Sunday, November 28 - Advent 1

 Each week, you may find information here about the music in the traditional worship services at First United Methodist Church in Lewisville, Texas.  Some of this information is original; most of it is copied from other websites such as Wikipedia, GBOD, and hymnary.org.  It is my hope that this information will enhance your understanding and enrich your worship experience.   

About the Organ Music:

Veni, Emmanuel - Dennis Lovinfosse 

(c. 1976, Augsburg Publishing House)

O come, O come, Emmanuel is a Christian hymn for Advent. While it is most commonly known by that English title, it is in fact a translation of the original Latin, Veni, Veni, Emmanuel; translations into other modern languages (particularly German) are also in widespread use. The 1861 translation from Hymns Ancient and Modern is the most prominent by far in the English-speaking world, but other English translations also exist.  The hymn is a metrical paraphrase of the O Antiphons, a series of plainchant antiphons attached to the Magnificat at Vespers over the final days before Christmas.  The words and the music of "O come, O come, Emmanuel" developed separately. The Latin text is first documented in Germany in 1710, whereas the tune most familiar in the English-speaking world has its origins in 15th-century France.  

The pre-history of the text stretches back to the origins of the O Antiphons, which were in existence by, at the latest, the eighth century.  They were paraphrased extensively by the English poet Cynewulf in a poem written before the year 800.  While "O come, O come, Emmanuel" is often linked with the 12th century, the earliest surviving evidence of the hymn's text is in the seventh edition of Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum, which was published in Cologne in 1710. That hymnal was a major force in the history of German church music: first assembled by Jesuit hymnographer Johannes Herringsdorf in 1610 and receiving numerous revised editions through 1868, it achieved enormous impact due to its use in Jesuit schools. 

The text of the Psalteriolum Cantionum Catholicarum version is essentially expanded, rather than altered, over the subsequent centuries. That version exhibits all of the hymn's characteristic qualities: it is strophic and metrical, and the order is altered so that the last of the O Antiphons (the titular "Veni Emmanuel") becomes the first verse of the hymn. Each stanza consists of a four-line verse, which adapts one of the antiphons, and a new two-line refrain ("Gaude, gaude! Emmanuel \ nascetur pro te, Israel," i.e. "Rejoice, Rejoice, Emmanuel \ Shall come to thee, O Israel"), which provides an explicitly Advent-oriented response to the petition of the verse.

The familiar tune called Veni Emmanuel was first linked with this hymn in 1851, when Thomas Helmore published it in the Hymnal Noted, paired with an early revision of Neale's English translation of the text. The volume listed the tune as being "From a French Missal in the National Library, Lisbon."  The pairing of the hymn text with the Veni Emmanuel tune was an extremely significant combination. The hymn text was embraced both out of a Romantic interest in poetic beauty and medieval exoticism and out of a concern for matching hymns to liturgical seasons and functions rooted in the Oxford Movement in the Church of England. The Hymnal Noted, in which the words and tune were first combined, represented these goals. This hymnal consisted entirely of versions of Latin hymns, designed for use as Office hymns within the Anglican Church despite the fact that Office hymns had no part in the authorized liturgy. The music was drawn chiefly from plainchant, as was the case with the Veni Emmanuel tune for "O Come, O Come Emmanuel.”

O come, O come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel,
That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.

O come, Thou Wisdom from on high, Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show, And teach us in her ways to go.

O come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save, And give them victory over the grave.

O come, Thou Day-spring, come and cheer Our spirits by Thine advent here;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

O come, Thou Key of David, come, And open wide our heavenly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery.

O come, O come, great Lord of might, Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times once gave the law In cloud and majesty and awe.

O come, Thou Root of Jesse’s tree, An ensign of Thy people be;
Before Thee rulers silent fall; All peoples on Thy mercy call.

O come, Desire of nations, bind In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel shall come to thee, O Israel.

Dennis Lovinfosse (b. 1947) studied organ at the University of New Mexico and composition at Northwestern University.  He has taught theory at DePaul University and the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Ricercar pro Tempore Advents super Initium Cantilenae: Ave Maria Klare - Johann Caspar Ferdinand Fischer 

A ricercar is a type of late Renaissance and mostly early Baroque instrumental composition. The term ricercar means “to search out”, and many ricercars serve a preludial function to "search out" the key or mode of a following piece. A ricercar may explore a given motif, and in that regard may follow the piece used as illustration.  It was usually imitative, and as such, is a precursor to fugue.  

This ricercar was written for the time of advent and is based on the first line of the song “Ave Maria Klare”.  It would have been played as a prelude and introduction before singing the chorale.  The text of the choral venerates Maria as the mother of Christ.   The tune first appeared in Psalteriolum Harmonicum (1642), composer unknown.

Ave Maria clear, you bright morning star! 

You are a joy for heaven and earth, chosen from eternity 

to be the Mother of God for the comfort of Christendom.

You have been received without sin; the Church honors 

you; you have remained unharmed by the false serpents. 

O virgin pure and tender, your praise cannot express what was ever created.

A greeting was sent to you from the Most High God, 

perfected through the angel Gabriel, who was God's messenger. 

“You shall be a mother, you shall remain a virgin, a virgin chaste and pure.

You will conceive from the Most High Power. 

Blessed of women, in pure virginity. 

God himself, he will be your son; 

you shall call him Jesus, and his throne is eternal. "

Then the virgin said pure: “I am the handmaid of the Lord. 

His will be done alone. Let it be as you said. “ 

Christ dwells within her, her joy, it was great.

This praise be sung to you, woman, blessed. 

The fountain of bliss has sprung from you for us. 

Recommend us to your Son 

and pray to God's throne for us sinners at all times.

Johann Kaspar Ferdinand Fischer (c.1656-1746) was a German Baroque composer. Johann Nikolaus Forkel ranked Fischer as one of the best composers for keyboard of his day; however, partly due to the rarity of surviving copies of his music, his music is rarely heard today.  Fischer seems to have been of Bohemian origin, possibly born at Schönfeld, but details about his life are sketchy. The first record of his existence is found in the mid-1690s. By 1695, he was Kapellmeister to Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden, and he may have remained with the court until his death in Rastatt.  Much of Fischer's music shows the influence of the French Baroque style, exemplified by Jean Baptiste Lully, and he was responsible for bringing the French influence to German music. Fischer's harpsichord suites updated the standard Froberger model (Allemande - Courante - Sarabande - Gigue). He was also one of the first composers to apply the principles of the orchestral suite to the harpsichord, replacing the standard French ouverture with an unmeasured prelude. Both Bach and Handel knew Fischer's work and sometimes borrowed from it.

About the Choral Music:

Every Valley - John Ness Beck 

(c. 1976, Beckenhorst Press)

John Ness Beck (1930-1987) graduated from Ohio State with Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degrees with a major in English. After working for a year in Student Union activities at the State College of Washington, he spent two years in the U.S. Army. During this time, he became increasingly involved in arranging for various musical groups. After his discharge from military service, he returned to Ohio State and completed Bachelor of Music and Master of Arts degrees in music with composition as his major.  Beck was a faculty member of Ohio State University School of Music for seven years, teaching harmony and theory. He left the university to become owner and manager of The University Music House, a retail sheet music store in Columbus. In this capacity, he was able to observe the business side of the music industry, gaining insight into the complexities of music publishing and merchandising. As his compositions found their way into print and popularity, he joined forces in 1972 with John Tatgenhorst in the creation of Beckenhorst Press. His reputation as a composer and his experience as a choral director soon led to an increasing demand for appearances as guest conductor and lecturer at various musical clinics and festivals throughout the country.

“Every Valley” is a standard of Advent anthem literature and is based on Isaiah 40:4, 5.

Every valley shall be exalted, and every mountain made low;

and the crooked made straight, and the rough places plain.

And the glory of the Lord shall be revealed, revealed,

And all flesh shall see it together, 

for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.

Amen.

About the Hymns:

Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus

Charles Wesley wrote “Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus” and printed it in his Hymns for the Nativity of our Lord (1744). Like so many of Wesley's texts, "Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus" alludes to one or more Scripture passages in virtually every phrase. The double nature of Advent is reflected in this text, in which we remember Christ's first coming even while praying for his return. Stanzas 1 and 2 recall Advent prophecies in the Old Testament; stanza 3 speaks of Christ's birth and kingdom, and stanza 4 is a prayer for Christ's rule in our hearts.

We express longing when we sing the words of Charles Wesley’s beautiful Advent hymn, for though we know that Christ goes with us and before us every day, we long for the day when we are with Him in all of the fullness and glory He will bring. We long for the day when we are with Him in a New Heaven and New Earth, when all things are made new. And just as a four-year-old crawls into his father’s arms after an extended absence, so too we long for the day when we will be at rest in Christ, enfolded in the embrace of our Savior.

HYFRYDOL is a Welsh hymn tune that appears in a number of Christian hymnals in various arrangements. Composed by Rowland Prichard, it was originally published in the composer's handbook to the children's songbook Cyfaill y Cantorion ("The Singers' Friend"). Prichard composed the tune before he was twenty years old.  The best-known arrangement is probably that by Ralph Vaughan Williams, which he originally produced for his revision of the English Hymnal, and is the version which appears in our hymnal.  

Come, thou long expected Jesus, born to set thy people free; 
from our fears and sins release us, let us find our rest in thee. 
Israel's strength and consolation, hope of all the earth thou art; 
dear desire of every nation, joy of every longing heart. 

Born thy people to deliver, born a child and yet a King, 
born to reign in us forever, now thy gracious kingdom bring. 
By thine own eternal spirit rule in all our hearts alone; 
by thine all sufficient merit, raise us to thy glorious throne. 

Hail to the Lord’s Anointed

James Montgomery (1771-1854) was a Moravian minister and writer.  In addition to his religious writings and hymns, he was the editor and a writer for a newspaper, The Sheffield Iris. As such, he was imprisoned twice, first for reprinting therein a song in commemoration of "The Fall of the Bastille," and the second for giving an account of a riot in Sheffield. The editing of his paper, the composition and publication of his poems and hymns, the delivery of lectures on poetry in Sheffield and at the Royal Institution, London, and the earnest advocacy of Foreign Missions and the Bible Society in many parts of the country, gave great variety to his life. After his death, a statue was erected to his memory in the Sheffield General Cemetery, and a stained glass window in the Parish Church. A Wesleyan chapel and a public hall are also named in his honor.

As a writer of hymns, he ranks in popularity with Wesley, Watts, Doddridge, Newton, and Cowper.  Of Montgomery's 400 hymns (including his versions of the Psalms) more than 100 are still in common use.  His finest lyrics are "Angels from the realms of glory," "Go to dark Gethsemane," "Hail to the Lord's Anointed," and "Songs of praise the angels sang."  “Hail to the Lord’s Anointed” is Montgomery's best psalm rendering. It is based on Psalm 72 and was written in eight stanzas for, and included in, a Christmas Ode which was sung at one of the Moravian settlements, perhaps Fulneck, in the United Kingdom, Christmas, 1821. It was published in the following year in the Evangelical Magazine and entitled "Imitation of the 72d psalm (Tune: Culmstock)."

Published in a chapel hymnal for the Duke of Würtemberg (Gesangbuch der Herzogl, 1784), ELLACOMBE (the name of a village in Devonshire, England) was first set to the words "Ave Maria, klarer und lichter Morgenstern." During the first half of the nineteenth century various German hymnals altered the tune. Since ELLACOMBE's inclusion in the 1868 Appendix to Hymns Ancient and Modern, where it was set to John Daniell's children's hymn "Come, Sing with Holy Gladness," its use throughout the English-speaking world has spread.

Hail to the Lord's Anointed, great David's greater Son!

Hail in the time appointed, his reign on earth begun!

He comes to break oppression, to set the captive free;

to take away transgression, and rule in equity.

He comes with succor speedy to those who suffer wrong;

to help the poor and needy, and bid the weak be strong;

to give them songs for sighing, their darkness turn to light,

whose souls, condemned and dying are precious in his sight.

He shall come down like showers upon the fruitful earth;

love, joy, and hope, like flowers, spring in his path to birth.

Before him on the mountains, shall peace, the herald, go,

and righteousness, in fountains, from hill to valley flow.

To him shall prayer unceasing and daily vows ascend;

his kingdom still increasing, a kingdom without end.

The tide of time shall never his covenant remove;

his name shall stand forever; that name to us is love.

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus

Sunday, November 21, 2021

Each week, you may find information here about the music in the traditional worship services at First United Methodist Church in Lewisville, Texas.  Some of this information is original; most of it is copied from other websites such as Wikipedia, GBOD, and hymnary.org.  It is my hope that this information will enhance your understanding and enrich your worship experience.   

About the Organ Music:

Come, Ye Thankful People, Come - Mary McDonald 

(c. 2014, Lorenz Publishing)

“Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” is considered to be one of the most choice Thanksgiving hymns in all of hymnody.  It was written or the English harvest festivals, a movable feast varying with the harvest time in the various villages.  Its author, Henry “Dean” Alford (1810-1871), is generally regarded as one of the most gifted Christian leaders of the nineteenth century, distinguishing himself as a theologian, scholar, writer, poet, artist, and musician.  It was as a Greek scholar that he attained his greatest distinction.  His four-volume edition of the Greek Testament, on which he labored for twenty years, became the standard critical commentary of the later nineteenth century.  As a member of the new Testament Revision Committee, he made a notable contribution to biblical knowledge on both sides of the Atlantic.  Hymnology was one of Henry Alford’s major interests, and he translated and composed numerous hymns, which he published in hi Psalms and Hymns (1844), The Year of Praise (1867), and Poetical Works (1852 and1868). Of these many works, only “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” is still in general use.  The hymn first appeared in Alford’s Psalms and Hymns, in 1844.  It was originally titled “After Harvest” and was accompanied by the text “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him” (Psalm 126:6).  The hymn originally contained seven stanzas, but only four have remained in common usage.  It is said that at the end of a hard day’s work, as well as after every meal, it was customary practice for Dean Alford to stand to his feet and give thanks to God for the blessings just received or enjoyed during the day.  This spirit of perpetual gratitude is clearly evidenced throughout this hymn.

Come, ye thankful people, come,  raise the song of harvest home;

all is safely gathered in,  ere the winter storms begin.
God our Maker doth provide for our wants to be supplied;
come to God's own temple, come, raise the song of harvest home.

    All the world is God's own field, fruit as praise to God we yield; 

    wheat and tares together sown are to joy or sorrow grown; 

    first the blade and then the ear, then the full corn shall appear; 

    Lord of harvest, grant that we wholesome grain and pure may be. 

    For the Lord our God shall come, and shall take the harvest home; 

    from the field shall in that day all offenses purge away, 

    giving angels charge at last in the fire the tares to cast; 

    but the fruitful ears to store in the garner evermore. 

Even so, Lord, quickly come, bring thy final harvest home;
gather thou thy people in, free from sorrow, free from sin,
there, forever purified,  in thy presence to abide;
come, with all thine angels, come, raise the glorious harvest home.

Mary McDonald’s sacred music career spans over thirty-five years. More than eight hundred anthems, seasonal musicals and keyboard collections testify to her significant contribution to sacred literature. In 2000, Mary became the first ever woman President of the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference. In addition, she has served as accompanist for the Tennessee Men's Chorale since 1985. Her greatest desire is "to give God glory for the songs He has allowed me to compose. He alone, is the true Creator behind my pen."  In 2011, after serving as sacred music editor for The Lorenz Corporation in Dayton, Ohio for more than twenty years, Mary answered a new call. Now she takes her tremendous passion and love for music making directly to churches as an independent artist by holding Composer Weekend workshops.  

About the Piano Music:

Thanksgiving and Praise Medley - Paul Tate 

(c.2013, GIA Publishing)

Paul A. Tate, a graduate of the University of Georgia, is a professional musician living in Sugar Hill, Georgia. As an active workshop presenter and concert performer, Paul has released a dozen recordings and published over 100 original songs and arrangements. His liturgical compositions appear in a number of hymnal resources, and his voice has been heard around the world on Sirius Satellite Radio.

Tate has written this setting of the two hymn tunes ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR and KREMSER.   They are most familiar as the tunes of “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” and “We Gather Together.

The composer of the tune ST. GEORGE’S WINDSOR was George J. Elvey, who served as the organist for forty-seven years at the historic, royal chapel at Windsor Castle in England.  He originally composed the music for James Montgomery’s text “Hark! the Song of Jubilee,” published in E. H. Throne’s Selection of Psalms and Hymn Tunes in 1858.  In 1861, this tune first appeared wedded to Henry Alford’s text in the well-known Anglican Church hymnal, Hymns Ancient and Modern.  It has found a place in nearly every published hymnal to the present time.
George Elvey was knighted by Queen Victoria, in 1871, for his many years of faithful service to the royal family as well as for his various musical publications, including several oratorios, anthems, and collections of service music.

The tune KREMSER owes its origin to a sixteenth-century Dutch folk song "Ey, wilder den wilt." Later the tune was combined with the Dutch patriotic hymn 'Wilt heden nu treden" in Adrianus Valerius's Nederlandtsch Gedenckclanck [sic: Nederlandtsche Gedenckclank] published posthumously in 1626. 'Wilt heden nu treden," which celebrated Dutch freedom from Spanish rule, was always popular in the Netherlands, but gained international popularity through an arrangement by Eduard Kremser in his Sechs Altniederlandische Volkslieder (1877) for men's voices. This collection of six songs in German translation from Valerius's anthology was the source of the older English text, 'We Gather Together."

About the Choral Music:

The Majesty and Glory of Your Name – Tom Fettke

(c. 1979, Word Music)

Tom Fettke has taught music in both public and Christian schools and has served as a church choir director and minister of music in churches large and small for over 30 years. He is a composer, arranger, clinician, and producer of Christian music recordings.  Fettke was the creator and senior editor of the Hymnal for Worship and Celebration (1986).  

Ever since The Church Music Report's "Favorite Anthem Survey" began surveying music ministers decades ago, only one anthem has appeared every year at the top of their "All-time Favorite Anthems" list: Tom Fettke's "The Majesty and Glory of Your Name."  This is his story of that anthem:

This work is not mine.  The text is Psalm 8 and I wasn’t the author of Psalm 8.  The lyric setting is by Linda Lee Johnson and this was her first attempt at lyric writing.  She was a choir member at a church where I was Minister of Music.  Linda had written a children’s Sunday School Program which revealed some of her creative abilities.  When I asked her to try writing a text based on my favorite Psalm, her response was less than confident, but she was willing to give it a try.  A few days later she presented to me a lyric that I felt was nearly perfect and ready for my attempt at a musical setting.

The original piece ended with “little children praise You perfectly, and so would we”.  However, it never felt quite right and remained in a drawer in its old form for several months.  Then, during a concert in which my choir performed the Ken Medema anthem, “Moses”, I realized what was needed was a warm, emotional, more fully developed personal response to God’s majesty and glory.  The next day, I wrote the “Alleluia” section.  Playing through the completed work was an incredibly moving experience, and I just knew that God had chosen to touch this musical and textual creation.

That’s the story.  This song is not mine, it’s God’s.  It is one of those things in life that you know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, you had nothing to do with; you were only a tool in the hands of God to display His handiwork.

When I gaze into the night skies  and see the work of your fingers;
The moon and stars suspended in space. Oh, what is man that you are mindful of him? 

You have given man a crown of glory and honor,
And have made him a little lower than the angels.
You have put him in charge of all creation:
The beasts of the field, The birds of the air, The fish of the sea.
Oh, what is man? Oh, what is man that you are mindful of him? 

O Lord, our God the majesty and glory of your name
Transcends the earth and fills the heavens.
O Lord, our God; little children praise You perfectly, And so would we. 

Alleluia! Alleluia!  The majesty and glory of Your name.
Alleluia! Alleluia!

About the Hymns:

We Gather Together

"We Gather Together" is a Christian hymn of Dutch origin written in 1597 by Adrianus Valerius as "Wilt heden nu treden" to celebrate the Dutch victory over Spanish forces in the Battle of Turnhout.  At the time the hymn was written, the Dutch were engaged in a war of national liberation against the Catholic King Philip II of Spain.  “Wilt heden nu treden”  resonated because under the Spanish King, Dutch Protestants were forbidden to gather for worship.  The hymn first appeared in print in a 1626 collection of Dutch patriotic songs,  Nederlandtsch Gedencklanck.  The hymn is customarily performed to a tune known as “Kremser”, from Eduard Kremser's 1877 score arrangement and lyric translation of “Wilt Heden Nu Treden” into Latin and German. The modern English text was written by Theodore Baker in 1894.  “We Gather Together” first appeared in an American hymnal in 1903.  It had retained popularity among the Dutch, and when the Dutch Reformed Church in North America decided in 1937 to abandon the policy that they had brought with them to the New World in the 17th century of singing only psalms and add hymns to the church service, "We Gather Together" was chosen as the first hymn in the first hymnal.   The hymn steadily gained popularity, especially in services of Thanksgiving on such occasions as town and college centennial celebrations.  The "big break" came in 1935 when it was included in the national hymnal of the Methodist-Episcopal Church.   This hymn is often sung at American churches the day before Thanksgiving.

    We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
    He chastens and hastens His will to make known.
    The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing.
    Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be;
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

Now Thank We All Our God

Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) was the Bishop of Eilenberg, Germany during the Thirty Years’ War.  Since Eilenberg was a walled city, it became a place of refuge for fugitives of the war, and also a place of famine and disease due to overcrowding.  In 1637, at the height of their misery, Rinkart was the only clergyman left in the city who could perform the 40 or 50 daily burial services, one of which was for his wife.   The city was sacked three times by invaders.  During this time, Rinkart managed to write 7 dramas and 66 hymns.  The hymn “Nun danket alle Gott” was originally titled “Tisch-Gebetlein” (a little prayer before the meal).  This humble prayer of thanksgiving is laid out simply and beautifully in the first verse.  This verse of thanks is followed by a verse asking for strength in time of trial and a doxology.   The tune, “Nun Danket” is named for Rinkart's text, has been associated with it ever since they were published together by Johann Crüger (1598-1662) in his Praxis Pietatis Melica (1647).

Now thank we all our God with heart and hands and voices,  

        Who wondrous things has done, in whom the world rejoices;

        Who from our mothers’ arms has blessed us on our way

        With countless gifts of love, and still is ours today.

O may this bounteous God through all our life be near us,

        With ever joyful hearts and blessed peace to cheer us,

        To keep us in His grace, and guide us when perplexed,

        And free us from all ills in this world and the next.

All praise and thanks to God the Father now be given,

        The Son and Spirit blest, who reign in highest heaven

        The one eternal God, whom heaven and earth adore;

        For thus it was, is now, and shall be evermore.   

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus

 

Sunday, November 14, 2021

 Each week, you may find information here about the music in the traditional worship services at First United Methodist Church in Lewisville, Texas.  Some of this information is original; most of it is copied from other websites such as Wikipedia, GBOD, and hymnary.org.  It is my hope that this information will enhance your understanding and enrich your worship experience.   

About the Organ Music:

Jesu, meine Freude - J. S. Bach

"Jesu, meine Freude" (Jesus, my joy) is a German hymn, written byJohann Franck in 1650,  with a melody by Johann Crüger. The song first appeared in Crüger's hymnal Praxis pietatis melica in 1653. The text addresses Jesus as joy and support, versus enemies and the vanity of existence.  The first stanza sets the theme of love of Jesus and the desire to be united with him, who is named Lamb, as in Revelation 5:6, and Bridegroom, based on Revelation 22:17.  It is a variant of the love song "Flora, meine Freude", published in 1645 by Heinrich Albert, organist at the Königsberg Cathedral.   The second stanza describes the protection by Jesus against threats from Satan, enemies, thunder, hell and sin, all pictured in drastic images. The third stanza repeats three times Trotz (defiance), facing the enemies "old dragon" (alter Drachen), death (Tod), and fear (Furcht). The believer, feeling safe even in adverse conditions as expressed in Psalms 23:4, stands singing (Ich steh hier und singe.).  The fourth stanza turns away from worldly treasures and honors, which should not separate the believer from Jesus. The fifth stanza repeats four times "Good night", to existence in the world, to sins, to pride and pomp, and to a vile life. The last stanza imagines the entry of Jesus as the "Freudenmeister" (master of joys), as a comforter in every misery. It alludes to Jesus returning after the resurrection (Luke 24:36). 

Jesus, my joy, my heart's pasture, Jesus, my treasure!
Ah, how long, ah long has my heart suffered and longed for you!
God's lamb, my bridegroom, besides You on earth 

nothing shall be dearer to me.

Under your protection I am safe from the storms of all enemies.
Let Satan rage, let the enemy fume, Jesus stands with me.
Whether now it thunders and flashes, whether sin and Hell terrify,
Jesus will protect me.

Defiance to the old dragon, defiance to the vengeance of death,
defiance to fear as well! Rage, world, and attack;
I stand here and sing in entirely secure peace!
God's strength holds me in watch; earth and abyss must fall silent,
however much they might rumble.

Away with all treasures, you are my delight, Jesus, my joy!
Away, you vain honors, I don't want to listen to you, remain unknown to me!
Misery, want, torture, shame and death shall, although I must suffer much,
never part me from Jesus.

Good night, existence that cherishes the world! You do not please me.
Good night, sins, stay far away, never again come to light!
Good night, pride and glory! To you utterly, life of corruption,
be good night given!

Hence, you spirits of sadness, for my Master of joy, Jesus, comes here.
For those who love God, even their troubles must be pure sugar.

    Though I endure mockery and shame here already,
    nevertheless you stay with me even in sorrow, Jesus, my joy.

Johann Sebastian Bach (1685-1750) was a German composer and musician of the Baroque period.  He enriched established German styles through his skill in counterpoint, harmonic and motivic organization, and the adaptation of rhythms, forms, and textures from abroad, particularly from Italy and France.  Bach's compositions include the Brandenburg concertos, the Mass in B minor, The Well-Tempered Clavier, two Passions, keyboard works, and more than 300 cantatas, of which nearly 100 cantatas have been lost to posterity.  His music is revered for its intellectual depth, technical command, and artistic beauty.  Bach's abilities as an organist were highly respected throughout Europe during his lifetime, although he was not widely recognized as a great composer until a revival of interest and performances of his music in the first half of the nineteenth century.  During the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century, Bach was recognized by several prominent composers.  Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven,  Frédéric Chopin, Robert Schumann, and Felix Mendelssohn were among his admirers; they began writing in a more contrapuntal style after being exposed to Bach's music.  Beethoven described him as "Urvater der Harmonie", the "original father of harmony".  He is now generally regarded as one of the main composers of the Baroque period and as one of the greatest composers of all time.  A highly devout Christian, Bach signed all of his compositions “soli Deo Gloria”  (to God alone be the glory).   

Sing a New Song - Mary McDonald 

(c. 2020, Lorenz Publishing)

Mary McDonald’s sacred music career spans over thirty-five years. More than eight hundred anthems, seasonal musicals and keyboard collections testify to her significant contribution to sacred literature. In 2000, Mary became the first ever woman President of the Southern Baptist Church Music Conference. In addition, she has served as accompanist for the Tennessee Men's Chorale since 1985. Her greatest desire is "to give God glory for the songs He has allowed me to compose. He alone, is the true Creator behind my pen."  In 2011, after serving as sacred music editor for The Lorenz Corporation in Dayton, Ohio for more than twenty years, Mary answered a new call. Now she takes her tremendous passion and love for music making directly to churches as an independent artist by holding Composer Weekend workshops. 

This setting was inspired by Psalm 98 and is incribed with the scripture:

O sing unto the Lord a new song; for he hath done marvelous things: his right hand and

his holy arm hath gained the victory.  With trumpets and organ, make a joyful noise 

before the Lord, Our King.”  Psalm 98: 1, 6

McDonald includes the hymntune NICAEA, which John Bacchus Dykes composed in 1861. The tune name is a tribute to the First Council of Nicaea which formalized the doctrine of the Trinity in 325.  This tune is used for “Holy, Holy, Holy” most often.  

About the Choral Music:

Bless the Lord, O My Soul – Glenn Burleigh

(c. 1993, Glenn Burleigh)

Glenn Burleigh (1949-2007) was born into a family of ministers in Guthrie, Okla., Burleigh grew up to be a renowned pianist, conductor and clinician, as well as composer. His music has been performed on every continent in venues ranging from churches to classical concert stages.  His "Alpha Mass" and "Lamentation and Celebration," (dedicated to the victims and survivors of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing) were recorded by the Choral Arts Society of Racine, Wisconsin.  One of Burleigh's many gifts was his ability to take disparate styles of music such as classical, blues, gospel and jazz, and bring them together.  Burleigh operated his own publishing company in Oklahoma City assisted by his brother, Kenneth. In addition, he served as Director of Music for the National Baptist Congress for five years and as Composer-in-Residence for the Ambassadors’ Concert Choir of Oklahoma City from 1984-2000.  He was inducted into the Oklahoma Jazz Hall of Fame in 2014.

“Bless the Lord, O My Soul” was written in 1993, and the text is based on Psalm 103.

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me blessed be His Holy name.

He’ll forgive all our iniquities.  He will heal our diseases.

He’ll redeem us and renew our strength if we bless the Lord.

I will bless the Lord at all times and His praises shall continually be in my mouth.

I will praise his name at all times.  Bless the Lord O my soul.

About the Hymns:

The Church’s One Foundation

Songs are a powerful means of teaching. The melodies, rhythms, and rhymes that characterize songs make the words easier to remember. The best and most effective songs combine lyrics and music to cultivate feelings that complement the meaning.  The Rev. Samuel John Stone (1839-1900) was well aware of the effectiveness of singing when he wrote and published Lyra Fidelium in 1866. As a curate in the small town of Windsor, England, he was aware of his parishoners’ habit of using the Apostles’ Creed in their private prayers. But he was concerned that many of them did not grasp the meaning of what they said. The prose felt too academic, disconnected from the average worshipper, and lacking a devotional spirit.

It was in this context that he wrote Lyra Fidelium, which consisted of twelve hymns, one for each article of the Apostles’ Creed. With each hymn he included a short “summary of truths confessed” in that article, along with a list of the Scripture passages supporting it. “The Church’s One Foundation” was the hymn he wrote for article 9 of the Creed, which affirms belief in “the holy catholic church” and “the communion of saints.”

“The Church’s One Foundation” is the best known of the twelve hymns in this collection. Louis Benson quotes one English archbishop as saying that “wherever he was called upon to open or dedicate a church, he could always count on two things—cold chicken and ‘The Church’s one Foundation’.”  The hymn’s long legacy undoubtedly owes to the many doctrines it includes, its use of the words and concepts of Scripture to express them, and its uniqueness in teaching the doctrine of the church. Benson describes it as embodying “practically every doctrine concerning the church [Stone] held most dear (its divine origin, its unbroken continuity, its catholicity and essential unity, its orthodoxy, its sacramental grace, its communion with God and with the departed saints, its militancy and final triumph).”

AURELIA was written by Samuel Sebastian Wesley (1810-1876), the son of Samuel Wesley and grandson of Charles Wesley.  Famous in his lifetime as one of his country's leading organists and choirmasters, he composed almost exclusively for the Church of England, which continues to cherish his memory.  There are memorial tablets to him in Exeter Cathedral and Winchester Cathedral, and his memorial at Gloucester Cathedral is in stained glass.  Of his hymn tunes the best-known are AURELIA and HEREFORD, but CORNWALL and HAREWOOD are also particularly fine. AURELIA has been widely adopted in the United States, and is regularly heard there. Usually sung to the words "The Church's One Foundation", Wesley composed the tune for the hymn "Jerusalem the Golden”.

While at Winchester Cathedral Wesley was largely responsible for the Cathedral's acquisition in 1854 of the Father Willis organ which had been exhibited at The Great Exhibition, 1851. The success of the Exhibition organ led directly to the award of the contract to Willis for a 100-stop organ for St George's Hall, Liverpool built in 1855. Wesley, with Father Willis, can be credited with the invention of the concave and radiating organ pedalboard, but demurred when Willis proposed that it should be known as the "Wesley-Willis" pedalboard. However, their joint conception has been largely adopted as an international standard for organs throughout the English-speaking world and those exported elsewhere.

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ, our Lord;

we are a new creation by water and the Word.

From heav’n he came and taught us what perfect love can be;

through life and death he sought us, and rose to set us free.

The church in ev’ry nation is one through all the earth;

our charter of salvation, one God, one faith, one birth;

one name together blessing, one holy food we share,

to one hope ever pressing, at one in work and prayer.

Still, schisms, tribulation, and hatred fuel our war;

we wait the consummation of peace forevermore.

The saints their watch are keeping; their cry goes up, “How long?”

And soon the night of weeping shall be the morn of song.

Yet we on earth have union with God, the Three in One,

and mystic, sweet communion with those whose rest is won.

Oh, happy ones and holy! God, give us grace that we,

like them, the meek and lowly, may live eternally.

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. The Irish text was translated into literal prose by Irish scholar Mary Elizabeth Byrne (1880-1931), a Dublin native, and then published in Eriú, the journal of the School of Irish Learning, in 1905. Byrne was also known for her academic publications, including Old and Mid-Irish Dictionary, Dictionary of the Irish Language, and a treatise, England in the Age of Chaucer. 

It is at this point that Eleanor Hull (1860-1935) enters the story. Born in Manchester, England, she was the founder of the Irish Text Society and president of the Irish Literary Society of London. Hull versified the text and it was published in her Poem Book of the Gael (1912).

Following the original publication in Ireland, the hymn was included in a number of British hymnals. After World War II, the hymn came to the attention of hymnal editors in the U.S. and it has become a standard hymn in most hymnals today. 

Irish liturgy and ritual scholar Helen Phelan, a lecturer at the University of Limerick, points out how the language of this hymn is drawn from traditional Irish culture: "One of the essential characteristics of the text is the use of 'heroic' imagery to describe God. This was very typical of medieval Irish poetry, which cast God as the 'chieftain' or 'High King' (Ard Ri) who provided protection to his people or clan. The lorica is one of the most popular forms of this kind of protection prayer and is very prevalent in texts of this period." The original chieftain language of the "High King of heaven" has given way to the more inclusive "Great God" in the UM Hymnal. 

When Hull's versification was paired with the lovely traditional Irish tune SLANE in The Irish Church Hymnal in 1919, its popularity was sealed. The folk melody was taken from a non-liturgical source, Patrick Weston Joyce's Old Irish Folk Music and Songs: A Collection of 842 Airs and Songs hitherto unpublished (1909).   "Most 'traditional' Irish religious songs are non-liturgical," says Dr. Phelan. "There is a longstanding practice of 'editorial weddings' in Irish liturgical music, where traditional tunes were wedded to more liturgically appropriate texts. This is a very good example of this practice.”  The tune name SLANE is drawn from deep in Irish history. It was on Slane Hill in County Meath around 433 CE that St. Patrick lit candles on Easter Eve, defying a decree by High King Logaire of Tara that no one could light a fire before the king signaled the beginning of the pagan spring festival by lighting a fire on Tara Hill. King Logaire was so impressed by Patrick's devotion that, despite his defiance, he was permitted to continue his work as Ireland's first Christian missionary.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart; 

Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art;
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night, 

Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my Wisdom, and Thou my true Word; 

I ever with Thee and Thou with me, Lord;
Thou my great Father, I Thy true son;
Thou in me dwelling, and I with Thee one.

Be Thou my battle Shield, Sword for the fight;
Be Thou my Dignity, Thou my Delight;
Thou my soul’s Shelter, Thou my high Tow’r:
Raise Thou me heav’nward, O Pow’r of my pow’r.

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of Heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

High King of Heaven, my victory won,
May I reach Heaven’s joys, O bright Heav’n’s Sun!
Heart of my own heart, whatever befall,
Still be my Vision, O Ruler of all.

First United Methodist Church, Lewisville, Texas

A Community of Everyday People Learning to Love Like Jesus