July 14, 2019

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:

My Shepherd Will Supply My Need - Alice Jordan

Isaac Watts (1674-1748) was the son of a schoolmaster and was born in Southampton. He is said to have shown remarkable precocity in childhood, beginning the study of Latin, in his fourth year, and writing respectable verses at the age of seven. At the age of sixteen, he went to London to study in the Academy of the Rev. Thomas Rowe, an Independent minister. In 1698, he became assistant minister of the Independent Church, Berry St., London. In 1702, he became pastor.  The number of Watts' publications is very large. His collected works, first published in 1720, embrace sermons, treatises, poems and hymns. His "Horae Lyricae" was published in December, 1705. His "Hymns" appeared in July, 1707. The first hymn he  composed for religious worship, "Behold the glories of the Lamb," was written at the age of twenty.  Some of his hymns were written to be sung after his sermons, giving expression to the meaning of the text upon which he had preached. Montgomery calls Watts "the greatest name among hymn-writers," and the honor can hardly be disputed. His published hymns number more than eight hundred.  There is a monument to his memory in the South Choir of Westminster Abbey.  The inscription reads, "Happy will be that reader whose mind is disposed, by his verses or his prose, to imitate him in all but his non-conformity, to copy his benevolence to men, and his reverence to God."

Psalm 23 has inspired numerous paraphrases and hymn texts, including this text by Isaac Watts. Watts included it in his large 1719 collection of psalm paraphrases, The Psalms of David Imitated.  Psalm 23 remains the most well-loved and often recited psalm, and Isaac Watts' powerful paraphrase, coupled with the peaceful yet strong American folk tune, make this hymn a moving rendition of that psalm. Watts’ interpretation of the last line of psalm, “and I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” gives a new understanding to the original psalm: “No more a stranger or a guest, but like a child at home.” Watts gives us a concrete image of dwelling – a child, knowing he or she is safe and secure, and in a place of love and comfort – to help us understand what it is we hope for. The same peace we find in the pasture and by the stream, we find in the house of the LORD, to which our Shepherd is leading us day by day.

The tune RESIGNATION, by an unknown composer, first appeared in the 1835 hymnbook Southern Harmony, a collection of church music from the rural American south Sacred Harp tradition.  The melody is disarmingly simple. Like much folk music, it is entirely pentatonic—that is, it uses only a five-note scale analogous to the black keys on the piano. For all this simplicity, RESIGNATION is still an eloquent piece of music. It is the perfect vehicle to carry Watts's paraphrase straight to the heart.

My shepherd will supply my need: Jehovah is His name;

In pastures fresh He makes me feed, Beside the living stream.

He brings my wandering spirit back When I forsake His ways,

And leads me, for His mercy’s sake, In paths of truth and grace.

When I walk through the shades of death Thy presence is my stay;

One word of Thy supporting breath Drives all my fears away.

Thy hand in sight of all my foes, Doth still my table spread;

My cup with blessings overflows, Thine oil anoints my head.

The sure provisions of my God Attend me all my days;

O may Thy house be mine abode, And all my work be praise!

There would I find a settled rest, While others go and come;

No more a stranger, nor a guest, But like a child at home.

Alice (Yost) Jordan (1916–2012) was born in Davenport, Iowa, but her family moved to Des Moines shortly after her birth, and she would spend the rest of her life there. She was educated at Drake University in music composition, Columbia University and Union Theological Seminary. Jordan was active throughout her life as a composer and arranger, publishing more than 250 choral and organ works. \With her husband, organist Frank B. Jordan, dean of the College of Fine Arts at Drake University, Alice Jordan was an active contributor to the cultural and musical life of Des Moines and served on the boards of numerous civic and musical organizations. She received honorary doctoral degrees from Grand View University (1986) and Drake University (2006).

Fugue in D Major - Johann Pachelbel

Johann Pachelbel (1653-1706)  was a German Baroque composer, organist and teacher, who brought the south German organ tradition to its peak. He composed a large body of sacred and secular music, and his contributions to the development of the chorale prelude and fugue have earned him a place among the most important composers of the middle Baroque era. Pachelbel's music enjoyed enormous popularity during his lifetime; he had many pupils and his music became a model for the composers of south and central Germany. Today, Pachelbel is best known for the Canon in D, as well as the Chaconne in F minor, the Toccata in E minor for organ, and the Hexachordum Apollinis, a set of keyboard variations.

Pachelbel studied music at Altdorf and Regensburg and held posts as organist in Vienna, Stuttgart, and other cities. In 1695 he was appointed organist at the St. Sebalduskirche in Nürnberg, where he remained until his death. He also taught organ, and one of his pupils was Johann Christoph Bach, who in turn gave his younger brother Johann Sebastian Bach his first formal keyboard lessons.

Pachelbel wrote more than one hundred fugues on free themes. These fall into two categories: some 30 free fugues and around 90 of the so-called Magnificat Fugues. His fugues are usually based on non-thematic material, and are shorter than the later model (of which those of J.S. Bach are a prime example). The contrapuntal devices of stretto, diminution and inversion are very rarely employed in any of them. Nevertheless, Pachelbel's fugues display a tendency towards a more unified, subject-dependent structure which was to become the key element of late Baroque fugues. Given the number of fugues he composed and the extraordinary variety of subjects he used, Pachelbel is regarded as one of the key composers in the evolution of the form. He was also the first major composer to pair a fugue with a preludial movement (a toccata or a prelude) – this technique was adopted by later composers and was used extensively by J.S. Bach.

About the Piano Music:

Like a River Glorious - Larry Shackley

Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879)was an English Christian devotional writer, poetess, hymn writer and musician. She was the youngest child of William Henry Havergal, a Church of England minister and noted poet and church musician who authored about 100 hymns.

At the age of 3, Havergal could read; at the age of 4, she began reading and memorizing the Bible; at 7 she began writing verse.  Educated at home and in private schools in Worcester, England, and in Dusseldorf, Germany (1852-53), she was proficient in several modern languages, in addition to Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and had training in music.

She lived a disciplined prayer life and it is said that she never wrote a line without first praying over it.  "I believe my King suggests a thought, and whispers me a musical line or two, and then I look up and thank Him delightedly and go on with it. That is how my hymns come.  Writing is praying with me. You know a child would look up at every sentence and say, 'And what shall I say next?' That is just what I do; I ask Him that at every line He would give me not merely thoughts and power, but also every word, even the very rhymes.”  She wrote some of her own tunes for her hymns and her father wrote the music for others.

When Frances Havergal was vacationing in the south of Wales, 1876, she caught a severe cold, accompanied by inflammation of the lungs. Hearing how ill she was, and that she might die, she replied, "If I am really going, it is too good to be true." Her friends were amazed at how peacefully she received this information. She did survive that illness, and later that year she wrote the hymn "Like a River Glorious" in which she pointed to the source of her perfect peace: "Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blessed, finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.”  Havergal, a devout Bible scholar, echoed Isaiah in "Like a River Glorious" in which God promises "peace like a river." She also incorporated Isaiah 26:3, which states "You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You." "Like a River Glorious" paints the picture of this peace.  Havergal wrote to another hymn writer who had also written about peace. In her letter, Miss Havergal quoted Romans 5:1 "We have peace with God," adding "It is yours already, purchased for you, made for you, sealed for you, pledged to you – by the word of the Father and the precious blood of Jesus.”  The hymn was first published in its present form with the name "Perfect Peace," in Hymns of Consecration and Faith, 1876.

Like a river glorious is God’s perfect peace,

Over all victorious, in its bright increase;

Perfect, yet it floweth fuller every day,

Perfect, yet it groweth deeper all the way.

Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,

Never foe can follow, never traitor stand;

Not a surge of worry, not a shade of care,

Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit there.

Every joy or trial falleth from above,

Traced upon our dial by the Sun of Love;

We may trust Him fully, all for us to do;

They who trust Him wholly find Him wholly true.

Stayed upon Jehovah, hearts are fully blest

Finding, as He promised, perfect peace and rest.

Larry Shackley (b. 1956) is a full-time composer and editor from Columbia, SC. He studied composition at the Eastman School of Music and his Master in Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in composition from the University of South Carolina. From 1995-2007, he taught and directed the music program at Columbia International University in Columbia, SC. Prior to that, he worked for several years at the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, creating original music and producing radio programs for the Moody Broadcasting Network. He has been active in church music since his teens, and served as staff keyboardist for ten years at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL. Currently, Shackley is on the staff of Gateway Baptist Church in Irmo, SC. He has produced over twenty books of keyboard arrangements and more than one hundred choral anthems. He has won ASCAP standard panel awards every year since 1998, and has received commissions from churches, schools, and community choirs across America.

About the Hymns:

Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

“Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” was written by the 18th century pastor and hymnist Robert Robinson. Robert Robinson (1735-1790) was eight years old at the time of his father's death. He was a very bright, headstrong boy who became increasingly more difficult for his mother to handle. When Robert turned 14, she sent him to London for an apprenticeship with a barber. Robert proceeded to get into even more trouble, taking on a life of drinking and gambling.  

At 17, Robert and some of his drinking buddies decided to attend an evangelistic meeting, with a plan to make fun of the proceedings. When George Whitfield began to preach, Robert felt as if the sermon was just for him. He did not respond to the altar call that night, but the words of the evangelist would haunt him for the next three years.  On Dec. 10, 1755, at age 20, Robert finally yielded his life to Christ, and very soon thereafter answered a call to the ministry. Three years later, as he was preparing to preach a sermon at the Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England, Robert wrote “Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing” to complement his sermon. The music for the hymn was composed by Asahel Nettleton in 1813.

The lyrics, which dwell on the theme of divine grace, are based on 1 Samuel 7:12, in which the prophet Samuel raises a stone as a monument, saying, "Hitherto hath the Lord helped us". The English transliteration of the name Samuel gives to the stone is Ebenezer, meaning Stone of Help. The unusual word "Ebenezer" commonly appears in hymnal presentations of the lyrics.

The tune NETTLETON first appeared as a two-part tune in John Wyeth's Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second(1813), where it was named HALLELUJAH. In the Index it is identified as a new tune, and no composer's name is given. The tune has been attributed by some to Asahel Nettleton (1783-1844), a well-known evangelist of the early nineteenth century, who compiled Village Hymns (1825). However, this compilation contained no music, and there is no evidence that Nettleton wrote any tunes during his life.  It is not known where the tune name first appeared or who was responsible for it.

I Am Thine

Fanny Jane Crosby (1820-1915) set the standard for the successful writing of gospel hymns. She was the author of over 8,500 gospel songs.  Blind at six weeks of age, Crosby began composing texts at age 6. At 12, she began her study at the New York School for the Blind, a school she later served as a teacher. A friend of several presidents, she became one of the country’s most important advocates for the cause of the blind, addressing a session of Congress on the topic.

Her texts were set to the compositions of some of the most prominent gospel song composers of the day including William Bradbury, William Doane, Robert Lowry and Ira Sankey. Crosby also composed under a number of pen names. She married blind musician Alexander Van Alstyne, and British hymnals have always used her married name, Frances Van Alstyne.

“I am Thine” is one of many collaborations between Crosby and composer William Doane (1832-1915). The late Baptist hymnologist William J. Reynolds provides the context for the composition of the hymn in 1874 during a visit by Crosby to Doane’s home in Cincinnati:
“One evening she and Doane talked at length about the nearness of God in their lives. When Fanny went to her room, her mind and heart were flooded with ideas from their conversation. Before she went to sleep, the lines of “I am thine, O Lord” were in her mind. . . . The next morning she recited the words to Doane, who wrote down the stanzas and composed the tune.”
The text appeared with the following inscription from Hebrews 10:22: “Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.” (KJV)

Crosby seems to mix her cleansing metaphors intentionally—“pure water” and “bleeding side.” The connection becomes clearer when one reads the previous verses in Hebrews 10:  “Having therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh; and having an high priest over the house of God. . . .”

Like so many of Crosby’s hymns, “I am thine, O Lord” is written in the first person—a personal testimony of her relationship with Christ. Stanza one begins with a total surrender to Christ, “I am thine, O Lord,” and the desire to “be closer drawn to thee.” The second stanza appropriately draws upon the closeness of this relationship as an impetus of service: “Consecrate me now to thy service, Lord, by the power of grace divine.”  Stanza three defines the relationship further as one forged in prayer: “When I kneel in prayer, and with thee, my God, I commune as friend with friend!” In the final stanza, Crosby acknowledges that her relationship will not be complete until she reaches heaven (“cross the narrow sea”) and then she will find “rest in peace with thee.”  The refrain is the theological hub around which the spokes of the stanzas all connect: “Draw me nearer, nearer, blessed Lord, to thy precious bleeding side.”  In this case, it is Christ’s blood that cleanses and perfects the relationship. Fanny Crosby is thoroughly Wesleyan in her understanding of grace and perfection.

It’s Me

"Standing in the Need" is an African American spiritual, and, like many folk songs, its origin is unknown. Both text and tune became well known after their publication in The Book of American Negro Spirituals (1925), compiled by James Weldon Johnson and his brother,]. Rosamond Johnson.

This is an old spiritual, barely sung anymore, that captures the essence of a heart’s cry to God. “It’s me, it’s me, oh Lord, standing in the need of prayer.” What a hard word, sometimes, to say. To admit.Many people are in need of prayer, but at the end of the day, one thing stands out clearly: we all need prayer. And, we all need to pray.  To stand in the need, to just stand in that place where you know you need God, whatever else happens.

His Eye is On the Sparrow

Civilla Durfee Martin (1866-1948) was born in Nova Scotia and died in Atlanta, Ga. In “His eye is on the sparrow” (1905), she has provided one of the most influential and often-recorded gospel hymns of the 20th century. Martin was the daughter of James N. and Irene Harding Holden, and was a schoolteacher with modest musical training. Together with her husband, Walter (1862-1935), they often wrote gospel songs for revival meetings. “Be not dismayed” is an example of their collaboration.  Walter Stillman Martin was a Baptist minister who received his education at Harvard. He later became a member of the Disciples of Christ, teaching at Atlantic Christian College (now Barton College) in Wilson, N.C., before moving to Atlanta in 1919, a location that became the base for revivals that he held throughout the U.S.

The song was obviously inspired by Matthew 6:26: “Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Gather feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”  Later in Matthew (10:29-31), the Gospel writer continues on this theme: “Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? And one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.” Similar thoughts are cited in Luke 12:6-7. Stanza two quotes part of John 1:14 directly, “Let not your heart be troubled...”

Civilla Martin describes the context out of which the hymn was born: “Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle—true saints of God. Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheelchair. Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them. One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle’s response was simple: ‘His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.’ The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me. The hymn ‘His Eye Is on the Sparrow’ was the outcome of that experience.”  The next day she mailed the poem to Charles Gabriel, a famous composer of gospel songs, who wrote a tune for it. 

Standing on the Promises

R. Kelso Carter became an ordained Methodist minister (1887) at the age of 38. A year earlier, he was a professor at the Pennsylvania Military Academy, where he wrote the hymn, "Standing On the Promises," after reading Apostle Paul’s second letter to the Corinthians I: 20:  "For all the promise of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us."  I was published in Songs of Perfect Love, one of two hymns compiled by Carter.  The drum-beating, military march style of the music reflects the influence of the military academy life that surrounded Carter when it was written.  Carter was active in the Methodist Camp-Meeting movement, and “Standing on the Promises” was widely used in evangelistic crusades well into the 20^th  century and is still found in many hymnals.  It is a reminder of the Christian’s daily dependence on the promises of God.

Leaning on the Everlasting Arms

“Leaning on the Everlasting Arms” was published in 1887 with music by Anthony J. Showalter and lyrics by Showalter and Elisha Hoffman.  Elisha Hoffman (1839-1929) after graduating from Union Seminary in Pennsylvania was ordained in 1868. As a minister he was appointed to the circuit in Napoleon, Ohio in 1872. He worked with the Evangelical Association's publishing arm in Cleveland for eleven years. He served in many chapels and churches in Cleveland and in Grafton in the 1880s, among them Bethel Home for Sailors and Seamen, Chestnut Ridge Union Chapel, Grace Congregational Church and Rockport Congregational Church. In his lifetime he wrote more than 2,000 gospel songs including "Leaning on the everlasting arms" (1894). The fifty song books he edited include Pentecostal Hymns No. 1 and The Evergreen, 1873.

Anthony J. Showalter received letters from two friends who had lost their wives about the same time. He wrote back to express his sympathy, and included a verse of Scripture: “The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27 KJV). As he thought about that text, he wrote the music and refrain to this hymn. He asked Elisha Hoffman to write the stanzas. The hymn was first published in 1887 in The Glad Evangel for Revival, Camp, and Evangelistic Meetings, for which Showalter was an editor.  The text has three stanzas and a refrain. The theme of the text is the peace that comes from knowing that God will protect us, and how that knowledge removes our fears.

To God Be the Glory

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.”

Frances Jane Crosby’s hymns have historically been among the most popular songs sung by Methodists.  “To God be the glory” was included in William Doane’s Songs of Devotion in 1870.  Ira Sankey probably saw the hymn in Doane’s collection and incorporated it into the first edition of his Sacred Songs and Solos (1875).  Dwight Moody and Ira Sankey helped to establish the hymn’s popularity during their revivals in Great Britain in the late 19th century.  It also appeared in some British hymnals including the Methodist Hymn Book (1933).

However, it was not until the 1954 Billy Graham Crusade in Nashville that Cliff Barrows introduced this song to congregations in the United States.  Mr. Graham and Mr. Barrows had learned the song during the 1952 revivals they had conducted in Great Britain.  Hymnologist William J. Reynolds, writing in his hymnal companion Hymns of Faith (1964), documented the return of this hymn to the USA: “It is most extraordinary that this long-forgotten American gospel song should have been imported from England and become immensely popular during the last decade.” 

Be Thou My Vision

"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.

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus

#joychurch   #lovelikeJesus

July 7, 2019

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 Well with My Soul - Wilbur Held

For more than a century, the tragic story of one man has given hope to countless thousands who have lifted their voices to sing, It Is Well With My Soul.  Horatio Spafford (1828-1888) was a wealthy Chicago lawyer with a thriving legal practice, a beautiful home, a wife, four daughters and a son. He was also a devout Christian and faithful student of the Scriptures. His circle of friends included Dwight L. Moody, Ira Sankey and various other well-known Christians of the day.

At the very height of his financial and professional success, Horatio and his wife Anna suffered the tragic loss of their young son. Shortly thereafter on October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire destroyed almost every real estate investment that Spafford had.

In 1873, Spafford scheduled a boat trip to Europe in order to give his wife and daughters a much needed vacation and time to recover from the tragedy. He also went to join Moody and Sankey on an evangelistic campaign in England. Spafford sent his wife and daughters ahead of him while he remained in Chicago to take care of some unexpected last minute business. Several days later he received notice that his family's ship had encountered a collision. All four of his daughters drowned; only his wife had survived.

With a heavy heart, Spafford boarded a boat that would take him to his grieving Anna in England. It was on this trip that he penned those now famous words, When sorrow like sea billows roll; it is well, it is well with my soul..

Philip Bliss (1838-1876), composer of many songs including Hold the Fort, Let the Lower Lights be Burning, and Jesus Loves Even Me, was so impressed with Spafford's life and the words of his hymn that he composed a beautiful piece of music to accompany the lyrics. The song was published by Bliss and Sankey, in 1876.

Original lyrics:

When peace like a river, attendeth my way, 

When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know 

It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul.

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
A song in the night, oh my soul!

Wilbur C. Held (1914-2015) was born in Des Plaines, Illinois, and received his B.M. and M.M. degrees at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. He then attended Union Theological Seminary in New York City where he earned his S.M.D. A member of the Episcopal Church, for many years Dr. Held was Professor of Organ and Church Music at The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio.  He remained in this position for over 30 years, and for most of that time was also organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio.  Dr. Held started composing little pieces for the organ because he felt there was a lack of teaching material aimed at developing style and registration, especially for the romantic use of the instrument.  Having written several suites primarily for pedagogical use, he turned his attention to broadening the repertoire for church use, continuing to stress modest technical requirements and flexibility of registration. To date he has published 325 organ works. He has served on the national councils of both the AGO and the Hymn Society of America, and has appeared as recitalist at their national conventions.

Fugue in D Major, from “Twelve Short Pieces for Organ” - Samuel Wesley

June was a month of Toccatas.  For July, we have a month of Fugues.

Samuel Wesley (1766-1837) was an English organist and composer in the late Georgian period. Wesley was a contemporary of Mozart and was called by some "the English Mozart”.  Born in Bristol, he was the son of noted Methodist and hymnodist Charles Wesley, the grandson of Samuel Wesley (a poet of the late Stuart period) and the nephew of John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist Church.

His early musical education mostly took place in the family home in Bristol, where Sarah Wesley, his mother, sang and played the harpsichord. Hymn tunes and the works of Handel were the family's favorite pieces. Samuel also had lessons from David Williams, the organist of All Saints' Church, Bristol. 

Samuel might be considered the “black sheep” of the Wesley family. Samuel left Bristol for London by 1778, where he met and cohabited with Charlotte Martin.  Samuel informed his mother of his philosophical conviction that his marriage had been constituted by sexual intercourse, precluding any civil or religious ceremony, but after a scandalous delay he married Charlotte Louise Martin in 1793, and they had three children. This marriage broke up with Charlotte's discovery of Samuel's affair with the teenaged domestic servant Sarah Suter. Samuel and Sarah never married but had four children together, among them Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810–1876) who was a cathedral organist and notable composer.

In 1784, Wesley privately converted to Roman Catholicism, to the dismay of his father Charles and his uncle John Wesley.  To celebrate his conversion, Samuel composed an elaborate Mass, the Missa de Spiritu Sancto, dedicating it to Pope Pius VI.  According to his obituary, he may subsequently have denied any conversion.

Samuel showed his musical talent early in life. As a boy, he was recognised as a child prodigy by the British musical establishment, along with his elder brother, Charles. He quickly mastered the violin, harpsichord and organ. By the age of eight, he was becoming known for his composing and improvisational skills. His father, Charles, wrote:  “He was full eight years old when Dr [William] Boyce came to see us and accosted me with, 'Sir, I hear you have an English Mozart in your house'. I called Sam to answer for himself. He had by this time scrawled down his Oratorio of Ruth. The Doctor looked it over very carefully and seemed highly pleased with the performance. Some of his words were, 'These airs are some of the prettiest I have seen. This boy writes by nature as true a bass as I can do by rule and study’.”

Wesley worked as a conductor as well as a music teacher and lecturer. He seems to have been one of the pioneers of the British organ recital: prior to his time, entertainment was not considered appropriate for a church building. Despite a reputation as the best improvisor on the organ in England, he never succeeded in obtaining an organist's post. Generally he appeared to be mistrusted by the British establishment, perhaps due to a forthright manner, his marriage arrangements and it is possible to speculate that he was unreliable. From 1815 onwards, he was beset by lack of money and depression. At one stage, he was reduced to asking Vincent Novello for copying work.

Wesley seems to have become acquainted with the works of Johann Sebastian Bach sometime between 1796 and 1806. He lost no time in converting others to the Bach cause; his principal converts were William Crotch and Charles Burney. In a series of letters to his friend, Benjamin Jacob, Wesley documented how he made Bach better appreciated.

His ability on the organ was so highly regarded that he was introduced to, and played for Felix Mendelssohn in September 1837, a month before Wesley's death. Mendelssohn gave a recital at Christ Church Newgate, during which Wesley said to his daughter Eliza, "This is transcendent playing! Do you think I dare venture after this?" It seems that Mendelssohn persuaded the old man, who was by now very frail, to play. Mendelssohn stood by his side while he was playing and complimented him, but Wesley replied "Ah, Sir! you have not heard me play; you should have heard me forty years ago”.

About the Piano Music:

Blessed Assurance - Pepper Choplin

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 (1839-1908) 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.  

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine! O what a foretaste of glory divine!

Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of his Spirit, washed in his blood.

Perfect submission, perfect delight, visions of rapture now burst on my sight;

angels descending, bring from above echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest, I in my Savior am happy and blest,

watching and waiting, looking above, filled with his goodness, lost in his love.

This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior, all the day long;

this is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long.

Pepper Choplin is a full-time composer, conductor and humorist. He has gained a reputation as one of the most creative writers in church music today. With a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, he went on to earn a Master of Music degree in composition from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary.  With a diverse musical background, Choplin incorporates varied styles such as folk, Gospel, classical, and jazz. His published work includes over 280 anthems for church and school choir with 19 church cantatas and a book of piano arrangements. In 2013, he made his Carnegie Hall debut in a joint concert with Joseph Martin.  Since then, he has twice premiered his cantatas at Lincoln Center with 200 voices and orchestra.  He also visits many schools, churches and conferences to conduct and to entertain. Beyond his choral music, Choplin has produced two humorous CDs and an inspirational recording. Currently, he attends Greystone Baptist Church in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he served as music minister for twenty-two years. 

Foretaste of Glory

About the Vocal Solo Music:

I Know Who Holds Tomorrow - Ira Stanphill

Ira Forest Stanphill (1914-1993) was a well-known American gospel music songwriter of the mid-twentieth century.  Stanphill began preaching when he was 22., first in a summer traveling ministry with Christian Ambassadors of the Assemblies of God, then becoming director of youth and music at a church in Breckenridge, Texas. He later became music director at Faith Tabernacle in Oklahoma City, then became pastor of Trinity Assembly of God in Orange, California. In the early 1940s, he served as associate pastor at Full Gospel Tabernacle in Bakersfield, California. In 1949, he became music director at Bethel Temple in Fort Worth, Texas.  In 1956, he was the founding pastor of Bethel Assembly of God Church in Lake Worth, Florida.  In September 1962, he became pastor of the Assembly of God Church in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. In 1968, he was pastor of Rosen Heights Assembly of God Church in Fort Worth, Texas where he oversaw the construction of a new building and the re-naming of the church to Rockwood Park Assembly of God. After serving 13 years as pastor of Rockwood Park, he resigned to devote more time to evangelism and concerts.

Stanphill was an evangelist, traveling to churches and Bible camps around the country, sometimes accompanied by his wife. They played and sang some of his compositions in addition to his preaching. In 1941, they joined the team of evangelist Raymond T. Richey.  An ad for a crusade Stanphill held in 1964 described him as "Preacher of Old Time Religion." In addition to traveling throughout the United States, he preached in 40 other countries.  Occasionally as part of his crusades, he would ask members of the congregation to suggest titles for songs. Selecting one title from the suggestions, he would write words and music for a song during the service.

By the age of 10, Stanphill had already become a fluent musician, having learned to play the piano, organ, ukulele, and accordion. He went on to learn to play xylophone, guitar, saxophone, and clarinet. At 17, he was composing and performing his own music for church services, revival campaigns, and prayer meetings.  Stanphill composed more than 500 gospel songs.

Ira married Zelma Lawson in 1939.  Zelma was also a gifted musician, with the abilities of singing and playing the piano.  Zelma traveled with Ira and joined him in serving the Lord as they shared the gospel in one crusade after another. However, life was not perfect and Zelma eventually became disillusioned with the life they had created. Zelma eventually decided that ministry was not for her and left Ira.Their marriage ended in divorce in 1948.  Zelma’s leaving put Ira in a great state of depression and grief.  He could not understand, after years of being dedicated to the service and ministry of God’s work, why God would allow him to go through this.  Some accounts say that Ira was tempted to give up on Christian work altogether.

The story is told that one day as Ira was driving, deeply sad and in despair, he began to hum a tune.  As the tune became stronger, words formed and Ira started singing. He sang about not knowing what the future held, but knowing that God would be there to walk with him each step of the way.  When Ira got to his office, his rushed to his piano to write down the words and music to the song we know today as “I Know Who Holds Tomorrow”.

I don’t know about tomorrow, I just live from day to day,

I don’t borrow from its sunshine, For its skies may turn to gray.

I don’t worry o’er the future, For I know what Jesus said,

And today I’ll walk beside Him, for He knows what is ahead.

Every step is getting brighter, As the golden stairs I climb;

Every burden’s getting lighter; Every cloud is silver lined.

There the sun is always shining, There no tear will dim the eye,

At the ending of the rainbow, Where the mountains touch the sky.

I don’t know about tomorrow, It may bring me poverty;

But the one who feeds the sparrow, Is the one who stands by me.

And the path that be my portion, May be through the flame or flood,

But His presence goes before me, And I’m covered with His blood.

Many things about tomorrow I don’t seem to understand;

But I know who holds tomorrow, and I know who holds my hand.

About the Hymns:

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.

For the Bread Which You Have Broken

Louis F. Benson (1855-1930), who wrote the lyrics of “For the Bread Which You Have Broken,” was educated at the University of Pennsylvania Law School and practiced law for seven years before pursuing theological studies at Princeton Theological Seminary. In 1886, he was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA).  Benson served as pastor for six years at Christ the Redeemer in Germantown, PA, before stepping down to devote himself to literary work in the service of the church.  Benson did extensive work as an editor for several hymnals authorized for use by the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in the USA. These hymnals include The Hymnal 1895, The Chapel Hymnal 1898, and The School Hymnal 1899. In 1905, he also edited the Book of Common Worship of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America with Henry Van Dyke (1852-1933). Benson’s seminal publication The English Hymn: Its Development and Use in Worship 1915 is regarded as a definitive work on the subject and secured him a place among American hymnological scholars.

“For the Bread Which You Have Broken” is a post-Communion hymn that first appeared in Louis F. Benson’s private collection, Hymns Original and Translated (Philadelphia, 1925). The first three stanzas were written on November 21, 1924. A fourth stanza was suggested by Henry Sloane Coffin (1877-1954), who, at the time, was pastor of Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, that shows a relationship between the sacrament of Communion and going into the world to serve. 

In the first stanza, Benson recalls Christ’s actions at the Last Supper in which the Eucharist was instituted. However, instead of Christ giving thanks, the church gives thanks for the gift of the Eucharist as reflected in the phrase: “now we give you thanks, O Lord." Because of the sacrifice Christ made for the church, it proves his love for his people. This truth is reflected in the second stanza and is also reminiscent of the Apostle Paul’s reflection on love in Romans 12:9-21. “With our sainted ones in glory” begins the third stanza and recalls the “great a cloud of witnesses” in Hebrews 12:1-2. In the second half of the third stanza, Benson makes a request for the church to keep the love of Christ until the second coming.  The call to service in the fourth stanza ends with the hope expressed in the Lord’s Prayer in Matthew 6:10, “your kingdom come.”

The tune FOR THE BREAD was written for this text by V. Earle Copes (1921-2014), a distinguished composer, teacher, performer, editor, and elder in the United Methodist Church, an important force in the development of Methodist’s professional standards, a champion of Wesleyan and ecumenical hymnody, and leader in the expansion of church music repertory, styles, and performance practices. He was educated at Davidson College, Davidson, North Carolina, and Union Theological Seminary, New York. His career has involved a number of full-time church positions in several of United Methodism's largest churches, including Highland Park UMC, Dallas; faculty positions at several colleges and a seminary; the editorship of a professional journal for church musicians; and consultant to the revision committee for the 1966 United Methodist Hymnal. While in Dayton, Ohio, he was instrumental in establishing the Dayton Organ Academy, a scholarship program for gifted high school students.

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus

#joychurch   #lovelikeJesus