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:
Savior, When in Dust to Thee - Cochrane Penick
(c.1942, H. W. Gray)
Sir Robert Grant (1779-1838) became Member of Parliament for Inverness in 1826; a Privy Councillor in 1831; and Governor of Bombay, 1834. He was well-known as a hymn writer. His hymns, "O worship the King"; "Saviour, when in dust to Thee"; and "When gathering clouds around I view," are widely used in all English-speaking countries. Some of his hymns were contributed to the Christian Observer, 1806-1815, under the signature of "E—y, D. R."; and to Elliott's Psalms & Hymns, Brighton, 1835. The year following his death his brother, Lord Glenelg, gathered 12 of his hymns and poems together, and published them as Sacred Poems. By the late Eight Hon. Sir Robert Grant. London, Saunders & Otley, Conduit Street, 1839.
"Aberystwyth" is a hymn tune composed by Joseph Parry, written in 1876 and first published in 1879 in Edward Stephen's Ail Lyfr Tonau ac Emynau (Welsh for "Second Book of Tunes and Hymns”). Parry was at the time the first professor and head of the new department of music at the recently founded University College Wales, Aberystwyth, now called Aberystwyth University.
Savior, when in dust to Thee Low we bow the adoring knee;
When, repentant, to the skies Scarce we lift our weeping eyes;
O, by all Thy pains and woe Suffered once for man below,
Bending from Thy throne on high, Hear our penitential cry!
By Thy helpless infant years, By Thy life of want and tears,
By Thy days of deep distress In the savage wilderness,
By the dread, mysterious hour Of the insulting tempter's pow'r,
Turn, O turn, a fav'ring eye; Hear our penitential cry!
By thine hour of dire despair, By thine agony of prayer,
By the cross, the nail, the thorn, Piercing spear, and torturing scorn,
By the gloom that veiled the skies O'er the dreadful sacrifice,
Listen to our humble sigh; Hear our penitential cry!
By Thy deep expiring groan, By the sad sepulchral stone,
By the vault whose dark abode Held in vain the rising God,
O, from earth to heav'n restored, Mighty, re-ascended Lord,
Bending from Thy throne on high, Hear our penitential cry!
R. Cochrane Penick (d. 2005) studied at the University of Texas , Austin, the Juilliard School of Music, New York, and the Union Theological Seminary, New York. He taught organ at Louisiana State University, and later at Southwestern University, Georgetown, Texas.
About the Piano Music:
You've Searched Me - Paul Tate
(c.2004, GIA Publications)
David Robert Haas (b.1957) is an American author and composer of contemporary Catholic liturgical music. He studied vocal music performance at Central Michigan University, and completed his B.A. in Theology and Vocal Music Performance from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Haas served in parish and school communities in the Diocese of Saginaw. Haas was a seminarian for the Diocese of Saginaw, studying at Saint John Vianney College Seminary and the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Haas served as a pastoral musician at Church of the Blessed Sacrament in St. Paul, Minnesota, as Director of Music and Youth Ministry at Our Lady's Immaculate Heart Church in Ankeny, Iowa, as Director of Music/Liturgy at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church in St. Paul Park, MN, and was Composer-in-Residence/Adjunct Instructor at Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity in St. Paul, Minnesota.
Haas directed the program Music Ministry Alive!, a five-day liturgical program for youth and adult leaders that met on the campus of St. Catherine University in St. Paul, Minnesota, and served as a Faculty/Team Member for Institutes with the North American Forum on the Catechumenate, helping develop liturgical and musical aspects of the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA).
“You’ve Searched Me” is based on Psalm 139.
O Lord, You’ve searched me and known me.
I will praise you God, you have embroidered me;
for all these mysteries I thank you.
You have created every part of me;
You’ve made me wonderful, you’ve made me wonderful.
Paul A. Tate, a graduate of the University of Georgia, is a professional musician living in Sugar Hill, Georgia. As an active workshop presenter and concert performer, Paul has released a dozen recordings and published over 100 original songs and arrangements. His liturgical compositions appear in a number of hymnal resources, and his voice has been heard around the world on Sirius Satellite Radio.
About the Choral Music:
Lord Jesus, Think on Me - Sam Batt Owens
(c.1998, Paraclete Press)
Synesius (370-430), a native of Cyrene, was Bishop of Ptolemaïs. As he believed a Neo-Platonic philosophy, there has been debate as to his belief, with many labelling him a “semi-Christian”. Allen Chatfield, who has translated his Odes in his Songs and Hymns of the Greek Christian Poets, 1876, contends that his tenth Ode "Lord Jesus, think on me," proves that he was a Christian and that he held the doctrine of the Resurrection. This tenth ode is the only Ode of Synesius, which is in common use.
Sam Batt Owens has taken Synesius’ text and set it to a new melody.
Sam Batt Owens (1928-1998) enjoyed a long career as a well-known organist, composer, and church musician. He received a B. Mus. in organ performance, from the Birmingham Conservatory of Music, a M. Mus. in organ performance and composition from Birmingham- Southern College, and a D.M.A. in organ performance and musicology from Peabody College of Vanderbilt University. Owens taught at Birmingham Conservatory of Music, Birmingham Southern College, Vanderbilt University, Fisk University, Grace-St. Luke's Episcopal School, and Christ School for Boys in Arden, N.C. He held his fIrst position as an organist at age 12, and began solo organ performances at age 16. He wrote more than 200 choral, organ, instrumental and solo vocal compositions. He was one of the Episcopal Church's leading musicians. He was President of the Association of Anglican Musicians from 1989-1991. In 1996, he had left his position at St. Andrew's on-the-Sound in Wilmington, N.C., to become a consultant for parishes and dioceses in artistic matters and a crusader for fair compensation and recognition of church musicians. In his later years he taught congregations in smaller parishes how to be full participants in corporate worship, presenting "music in liturgy and how music upholds and supports corporate worship."
Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, think on me, And purge away my sin;
From earthborn passions set me free And make me pure within,
And make me pure within.
Lord Jesus, Lord Jesus, think on me, With care and woe oppressed;
Let me Thy loving servant be And taste Thy promised rest,
And taste Thy promised rest.
Lord Jesus, think on me Nor let me go astray;
Through darkness and perplexity Point Thou the heavenly way.
Lord Jesus, think on me That, when the flood is past,
I may the eternal brightness see, And share Thy joy at last.
In Thy Presence Kneeling - Milton Dieterich
(c.1948, Clayton Summy Co.)
Milton Dietrich was an American composer who lived in Wisconsin. He wrote both choral and band music. “In Thy Presence Kneeling” was written for the choir of Ascension Lutheran Church in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In Thy presence kneeling, Humbled by the thought of Thy greatness,
We come, we come to Thee, Father of all mercies,
Asking thy blessing, forgiveness, and peace.
We would be like Thee, We would be like Thee, O God.
Born of Thy Spirit, Weak though we are,
We would be like Thee, like Thee, o God.
Hear us we pray, O our God.
In Thy presence kneeling, Humbled by the thought of Thy greatness,
We come, We come to Thee, Father of all mercies,
Asking Thy blessing, forgiveness and peace.
Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.
About the Hymns:
Come and Find the Quiet Center
(c.1992, Hope Publishing)
Shirley Erena Murray (b. 1931) is a hymn text writer, born in Invercargill, New Zealand in 1931. Her texts have appeared in more than 100 collections worldwide and have been translated into several languages. She has been an editor with the New Zealand Hymnbook Trust and received international acclaim for her writing, including being made a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music (2006) and becoming a Member of the NZ Order of Merit (2001) for services to the community through hymn writing. She is the first citizen to be so honored. Most recently, she has been honored by the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada at its July 2009 annual conference by being named a Fellow of the Society in recognition of her contributions as a hymn writer to the international community of congregational song. Her hymns and carols address a wide spectrum of themes ranging from the seasons of the Church year to human rights, care of creation, women's concerns and above all, peace. Methodist by upbringing, and ecumenical by persuasion, she has spent most of her life as a Presbyterian.
Since it was first published in 1992 and after its inclusion in The Faith We Sing (FWS) in 2000, Murray’s popular “Come and Find the Quiet Center” has become a touchstone of peace and spiritual calm for many faith communities. The text of the hymn has found its way into informational pamphlets about labyrinth walks and prayer gardens, chapel dedications, personal devotional materials, and many worship services. We are not called to live in isolation with our peace and calm but to share the fullness of life’s experiences with others on the journey. By sharing in the pain, joy and fear of life, there is a “place for deepest dreaming” and, with the Spirit, “there is always room to share.” Murray speaks of the gift of peace within the chaos but then asks us to draw strength from that peace, that connection with the Spirit, to face the challenges and triumphs of the Christian journey.
Benjamin F. White (1800-1879), was coeditor of The Sacred Harp (1844). He came from a family of fourteen children and was largely self-taught. Eventually White became a popular singing-school teacher and editor of the weekly Harris County newspaper. BEACH SPRING was first published in the 1844 edition. Paired there with a text beginning "Come, ye sinners, poor and needy," it has served as accompaniment for various other hymn texts since. Although attributed to White, the pentatonic tune is likely of folk origin.
Come and find the quiet center in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter, find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter, clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter, be at peace, and simply be.
Silence is a friend who claims us, cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us, knows our being, touches base,
making space within our thinking, lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we’re shrinking, finding scope for faith begun.
In the Spirit let us travel, open to each other’s pain,
let our loves and fears unravel, celebrate the space we gain:
there’s a place for deepest dreaming, there’s a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit’s lively scheming there is always room to spare!
Sing Out! We're Made of Common Dust
(c.2018 by Carolyn Winfrey Gillette)
Carolyn Winfrey Gillette has been a pastor in rural, small town, suburban, and city churches; she has also served as a hospice chaplain, a hospital chaplain, and a school bus aide helping children with special needs. Carolyn is a gifted hymn writer who has written over 400 hymns. These hymns have been sung by congregations throughout the United States and around the world — from the Washington National Cathedral to St. Giles' Cathedral in Edinburgh, Scotland to St. George's Cathedral in Cape Town, South Africa to small town churches and small household congregations; they have also been sung at national church and international ecumenical meetings. Carolyn is a graduate of Lebanon Valley College and Princeton Theological Seminary.
Derived from the fourth piano piece in Robert A. Schumann's Nachtstücke, Opus 23 (1839), CANONBURY first appeared as a hymn tune in J. Ireland Tucker's Hymnal with Tunes, Old and New (1872). The tune’s title refers to a street and square in Islington, London, England.
“Sing out! We’re made of common dust” is based on Genesis 3:19.
Sing out! We're made of common dust; One day, to dust we shall return!
Yet, God, you've placed your mark on us And so for you our spirits yearn.
This gift of ashes we receive Reminds us we belong to you.
You call us to repent, believe, and seek your Way in all we do.
The dust and dirt of children's play, of youthful times, of working years
Are part of life — and life's decay; We wash the dust with sorrow's tears.
We sing, O God, of what you give: This ash reminds us we are yours.
In life we're claimed, in death we live! In Christ our life, your love endures.
Give Me a Clean Heart
(c.1970, Margaret P. Douroux)
A song that captures the essence of the confessional spirit of Ash Wednesday both in its text and music is Margaret Pleasant Douroux's "Give Me a Clean Heart," inspired by Psalm 51:10. The Faith We Sing contains only the refrain. Dr. Douroux also has written stanzas to this refrain.
A Californian, Dr. Douroux (b. 1941) is a pioneer in the gospel music tradition. "Give Me a Clean Heart" (1970) was her first composition. More than 200 have followed. Dr. Douroux comes from a family that appreciated gospel music. In an interview granted in 2005, she notes that "both my father and mother, Rev. and Mrs. Earl A. Pleasant, are mentioned in the Smithsonian Archives as being pioneers of West Coast Gospel Music. They were my strongest mentors." Her father was a singer who toured with Mahalia Jackson. Following this Mr. Pleasant founded the Mount Moriah Baptist Church near the Coliseum in Los Angeles. Her mother, Olga, took on musical leadership at the church, organized choirs and taught all six children -- five daughters and one son -- to play the piano. Margaret was a shy organist, but took on more choral leadership in the 1960s, eventually succeeding her mentor at the church, Thurston G. Frazier.
When she wrote her first song, "Give Me a Clean Heart," Frazier introduced it at a national gospel song convention. It was composed soon after Margaret's father had died. Even though he had founded Mount Moriah Church, many people had been unkind to the family after his death, wanting them to move out of the manse with no place to go. In her prayers to God, she asked how she might respond to the ungratefulness of the congregation. Dr. Douroux heard God's response: “God said that he would give me a clean heart.”
Dr. Douroux holds a bachelor's degree in music from California State University, Los Angeles, and masters and doctoral degrees in education, working as an educational psychologist in the Los Angeles schools. She has been honored by the McDonald's Corporation with the Golden Circle Award for Lifetime Achievements made to Gospel Music. As the founder and CEO of the non-profit The Heritage Musical Foundation (www.hmrgospel.com), she has taken up the cause of promoting and preserving the African-American gospel music tradition.
I’m not asking for the riches of the land,
I’m not asking for high men to know my name.
Please Lord give me a clean heart, so that I may follow thee.
Give me a clean heart, a clean heart, and I’ll follow thee.
Sometimes I am up and sometimes I am down.
Sometimes I am almost level to the ground.
Please Lord give me a clean heart, so that I may follow thee.
Give me a clean heart, a clean heart, and I’ll follow thee.
Refrain:
Give me a clean heart, so I may serve thee.
Lord fix my heart, so that I may be used by thee.
For I’m not worthy, of all these blessings.
Give me a clean heart, and I’ll follow thee.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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