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 Vocal Solo Music:
Make Me a Channel of Your Peace - Mark Hayes
(c.1967, OCP Publications)
The so-called Prayer of Saint Francis, also known as the Peace Prayer or Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace, is a widely known Christian prayer. Often wrongly attributed to the 13th-century saint Francis of Assisi, the prayer in its present form cannot be traced back further than 1912, when it was printed in Paris in French, in a small spiritual magazine called La Clochette (The Little Bell), published by La Ligue de la Sainte-Messe (The League of the Holy Mass). The author's name was not given, although it may have been the founder of La Ligue, Fr. Esther Bouquerel. A professor at the University of Orleans in France, Dr. Christian Renoux, published a study of the prayer and its history in French in 2001. Around 1920, a French Franciscan priest printed the prayer on the back of an image of St. Francis, without attribution. The prayer has been known in the United States since 1927, when its first known English translation appeared in the Quaker magazine Friends' Intelligencer under the mistaken title "A prayer of St. Francis of Assissi". Senator Albert W. Hawkes and the saint's namesake Cardinal Francis Spellman distributed millions of copies of the prayer during and just after World War II.
The prayer has similarities to this saying of Blessed Giles of Assisi, one of the companions of St. Francis:
Blessed is he who loves and does not therefore desire to be loved; blessed is he who fears and does not therefore desire to be feared; blessed is he who serves and does not therefore desire to be served; blessed is he who behaves well toward others and does not desire that others behave well toward him; and because these are great things, the foolish do not rise to them.
A popular hymn version of the prayer is "Make Me A Channel of Your Peace", adapted and set to music in 1967 by South African songwriter Sebastian Temple (Johann Sebastian von Tempelhoff, 1928-1997). It is an anthem of the Royal British Legion and is usually sung every November at the Service of Remembrance at Royal Albert Hall, London. In 1997, it was part of the Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was sung by Sinéad O'Connor on the Princess Diana tribute album.
Make me a channel of your peace.
Where there is hatred, let me bring your love.
Where there is injury, your pardon, Lord,
And where there's doubt, true faith in you.
Make me a channel of Your peace.
Where there’s despair in life, let me bring hope,
Where there is darkness, only light,
And where there’s sadness, ever joy.
Oh, master, grant that I may never seek
So much to be consoled as to console,
To be understood as to understand,
To be loved, as to love, with all my soul.
Make me a channel of your peace.
It is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
In giving of ourselves that we receive,
And in dying that we're born to eternal life.
And in dying that we’re born to eternal life,
Eternal life, eternal life.
Mark Hayes is an award-winning concert pianist, composer, arranger and conductor. His personal catalog, totaling over 1,000 published works, includes work for solo voice, solo piano, multiple pianos, orchestra, jazz combo, small instrumental ensembles, and choruses of all kinds. Mark received a Bachelor of Music degree summa cum laude in Piano Performance from Baylor University in 1975. He has conducted the SWACDA and MCDA Community and Church Honor Choir, and served as guest conductor at Carnegie Hall, featuring his Te Deum and Magnificat. In 2010, Baylor University Center for Christian Music Studies awarded Mark the Award for Exemplary Leadership in Christian Music. Mark arranged and orchestrated the music for Civil War Voices, which won six awards including "Best Musical" in the 2010 Midtown International Theatre Festival in New York. He conducted the world premiere of his work for chorus, orchestra and narrator, The American Spirit, at Lincoln Center in May 2011 and the world premiere of his Requiem in Lincoln Center in May 2013. Whether concertizing on the other side of the globe or composing at his home in Kansas City, Missouri, Mark is blessed to live out his mission "to create beautiful music for the world”.
About the Hymns:
Trust and Obey
This hymn was inspired in 1886 when the composer of the music, Daniel B. Towner (1850-1919), was the music leader during one of Dwight L. Moody’s famous revivals. Towner provided the following account cited by Moody’s musical partner, Ira D. Sankey, in his biography, My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns: “Mr. Moody was conducting a series of meetings in Brockton, Massachusetts, and I had the pleasure of singing for him there. One night a young man rose in a testimony meeting and said, ‘I am not quite sure—but I am going to trust, and I am going to obey.’ I just jotted that sentence down, and sent it with a little story to the Rev. J. H. Sammis, a Presbyterian minister. He wrote the hymn, and the tune was born.”
Sammis is said to have composed the lines of the refrain upon receiving the letter:
“Trust and obey—for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
As is the case with most gospel songs, these lines provide the central theme around which all of the stanzas were written. The text and first Towner’s tune, TRUST AND OBEY, appeared in the 1887 collection, Hymns Old and New, and has been included in countless hymnals since. Methodist hymnals in the United States have carried it since 1897.
When we walk with the Lord in the light of his word,
what a glory he sheds on our way!
While we do his good will, he abides with us still,
and with all who will trust and obey.
Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share,
but our toil he doth richly repay;
not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross,
but is blest if we trust and obey.
But we never can prove the delights of his love
until all on the altar we lay;
for the favor he shows, for the joy he bestows,
are for them who will trust and obey.
Then in fellowship sweet we will sit at his feet,
or we'll walk by his side in the way;
what he says we will do, where he sends we will go;
never fear, only trust and obey.
Refrain:
Trust and obey, for there's no other way
to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.
About the Modern Band Music:
Soul On Fire - Brenton Brown and Matt Maher
(c.2015, Songs From The Quarry; Thankyou Music, and Sony/ATV Tree Publishing)
"Soul on Fire" is a hit Christian worship song by the band Third Day. It was written by Brenton Brown and Matt Maher. The song serves as a spiritual anthem about returning to the excitement of first falling in love with God and letting faith guide your life's purpose. The song was originally just a chorus written by Brenton Brown. On the very last day of recording their 2015 album Lead Us Back, Third Day's producer suggested they needed an upbeat, catchy song. The band contacted Brown and then brought in Matt Maher to help write the verses. The entire verse was written and finished in just 30 to 60 minutes, quickly becoming one of the standout tracks on their album. Lyrically, the song was crafted as a cry for spiritual renewal. It captures the feeling of a believer longing to reclaim the unbridled passion, energy, and fervor they experienced when they first found their faith. The lyrics express a desire to seek God first, even when life gets overwhelming, and to let His spirit burn away personal distractions.
God I'm running for Your heart, I'm running for Your heart
'Til I am a soul on fire. Lord I'm longing for Your ways;
I'm waiting for the day When I am a soul on fire, 'Til I am a soul on fire
God I'm running for Your heart, I’m running for Your heart
'Til I am a soul on fire. Lord I'm longing for Your ways;
I'm waiting for the day When I am a soul on fire, ’Til I am a soul on fire
Lord restore the joy I had. I have wandered bring me back
In this darkness lead me through Until all I see.. is.. You yeah
God I'm running for Your heart, I’m running for Your heart
'Til I am a soul on fire. Lord I'm longing for Your ways
I'm waiting for the day When I am a soul on fire, ’Til I am a soul on fire
Lord let me burn for You again, Let me return to You again
Lord let me burn for You again, Let me return to You again
God I'm running for Your heart, I’m running for Your heart
'Til I am a soul on fire. Lord I'm longing for Your ways
I'm waiting for the day When I am a soul on fire, ’Til I am a soul on fire
'Til I am a soul on fire
First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas
A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus
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