May 17, 2015

We continue our sermon series on religions of the world, which are now religions of Lewisville.  In examining our similarities and our differences, we build understanding and acceptance.  For this final week, we focus on Mormonism.

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; much of it is "borrowed" from other sources 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:

The central goal of Sabbath worship for Mormons is to partake of communion Thus, the main Sunday meeting is Sacrament Meeting, which is scheduled for 70 minutes. Typically, the sacrament consists of bread and water. A hymn is sung, and then the sacrament is passed to the congregation. The sacramental covenants renew Mormons’ covenants made at baptism: to take upon oneself the name of Christ, to always remember Him, to keep His commandments, and to witness of Him.  The remainder of the meeting is usually filled with “talks” (sermons delivered by congregants upon the previous request of the bishopric). Monthly, a talk is delivered by a representative of the “stake” (a group of parishes). The rest of the sacrament meeting consists of the singing of hymns, prayers, the bearing of testimonies, and presentations by the choir. The hymns are the basic music for worship services and are standard for all congregational singing. In addition, other appropriate selections may be used for prelude and postlude music, choir music, and special musical presentations. Organs and pianos, or their electronic equivalents, are the standard instruments used in Church meetings. Thus, the regular weekly services are very similar and familiar to other Protestants, with the exception of having multiple lay speakers rather than an ordained minister.  The hymns are also familiar, although there are many hymns that are specific to the teaching and beliefs of the Mormon church.

Reflections on “O My Father” – Franklin Eddings

"O My Father" is a Latter-day Saint hymn written by Eliza R. Snow, who felt inspired to write the lyrics after Joseph Smith had taught her the principle of heavenly parents. The hymn is significant in terms of Mormon theology in that it is one of the few direct references to a "Heavenly Mother" in materials published by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Snow wrote "O My Father" as a poem under the title "My Father in Heaven" in October 1845 in Nauvoo, Illinois. The Times and Seasons first published the words on 15 November 1845, more than a year after Joseph Smith, Jr. was killed. The poetry was later set to the music of another Christian hymn, "My Redeemer" by James McGranahan, and included in Latter-day Saint hymnals, including the current one. When a collection of Snow's poems were published in 1856, this work was placed first in the double-volume set and entitled "Invocation, or The Eternal Father and Mother".

'O My Father' is primarily a hymn of orientation. It speaks of place, habitation, sphere, wandering, residing, and dwelling. Eliza R. Snow's first-person declaration of her relationship to God through primeval past, earthly present, and eternal future becomes the personal affirmation of each one who sings the hymn.  For the past 150 years, prophets and Saints have prized the simple eloquence with which 'O My Father' captures some of the most profound truths of the eternal gospel. Eliza R. Snow's journey to a personal integration of those truths led to her writing of the hymn and later to her discovery that those truths could be drawn upon to lift up herself and her sisters. Written in 1845, at the virtual midpoint of her eighty-three-year lifetime, 'O My Father' marks a critical confluence in Eliza's life. Her faith and reason, her Nauvoo experience, and Joseph Smith's most expansive teachings fused with a new and profound spiritual witness of her connectedness to God. The poem represents the deep sense of harmony and wholeness that became Eliza's wellspring.

O my Father, thou that dwellest In the high and glorious place,
When shall I regain thy presence And again behold thy face?
In thy holy habitation, Did my spirit once reside?
In my first primeval childhood Was I nurtured near thy side?

For a wise and glorious purpose Thou hast placed me here on earth
And withheld the recollection Of my former friends and birth;
Yet ofttimes a secret something Whispered, “You’re a stranger here,”
And I felt that I had wandered From a more exalted sphere.

I had learned to call thee Father, Thru thy Spirit from on high,
But, until the key of knowledge Was restored, I knew not why.
In the heav’ns are parents single? No, the thought makes reason stare!
Truth is reason; truth eternal Tells me I’ve a mother there.

When I leave this frail existence, When I lay this mortal by,
Father, Mother, may I meet you In your royal courts on high?
Then, at length, when I’ve completed All you sent me forth to do,
With your mutual approbation Let me come and dwell with you.

Franklin Eddings (1933 – 2014), an accomplished composer and music teacher, was a fixture in Utah music circles for 60 years. Franklin Eddings brought the gift of music to thousands of piano, organ, and at one time, accordion students along the Wasatch Front. At least 35 of his top students were first place winners in statewide, BYU, and national performance competitions. He produced over 250 compositions and arrangements in his career.  A favorite student of Tabernacle organist Dr. Alexander Schreiner, Franklin Eddings' works have been performed by Mormon Tabernacle organists and shared with musicians all around the world.   Eddings has been a devoted member of the LDS Church all his life, a specialist in genealogy, and early in his career, an employee of the LDS Church Genealogy Department.

Be Thou My Vision – Franklin Ashdown

"Be Thou My Vision" (Old Irish: Rop tú mo baile or Rob tú mo bhoile) is a traditional hymn from Ireland. The most well known English version, with some minor variations, was translated by Eleanor Hull and published in 1912. In 1919, the lyrics were set to the tune of the Irish folk tune "Slane", to which the song is sung to this day, both in English and Irish. The song dates from at least the eighth century, though the text dates to the sixth-century.

The original Old Irish text, "Rop tú mo Baile" is often attributed to Saint Dallán Forgaill in the 6th century. Eochaid Mac Colla (c. 530 – 598), better known as Saint Dallan or Dallán Forgaill (Old Irish: Dallán Forchella; Latin: Dallanus Forcellius), was an early Christian Irish poet whose writings include the "Amra Choluim Chille" ("Elegy of Saint Columba") and "Rop Tú Mo Baile" ("Be Thou My Vision").  Saint Dallan was Chief Ollam of Ireland (similar to poet laureate), as well as a scholar of Latin scriptural learning. He helped to reform the Bardic Order at the Convention of Drumceat.  He reputedly wrote Amra Choluim Chille, which he completed shortly after the death of Saint Columba in 597, because Columba had successfully saved poets from expulsion from Ireland at the assembly of Druim Cett in 575. The “Amra Choluim Chille,” is the earliest Irish poem that can be dated.

"Rop tú mo Baile" had been a part of Irish monastic tradition for centuries before its setting to music. It was translated from Old Irish into English by Mary Elizabeth Byrne in Ériu (the journal of the School of Irish Learning), in 1905. The English text was first versified by Eleanor Hull, in 1912, and is now the most common text used.

Franklin Ashdown is a composer and a medical doctor, and has pursued dual careers for the past three decades. Born in 1942, he was recruited to play the organ for a local congregation at age 13.  He is a widely published composer of organ and choral music.  A resident of Alamogordo, NM, Dr. Ashdown enjoys a full life as an internist, composer, and organist-choir director for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

March – Alexander Schreiner


Alexander Schreiner (1901-1987) was one of the most noted organists of the Salt Lake Tabernacle. Born in Nuremberg, Germany, his parents joined the LDS church in 1903, and the local congregation held meetings in the family's home. Schreiner performed in public first at age five, and after he was baptized at age eight was almost immediately appointed as a Sunday School organist. In 1912 Schreiner moved with his family to Salt Lake City.  Schreiner first performed on an organ professionally during the fall of 1917 at the American Theater of Salt Lake City.  After study in Paris and work in California, in August 1938 Schreiner returned to Salt Lake City, where he resumed his position as Tabernacle Organist and chief organist at the Capitol Theatre.  From that time until 1977, Schreiner was closely involved with the Tabernacle Choir both at home and abroad. In the late 1940s, he was involved in a major rebuild of the Tabernacle Organ.

About the Choral Music:

Prayer of St. Francis – Rene Clausen

The Prayer of Saint Francis, also known as Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace, is attributed to the thirteenth-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 Holy Mass League). 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.  Summarizing the Renoux book on the prayer, an article by Egidio Picucci on the 19–20 January 2009 issue of L'Osservatore Romano says that the earliest record of the prayer is its appearance, as "a beautiful prayer to say during Mass" in the December 1912 number of the small devotional French publication La Clochette, "the bulletin of the League of the Holy Mass". In 1915, Marquis Stanislas de La Rochethulon, president of the Anglo-French association Souvenir Normand, which called itself "a work of peace and justice inspired by the testament of William the Conqueror, who is considered to be the ancestor of all the royal families of Europe", sent this prayer to Pope Benedict XV.

The Pope had an Italian translation published on the front page of L'Osservatore Romano of 20 January 1916. It appeared under the heading, "The prayer of Souvenir Normand for peace", and with the explanation: "Souvenir Normand has sent the Holy Father the text of some prayers for peace. We have pleasure in presenting in particular the prayer addressed to the Sacred Heart, inspired by the testament of William the Conqueror". On 28 January 1916, the French newspaper La Croix reprinted, in French, the Osservatore Romano article, with exactly the same heading and explanation. La Rochethulon wrote to the newspaper to clarify that it was not a prayer of Souvenir Normand, but he chose not to mention La Clochette, the first publication in which it had appeared. Because of its appearance on L'Osservatore Romano and La Croix as a prayer for peace during the First World War, this prayer then became widely known.

The prayer has been known in the United States since 1927 when its first known translation in English appeared in January of that year in the Quaker magazine Friends' Intelligencer (Philadelphia), where it was attributed to St. Francis of Assisi.   Cardinal Francis Spellman and Senator Albert W. Hawkes distributed millions of copies of the prayer during and just after World War II.

René Clausen (b. 1953) is an American composer, conductor of The Concordia Choir, and professor of music at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota.  Clausen's compositional style is varied and eclectic, and put to sacred as well as secular texts.  He has created compositions and arrangements that range over many artistic media including choral, orchestral, wind ensemble, film, video, and solo voice.  Clausen's most popular harmonies are mostly based on close dissonances such as the major and minor second.  These chords based on dissonance are also called "tone clusters".  His style is sometimes classified as Neo-Romantic but this term can mean many things.  All of his works are unmistakably tonal yet they push the boundaries of chordal language.  The traditional functions of choral progression are blurred by his use of tone clusters.

About the Hymns:

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

"Praise to the Lord, the Almighty" is a hymn based on Joachim Neander's German chorale Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, published in 1680. John Julian, in his A Dictionary of Hymnology, calls the German original "a magnificent hymn of praise to God, perhaps the finest creation of its author, and of the first rank in its class."  Neander wrote this particular hymn while dying and it says much about his faith. While contemplating the words to go along with the melody, he reflected on Psalm 103 with its claim that everything within us should praise the Father’s holy name.  It was the favorite hymn of King Frederick William III of Prussia, who first heard it in 1800.  In the Neander original, first the singer calls himself (my beloved soul) to praise God, then calls for a larger group to join the praise with musical instruments as well as song.  John Julian‍‍ '​‍s A Dictionary of Hymnology lists more than ten English translations of "Lobe den Herren" printed in various nineteenth century hymnals.

The melody used by Neander, first published in 1665, is probably based on a folk tune. The common name given to this melody is "Lobe den Herren". Several variants were published with various secular texts between 1665 to 1680, when Joachim Neander published his German hymn, Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren, using its meter. The text paraphrases Psalm 103 and Psalm 150. 

One interesting piece of history is the later use of Neander’s name. He often taught in a valley near the Düssel river, and over 100 years after his death the valley was named after him. It was in that valley that bones were later found, from which we get the name “Neanderthal.”

Where Charity and Love Prevail

Omer Westendorf (1916-1997) was one of the leading composers following the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council.  Beginning at age 20, he received his master’s degree in music at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, and for most of his professional musical career served as organist and choirmaster at St. Bonaventure Church in Cincinnati. Under his direction the Bonaventure Choir sang concerts and recorded sacred music for several decades.  One of his greatest achievements was the founding of the World Library of Sacred Music in 1950 and World Library Publications in 1957. These organizations have been primary distributors of music for the Mass in the United States and beyond.

Westendorf was also known for his lectures and seminars on sacred music, consultations on liturgical music and as a hymn writer.  Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book, 1964, was the first vernacular hymn and service book to implement the Catholic liturgies decreed by Vatican Council II. He wrote Music Lessons for the Man in the Pew to teach the art of sight reading choral music.

“Where charity and love prevail” (1961) provides an English hymn version of a 9th-century Latin hymn, “Ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est” (Where there is charity and love, God is there) based on 1 John 4:16. Traditionally, this is the final hymn on Maundy Thursday, called in the Latin tradition Mandatum novum (New Commandment), referring to the act of washing of the disciples’ feet initiated by Jesus.

Scholar H. Myron Braun comments on this ancient ritual: “[The Latin chant] is said to date from the ninth century . . . with its emphasis on community within the faith, on Christians holding one another in love and concern . . . It is appropriate for . . . [Maundy Thursday] when we note the “new commandment” that we love one another, and also several times in Eastertide when the lectionary leads us to reading on love from the Gospel and the epistles of John.”

The text draws directly on John 13:34, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” This version appeared first in Westendorf’s People’s Mass Book (1976). Before the publication of The UM Hymnal in 1989, the hymn appeared in the Supplement to the Book of Hymns (1982) with a plainsong melody.

Blessed Assurance

Fanny Jane Crosby (1820-1915), born in New York and died in Connecticut, wrote over 8,500 gospel hymns. In 1972, Hope Publishing Co. found over 1,000 unpublished manuscripts. Her work defined what it meant to be a successful writer of gospel hymns.  By the age of six weeks, Fanny Crosby was completely blind. She entered the New York School for the Blind at age twelve. She began writing hymns and poetry at age twelve.  Her collaborators in publishing gospel hymns included the most successful and popular composers of her day, including William Bradbury, William Doane, Robert Lowry, Ira Sankey, and William Kirkpatrick. Crosby used numerous pen names in publishing her songs, including: Ella Dale, Mrs. Kate Gringley and Miss Viola V. A.  She married blind musician Alexander Van Alstyne, and the British most often refer to her by her married name rather than Fanny Crosby.  She was a lifelong Methodist and her contributions to The United Methodist Hymnal (1989) include: “Blessed Assurance,” “Close to Thee,” “I Am Thine, O Lord,” “Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross,” “Pass Me Not, O Gentle Savior,” “Rescue the Perishing,” and “To God Be the Glory.”

Phoebe Knapp (March 9, 1839 – July 10, 1908) was a composer of music for hymns and an organist.  Knapp was born in New York City. Her parents were Walter C. Palmer and Phoebe Worrall Palmer.  She married Joseph Fairchild Knapp, one of the founders and the second president of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, and he had a pipe organ installed in their apartment.  She and her husband were members of the John Street Methodist Episcopal Church in New York City. The hymn writer Fanny Crosby was also a member of that church and a friend of the Phoebe’s.  She wrote over 500 hymn tunes, the most familiar being the tune now called Assurance for Fanny Crosby's lyrics “Blessed Assurance”.

Crosby was visiting her friend Phoebe Knapp as the Knapp home was having a large pipe organ installed. The organ was incomplete, so Mrs. Knapp, using the piano, played a new melody she had just composed. When Knapp asked Crosby, "What do you think the tune says?", Crosby replied, "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine."  The hymn appeared in the July 1873 issue of Palmer's Guide to Holiness and Revival Miscellany, a magazine printed by Dr. and Mrs. W. C. Palmer.  

May 10, 2015

We continue our sermon series on religions of the world, which are now religions of Lewisville.  In examining our similarities and our differences, we build understanding and acceptance.  This week our focus is on Islam.

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; much of it is "borrowed" from other sources 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:

It is widely thought that music is forbidden in Islam. Scholars cite hadith, or sayings of the Prophet Muhammad, to state that certain types of music distract from worship, and that music is a source of temptation that leads to committing other excesses and sins. Others, however, cite hadith showing that the Prophet Muhammad did permit singing, as long as the purpose of the song itself is beneficial, and the words used in the song fall within the range of permitted speech.

Both the Islamic call to prayer and the art of reciting the Qur’an have influenced artistic expression in Muslim culture. Islamic worship incorporates a form of music into worship, but not in the same way as Christian choral or organ music, for example. The call to prayer is an art form that utilizes tonal variation and rhythm in the human voice. The azhan- the call to prayer- is technically only words and not a "melody" per se, even though there is considered to be a lot of blessing in reciting it beautifully, and even though there is sort of a standard melody to the way it's recited.

Recitation of the Qur’an beautifies the words through tone, rhythm, and the shaping of the words. The living Qur’an is not only or primarily the written word. The Qur’an is first of all the recited word of God -- sounded with perfection and beauty that equals the most magnificent calligraphy. There are numerous styles of recitation that trace their origin to the teaching of Muhammad, in a direct line to the present, passed down the ages through many masters.

Music offers an interesting example of the intersections and differences between religious beliefs and culture in Muslim societies. Whatever religious scholars may have said about musical expression, every cultural and ethnic group now counted among the Muslims of the world has its musical traditions and expressions.  These traditions have been adapted to Islamic ideals, incorporating spiritual ideas and celebrating Islamic themes. They have become part of Islamic rites of passage and events such as marriages, births, and festivals. Many groups have brought their native musical instruments into the culture and retained them, as well as passing them on to others. Drums and other rhythm instruments, plucked and bowed stringed instruments, and horns and flutes, are found among the musical traditions and folk arts of Muslim peoples.  The common thread of the art of the human voice runs through Arabic and other languages such as Persian, Turkish, Urdu, and hundreds of other Asian, African, and European languages.

Instrumental music is never used in Islamic worship, but Muslim composers have written vocal and instrumental music inspired by the ideals and practices of Islam.  The styles of these works are as varied as their countries of origin.

The Call to Prayer (Allah! Hu Akbar!) – Irish Traditional

The organizational history of Islam in Ireland is complex, not least because of the immense variety of ethnic backgrounds of Irish Muslims. The first Islamic Society in Ireland was established in 1959. It was formed by students studying in Ireland and was called the Dublin Islamic Society (later called the Islamic Foundation of Ireland). In 1976 the first mosque and Islamic Centre in Ireland was opened. In 1981 the Ministry of Endowment and Islamic Affairs of Kuwait sponsored a full-time Imam for the Mosque.  In 1992, Moosajee Bhamjee became the first (and to date only) Muslim Teachta Dála (Member of Irish Parliament).

“The Call to Prayer” is not an actual sung prayer call at the beginning of worship, but rather a folk song about the importance of prayer to life in Islam.

            I hear a cry in the silent night.  Here the dawn breaks cold and grey;

            It fills my soul with strange delight, Though it sounds so far away.

            Again ‘tis heard at the noontide hour When Nature’s bright and gay

            It seems that bird and tree and flower Burst forth in roundelay.

            Again I hear it as day declines And the laborer’s task is over!

            Its echoes stir the lofty pines And above the city’s roar.

            When the sun goes down ‘tis heard again When the weary seek their rest,

            When clouds fly past, and a sound of rain Comes sobbing from the west.

            By night and day, by eve and morn, The call rings in mine ears:

            It can admonish, it can warn, Can rouse, or calm our fears.

            Allah, Hu Akbar! Comes the call.  Allah, Hu Akbar, there!

            Allah, Hu Akbur, one and all Ye faithful come to prayer!

Lied und Tanze – Otto Stoll

The majority of Russian Muslims live in the Volga-Ural region and the Northern Caucasus.  Islam first entered Russia through Dagestan from the mid 7th century it started to spread to the Northern Caucasus. By the year 641, the Muslim army under the leadership of 'Abd Rahman ibn Rabiah reached the Southern Caucasus northward after taking control of Persia and Al-Quds (Jerusalem).  The Muslim army achieved victory over the powerful Khazar Kingdom during the Umayyad rule in 737. Subsequently, the Northern Caucasus, which previously was a vassal of the Khazar Kingdom, became a part of the Umayyad Empire. And, Muslims transformed the region into an important administrative center and introduced Islam to the tribes of the Caucasus. Islam gradually established itself in the Volga basin through trade and other economic relations with the Muslim world. The Bulgar Kingdom, which existed in the Middle Volga region from the 8th century until its invasion by Mongols in 1236, recognized Islam as an official religion of the state in 922.

Otto Stoll (1889-1968)  was born in Weisenbach, Germany, of a family that had been the organists and village schoolmasters of the area for many generations.  He studied keyboard and composition with his uncle.  He attended Koniglichen Akademie der Kunste in Berlin.  He became a professer of music in Weilbueg.  His teaching and composing was cut short by Parkinson’s disease. 

In 1897,  Sergei Gavrilovich Rybakov published a collection of songs and dance of the Uralic Moslems.  These melodies intrigued Stoll, who wrote choral works, songs, chamber music, and piano pieces using motives and melodies from these songs.  This “Lied und Tanze”  (song and dance) is found in “Musik und Lieder der uralischen Muselmanen” (Music and Songs of the Muslims of the Ural Mountains).

Andalusian Dance – Paolo La Villa

Al-Andalus, also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia, was a medieval Muslim cultural domain and territory occupying at its peak most of what are today Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent, in the eighth century, southern France—Septimania—was briefly under its control. The name more generally describes parts of the Iberian Peninsula governed by Muslims (given the generic name of Moors) at various times between 711 and 1492.  Rule under these kingdoms saw a rise in cultural exchange and cooperation between Muslims and Christians.  Under the Caliphate of Córdoba, Al-Andalus was a beacon of learning, and the city of Córdoba became one of the leading cultural and economic centres in Europe and throughout the Mediterranean Basin and the Islamic world. A number of achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from Al-Andalus including major advances in trigonometry (Geber), astronomy (Arzachel), surgery (Abulcasis), pharmacology (Avenzoar), and other fields. Al-Andalus became a major educational center for Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for culture and science between the Islamic and Christian worlds.

Performance art and music theory came together in the royal courts of Al-Andalus throughout the period of Muslim rule. Ziryab whose real name was Abul-Hasan Alí Ibn Nafí, born in Iraq in 789 of North African heritage was a musician who represented the courtly arts and cultivated society. Al-Hakam, father of Abd-Al-Rahman II, invited him to court at Córdoba. Ziryab had studied music under a famous teacher in Baghdad, and he brought knowledge of music performance and knowledge to the Muslim lands of the west. He established a music conservatory in Córdoba that trained young musicians, spreading his influence to other courts. Ziryab was probably the first to introduce the lute to Spain. He changed the way it was played by adding a fifth string and using an eagle’s talon instead of a wooden pick. His talent and influence included ideas about harmony, rhythm, and composition. Scholars of music history trace many later styles of song composition and performance to Ziryab. Certainly, his influence brought eastern styles as well as classical Greek and Arab musical ideas to Al-Andalus, but once there, they combined with North African and indigenous Iberian styles over time to create a distinctive Andalusian musical tradition that continued even after the end of Muslim rule on the Iberian Peninsula.

A large number of musical instruments were used in Al-Andalus, whose origins lay in Asian, the Mediterranean, and African regional traditions. The mingling of cultures and the mobility brought about by trade, travel, and migration resulted in the transfer of many instruments and ways of performing with them.  In addition to instrumental music and song, traditions of dance are often attributed to the influence of Al-Andalus.

Nothing is known of Paulo La Villa other than that he lived in Spain and was composing music in the early 1900s.  He wrote vocal works, including an “Ave Maria”, as well as instrumental dances and songs that recall the music of Al-Andalus.

About the Choral Music:

God of Love, We Look to Thee – Hal Hopson

In 1716, Handel wrote his second setting of the Passion to a rhymed text by Brockes.  As part of this work, Handel arranged the chorale tune “Schmucke dich”, which was written almost a century earlier by Johann Cruger.  Hal Hopson has arranged this piece and set it to a text by Charles Wesley as a prayer for world peace.

Georg Friederich Handel (1685-1759) became a musician and composer despite objections from his father, who wanted him to become a lawyer. Handel studied music with Zachau, organist at the Halle Cathedral, and became an accomplished violinist and keyboard performer. He traveled and studied in Italy for some time and then settled permanently in England in 1713. Although he wrote a large number of instrumental works, he is known mainly for his Italian operas, oratorios (including “Messiah”, 1741), various anthems for church and royal festivities, and organ concertos, which he interpolated into his oratorio performances. He composed only three hymn tunes, one of which still appears in some modern hymnals. A number of hymnal editors, including Lowell Mason, took themes from some of Handel's oratorios and turned them into hymn tunes.

Hal H. Hopson (b. 1933) is a full-time composer and church musician residing in Dallas, Texas. He has over 1000 published works, 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.

            God of love, we look to Thee, in one voice we lift our plea,

            Show Thyself the Prince of Peace; bid our warring conflicts cease.

            By Thy reconciling love, all the needless strife remove;

            Each to each unite, endear.  Come and spread Thy banner here.

            Let us for each other care, each the other’s burden bear,

            To the world the pattern give; help us in Thy truth to live.

            Free from falsehood, from all pride, so may Thee in all abide;

            All the depth of love express.  In our lives Thy truth confess.

About the Hymns:

Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

Walter C. Smith based this text on 1 Timothy 1: 17: "Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory for ever and ever." The six-stanza text was published in Smith's Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life (1867) and, after having been revised by Smith, in W. Garrett Horder's Congregational Hymns (1884). Further revisions were made by the Psalter Hymnal Revision Committee.

"Immortal, Invisible" is a strong text of praise to God, who created and sustains the lives of all his creatures. The text focuses on the Creator of the universe, the invisible God whose visible works in nature testify to his glory and majesty. "Light" is the prevailing image in stanzas 1, 2, and 4 (see also Ps. 104:2); our inability to see God is not because of insufficient light but because the "splendor of light hides [God] from view."

Walter Chalmbers Smith (1824-1908) was educated at the University of Aberdeen and New College, Edinburgh, and became a Presbyterian pastor in the Free Church of Scotland in 1850. He served four congregations, including the Free High Church in Edinburgh (1876¬-1894). Moderator of his denomination in 1893, Smith was a man of wide interests. His poetry was published in some six volumes entitled Poetical Works (1902), and his hymn texts were published in Hymns of Christ and the Christian Life (1886).

I Surrender All

"I Surrender All" is a Christian hymn, with words written by American art teacher and musician Judson W. Van DeVenter (1855–1939), who subsequently became a music minister and evangelist. It was put to music by Winfield S. Weeden (1847–1908), and published in 1896.Van DeVenter said of the inspiration for the text:

For some time, I had struggled between developing my talents in the field of art and going into full-time evangelistic work. At last the pivotal hour of my life came, and I surrendered all. A new day was ushered into my life. I became an evangelist and discovered down deep in my soul a talent hitherto unknown to me. God had hidden a song in my heart, and touching a tender chord, He caused me to sing.

Following his decision to surrender his life to the Divine, Van DeVenter traveled throughout the United States, England, and Scotland, doing evangelistic work. Winfield S. Weeden, his associate and singer, assisted him for many years. Toward the end of his life, Van DeVenter moved to Florida, and was professor of hymnology at the Florida Bible Institute for four years in the 1920s. After his retirement, he remained involved in speaking and in religious gatherings. Van DeVenter published more than 60 hymns in his lifetime, but "I Surrender All" is his most famous.

I Need Thee Every Hour

Annie S. Hawks’ (1836-1918) poems first began appearing in newspapers when she was 14 years old. She married Charles H. Hawks in 1857. They lived in Brooklyn, New York, and attended the Hanson Place Baptist Church, where Robert Lowry was pastor. She wrote 400 hymns in her life, mostly for use in Sunday schools.

“I Need Thee Every Hour” was written by Hawks in 1872. She showed Lowry her poem, and he wrote the lyrics of the refrain and the tune. The song was first sung publicly at the 1872 meeting of the National Baptist Sunday School Association in Cincinnati, Ohio. Its first publication was in 1873 in a Sunday School hymnbook compiled by Lowry and William H. Doane, Royal Diadem for the Sunday School.

When this hymn was first published in 1873, this Bible verse was included underneath the title: “Without me ye can do nothing” (John 15:5 KJV). Each of the first four stanzas of this hymn dwells on a different facet of our dependence on God: our need for His peace, our inability to resist temptation alone, our need to find true meaning in life, and our desire to see God's promises fulfilled. The fifth stanza is an intense plea for God's presence.

This is My Song

This is of the most stirring tunes in the United Methodist Hymnal. The melody comes from a symphonic tone poem by Jean Sibelius (1865-1957) by the name of “Finlandia”, Op. 26. It was adapted for the 1933 hymnal of the Presbyterian Church in the United States to be sung to the text “Be Still, My Soul”.  Not only is the spirit of the music appropriate for “This Is My Song,” but the history of Sibelius’ composition also adds meaning. He wrote “Finlandia” as a patriotic offering in 1899. The composition was performed as the last of seven musical pieces that accompanied a series of tableaus, each reflecting portions of Finnish history. Out of agitated and tumultuous opening music symbolizing the struggles of the Finnish people, the serenity of the hymn-like melody emerges, symbolizing hope and resolution.  In February 1899, a manifesto from Tsar Nicholas II declared Russia’s right to rule Finland without the consent of local legislators. Sibelius’ choice of “Finlandia” as a title for the composition served as a subtle form of protest against Russian censorship; however, that censorship was so intense that it couldn’t be performed publically as “Finlandia”, so other titles were devised including “Happy Feelings at the Awakening of Finnish Spring.”

Lloyd Stone (1912-1993), an American public school teacher who lived in Hawaii, authored 10 books of poetry and two children’s books. He wrote the first two stanzas of “This Is My Song” for its inclusion in the collection, Sing a Tune (1934). During the brief time of peace between two world wars, it was a song of hope for all nations—“for lands afar and mine.” The poet acknowledges love for his own country, but balances that with the love that others feel around the world for their nations.  The second stanza begins by alluding to the blue skies, the ocean, sunlight, “cloverleaf and pine” of Stone’s own country, but then acknowledges that in other countries, “skies are everywhere as blue as mine.” The stanza concludes: “O hear my song, O God of all the nations, a song of peace for their land and for mine.”

Methodist theologian Georgia Harkness (1881-1974) added a third stanza at the request of Marion Norris, then executive secretary of the Wesleyan Service Guild of the Methodist Church. Harkness related: “[Marion Norris] wrote me that they had been using the first two verses but wanted something with a more distinctly religious note as a supplement to them. I cannot tell you exactly how long ago this was, but since I can recall writing the stanza at my desk when I was teaching at Mount Holyoke 1937-39, it was within this period.”  The hymn was adopted as the official hymn of the Wesleyan Service Guild and was widely sung throughout the former Methodist Church.

Harkness, one of the first women ordained in the Methodist Church and a leading ecumenical theologian of her day, added two additional stanzas, the second of which appears in our hymnal as the final stanza of the hymn. It is a prayer to the “Lord of all earth’s kingdoms.” Harkness skillfully ties the reference to “earth’s kingdoms” to a petition found in the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come; on earth thy will be done.” Christ becomes the central figure in Harkness’ stanza, as one who will unite us in service to each other and help us to “learn to live as one.” Her stanza ends with a personal dedication: “Myself I give thee; let thy will be done.”  In this stanza, Harkness transforms a hymn of peace with vague religious overtones into a prayer for peace that comes from the author of peace, Jesus Christ.

Follow-up to May 3

Additional information on Judaism and its parallels in Christianity.

In his sermon, Andy discussed the giving of the law, which was the culmination of the events of the Exodus.  The Jewish covenant with God is through the law; the Christian covenant with God is through grace by means of the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.  Christianity is deeply rooted in Judaism.  We share over half the Bible; Jesus was a practicing Jew and his many stories (parables) are typical of the rabbinical tradition; and our sacraments are directly drawn from Jewish beliefs and traditions.

The Passover feast is the is the source of our Holy Communion, not only because the Last Supper was a Passover meal, but also because through it we are eating the body of the Paschal (Passover) lamb, just as the Jews were commanded at the first Passover.  And the blood of Christ is our salvation, just as the blood of the Passover lamb on their door posts saved the Jews from the Angel of Death at the first Passover.  Also, lambs (and other animals) were sacrificed on the altar of the Temple to obtain forgiveness of sin until the destruction of the second temple.  Hence, we refer to Christ as the Paschal Lamb or Lamb of God.   Further explanation of this can be found at:  http://www.holylandmoments.org/passover-and-the-paschal-lamb

Another aspect of Communion that is deeply rooted in Jewish thought is the command to “do this in remembrance of me”.  Remembrance is a vital part of the Jewish faith – remembering the dead and remembering the important events of their faith. It is remembering that keeps faith alive in the hearts of believers.

It is memory that has allowed us to last through thousands of years of history. Our religion and our people are founded on the collective memory of revelation at Sinai. [Moses receiving the law]  Scripture throughout commands us to remember: Remember the Sabbath day (Exodus 20:8), observe the Sabbath as a reminder of the Creation (Exodus 20:11) and of the Exodus (Deuteronomy 5:15); remember, continually, the Exodus.   "Only guard yourself and guard your soul carefully, lest you forget the things your eyes saw and lest these things depart your heart all the days of your life. And you shall make them known to your children and to your children’s children" (Deuteronomy 4:9).

Christian Baptism has its roots in the Jewish Tvilah.  The temple and every synagogue had a Mikveh, which is a pool for ritual cleansing.  A lengthy article on this can be found at: http://www.haydid.org/ronimmer.htm.  These are a few of the highlights that show the importance of this practice and its relation to Baptism. 

The term mikveh in Hebrew literally means any gathering of waters, but is specifically used in Jewish law for the waters or bath for the ritual immersion. The building of the mikveh was so important in ancient times it was said to take precedence over the construction of a synagogue. Immersion was so important that it occurred before the high Priest conducted the service on the Day of Atonement, before the regular priests participated in the Temple service, before each person entered the Temple complex, before a scribe wrote the name of God, as well as several other occasions.

There are six descending orders of ritual baths in the Mishnah (Oral Laws of how to accomplish the written Law) and the highest order is that of a spring or flowing river. We see Jesus understanding and fulfilling this order in Matthew 3:16 as He comes to be baptized in the Jordan River "fulfilling all righteousness." This highest order was called Living Water and illustrated the forgiving of sins, therefore, we hear Jesus using this term concerning Himself (John 4:10-11).

One of the most important teachings in Judaism is that of repentance. According to both Scripture and rabbinic literature, no matter how great the sin, if a person repents and forsakes the sin before God he can be forgiven. As we see in the case of John, Jesus, and all New Testament writers, repentance was always involved. The Jerusalem Talmud states, "nothing can stand before repentance" (Yebamos 47b). According to Dr. David Flusser, the Dead Sea Scrolls as well as the New Testament teach that water can purify the body only if the soul has first been purified through repentance and righteousness.

Andy discussed the Reform beliefs regarding the Messiah.  This is one of the areas of difference with Orthodox Jews and many Conservative Jews, who are still expectant of a coming Messiah. There is an excellent explanation of this, as well as the reasons Jews do not believe Jesus was the Messiah, at: https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/messiah.html  Beliefs regarding the circumstances surrounding and the results of the arrival of the Messiah parallel Christian beliefs regarding the second coming very closely.

As Andy mentioned, Jews are an ethnic group as well as a religion, and there are many ethnic Jews who are not religious.  But Jews are, as a general rule, a very tight-knit ethnic group, whether religious or not.  They are scattered throughout the world, yet they have a strong sense of group identity.  This is probably due in part to their status as God’s “chosen people”.  More likely, the strongest influence is the persecutions and prejudices faced by Jews in every place and time they have lived.  They have been exiled, enslaved, purged, shunned, excluded, ostracized, and nearly annihilated.  I’m sure they have all felt like Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof at some time, “I know we are your chosen people, but couldn't you choose somebody else once in a while.”  As Andy indicated, although Judaism is the origin of both Islam and Christianity, it is the smallest of the major religions of the world.  Those numbers might be different if millions had not died in the 20^th century.

Andy covered a lot in his sermon, and I’ve tried to add just a bit more here about the historic ties of our worship practices to Judaism, but there is so much more information out there for anyone who wants to learn more about Christianity’s closest relative. 

(Next week, we learn about our other cousin, Islam, which is closer than you might think…)