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 on "Duke Street" - Flor Peeters
(c. 1960, C. F. Peters Corp.)
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 is said to have composed for religious worship, is "Behold the glories of the Lamb," written at the age of twenty. It is as a writer of psalms and hymns that he is everywhere known. 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.
Isaac Watts based this hymn text on Psalm 72:12-19 and referred to verses 5 and 8 of the psalm as well. Originally in eight stanzas entitled "Christ's Kingdom among the Gentiles," the text was published in Watts' Psalms of David, Imitated (1719). In this hymnal, he paraphrased many of the Psalms, but in a very different style than many of his predecessors. The order of the day was to keep any paraphrase as close to the text as possible. Watts decided to do otherwise, and his interpretations of the psalms are quite loose, in an effort to write something new while keeping the spirit of the Psalm. His versification of Psalm 72 is no different. He interprets the psalm using a Christological lens. The king referenced in the psalm is Christ, and could be no one else. Watts understood that the Old Testament makes sense in light of the New, and vice versa.
G. J. Stevenson’s Notes on the Methodist Hymn Book relates:
Perhaps one of the most interesting occasions on which this hymn was used was that on which King George, the sable, of the South Sea Islands, but of blessed memory, gave a new constitution to his people, exchanging a heathen for a Christian form of government. Under the spreading branches of the banyan trees sat some thousand natives from Tonga, Fiji, and Samoa, on Whitsunday, 1862, assembled for Divine worship. Foremost amongst them all sat King George himself. Around him were seated old chiefs and warriors who had shared with him the dangers and fortunes of many a battle—men whose eyes were dim, and whose powerful frames were bowed down with the weight of years. But old and young alike rejoiced together in the joys of that day, their faces most of them radiant with Christian joy, love, and hope. It would be impossible to describe the deep feeling manifested when the solemn service began, by the entire audience singing Dr. Watts’ hymn…
Who so much as they could realize the full meaning of the poet’s words? For they had been rescued from the darkness of heathenism and cannibalism and they were that day met for the first time under a Christian constitution, under a Christian king, and with Christ Himself reigning in the hearts of most of those present. That was indeed Christ’s kingdom set up in the earth.
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 other than that he lived on Duke Street in St. Helen's and that his funeral was conducted at the Presbyterian chapel there.
Jesus shall reign where'er the sun does its successive journeys run,
his kingdom stretch from shore to shore, till moons shall wax and wane no more.
To him shall endless prayer be made, and praises throng to crown his head.
His name like sweet perfume shall risewith every morning sacrifice.
People and realms of every tongue dwell on his love with sweetest song,
and infant voices shall proclaim their early blessings on his name.
Blessings abound where'er he reigns: the prisoners leap to lose their chains,
the weary find eternal rest, and all who suffer want are blest.
Let every creature rise and bring the highest honors to our King,
angels descend with songs again, and earth repeat the loud amen.
Flor Peeters (1903-1986) was an important Belgian composer, organist and teacher. When sixteen years old, he began his studies at the Lemmens Institute in Mechelen (since moved to Leuven), which was named after the nineteenth-century organist Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens. In 1923 he became an organ teacher at the Institute; simultaneously he acquired the position of chief organist at the St. Rumbold's Cathedral in Mechelen, which he held for most of the rest of his life; As an organist and pedagogue, Peeters enjoyed great renown, giving concerts and liturgical masterclasses all over the world. He also made recordings of sixteenth-, seventeenth- and eighteenth-century organ music; some of these have been reissued in recent years on compact disc. Most of his own pieces (he wrote well over 100) were for organ, for choir, or for both. Peeters was created a baron by King Baudouin of Belgium in 1971.
About the Piano Music:
Look, Ye Saints, the Sight is Glorious - Larry Shackley
(c.2018, Lorenz Publishing)
Thomas Kelly (1769-1854) was born in Dublin and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. He planned to be a lawyer, but having undergone a very marked spiritual change, he took Holy Orders in 1792. His earnest evangelical preaching in Dublin led Archbishop Fowler to inhibit him and his companion preacher, Rowland Hill, from preaching in the city. For some time he preached in two unconsecrated buildings in Dublin, Plunket Street, and the Bethesda, and then, having seceded from the Established Church, he erected places of worship at Athy, Portarlington, and Wexford. Kelly's hymns, 765 in all, were composed and published over a period of 51 years. “Look, ye saints” was published in Hymns on Various Passages of Scripture, 1809.
William H. Monk composed CORONAE in 1871. The following year it was published in J Ireland Tucker's Hymnal with Tunes Old and New as a setting for Thomas Kelly's text "Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious." That text had "Crown him!" in each stanza, thus the title for this tune.
Look, ye saints, the sight is glorious: see the Man of Sorrows now;
from the fight returned victorious, every knee to Him shall bow.
Crown Him! Crown Him! Crowns become the Victor's brow.
Crown the Savior, angels, crown Him; rich the trophies Jesus brings;
in the seat of pow'r enthrone Him, while the vault of heaven rings.
Crown Him! Crown Him! Crown the Savior King of kings.
Sinners in derision crowned Him, mocking thus the Savior's claim;
saints and angels crowd around Him, own His title, praise His name.
Crown Him! Crown Him! Spread abroad the Victor's fame!
Hark, those bursts of acclamation! Hark! those loud triumphant chords!
Jesus takes the highest station; O what joy the sight affords!
Crown Him! Crown Him! King of kings, and Lord of lords!
Larry Shackley (b. 1956) is a full-time composer and editor from Columbia, SC. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and his Master in Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the University of South Carolina. From 1995-2007, he taught and directed the music program at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC. Prior to that, he worked for several years at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, creating original music and producing radio programs for the Moody Broadcasting Network. He has been active in church music since his teens, and served as staff keyboardist for ten years at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. Currently, Shackley is on the staff of Gateway Baptist Church in Irmo, SC. He has produced over twenty books of keyboard arrangements and more than one hundred choral anthems. He has won ASCAP standard panel awards every year since 1998, and has received commissions from churches, schools, and community choirs across America.
About the Choral Music:
Canticle of Hope - Joseph Martin
(c.1995, Harold Flammer & Malcolm Music, div of Shawnee Press)
Joseph Martin (b. 1959 ), a native of North Carolina, earned his Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance at Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina. Subsequently he earned a Master of Music degree in Piano Performance at the University of Texas, Austin. Joseph taught for five years in the Piano Pedagogy Department of the University of Texas.. He is a member of the staff of Shawnee Press as Director of Sacred Publications, with responsibilities for overseeing the editorial and creative direction of the company’s sacred publications and also coordinating the recording and production aspects of future sacred publishing efforts. Joseph has performed solo piano recitals and has been the featured artist with symphony orchestras in the United States and Mexico. As winner of the Nina Plant Wideman Competition, he performed with the Guadalajara Symphony Orchestra. His solo recital in Ex-convento del Carmen was broadcast nationally throughout the country. Though he continues to perform in concert, he now devotes his efforts to playing in churches and for conferences of church musicians Recognized throughout the United States for his many choral compositions, over 1200 compositions are currently in print and the list continues to grow.
Written for and dedicated to the people of Oklahoma City as they struggled to heal after the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Building on April 19, 1995, Canticle of Hope has become a testimony of promise to countless people across the nation and has been used to bring comfort and peace in times of tribulation.
Lord, you are God, perfect in holiness.
Lord, you are God of the needy and the poor.
A sure defender, You are our refuge.
You are the Giver. You are Jehovah.
You are the God who restores.
Lord, you are God, reigning in righteousness.
Lord, you are God in the time of our distress.
We call on you, our sure salvation. Lord, you are faithful.
Your are the God who restores.
Lord, you are God, ruling in gentleness.
Lord you are God. You wipe away each tear.
You hear our every prayer. You give us comfort.
You touch our fears. You are eternal.
Alpha, Omega, we place our hope in you alone.
Lord you are God, perfect in holiness.
Lord, you are God. In our darkness You are everlasting light.
A sure defender, You are our refuge.
You are the Giver. You are Jehovah.
You are the God who restores.
Great is Thy Faithfulness! Great is Thy Faithfulness!
Great is Thy Faithfulness!
You are the God who restores. Your love restores.
About the Hymns:
Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies
The 18th-century Englishman Charles Wesley (1707-1788) wrote, according to eminent 20th-century hymnologist Erik Routley, “more than 8,989 poems with over 6,000 of them qualifying as ‘hymns.’” That’s 3.4 poems per week, Routley added, “assuming him to have died in the act of writing.” Judging solely by quantity, Wesley can be matched by few sacred poets in history. The quality and depth of theology found in these hymns, however, is why hymnologist Routley dubbed Wesley “the first and, surely for all time, the greatest evangelical hymn writer.” From the beginning of their movement, Methodists included many of his texts in their hymnals. Of the 980 hymns included in the English Methodist Hymn Book (1904), 440 are by Charles Wesley. The next edition in 1933 still used 243 of his poems.
Of the many great hymns by Charles Wesley, “Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies” is considered one of his best. It is one of the greatest morning hymns in our language, but it is more. It is a glorious hymn to Christ, the Sun of Righteousness, the Light of the World. Originally titled “A Morning Hymn,” this hymn first appeared in the Wesley collection Hymns and Sacred Poems (1740) in three stanzas as well as other collections prepared by the Wesley brothers. In Hymns Ancient and Modern (1861), it was first paired with RATISBON, the tune that most often accompanies the text today.
Scripture references may be found throughout, ranging from books of prophecy to a literal incarnation account in Luke and a theological incarnation account in John. The Rev. Carlton Young, editor of theUM Hymnal (1989), points out a reference to John 1:9 concerning the “true light” in line two. Stanza one continues with direct references to Isaiah 2:6 and Malachi 4:2 in line three about the “Sun of Righteousness.” The “Day-star” in line six is a direct reference to Isaiah 14:12 and 2 Peter 1:19.
Routley explores two interesting ideas about this hymn in his book, Hymns and the Faith (1968). First he points out that the idea of worshipping the sun was a pagan religion. By referencing Christ as the “Sun of Righteousness,” Christianity has put “back on the right track religious instincts which had gone astray.” The other idea concerns the very first word of the hymn. Routley states that “God, whose glory fills the sky” would not have been anything out of the ordinary. He continues that “Christ, whose glory fills the sky” is an “epic” idea that until this hymn had not been present in Christian thinking or writing. Christ is no longer a being that can only be at one place at one time, but he is one with God in his omnipresence and omniscience. Routley rightly proclaims, “Never was written a more thoroughly and richly happy hymn than this.”
Christ, whose glory fills the skies, Christ the true, the only Light,
Sun of Righteousness, arise, Triumph o’er the shades of night;
Dayspring from on high, be near; Daystar, in my heart appear.
Dark and cheerless is the morn Unaccompanied by Thee;
Joyless is the day’s return Till Thy mercy’s beams I see;
Till they inward light impart, Glad my eyes and warm my heart.
Visit, then, this soul of mine; Pierce the gloom of sin and grief;
Fill me, Radiancy Divine; Scatter all my unbelief;
More and more Thyself display, Shining to the perfect day.
Standing on the Promises
R. Kelso Carter became an ordained Methodist minister (1887) at the age of 38. A year earlier, he was a professor at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, where he wrote the hymn, "Standing On the Promises," after reading Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians I: 20: "For all the promise of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us." I was published in Songs of Perfect Love, one of two hymns compiled by Carter. The drum-beating, military march style of the music reflects the influence of the military academy life that surrounded Carter when it was written. Carter was active in the Methodist Camp-Meeting movement, and “Standing on the Promises” was widely used in evangelistic crusades well into the 20th century and is still found in many hymnals. It is a reminder of the Christian’s daily dependence on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ my King,
Through eternal ages let His praises ring,
Glory in the highest, I will shout and sing,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises that cannot fail,
When the howling storms of doubt and fear assail,
By the living Word of God I shall prevail,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I now can see
Perfect, present cleansing in the blood for me;
Standing in the liberty where Christ makes free,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises of Christ the Lord,
Bound to Him eternally by love’s strong cord,
Overcoming daily with the Spirit’s sword,
Standing on the promises of God.
Standing on the promises I cannot fall,
List’ning every moment to the Spirit’s call,
Resting in my Savior as my all in all,
Standing on the promises of God.
Refrain:
Standing, standing, Standing on the promises of God my Savior;
Standing, standing, I’m standing on the promises of God.
On Eagles Wings
Michael Joncas (b. 1951) was ordained in 1980 to the Roman Catholic priesthood, and has served since 1991 on the faculty of the University of St. Thomas, St. Paul, Minnesota. He has written three books, more than a hundred published articles, and has compiled more than 20 collections of liturgical music. Father Joncas was visiting a friend at the major seminary in Washington. One evening, Father Joncas’ friend got word that his father had suffered a fatal heart attack. Father Joncas wrote “On Eagle’s Wings” in the days that followed and it was was sung for the first time publicly at the friend’s father’s wake service. The song is based on Psalm 91 and Isaiah 4031:, its lyrics drawing from the Scripture’s descriptions of God’s protection and providence.
And God will raise you up on eagles' wings,
Bear you on the breath of dawn,
Make you to shine like the sun,
And hold you in the palm of God’s hand.
Sent Out in Jesus' Name
(c.1996, Abingdon Press)
“Enviado soy de Dios/Sent Out in Jesus’ Name” is Cuban in origin. Jorge Maldonado’s translation catches the spirit of the Spanish text without trying to render it literally. The text establishes its theme early on: responsibility for change in this world is ours. Empowered by our experience in worship, we can go forth into all the world as Christ commands. But this is not mountaintop rhetoric, and “the world” we are sent to may be severely circumscribed—a Cuban village or our own neighborhood, a shack of a church or our own comfortable parish. We are reminded that it is seldom by the words of our mouths and the meditations of our hearts, but often by hard physical labor, that the reign of God comes to earth: the gospel must not merely be preached but must be seen in what we actually do. The world is only set free when we—as individuals and collectively—obey the will of God and carry it out in the world.
ENVIADO is a Nicaraguan folk melody.
Sent out in Jesus’ name, our hands are ready now
to make the earth the place in which the kingdom comes.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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