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:
Veni Creator - Robin Rokey
(c.1977, Robin Rokey)
Veni Creator Spiritus ("Come Creator Spirit") is a hymn believed to have been written by Rabanus Maurus in the 9th century. When the original Latin text is used, it is normally sung in Gregorian Chant. As an invocation of the Holy Spirit, in the practice of the Roman Catholic Church it is sung during the liturgical celebration of the feast of Pentecost (at both Terce and Vespers). It is also sung at occasions such as the entrance of Cardinals to the Sistine Chapel, when electing a new pope, as well as at the consecration of bishops, the ordination of priests, when celebrating the sacrament of Confirmation, the dedication of churches, the celebration of synods or councils, the coronation of kings, the profession of members of religious institutes and other similar solemn events.
Since the English Reformation in the 16th century, there have been more than fifty English language translations and paraphrases of Veni Creator Spiritus. The version included in the 1662 revision of the Book of Common Prayer retained the Latin title and was written by Bishop John Cosin for the coronation of King Charles I of Great Britain in 1625. The same words have been used at every coronation since, and is sung by the choir after the singing of the Creed, while the sovereign is dressed in a white alb and seated in the Coronation Chair, prior to the Anointing. The first verse is:
Come, Holy Ghost, our souls inspire,
and lighten with celestial fire.
Thou the anointing Spirit art,
who dost thy sevenfold gifts impart.
Another well known version by the poet John Dryden was first published in his 1693 work, Examen Poeticum. It may be sung to the tune "Melita" by John Bacchus Dykes. Dryden's first verse is:
Creator Spirit, by whose aid
The world's foundations first were laid,
Come, visit every pious mind;
Come, pour thy joys on humankind;
From sin and sorrow set us free,
And make thy temples worthy thee.
Robin Rokey (1950-2020) served as organist for Ebbert Memorial Methodist in Springfield, Oregon for 14 years, until a congenital illness forced him to retire, Robin nevertheless continued to be active in music as a composer. Named Outstanding Musician in 1968 at Thurston High School during his Senior year, Robin went on to publish many compositions, including five self-published collections, and 13 individual pieces appearing in the Organist’s Companion.
Komm, o komm, du Geist des Lebens - Max Reger
(c.1931, Ed Boto & G. Bock, Berlin)
Heinrich Held (1620-1659) studied law at the Universities of Königsberg, Frankfurt a. Oder, and Leyden. He practiced law in Silesia until his death. One of the best Silesian hymnwriters, he suffered many hardships due to wars. His only extant poetical work is his Deutscher Gedichte Vortrab, Frankfurt a. Oder, 1643. Only one hymn from that volume came into German use. Much more important are his other hymns, which are known to us through Crüger's Praxis, and other hymnbooks of the period.
Komm, o Komm, du Geist des Lebens is a fine hymn of Invocation to the Holy Spirit. In Luppius's Andächtig singender Christen Mund, 1692, it is entitled "Devout Prayer and Hymn to God the Holy Ghost." It is sometimes erroneously ascribed to Joachim Neander.
Come, oh, come, Thou quick'ning Spirit, God from all eternity!
May Thy power never fail us; Dwell within us constantly.
Then shall truth and life and light Banish all the gloom of night.
Grant our hearts in fullest measure Wisdom, counsel, purity,
That they ever may be seeking Only that which pleaseth Thee.
Let Thy knowledge spread and grow, Working error's overthrow.
Show us, Lord, the path of blessing; When we trespass on our way,
Cast, O Lord, our sins behind Thee And be with us day by day.
Should we stray, O Lord, recall; Work repentance when we fall.
With our spirit bear Thou witness That we are the sons of God
Who rely upon Him solely When we pass beneath the rod;
For we know, as children should, That the cross is for our good.
Prompt us, Lord, to come before Him With a childlike heart to pray;
Sigh in us, O Holy Spirit, When we know not what to say.
Then our prayer is not in vain, And our faith new strength shall gain.
If our soul can find no comfort And despondency grows strong
That the heart cries out in anguish: "O my God, how long, how long?"
Comfort then the aching breast, Grant it courage, patience, rest.
Holy Spirit, strong and mighty, Thou who makest all things new,
Make Thy work within us perfect And the evil foe subdue.
Grant us weapons for the strife And with vict'ry crown our life.
Guard, O God, our faith forever; Let not Satan, death, or shame
Ever part us from our Savior; "Lord our Refuge" is Thy name.
Though our flesh cry ever: Nay! Be Thy Word to us still Yea!
And when life's frail thread is breaking, Then assure us more and more,
As the heirs of life unending, Of the glory there in store,
Glory never yet expressed, Glory of the saints at rest.
The celebrated German composer Johann Baptist Joseph Maximilian Reger (1873-1916), was the son of a school-teacher and amateur musician, who gave him instruction on the piano organ, and various string instruments. In 1874 the family moved to Weiden, where he studied organ and theory with Adalbert Lindner. He then attended the teacher-training college; after visiting the Bayreuth Festival in 1888, he decided on a career in music. He went to Sondershausen to study with Riemann in 1890, and continued as his pupil in Wiesbaden (1890-1893). From 1890 to 1896, Max Reger was active as a teacher of piano, organ, andtheory. Following military service, he returned to Weiden in 1898 and wrote a number of his finest works for organ. He went to Munich in 1901, first gaining general recognition as a pianist and later as a composer. He was professor of counterpoint at the Königliche Akademie der Tonkünst. He went to Leipzig as music director of the University and as professor of composition at the Conservatory.
Max Reger’s fame as a composer was enhanced by his successful tours as a soloist and conductor in Germany and throughout Europe. Reger was an extraordinarily gifted musician, widely respected as a composer, pianist, organist, conductor, and teacher. A master of polyphonic and harmonic writing, he carried on the hallowed Classical and Romantic schools of composition. Although he wrote major works in nearly every genre, he is best known for his organ compositions.
About the Choral Music:
Vox Spiritus (The Voice of the Spirit) - Brad Nix
(c.2022, Hal Leonard)
Brad Nix currently serves as Associate Professor of Piano and Chair of the Music Department at Sterling College, located in Sterling, KS. His responsibilities include overseeing the department, teaching applied and group piano, music theory, aural skills, and arranging. He has also taught music appreciation, music history, and piano pedagogy. Brad received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Piano Performance from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Brad remains an active recitalist, pedagogue, and freelance pianist. He makes frequent appearances as an adjudicator for local and statewide piano competitions and recently acted as the Georgia State Chair of the Music Teachers National Association Senior Performance Competitions.
This soundscape of shimmering tones expresses the mystery and majesty of the Holy Spirit. Clustered harmonies and text painting in the choral parts create a sonic impact, describing the music of the divine.
Vox Spiritus. Vox Spiritus.
The Spirit sings in mystery, in secret groans and noble themes,
with tones of sacred harmony.
Vox Spiritus, Vox Spiritus, Vox Spiritus.
Beyond our hearing, beyond our knowing,
each yearning prayer to God made known.
Each prayer is precious, each hope is cherished,
each longing heart is lifted up to the throne.
lifted to the throne.
Like a wandering wind, a graceful dove,
a surging wave, a sigh of love.
Like a wandering wind, a graceful dove,
a surging wave, a sigh of love.
Like a wandering wind, a graceful dove,
a surging wave, a sigh of love, a sigh of love,
a surging wave, a sigh of love, a sigh of love.
The Spirit sings in mystery, in secret groans and noble themes,
with tones of sacred harmony.
Vox Spiritus, Vox Spiritus, Vox Spiritus.
Vox Spiritus, Vox Spiritus, Vox Spiritus,
Vox Spiritus, Vox Spiritus, Vox Spiritus.
About the Hymns:
O Spirit of the Living God
Henry Hallam Tweedy (1868-1953) hailed from the northeast, born in Binghamton, N.Y. He was granted degrees from Phillips Andover Academy, Yale University, Union Theological Seminary and the University of Berlin. A Congregational pastor, he served churches in New York and Connecticut, and later taught practical theology from 1909-1937 at Yale Divinity School. He co-authored several books, including Training the Devotional Life (1919) and Religious Training in School and Home (1917). His most important contribution, however, was as editor of the hymnal Christian Worship and Praise (1939).
In addition to editing a hymnal, Tweedy published a practical volume, The Minister and His Hymnal, and won several hymn contests sponsored by the Homiletic Review and the Hymn Society of America.
Tweedy said he composed “O Spirit of the Living God” because “some of the old Pentecostal hymns were to me unsatisfactory, and I was eager to interpret the symbolism of the story in Acts in a way that modern men could understand and sincerely mean.” The text is an exposition of Acts 2, a passage focused on Pentecost. The hymn was first published in the Methodist Hymnal (1935).
FOREST GREEN is an English folk tune associated with the ballad "The Ploughboy's Dream." Ralph Vaughan Williams turned FOREST GREEN into a hymn tune for The English Hymnal (1906), using it as a setting for "O Little Town of Bethlehem.”
O Spirit of the living God, thou light and fire divine,
descend upon thy church once more, and make it truly thine.
Fill it with love and joy and power, with righteousness and peace;
till Christ shall dwell in human hearts, and sin and sorrow cease.
Blow, wind of God! With wisdom blow until our minds are free
from mists of error, clouds of doubt, which blind our eyes to thee.
Burn, winged fire! Inspire our lips with flaming love and zeal,
to preach to all thy great good news, God's glorious commonweal.
Teach us to utter living words of truth which all may hear,
the language all may understand when love speaks loud and clear;
till every age and race and clime shall blend their creeds in one,
and earth shall form one family by whom thy will is done.
So shall we know the power of Christ who came this world to save;
so shall we rise with him to life which soars beyond the grave;
and earth shall win true holiness, which makes thy children whole;
till, perfected by thee, we reach creation's glorious goal!
Holy Spirit, Truth Divine
Samuel Longfellow (b. Portland, ME, 1819; d. Portland, 1892) wrote this text with the heading "Prayer for Inspiration." It was published in the Unitarian hymnal Hymns of the Spirit in 1864. Like "O Come, O Come, Immanuel" (328), this text is a catalog: it lists attributes of the Holy Spirit in successive stanzas. The text is a prayer that the application of the Spirit's attributes may result in more vibrant Christian living, which will then be manifest in discernment of God's will (st. 1), holiness and purity (st. 2), courageous servanthood (st. 3), obedience to God's rule (st. 4), peace and restfulness (st. 5), and the experience of joy (st. 6). The final stanza alludes to Numbers 21:17 ("song of the well") and to John 4:10 ("living water"). Note that this hymn addresses the Holy Spirit without any reference to the Trinity, a Unitarian position that should not, however, hamper its use.
Samuel Longfellow is not as famous as his brother, poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, about whom he wrote a biography that was published in 1886. In his time, however, Samuel was well known as a Unitarian preacher and hymn writer. Educated at Harvard College and Harvard Divinity School, he became a minister in 1848 and served Unitarian congregations in Fall River, Massachusetts (1848-1851), Brooklyn, New York (1853-1860), and Germantown, Pennsylvania (1860-1883). With Samuel Johnson he compiled two hymnals: A Book of Hymns for Public and Private Devotion (1846) and Hymns of the Spirit (1864). He also published a number of his hymn texts in A Book of Hymns and Tunes (1860).
The hymn tune CANTERBURY is adapted from SONG 13. Orlando Gibbons composed SONG 13 in soprano and bass parts. Used as a setting for a text from the Song of Songs, the tune was published in George Withers' Hymnes and Songs of the Church (1623) as hymn number 13 (hence the tune name). In hymnals, the melody is presented in a simplified isorhythmic (all equal rhythms) form; the more rhythmically varied original also had more notes and was better suited to solo singing.
Orlando Gibbons (1583-1625) was an English Rennaissance composer, virginalist and organist of the Elizabethan (late Tudor) and early Jacobean periods. Gibbons was the leading composer in early 17th century England and a pivotal transitional figure from the end of the Renaissance to the beginning of the Baroque era. He was praised in his time by a visit in 1624 from the French ambassador, Charles de L'Aubespine, who stated upon entering Westminster Abbey that “At the entrance, the organ was touched by the best finger of that age, Mr. Orlando Gibbons." Musicologist and composer, Frederick Ouseley, dubbed him to be the "English Palestrina”. Gibbons paved the way for a future generation of English composers by perfecting the Byrd's foundations of the English madrigal as well as both full and verse anthems, and especially by teaching music to his oldest son, Christopher, who in turn taught John Blow, Pelham Humfrey and most notably Henry Purcell, the English pioneer of the Baroque era.
Holy Spirit, Truth divine, dawn upon this soul of mine.
Voice of God, and inward Light, wake my spirit, clear my sight.
Holy Spirit, Love divine, glow within this heart of mine.
Kindle ev’ry high desire, purify me with your fire.
Holy Spirit, Pow’r divine, fill and nerve this will of mine.
Boldly may I always live, bravely serve and gladly give.
Holy Spirit, Law divine, reign within this soul of mine.
Be my law and I shall be firmly bound, forever free.
Holy Spirit, Peace divine, still this restless heart of mine.
Speak to calm this tossing sea, grant me your tranquility.
Holy Spirit, Joy divine, gladden now this heart of mine.
In the desert ways I sing, spring, O living Water, spring!
O Lord, Hear My Prayer
(c.1984, Les Presses de Taize, admin by GIA Publications)
Jacques Berthier (1923-1994) was a French composer of liturgical music, best known for writing much of the music used at Taizé. Berthier was born in Auxerre, Burgundy; both of his parents were musicians. His father Paul was the kapellmeister and organist at the Auxerre Cathedral and his mother Geneviève Parquin was a composer. Learning first from his parents, Berthier was trained in music at the École César Franck in Paris. In 1955, Berthier was first asked to compose music for the Taizé Community, which was then just a monastic community of twenty brothers. Six years later he became organist at the Church of the Jesuits in Paris, Saint-Ignace, where he worked until his death. In 1975, Berthier was again asked to compose for Taizé, this time for chants to be sung by the increasing numbers of young people coming to worship there. Over nearly twenty years, Berthier built up a body of church music that has been utilized around the world. In 2006, the Jubilate Deo Award was granted to him posthumously.
In more than twenty years, Berthier left an important corpus (232 songs in 20 different languages) in wide use today by other communities and around the world. He is also the author of Masses for organ, a cantata in the form of the cross and a cantata for Saint Cecilia. In total, he wrote over 1,500 pieces of work.
Berthier wrote the text and music of “O Lord, Hear My Prayer” in 1991. The text is adapted from Psalm 102: 1-2.
O Lord, hear my prayer. O Lord, hear my prayer. When I call, answer me.
O Lord, hear my prayer. O Lord, hear my prayer. Come and listen to me.
The Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve
(c.1993, Delores Dufner, adm. OCP Pub)
“Let us bring to life and liturgy the gifts that differ . . . for the building up of our sisters and brothers into the one Body of Christ,” proclaims Delores Dufner in her introduction to her hymn collection, Sing a New Church. She actively motivates us in this collection to “Sing a new church into being, one in faith and love and praise.” Sister Dufner (b. 1939), a member of St. Benedict’s Monastery in St. Joseph, Minn., has published over 155 hymns in her lifetime, much to the acclaim of Alan Hommerding who named her the foremost female Roman Catholic hymn text writer in the United States in the October 2000 issue of the journal, The Hymn.
Sr. Dufner holds master’s degrees in liturgical music and liturgical studies and is a very active member of her monastery as well as the Diocese of St. Cloud, Minn. She has received several awards throughout her lifetime for her contributions to liturgy and music following Vatican II (1962-1965), from institutions such as St. Joseph’s College in Rensselaer, Ind., and the University of Notre Dame. Her work has taken her to various conventions, hymn festivals and meetings throughout the United States and the world. Music consultant work has even taken her on a 15-month journey to the Diocese of Ballarat, Victoria in Australia. Several of her texts have appeared in anthems, cantatas and even an opera/oratorio by prolific contemporary composers. One of her most famous texts is “Sing a New Church,” commissioned for the 1991 convention of the National Association of Pastoral Musicians.
Her hymnody is derived from her experiences of the Roman Catholic Church during Vatican II along with her involvement with liturgy and music. Sr. Dufner writes texts that function within Catholic liturgy, as well as texts which speak centrally from the Word of God. It was her realization that the Catholic Church was in need of English texts after the Vatican II reforms which challenged her to follow in the ways of Martin Luther. She began her hymn writing by creating texts for specific public domain tunes, free of copyright restrictions.
Her texts challenge congregations to keep the church progressing into the future and have earned her a respected presence in hymnals of several denominations throughout the world. Sr. Dufner is also known for her award-winning hymn texts centered on the Virgin Mary and her passion to speak out about women’s rights and injustices.
“The Spirit Sends Us Forth to Serve,” based on Isaiah 61:1-4 and Luke 4:16-22, highlights our Christian mission here on Earth by challenging readers to live out the gospel. Sr. Dufner’s modern English writing style is simple and dynamic, calling the assembly into vibrant prayer and action. This hymn flourishes with action verbs: bring, comfort, help, serve. Sr. Dufner cleverly reiterates the first stanza through the last stanza, as she sends the congregation forth in Jesus’ name through the working of the Holy Spirit. Her texts are often paired with familiar hymn tunes, for practical purposes and to remind us as citizens of the world of our rich ecumenical heritage shared between all. We sing tunes from the past to connect us with our past, and by pairing a fresh text with a durable and loved tune, we bridge the gaps between the past and present and become active witnesses to our evolving faith and church.
LAND OF REST is an American folk tune with ballad roots from Northern England and Scotland. It is traced back to The Christian’s Harp, published in 1832, and has associations with the Appalachians as a shape note tune. Previously assigned the title NEW PROSPECT in the 1844 edition of The Sacred Harp, it was named LAND OF REST for its pairing with the hymn, “O Land of Rest! For Thee I Sigh.” Annabel Morris Buchanan is responsible for the common harmonization of this tune, as she published it in her 1938 Folk Hymns of America.
The spirit sends us forth to serve; we go in Jesus' name
to bring glad tidings to the poor, God's favor to proclaim.
We go to comfort those who mourn and set the burdened free:
where hope is dim, to share a dream and help the blind to see.
We go to be the hands of Christ, to scatter joy like seed
and all our days, to cherish life, to do the loving deed.
Then let us go to serve in peace, the Gospel to proclaim.
God's Spirit has empowered us; we go in Jesus' name.
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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