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 Handbell Music:
For the Beauty of the Earth/Gift of Love/Morning Has Broken
Folliott Piermont (1835-1917) was born in Bath, England and was a lay member of the Anglican Church. Following his graduation from Queen's College, Cambridge, he taught the classics for a time at Somerset College, later becoming a freelance writer. During his 82 years of life, Pierpoint published seven volumes of poems and hymn texts, many of them showing his love for nature. He is most remembered for this beautiful hymn, For the Beauty of the Earth.
Piermont was about 29 years old when he wrote the text for this joyful hymn. It was a lovely day in late spring. While enjoying the surrounding area of his native city of Bath, in England, he was inspired by the beautiful countryside with its winding cool and peaceful river, Avon, in the distance. The tuneful songbirds, the wind whispering over a vibrantly colored hillside, all seemed to be praising the Creator with their unrestrained gladness and peace. Overwhelmed with emotion, he expressed his feelings of gratitude in the penning of this sacred song. The text was inspired by Hebrews 13:15: "By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name." It first appeared in 1864 in a book of Eucharistic hymns and poems entitled Lyra Eucharistica, Hymns and Verses on The Holy Communion, Ancient and Modern, with other Poems with the title "The Sacrifice of Praise".
An early form of the tune DIX was composed by Conrad Kocher (1786-1872). Trained as a teacher, Kocher moved from Germany to St. Petersburg, Russia, to work as a tutor at the age of seventeen. But his love for the music of Haydn and Mozart impelled him to a career in music. He moved back to Germany in 1811, settled in Stuttgart, and remained there for most of his life. The prestigious Cotta music firm published some of his early compositions and sent him to study music in Italy, where he came under the influence of Palestrina's music. In 1821 Kocher founded the School for Sacred Song in Stuttgart, which popularized four-part singing in the churches of that region. He was organist and choir director at the Striftsckirche in Stuttgart from 1827 to 1865. Kocher wrote a treatise on church music, Die Tonkunst in der Kirche (1823), collected a large number of chorales in Zions Harfe (1855), and composed an oratorio, two operas, and some sonatas. William H. Monk created the current form of DIX by revising and shortening Conrad Kocher's chorale melody for “Treuer Heiland, wir sind hir,” found in Kocher's Stimmen aus den Reiche Gottes (1838). Monk's tune was published in the 1861 edition of Hymns Ancient and Modern, of which Monk was music editor.
For the beauty of the earth, for the glory of the skies,
for the love which from our birth over and around us lies.
For the wonder of each hour of the day and of the night,
hill and vale and tree and flower, sun and moon and stars of light,
For the joy of ear and eye, for the heart and mind’s delight,
for the mystic harmony linking sense to sound and sight;
For the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child,
friends on earth, and friends above, for all gentle thoughts and mild,
For thy church, that evermore lifteth holy hands above,
offering up on every shore her pure sacrifice of love;
For Thyself, best gift divine, to the world so freely given,
for that great, great love of Thine, peace on earth, and joy in heaven.
Lord of all, to Thee we raise this, our hymn of grateful praise.
Christ, our God, to Thee we raise, this our sacrifice of praise.
Among the most prominent New Testament texts is the discourse on love found in I Corinthians 13. Hal H. Hopson has paraphrased part of this beautiful text in what has become one of the most popular late 20th-century hymns, appearing in many major hymnals published in the U.S. since 1980. "The Gift of Love" first appeared as a very popular anthem in 1972. Both the text and the music are effective paraphrases -- the text of I Corinthians 13:1-3 and the melody as an adaptation of the beautiful folk melody "O Waly, Waly." The original tune was collected by American folksong specialist Cecil Sharp and published in his Folk Songs from Somerset (1906). "The Gift of Love" is very flexible and, according to Hope Publishing Co., is Mr. Hopson's most popular composition -- widely used as an anthem, solo and as a hymn. Speaking of the popularity of his hymn, Hopson said: "The first 'Gift of Love' was a two-part choral arrangement. Years later, at the suggestion of George Shorney at Hope Publishing Company, I cast it in a form to be used as a congregational hymn. Since then it has become a standard hymn to be included in many hymnals. It is noteworthy that The United Methodist Hymnal, 1989, was the first hymnal that included 'The Gift of Love.' I was once surprised to be introduced at a seminar as the Gift-of-Love-Man."
Mr. Hopson (b. 1933) is a native of Mound, Texas, and now resides in Dallas. He has an international reputation as a clinician and composer, and has published more than 1,300 compositions, which comprise almost every musical form in church music. With a special interest in congregational song, he continues to make a significant contribution to the new repertoire of hymn tunes and responsorial psalm settings as evidenced by the proliferation of his settings that are included in newly published hymnals and psalm collections.
Though I may speak with bravest fire,
And have the gift to all inspire,
And have not love; my words are vain
As sounding brass and hopeless gain.
Though I may give all I possess,
And striving so my love profess,
But not be given by love within,
The profit soon turns strangely thin.
Come, Spirit come, our hearts control.
Our spirits long to be made whole.
Let inward love guide every deed.
By this we worship and are freed.
Amen.
"Morning Has Broken" was first published in 1931 in Songs of Praise. It was written by English author Eleanor Farjeon (1881-1965) and set to a traditional Scottish Gaelic tune known as BUNESSAN. In Songs of Praise Discussed, the editor, Percy Dearmer, explains that as there was need for a hymn to give thanks for each day, English poet and children's author Eleanor Farjeon had been "asked to make a poem to fit the lovely Scottish tune". A slight variation on the original hymn, also written by Eleanor Farjeon, can be found in the form of a poem contributed to the anthology Children's Bells, under Farjeon's new title, "A Morning Song (For the First Day of Spring)", published by Oxford University Press in 1957. English pop musician and folk singer Cat Stevens (known as Yusuf Islam since 1978) included a version on his 1971 album “Teaser and the Firecat”. The song became identified with Stevens when it reached number six on the US “Billboard” Hot 100 and number one on the US easy listening chart in 1972.
Farjeon was born in London, England. She came from a literary family and was an author of children’s stories and plays, among numerous other literary pursuits. Known as ‘Nellie’ to her immediate family, she was a sickly child who suffered from poor eyesight and educated at home. Her father encouraged her to write from the age of five. She eventually earned a living as a journalist, broadcaster, writing poetry and stories and counted among her friends the celebrated D H Lawrence and Walter de la Mare. Farjeon never married but had two long term relationships. First with an English teacher, George Earle, and after his death with the actor, Denys Blakelock. In 1951, she converted to become a Roman Catholic. She won numerous literary awards during her lifetime. The Children’s Book Circle, a society of publishers, present the Eleanor Farjeon Award annually to individuals or organizations whose commitment and contribution to children’s books is deemed to be outstanding.
Sweet as dew and drenched in sunlight, Farjeon’s lyrics are built, surprisingly, on verses found in The Book of Lamentations, written, it’s widely believed, by Jeremiah, the grieving, raging, weeping prophet. In this book of sorrows, the despairing observer lists all that is wrong with the world around him: illness, exile, hunger and misery, crime, ravage and ruin. The list sounds familiar: check out today’s news. Is there nothing new under the sun?
But, in the middle of this inventory of woe (Lamentations 3:22-23), the weeping prophet waves away clouds of doom and gloom, steps into the sunshine, and startles us with joy. Jeremiah affirms his trust in God, whose mercies are “new every morning,” and proclaims, “Great is Thy faithfulness!” These exclamations of praise arise from a litany of despair.
Knowing that this refreshing and gentle hymn was inspired by verses in Lamentations deepens our experience of it. We are reminded that our task is to awaken, not only to this day, but to the world around us, to be mindful of all of it — the beauty and the pain. This hymn calls us to be faithful to the whole of God’s wondrous, suffering creation.
Morning has broken like the first morning;
Blackbird has spoken like the first bird.
Praise for the singing, Praise for the morning,
Praise for them springing fresh from the Word.
Sweet the rain's new fall, sunlit from heaven
Like the first dew fall on the first grass.
Praise for the sweetness of the wet garden
Sprung in completeness where His feet pass.
Mine is the sunlight, Mine is the morning
Born of the One Light Eden saw play.
Praise with elation, praise every morning
God's recreation of the new day.
About the Choral Music:
Give Me Jesus - L. L. Fleming
(c.1973, Augsburg Publishing)
Give Me Jesus originated as an African-American spiritual written during the time of slavery in the United States. The lyrics of Give Me Jesus are simple, but poignant. Whether we are in tragedy or triumph, whether we are weathering storms or counting treasures, our hearts’ desire should simply be Jesus. That Give Me Jesus was written by people stripped of all dignity and every human possession says so much about what Jesus is, what He can give and His very nature!
Dr. Larry L. Fleming (1936-2003) was founder and long-time music director of the National Lutheran Choir, was a noted conductor and composer of both choral and instrumental music. A native of Cut Bank, Montana, Fleming attended Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota. After his graduation in 1960 he became the first full-time director of music at University Lutheran Church of Hope in Minneapolis, where he conducted a 65-voice choir for six years. During the same period, he taught music and liturgy at Luther Seminary in St. Paul, and served as an editorial consultant and clinician for Augsburg Publishing House. In 1966, Fleming accepted the position of Director of Choral Activities and Director of Chapel Music at Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, where he taught until 1974. He left there to study in Europe and pursue a number of composition commissions and appointments as guest conductor. In 1976, he returned to teaching, at Concordia College for three years, and then in 1979 at Augsburg College in Minneapolis.
While at Augsburg, Fleming founded the enormously popular Advent Vespers which is still held each Christmas at Central Lutheran Church in downtown Minneapolis. He also continued to study while teaching, earning a Ph.D. in musicology and music theory from the University of Minnesota. in 1986 he left Augsburg to found the National Lutheran Choir, serving as its music director until his retirement in 1999.
This setting is no. 2 in Fleming’s trilogy Three About Jesus.
O, when I am alone, O, when I am alone, O, when I am alone, give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus. You may have all the rest, give me Jesus.
O, when I come to die, O when I come to die, O, when I come to die, give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus. Your may have all the rest, give me Jesus.
And when I want to sing, and when I want to sing, and when I want to sing, give me Jesus.
Give me Jesus, Give me Jesus. You may have all the rest, give me Jesus.
And when I am alone, give me Jesus.
About the Hymns:
My Hope is Built
Edward Mote (1797-1874) falls into the rare category of hymn writers who grew up without religious training and whose parents were pub owners. He was apprenticed at a young age by his parents to a cabinetmaker, but found faith when he heard the preaching of John Hyatt at the Tottenham Court Road Chapel in London at age 15. Living in Southwark near London, he established a successful cabinet-making enterprise and became a Baptist minister in 1852, at 55 years of age. He ministered for 21 years at Strict Baptist Church in Horsham, Sussex.
Singing hymns was of great interest to him. The master cabinetmaker became a prolific hymn writer, composing more than 100 hymns. The hymn "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" was published anonymously in several hymn collections before first being attributed to Edward Mote in a collection of approximately 100 of his hymns published in 1837 under the title Hymns of Praise, A New Selection of Gospel Hymns, Combining All the Excellencies of our Spiritual Poets, with Many Originals. Hymnologists note that this is the first time the now common term “gospel hymn” appears. Mote's original title was "The Immutable Basis for a Sinner's Hope" in this collection. The refrain of "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less" refers to the Parable of the Wise and the Foolish Builders and builds around the metaphor of Christ as a rock with a firm basis (1 Corinthians 10:4).
The Sunday school hymn writer William B. Bradbury composed SOLID ROCK in 1863 for Edward Mote's "My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less." The tune name derives from that song's refrain: "On Christ, the solid rock, I stand. . . .” Bradbury published SOLID ROCK in his 1864 children's collection The Golden Censor.
My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
In ev’ry rough and stormy gale, my anchor holds within the vale.
When all around my soul gives way, he then is all my hope and stay.
Not earth, nor hell, my soul can move; I rest upon unchanging love.
I trust his righteous character, his counsel, promise, and his pow’r.
When he shall come with trumpet sound, oh, may I then in him be found,
dressed in his righteousness alone, faultless to stand before the throne.
Refrain:
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand; all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
About the Modern Band Music:
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.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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