well as Jesus, are often central to the meanings of spirituals. “Were You There” tells the story of the Crucifixion of Jesus. Underneath this narrative, however, is a metaphor likening Jesus’s suffering to the suffering of slaves. In some versions of the song, the singer asks “Were you there when they nailed Him to the Tree?” Replacing Jesus’ cross with a tree further strengthens the metaphor between Jesus’ suffering and slaves’ suffering. African-Americans during the antebellum period, and all the way into the Jim Crow era, would have drawn a connection between Jesus nailed to a tree and the frightening prevalence of lynchings in their own lives. This expression of likening one’s experience to Jesus' is underscored by the first-person, present-tense perspective of “Were You There”; the singer personally witnesses the crucifixion. The use of first person pronouns in the spiritual reflects a sense of “communal selfhood” formed by African-American slaves in the face of oppression.
The following lyrics are those printed in the 1899 Unicorn. Old Plantation Hymns; other variations exist.
Were you there when they crucified my Lord? (Were you there?)
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they crucified my Lord?
Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross? (Were you there?)
Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they nail'd him to the cross?
Were you there when they pierced him in the side? (Were you there?)
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they pierced him in the side?
Were you there when the sun refused to shine? (Were you there?)
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when the sun refused to shine?
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb? (Were you there?)
Were you there when they laid him in the tome?
O sometimes it causes me to tremble! tremble! tremble!
Were you there when they laid him in the tomb?
First Station
Jesus is condemned to death
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
As soon as it was morning, the chief priests, with the elders and scribes, and the whole council, held a consultation; and they bound Jesus and led him away and delivered him to Pilate. And they all condemned him and said, “He deserves to die.” When Pilate heard these words, he brought Jesus out and sat down on the judgment seat at a place called the Pavement, but in the Hebrew, Gabbatha. Then he handed Jesus over to them to be crucified.
God did not spare his own Son:
But delivered him up for us all.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, whose most dear Son went not up to joy but first he suffered pain, and entered not into glory before he was crucified: Mercifully grant that we, walking in the way of the cross, may find it none other than the way of life and peace; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Anthem
Ah, Holy Jesus - Craig Courtney
(c.2006, Lorenz Publishing)
"Herzliebster Jesu" (often translated into English as "Ah, Holy Jesus", sometimes as "O Dearest Jesus") is a German hymn written in 1630 by Johann Heermann. Heerman took his inspiration for "Ah, Holy Jesus" from a Latin text attributed to either Augustine (354-430) or Jean de Fecamp (c.1000-1079). The poetry was originally published in a fifteenth-century devotional book entitled Meditationes sanctorum patrum. Heerman's hymn version first appeared in his Devoti Musica Cordis, ca. 1630. Heerman wrote during the Thirty Years War, a time when many hymn writers became introspective. Writing during this time of uncertainty and trouble, Heerman's hymn emerged from a backdrop of his own personal suffering.
Its tune, also called "Herzliebster Jesu", was written ten years later by Johann Crüger. The hymn first appeared in Crüger's Neues vollkömmliches Gesangbuch Augsburgischer Confession (1640).
A native of Indiana, Craig Courtney received a Bachelors and a Masters degree in piano performance from the University of Cincinnati. He served on the faculty of the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, serving as piano teacher and accompanist for the woodwind and brass department. While serving in the music ministry of the Salzburg International Baptist Church, Courtney began composing sacred choral music. In 1985, his compositions came to the attention of John Ness Beck through the publication of his octavo, Thy Will Be Done, initiating a close working relationship between the two men which continued until Beck’s death in 1987. In making plans for the ongoing of Beckenhorst Press, Beck appointed Craig Courtney staff composer and editor. Courtney’s published works include more than two hundred choral octavos, nine vocal collections, two piano solo collections and six extended works for choir and orchestra. Courtney combines his background as pianist, cellist, vocal coach, accompanist and choral director to create works in his unique style.
Ah, holy Jesus, how hast thou offended, that we to judge thee have in hate pretended?
By foes derided, by thine own rejected, O most afflicted!
Who was the guilty? Who brought this upon thee?
Alas, my treason, Jesus, hath undone thee!
'Twas I, Lord Jesus, I it was denied thee; I crucified thee.
For me, kind Jesus, was thy incarnation, thy mortal sorrow, and thy life's oblation;
thy death of anguish and thy bitter passion, for my salvation.
Therefore, kind Jesus, since I cannot pay thee, I do adore thee, and will ever pray thee,
think on thy pity and thy love unswerving, not my deserving.
Ah, holy Jesus.
Second Station
Jesus takes up his Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
Jesus went out, bearing his own cross, to the place called the place of a skull, which is called in Hebrew, Golgotha. Although he was a Son, he learned obedience through what he suffered. Like a lamb he was led to the slaughter; and like a sheep that before its shearers is mute, so he opened not his mouth. Worthy is the Lamb who was slain, to receive power and riches and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and blessing.
The Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all:
For the transgression of my people was he stricken.
Let us pray.
Almighty God, whose beloved Son willingly endured the agony and shame of the cross for our redemption: Give us courage to take up our cross and follow him; who lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Solo
Via Dolorosa - Billy Sprague & Niles Borop
(c.1985, Meadowgreen Music/Word Music)
Michele Anderson, soprano
This retelling of the story of Christ's climb to Calvary was written by American evangelical pop singer, songwriter and music producer Billy Sprague (b 1952) and American Christian music songwriter Niles A Borop (b 1956). "Via Dolorosa" means in Latin "The Way of Suffering." It is traditionally held to be the path that Jesus walked through Jerusalem on his way to his crucifixion.
The song was originally published in 1984 by Meadowgreen Music/Word music. and included in Songs from the Heart, an album by American singer Sandy Patty. Patty said of the song: "I think the challenge for a songwriter is always to find a new way to say the same story. When 'Via Dolorosa' came along my path, I was just blown away because it did just that. It told the story but in a new and fresh and incredibly artistic way. Because the words 'via dolorosa' are Latin and Spanish, we chose to do part of the song in Spanish. And that was one of those little spur-of-the-moment decisions that proved to be really powerful."
Down the Via Dolorosa in Jerusalem that day,
The soldiers tried to clear the narrow street,
But the crowd pressed in to see
The man condemned to die on Calvary.
He was bleeding from a beating, there were stripes upon His back,
And He wore a crown of thorns upon His head.
And He bore with every step
The scorn of those who cried out for His death.
Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King.
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me,
Down the Via Dolorosa all the way to Calvary.
The blood that would cleanse the souls of all men
Made its way to the heart of Jerusalem.
Down the Via Dolorosa called the way of suffering
Like a lamb came the Messiah, Christ the King.
But He chose to walk that road out of His love for you and me.
Down the Via Dolorosa, all the way to Calvary.
Third Station
Jesus meets the women of Jerusalem
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
There followed after Jesus a great multitude of the people, and among them were women who bewailed and lamented him. But Jesus turning to them said, “Daughters of Jerusalem, do not weep for me, but weep for yourselves and
for your children.”
Those who sowed with tears:
Will reap with songs of joy.
Let us pray.
Teach your Church, O Lord, to mourn the sins of which it is guilty, and to repent and forsake them; that, by your pardoning grace, the results of our iniquities may not be visited upon our children and our children’s children; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Anthem
When Jesus Wept - William Billings
(c.1940, Mercury Music, rep. Theodore Presser)
William Billings (1746-1800), remembered as a prolific composer and singing school leader, is often referred to as America’s first choral composer. He is generally acknowledged as a central figure in early American, sometimes called primitive American, church music. J. Murray Barbour, in his text The Church Music of William Billings, opens his introduction with the statement that Billings was “the most important composer of the pioneer period of American church music”; and Karl Kroeger, in his article on Billings for The Canterbury Dictionary of Hymnology, comments on Billings’ influence by writing, “he [Billings] became the informal leader of a large group of largely self-taught New-England composers who dominated American sacred music between about 1780 and 1810.
Billings, a Bostonian from birth to death, experienced tragedy as a young man when his father died and, due to this, was forced to abandon his formal education and become trained as a tanner to help support his family. As far as his education in music, there is some suggestion that he was trained, in part, through study with John Barry, a member of the New South Church choir, but the bulk of his education came from attending singing schools and through individual study of collections of psalmody. Particularly influential to Billings’ early compositions were the psalms of William Tans’ur (1706-1783), Aaron Williams, and other British psalmists. His connection to British hymn writers remained evident throughout his lifetime, with many texts coming from Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and others, but his music style often diverged from the common practices of his day. Billings wrote about his compositional practice in The Continental Harmony (1794): “Musical composition is a sort of something, which is much better felt than described (at least by me) for if I was to attempt it, I should not know where to begin or where to leave off . . . although I am not confined to rules prescribed by others, yet I come near as I possibly can to a set of rules which I have carved out for myself; but when fancy gets upon the wing, she seems to despise all form, and scorns to be confined or limited by any formal prescriptions whatsoever”. Despite the purging of Billings’ and other composers’ music from hymnody after 1810, Billings is now considered “a talented and imaginative composer in a style only marginally related to the art music of his day.
During his life, Billings composed more than 300 works, most of which were sacred, a cappella, four-part choral works. Among these many compositions are psalms, anthems, hymns, and fuging tunes. Perhaps the most well-known work of Billings, “When Jesus Wept” was first published in his 1770 collection titled The New-England Psalm-Singer. This volume of music, the first book of music entirely composed by an American born in America, consisted of more than 120 original works that the subtitle of his book indicates consisted of “a Number of Psalm-Tunes, Anthems, and Canons.” Before moving to the music, it is worth noting that this volume contained a lengthy section on how to read music, as was the custom for songbooks connected to singing schools and that directly reflected the practice by which Billings himself learned music. As a matter of interest, this first volume was adorned by a frontispiece created by Paul Revere, one of Billings’ many friends during the colonial period.
“When Jesus Wept” is a beautifully-constructed canon that Billings tucked into the lower right corner of the final page of a longer anthem simply titled QUEEN, almost exactly halfway through the book, and it is written in a manner that looks very similar to a four-part choral texture. When singing the melody, one will find that it is quite beautiful and employs aspects of text painting. Some of these text paintings are the descending notes found on the words “falling tear,” the lovely slurred pitches on the word “flowed,” the single breaking away to the single appearance of lowest pitch in the phrase “beyond all bound,” the angular melodic line near the word “groaned,”, and the circling of the pitches around the tonic at “world around.”
The brief text by Perez Morton (1751-1837) connects the tears of Jesus over the death of his friend, Lazarus, in John 11, with the groaning of Jesus on the cross. The simplicity of the parallelism belies the depth of connection. Mourning is not a foreign emotion or experience to God, nor are screams of desolation. The hymn does not complete the theological thought, but leaves it for those singing to complete with their lives. God is with us in our pain. Let us be with others. God is with us in our pain; let us be with God. Let us mourn with those who mourn. Let us not hide our face from brokenness or devastation. The tears of Jesus are streams of mercy. Our God is not a stone, nor a ghost, but all human and all God, from the heights to the depths.
When Jesus wept, the falling tear
In mercy flowed beyond all bound.
When Jesus groaned, a trembling fear
Seized all the guilty world around.
Fourth Station
The Cross is laid on Simon of Cyrene
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
As they led Jesus away, they came upon a man of Cyrene, Simon by name, who was coming in from the country, and laid on him the cross to carry it behind Jesus. “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me; for my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me:
Cannot be my disciple.
Let us pray.
Heavenly Father, whose blessed Son came not to be served but to serve: Bless all who, following in his steps, give themselves to the service of others; that with wisdom, patience, and courage, they may minister in his Name to the suffering, the friendless, and the needy; for the love of him who laid down his life for us, your Son our Savior Jesus
Christ. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Solo
Simon of Cyrene - Daniel Blomberg
(c.2019, GLR Productions)
Paul Burnett, baritone
Daniel Blomberg is a music producer, arranger, songwriter, keyboardist and vocalist from Sweden. He studied music at Brigham Young University, and did graduate studies in International Relations in the UK. After graduation, he returned to Sweden and taught school, then moved to Amman, Jordan to teach at the American University of Madaba.. He then returned to Utah, where he, his wife, and Dave Zimmerman began Blomberg Music Productions.
They say he’s been brutally tortured, Unrighteously judged and scorned,
Climbing the steps to Golgotha, on his head a crown of thorns.
He falls, the guards are fearful He may die where he lies.
A soldier grabs me, Simon of Cyrene, To carry his cross they pull me aside.
Savior, may I help carry Your cross? Your burden can I somehow lighten?
Can I travel to Golgotha with You, walking as You carry my sins?
Rising to one knee He looks at me, reaching out with His hand.
Punished, eaten, denied but not broken, kindness still emanates from this man.
The cross’s splinters digging as I walk step by step behind Him.
How can there be no hatred in His eyes, no sign or show of contempt?
Savior, may I help carry Your cross? Your burden can I somehow lighten?
Can I travel to Golgotha with You, walking as You carry my sins?
In those moments I bore His cross to lighten His trial.
Minutes of knowing of His love, a feeling of bein His disciple.
Savior, may I help carry Your cross? Your burden can I somehow lighten?
Can I travel to Golgotha with You, walking as You carry my sins?
Savior, may I help? Your burden can I somehow lighten?
Can I travel to Golgotha with You, hand in hand as you carry my sins?
Fifth Station
Jesus meets his afflicted mother
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
To what can I liken you, to what can I compare you, O daughter of Jerusalem? What likeness can I use to comfort you, O virgin daughter of Zion? For vast as the sea is your ruin. Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted. The Lord will be your everlasting light, and your days of mourning shall be ended.
A sword will pierce your own soul also:
And fill your heart with bitter pain.
Let us pray.
O God, who willed that in the passion of your Son a sword of grief should pierce the soul of the Blessed Virgin Mary his mother: Mercifully grant that your Church, having shared with her in his passion, may be made worthy to share in the joys of his resurrection; who lives and reigns for ever and
ever. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Anthem
Stabat Mater, Op. 138, 1st movement - Joseph Rheinberger
(c.1903, J. Fischer & Bros.)
The Stabat Mater is a 13th-century Christian hymn to the Virgin Mary that portrays her suffering as mother during the crucifixion of her son Jesus Christ. Its author may be either the Franciscan friar Jacopone da Todi or Pope Innocent III. The title comes from its first line, "Stabat Mater dolorosa", which means "the sorrowful mother was standing”. The hymn is sung at the liturgy on the memorial of Our Lady of Sorrows. The Stabat Mater has been set to music by many Western composers.
The Stabat Mater has often been ascribed to Jacopone da Todi (ca. 1230–1306), but this has been strongly challenged by the discovery of the earliest notated copy of the Stabat Mater in a 13th-century gradual belonging to the Dominican nuns in Bologna (Museo Civico Medievale MS 518, fo. 200v-04r). The Stabat Mater was well known by the end of the 14th century and Georgius Stella wrote of its use in 1388, while other historians note its use later in the same century. In Provence, about 1399, it was used during the nine days' processions. As a liturgical sequence, the Stabat Mater was suppressed, along with hundreds of other sequences, by the Council of Trent, but restored to the missal by Pope Benedict XIII in 1727 for the Feast of the Seven Dolours of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
A child prodigy who began playing organ publicly at the age of seven, Joseph Gabriel Rheinberger (1839-1901) began studies at the Munich Conservatory in 1851, eventually mastering counterpoint and fugue, as well as composing over a hundred works by 1859, when he finally deemed one good enough to be published as his Opus 1. At the end of his studies, he stayed on at the Conservatory, growing into one of its most legendary teachers. As a composer, Rheinberger is best known today by organists and Catholic choirmasters. As part of his duties at the Court Church of All Saints in Munich, in 1881 Rheinberger composed eleven motets, including the four which were published as Op. 133. Like many of his Catholic colleagues (Anton Bruckner among them), Rheinberger’s instinct in composing for the church called for the harmonic language of his instrumental and secular vocal works. Nevertheless, from his earliest days in Munich he was aware of the Cecilian movement, which advocated reformation of Catholic liturgical music after the “excesses” of the Viennese classical composers. The Palestrina style of 16th-century counterpoint was held up as an ideal; understandably, creative musicians of the 19th century regarded that model as an artistic straitjacket. So Rheinberger sought a middle ground, remaining mindful of liturgical requirements, while subtly manifesting his stylistic individuality.
The Stabat Mater Op. 138 was a result of Rheinberger’s generally poor health throughout most of his adult life. For many years, he suffered a disability of his right hand, making composition increasingly difficult. His hand broke out with an open ulcer in the first half of 1884. Then in the summer he received therapy at the Wildbad Kreuth, greatly easing the pain in his hand. Rheinberger revealed to his wife that he had made a vow to the Mother of God that if his health improved, he would compose a Stabat Mater (his second). Of this setting, Sebastian Hammelsbeck has written that the second setting is essentially a liturgical work, which does not draw undue attention to itself either by excessive length or by highly decorative features. Instead of the virtuosic combination of modern and ancient musical styles it is in a purified sacred idiom which has incorporated elements of all these styles, and which only the harmony of the day kept distantly in touch with the events outside the church. Perhaps with a glance over his shoulder toward the Cecilians, Rheinberger composed an entirely unsentimental devotional work, which by its very restraint conveys an expression of the utmost reverence. It is presented in four movements, of which this is the first.
There are over 60 English translations of the Latin text; this edition by Edward Julius Biedermann uses the Edward Caswall (1814-1878) translation.
By the cross stood the Mother,
By the Cross her station keeping, Stood the mournful Mother, weeping,
Close to Jesus to the last.
Through her heart His sorrow sharing, All His bitter anguish bearing,
Now at length the sword had passed.
O that blessed one, grief-laden, Blessed Mother, blessed Maiden,
Mother of the All-blest One.
How she stood in desolation Upward gazing on the passion
Of that deathless, dying Son.
Sixth Station
Jesus is stripped of his garments
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
When they came to a place called Golgotha (which means the place of a skull), they offered him wine to drink, mingled with gall; but when he tasted it, he would not drink it. And they divided his garments among them by casting lots. This was to fulfill the scripture which says, “They divided my garments among them; they cast lots for my clothing.”
They gave me gall to eat:
And when I was thirsty they gave me vinegar to drink.
Let us pray.
Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Hymn
O Sacred Head, Now Wounded
“O Sacred Head, Now Wounded” is one of the great hymns of the church, perhaps the greatest passion hymn. It has an equally great history. It is based on a long medieval Latin poem, Salve mundi salutare, with stanzas addressing the various parts of Christ's body hanging on the Cross. The last part of the poem, from which the hymn is taken, is addressed to Christ's head, and begins "Salve caput cruentatum." The poem is often attributed to Bernard of Clairvaux (1090-1153).
Bernard of Clairvaux, saint, abbot, and doctor, fills one of the most conspicuous positions in the history of the middle ages. His father, Tecelin, or Tesselin, a knight of great bravery, was the friend and vassal of the Duke of Burgundy. Bernard was born at his father's castle on the eminence of Les Fontaines, near Dijon, iu Burgundy, in 1091. He was educated at Chatillon, where he was distinguished for his studious and meditative habits. Bernard had all the advantages that high birth, great personal beauty, graceful manners, and irresistible influence could give, but, strengthened in the resolve by night visions of his mother (who died in 1105), he chose a life of asceticism, and became a monk. He entered the monastery of Citeaux, the first Cistercian foundation, in 1113. Two years later he was sent forth, at the head of twelve monks, from the overcrowded abbey, to found a daughter institution in the Valley of Wormwood, the Abbey of Clairvaux. On the death of Pope Honorius II., in 1130, the College of Cardinals split without a clear choice of Pope. Bernard was instrumental in the restoration of Pope Innocent II to Rome, which greatly increased his influence in the Church. The summer of 1146 was spent traversing France and Germany to rouse the people to engage in the second crusade. In both countries the effect of his appearance and eloquence was marvellous, almost miraculous. The population seemed to rise en masse, and take up the cross. In 1147, the expedition started, a vast army, of which probably not a tenth ever reached Palestine. It proved a complete failure, and a miserable remnant shared the flight of their leaders, the Emperor Conrad, and Louis, King of France, and returned home, defeated and disgraced. The blame was thrown upon Bernard, and he soon died, weary of the world.
One of the hymns by which St. Bernard is best known as a writer of sacred poetry is "Salve mundi Salutore," an address to the various limbs of Christ on the cross. It consists of 350 lines, 50 lines being addressed to each. Many other hymns and sequences are attributed to St. Bernard. Hymns, translated from, or founded on, St. Bernard's, will be found in almost every hymnal.
The poem was translated into German by the Lutheran hymnist Paul Gerhardt (1607–1676). He reworked the Latin version to suggest a more personal contemplation of the events of Christ's death on the cross. It first appeared in Johann Crüger's hymnal Praxis pietatis melica in 1656. Although Gerhardt translated the whole poem, it is the closing section which has become best known, and is sung as a hymn in its own right. The German hymn begins with "O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden”.
Paulus Gerhardt studied at the University of Wittenberg, after which he was pastor at Mittenwalde, and then St. Nicholas’s Church in Berlin, then finally archdiaconus at Lübben. The outward circumstances of Gerhardt's life were for the most part gloomy. His earlier years were spent amid the horrors of the Thirty Years' War. He did not obtain a settled position in life till he was 44 years of age. He was unable to marry till four years later; and his wife, after a long illness, died during the time that he was without office in Berlin; while of the five children of the marriage only one passed the period of childhood. His latter years at Lübben as a widower with one surviving child were passed among a rough and unsympathising people.
Gerhardt ranks, next to Luther, as the most gifted and popular hymnwriter of the Lutheran Church. With a firm grasp of the objective realities of the Christian Faith, and a loyal adherence to the doctrinal standpoint of the Lutheran Church, Gerhardt is yet genuinely human; he takes a fresh, healthful view both of nature and of mankind. In his hymns we see the transition to the modern subjective tone of religious poetry. From the first publication of Gerhardt's hymns they at once came into favour among all ranks and creeds; and a large proportion are among the hymns most cherished and most widely used by German-speaking Christians at the present day.
The length of many of Gerhardt's hymns ("Ein Lämmlein" is 10 stanzas of 10 lines; "Fröhlich soil," 15 stanzas of 8 lines), and the somewhat intricate metres of others, have caused his hymns to be less used in English than otherwise might have been the case; but a considerable proportion have come in some form or other into English hymnbooks. A large selection, translated with scrupulous faithfulness but not retaining much of the lyric grace of the originals, was published by the Rev. John Kelly, in 1867, as Paul Gerhardt’s Spiritual Songs.
“O Haupt voll Blut und Wunden” is a beautiful but free translation of the "Salve caput cruentatum". Gerhardt's version appeared in Crüger's Praxis (1656), in 10 stanzas of 8 lines, entitled, "To the suffering Face of Jesus Christ." Bernard's original is powerful and searching, but Gerhardt's hymn is still more powerful and more profound, as redrawn from the deeper spring of evangelical Lutheran, Scriptural, knowledge, and fervency of faith.
The hymn was first translated into English in 1752 by John Gambold (1711–1771), an Anglican vicar in Oxfordshire. His translation begins, "O Head so full of bruises." In 1830 a new translation of the hymn was made by an American Presbyterian minister, James Waddell Alexander (1804-1859). Alexander's translation, beginning "O sacred head, now wounded," became one of the most widely used in 19th and 20th century hymnals.
James Waddell Alexander, D.D., (1804-1859) was an American Presbyterian minister and theologian who followed in the footsteps of his father, Rev. Archibald Alexander. He studied at Princeton, and was Professor of Rhetoric at Princeton, 1833; Pastor of Duane Street Presbyterian Church, New York, 1844; Professor of Church History, Princeton, 1849; and Pastor of 5th Avenue Presbyterian Church, New York, 1851. His works include Gift to the Afflicted, Thoughts on Family Worship, and others. His hymn translations were collected and published at New York in 1861, under the title, The Breaking Crucible and other Translations.
Alexander’s complete text follows:
O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns, Thine only crown;
O sacred Head, what glory, what bliss till now was Thine!
Yet, though despised and gory, I joy to call Thee mine.
What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered, was all for sinners’ gain;
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ’Tis I deserve Thy place;
Look on me with Thy favor, vouchsafe to me Thy grace.
Men mock and taunt and jeer Thee, Thou noble countenance,
Though mighty worlds shall fear Thee and flee before Thy glance.
How art thou pale with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How doth Thy visage languish that once was bright as morn!
Now from Thy cheeks has vanished their color once so fair;
From Thy red lips is banished the splendor that was there.
Grim death, with cruel rigor, hath robbed Thee of Thy life;
Thus Thou hast lost Thy vigor, Thy strength in this sad strife.
My burden in Thy Passion, Lord, Thou hast borne for me,
For it was my transgression which brought this woe on Thee.
I cast me down before Thee, wrath were my rightful lot;
Have mercy, I implore Thee; Redeemer, spurn me not!
What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever, and should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee.
My Shepherd, now receive me; my Guardian, own me Thine.
Great blessings Thou didst give me, O source of gifts divine.
Thy lips have often fed me with words of truth and love;
Thy Spirit oft hath led me to heavenly joys above.
Here I will stand beside Thee, from Thee I will not part;
O Savior, do not chide me! When breaks Thy loving heart,
When soul and body languish in death’s cold, cruel grasp,
Then, in Thy deepest anguish, Thee in mine arms I’ll clasp.
The joy can never be spoken, above all joys beside,
When in Thy body broken I thus with safety hide.
O Lord of Life, desiring Thy glory now to see,
Beside Thy cross expiring, I’d breathe my soul to Thee.
My Savior, be Thou near me when death is at my door;
Then let Thy presence cheer me, forsake me nevermore!
When soul and body languish, oh, leave me not alone,
But take away mine anguish by virtue of Thine own!
Be Thou my consolation, my shield when I must die;
Remind me of Thy passion when my last hour draws nigh.
Mine eyes shall then behold Thee, upon Thy cross shall dwell,
My heart by faith enfolds Thee. Who dieth thus dies well.
The music for the German and English versions of the hymn is by Hans Leo Hassler, written around 1600 for a secular love song, "Mein G'müt ist mir verwirret", which first appeared in print in the 1601 Lustgarten Neuer Teutscher Gesäng. The tune was appropriated and rhythmically simplified for Gerhardt's German hymn in 1656 by Johann Crüger. Johann Sebastian Bach arranged the melody and used five stanzas of the hymn in the St Matthew Passion. He also used the hymn's text and melody in the second movement of the cantata Sehet, wir gehn hinauf gen Jerusalem, BWV 159. The harmonization found in our hymnal is from Bach’s St. Matthew Passion.
Seventh Station
Jesus is nailed to the Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
When they came to the place which is called The Skull, there they crucified him; and with him they crucified two criminals, one on the right, the other on the left, and Jesus between them. And the scripture was fulfilled which says, “He was numbered with the transgressors.”
They pierce my hands and my feet:
They stare and gloat over me.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus Christ, you stretched out your arms of love on the hard wood of the cross that everyone might come within the reach of your saving embrace: So clothe us in your Spirit that we, reaching forth our hands in love, may bring those
who do not know you to the knowledge and love of you; for the honor of your Name. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Anthem
There is a Green Hill Far Away - Bob Chilcott
(c.2013, Oxford University Press)
Cecil Frances Alexander (1818-1895) was born at Redcross, County Wicklow, the second daughter of a British Army Major. She was a devout Christian who came under the influence of the Oxford [high Church] Movement. From an early age she showed a great aptitude for writing. When she was just twenty-five, she published her Hymns for Little Children [1848] with an introductory note by the celebrated Revd. John Keble. Dedicated to her ‘little godsons’ the book was written to illustrate and explain the Church Catechism. The hymnal also contained other well-known hymns, among them, “All things bright and beautiful” and “Once in Royal David’s City”, written to celebrate the credal statements, Creator of heaven and earth and born of the Virgin Mary. Two years after the publication she married the Revd. William Alexander. He was six years her junior and the marriage caused quite a stir within her own family. It is said that her father arranged, for the sake of propriety, for her birth date to be altered in the registers. [In some old hymn books her year of birth is given as 1823]. Her husband later became Bishop of Derry and Archbishop of Armagh.
Her poetical works were much admired and came to the attention of Alfred Lord Tennyson. The composer Charles Gounod once remarked that There is a green hill was ‘the most perfect hymn in the English language because of its charming simplicity.... the lyrics seemed to set themselves to music.’ She is rightly regarded as one of the greatest of British women hymn writers.
There is a green hill was written to illustrate the words of the creed, ‘Suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead and buried.’ Mrs Alexander begins the first verse by painting a picture. As a skilled teacher she knew that her first task was to capture a child’s imagination. In the second line she originally wrote ‘without’ a city wall, but changed it to ‘outside’ to remove any ambiguity. The second verse celebrates the mystery of the cross, ‘We may not know, we cannot tell....’ The passion of Jesus, though difficult to comprehend, is something he endured for us and for our salvation. This is celebrated in the next two verses, ‘He died that we might be forgiven, he died to make us good... There was no other good enough to pay the price of sin.’ The noted New Testament scholar, Professor A. H. Hunter, once wrote, ‘It was given to an Irish woman, in a hymn she wrote for little children, to express better than many a learned tome the purpose, the necessity and the challenge of that sacrifice which has in principle redeemed our prodigal race.’ The hymn ends with a call for us to ‘love as he has loved us.’ Though written for children this is a classic hymn for young and old. It sets the scene of our Lord’s passion and celebrates the mystery, the purpose, the necessity and the challenge of the cross.
Alexander devoted her life to Christian education, to the care of the young and the poor. All the profits from the sale of her writings were donated to a home for deaf children. She was widely respected as a writer and many of her poems were published posthumously by her husband who survived her by sixteen years. She was buried in her beloved Derry, outside the city walls.
There is a green hill far away, without a city wall,
Where the dear Lord was crucified, who died to save us all,
who died to save us all.
We may not know, we cannot tell, what pains he had to bear,
But we believe it was for us He hung and suffered there, suffered there.
He died that we might be forgiven, He died to make us good,
That we might go at last to heaven, saved by his precious blood.
saved by his previous blood.
O dearly, dearly has he loved, and we must love him too,
And trust in his redeeming blood, and try his works to do.
and try his works to do.
Robert "Bob" Chilcott (b.1955) is a British choral composer, conductor, and singer, based in Oxford, England. Born in Plymouth, Chilcott sang in the Choir of King's College, Cambridge, both as a boy and as a university student. He performed the Pie Jesu of Fauré's Requiem on the 1967 King's College recording. In 1985 he joined the King's Singers, singing tenor for 12 years. He has been a composer since 1997. Chilcott was the conductor of the chorus at the Royal College of Music in London for seven years, and is Principal Guest Conductor of the BBC Singers.
Eighth Station
Jesus dies on the Cross
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
When Jesus saw his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to his mother, “Woman, behold your son!” Then he said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And when Jesus had received the vinegar, he said, “It is finished!” And then, crying with a loud voice, he said,
“Father, into your hands I commend my spirit.” And he bowed his head, and handed over his spirit.
Christ for us became obedient unto death:
Even death on a cross.
Let us pray.
O God, who for our redemption gave your only-begotten Son to the death of the cross, and by his glorious resurrection delivered us from the power of our enemy: Grant us so to die daily to sin, that we may evermore live with him in the joy of his resurrection; who lives and reigns now and for ever. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Anthem
In His Dying Breath - Dana Mengel
(c.2004, Logia, div. of Concordia Publishing)
Dana Mengel is a freelance composer and violinist. He began his career as a professional violist at the age of 14 and is now among the top freelance classical musicians in the Kansas City metro area. Dana performs with many local orchestras and appears regularly with his brother, Leslie Mengel, a classical cellist. Together, they are the Mengel Brothers Duo. Dana studied violin at the University of Missouri–Kansas City. He began composing in 1990 and has since published over eight hundred works. His compositions have been performed across the country. Dana is currently the music director at Messiah Lutheran Church in Independence, Missouri.
In His dying breath, Christ our Savior said,
in his dying breath, Christ our Savior said,
“Father, forgive them,” Christ Jesus said;
“Father, forgive them,” Christ Jesus said.
“They do not know, O God, what they have done.”
“They do not know, O God, what they have done.”
On the cross was shown the greatest love known.
On the cross was shown the greatest love known.
In his dying breath, Christ our Savior said,
in his Dying breath, Christ our Savior said,
“Into Your hands, O God, into Your hands,
into Your Hands, O God, into Your Hands,
I lift my spirit into Your Hands,
I lift my spirit into Your Hands.
On the cross was shown the greatest love known.
On the cross was shown the greatest love known,
was shown the greatest love known,
was shown the greatest love known,
was shown the greatest love known.
Ninth Station
Jesus is laid in the tomb
We adore you, O Christ, and we bless you:
Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world.
When it was evening, there came a rich man from
Arimathea, named Joseph, who also was a disciple of Jesus. He went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. Then Pilate ordered it to be given to him. And Joseph took the body, and wrapped it in a clean linen shroud, and laid it in his own new tomb, which he had hewn in the rock; and he rolled a great stone to the door of the tomb.
You will not abandon me to the grave:
Nor let your holy One see corruption.
Let us pray.
O God, your blessed Son was laid in a tomb in a garden, and rested on the Sabbath day: Grant that we who have been buried with him in the waters of baptism may find our perfect rest in his eternal and glorious kingdom; where he lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.
Holy God,
Holy and Mighty,
Holy Immortal One,
Have mercy upon us.
Hymn
O Love Divine, What Hast Thou Done
Hymns have always been an important devotional resource for the people called Methodists. John and Charles Wesley published many collections of hymns. The hymns were sung in class, band, and society meetings and at Love Feasts. The people carried their hymns with them to the meetings and used them at home as part of daily prayer and devotional practices. In singing, praying, and meditating on the hymns the Methodist people learned and internalized the theology they heard in the preaching and teaching. The poetry of the hymns helped get the theology of Methodist preaching from the head into the heart. Here is a powerful reflection on the meaning of Christ’s death on the cross written by Charles Wesley in 1742.
The hymn tune SELENA was written by Isaac Baker Woodbury in 1850. Woodbury (1819-1858) studied music in nearby Boston, then spent his nineteenth year in further study in London and Paris. He taught for six years in Boston, traveling throughout New England with the Bay State Glee Club. He later lived at Bellow Falls, Vermont, where he organized the New Hampshire and Vermont Musical Association. In 1849 he settled in New York City where he directed the music at the Rutgers Street Church. He became editor of the New York Musical Review and made another trip to Europe in 1852 to collect material for the magazine. He published a number of tune-books, of which the Dulcimer, of New York Collection of Sacred Music, went through a number of editions. His Elements of Musical Composition, 1844, was later issued as the Self-instructor in Musical Composition. He also assisted in the compilation of the Methodist Hymn Book of 1857.
O Love divine, what hast thou done! The immortal God hath died for me!
The Father’s co-eternal Son Bore all my sins upon the tree.
Th’immortal God for me hath died: My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
Is crucified for me and you, To bring us rebels back to God.
Believe, believe the record true, Ye all are bought with Jesu’s blood.
Pardon for all flows from his side: My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
Behold him, all ye that pass by, The bleeding Prince of life and peace!
Come, sinners, see your Savior die, And say, “Was ever grief like his?”
Come, feel with me his blood applied: My Lord, my Love, is crucified!
Concluding Prayer
Savior of the world, by your cross and precious blood you have redeemed us:
Save us, and help us, we humbly beseech you, O Lord.
Let us pray.
We thank you, heavenly Father, that you have delivered us from the dominion of sin and death and brought us into the kingdom of your Son; and we pray that, as by his death he has recalled us to life, so by his love he may raise us to eternal joys; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.
Darkness
He Never Said a Mumblin’ Word
Javi Betancourt, cello
The life of Jesus is one of the most prominent themes of African-American spirituals. Spirituals are sometimes referred to as sorrow songs. In the case of “He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word,” it truly is a sorrowful song. Unlike most spirituals, there is not a touch of hopeful optimism or a positive affirmation. A quiet, poignant, sorrowful dignity is the expression.
The Crucifixion motif dominates the imagination of the slave because they too had been rejected, beaten, and shot without a chance to say a word in defense of their humanity. The entire text of “He Never Said a Mumbalin’ Word” narrates the events of the crucifixion scene. Stanza one sets the scene: “They crucified my Lord.” The “my Lord” has the same effect as it does in the first stanza of “Were You There,” placing the singer at the hill of Calvary and actually seeing Jesus on the cross. After each statement, “and he never said a mumbalin’ word” is sung. This repetitive device is very powerful. It allows one to see the suffering of Christ while Christ does not utter one word of complaint. Slaves sang this song because it is about Jesus, who suffered and died on the cross with and for them.
They crucified my Lord, and he never said a mumbalin’ word;
Not a word, not a word, not a word.
They nailed him to the tree, and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.
They pierced him in the side, and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.
He bowed his head and died, and he never said a mumbalin’ word.
Not a word, not a word, not a word.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
