November 13, 2011

8:30 Worship Service

God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending

Written in 1961, this text by Robert Lansing Edwards has a clear focus on our responsibility to be good stewards of all God has shared with us. The text outlines these gifts: the wonder of creation, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and our talents for preaching the gospel are foremost. The tune comes from The Sacred Harp, a tune book published in 1844 that helped to pave the way for shape-note singing in America, a tradition that continues to this day.

Lord of All Good

Another hymn with a concerted emphasis on stewardship, this text by Congregational pastor Albert Frederick Bayly encompasses the way in which we are to fully devote ourselves to God’s “holy purpose.” It’s not only our monetary gifts, but our minds, our “hands, eyes and voices” as well.

Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound

It is good to have a thorough understanding of this hymn’s history to understand the significance of it. From The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion:

            John Newton was born in London and at age eleven went to sea with his father. his mother had die when he was six. By age seventeen he was in the British Royal Navy assigned to a man-of-war. After serving as a sailor on a slave ship, he became a captain, transporting Africans to port where they could be sold for the best price. In 1748 he was caught in a storm at sea and experienced a spiritual awakening…At age forty Newton was ordained in the Church of England despite his formal education.

            With William Cowper, Newton penned Olney Hymns (1779), from which the four stanzas we’ll sing today come. The fifth stanza is actually the tenth stanza of another hymn, “Jerusalem, My Happy Home,” which was included in another hymn collection; it is unclear when it was added to the four originals by Newton. The hymn was not paired with the tune NEW BRITAIN until 1835.

Response: They’ll Know We Are Christians

Peter Scholtes wrote this hymn based on John 13:34-35 and Ephesians 4:4-6 in 1966. Since its initial publication, the work has been included in 19 collections, including PCUSA’s Sing the Faith, the supplement to the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal. The first three stanzas emphasize our Christian unity both in faith and in action; the final stanza serves as a doxology to the Trinity. Over all, of course, is the refrain, which speaks for itself: “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

10:55 Worship Service

Gathering Song/Response: They’ll Know We Are Christians

Peter Scholtes wrote this hymn based on John 13:34-35 and Ephesians 4:4-6 in 1966. Since its initial publication, the work has been included in 19 collections, including PCUSA’s Sing the Faith, the supplement to the 1990 Presbyterian Hymnal. The first three stanzas emphasize our Christian unity both in faith and in action; the final stanza serves as a doxology to the Trinity. Over all, of course, is the refrain, which speaks for itself: “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love.”

God, Whose Giving Knows No Ending

Written in 1961, this text by Robert Lansing Edwards has a clear focus on our responsibility to be good stewards of all God has shared with us. The text outlines these gifts: the wonder of creation, Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection, and our talents for preaching the gospel are foremost. The tune comes from The Sacred Harp, a tune book published in 1844 that helped to pave the way for shape-note singing in America, a tradition that continues to this day.

Amazing Grace, How Sweet the Sound

It is good to have a thorough understanding of this hymn’s history to understand the significance of it. From The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion:

            John Newton was born in London and at age eleven went to sea with his father. his mother had die when he was six. By age seventeen he was in the British Royal Navy assigned to a man-of-war. After serving as a sailor on a slave ship, he became a captain, transporting Africans to port where they could be sold for the best price. In 1748 he was caught in a storm at sea and experienced a spiritual awakening…At age forty Newton was ordained in the Church of England despite his formal education.

            With William Cowper, Newton penned Olney Hymns (1779), from which the four stanzas we’ll sing today come. The fifth stanza is actually the tenth stanza of another hymn, “Jerusalem, My Happy Home,” which was included in another hymn collection; it is unclear when it was added to the four originals by Newton. The hymn was not paired with the tune NEW BRITAIN until 1835.

K. Lee Scott

Anthem: Who At My Door is Standing?

A minister’s wife and teacher, Mary Slade was assistant editor of The New England Journal of Education. Slade has had around one hundred hymn texts and poems published in various collections and hymnbooks. This text, written circa 1875, has been included in at least seventy-nine collections, ranging from camp meeting songbooks to denominational hymnals. The text is tied to Revelation 3:20, which reads, “Listen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.”

November 6, 2011

8:30 Worship Service


As Those of Old Their Firstfruits Brought

The text was written in 1960 by Frank von Christierson and published in Ten New Stewardship Hymns by the Hymn Society of America in 1961. Christierson wrote of his concern for stewardship, “because I am deeply concerned about missions and the outreach of the church to ‘all the world,’ also because stewardship is a very important phase of the Christian life.’” This is the first of two hymns we’ll sing to tunes with roots in British folk music. FOREST GREEN was originally the melody for the English folk song “The Plowboy’s Dream” and was arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams for The English Hymnal (1906) as the setting for “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” United Methodist hymnologist notes the tune’s simple form (AABA) and simple, attractive melody help to make it one of the “sturdiest” in hymnody.

Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples

Much like our first hymn this morning, this hymn also was written with stewardship in mind. A retired Presbyterian pastor from California, H. Kenn Carmichael, wrote this text in 1985 for a PCUSA stewardship campaign entitled “Called to Be Disciples.” The tune, KINGSFOLD, is another that was harmonized for The English Hymnal (1906) as a setting for “I heard the voice of Jesus say.” Like FOREST GREEN, this tune is written in simple AABA form, making it easy to learn and sing. The tune is named for a village in Surrey, England. If you happened to be from Ireland, you’d know the tune as STAR OF COUNTY DOWN.

Georgia Harkness

God of the Fertile Fields

Georgia Elma Harkness was the first woman to teach theology in an American seminary. Ordained by the Methodist church in 1926, it took her some thirty years to be admitted to a Conference before she could function as a minister. In between, she taught philosophy and theology at several colleges and seminaries, and wrote as well. Her interests focused on ecumenicism and a desire for everyone to understand the Christian faith. The tune’s name, AMERICA, is accurate in the sense that its history is found both in England and the rest of the world. In England, it was given the title “National Anthem” or “God Save the King (or Queen).” French critics claim that Jean Baptiste Lully composed the original music for Louis XIV, where Handel heard it and brought it to England. There are several German hymns that employ this tune, and it was also used as the setting for the Russian national anthem until 1833.

Congregational Response: Take My Life
We take our information on the origin of this “consecration hymn” from the author’s manuscripts. She wrote: “I went for a little visit of five days. There were ten persons in the house, some unconverted and long-prayed-for, some converted but not rejoicing Christians. He gave me the prayer, ‘Lord, give me all in this house!’ And [God] just did. The last night of my visit… I was too happy to sleep, and passed most of the night in renewal of my own consecration, and thes little couplets formed themselves and chimed in my heart one after another till they finished with ‘Ever, only, all for Thee.’”

10:55 Worship Service

Gathering Song and Congregational Response: Take My Life
We take our information on the origin of this “consecration hymn” from the author’s manuscripts. She wrote: “I went for a little visit of five days. There were ten persons in the house, some unconverted and long-prayed-for, some converted but not rejoicing Christians. He gave me the prayer, ‘Lord, give me all in this house!’ And [God] just did. The last night of my visit… I was too happy to sleep, and passed most of the night in renewal of my own consecration, and thes little couplets formed themselves and chimed in my heart one after another till they finished with ‘Ever, only, all for Thee.’”

As Those of Old Their Firstfruits Brought

The text was written in 1960 by Frank von Christierson and published in Ten New Stewardship Hymns by the Hymn Society of America in 1961. Christierson wrote of his concern for stewardship, “because I am deeply concerned about missions and the outreach of the church to ‘all the world,’ also because stewardship is a very important phase of the Christian life.’” This is the first of two hymns we’ll sing to tunes with roots in British folk music. FOREST GREEN was originally the melody for the English folk song “The Plowboy’s Dream” and was arranged by Ralph Vaughan Williams for The English Hymnal (1906) as the setting for “O Little Town of Bethlehem.” United Methodist hymnologist notes the tune’s simple form (AABA) and simple, attractive melody help to make it one of the “sturdiest” in hymnody.

Today We All Are Called to Be Disciples

Much like our first hymn this morning, this hymn also was written with stewardship in mind. A retired Presbyterian pastor from California, H. Kenn Carmichael, wrote this text in 1985 for a PCUSA stewardship campaign entitled “Called to Be Disciples.” The tune, KINGSFOLD, is another that was harmonized for The English Hymnal (1906) as a setting for “I heard the voice of Jesus say.” Like FOREST GREEN, this tune is written in simple AABA form, making it easy to learn and sing. The tune is named for a village in Surrey, England. If you happened to be from Ireland, you’d know the tune as STAR OF COUNTY DOWN.

Georgia Harkness

God of the Fertile Fields

Georgia Elma Harkness was the first woman to teach theology in an American seminary. Ordained by the Methodist church in 1926, it took her some thirty years to be admitted to a Conference before she could function as a minister. In between, she taught philosophy and theology at several colleges and seminaries, and wrote as well. Her interests focused on ecumenicism and a desire for everyone to understand the Christian faith. The tune’s name, AMERICA, is accurate in the sense that its history is found both in England and the rest of the world. In England, it was given the title “National Anthem” or “God Save the King (or Queen).” French critics claim that Jean Baptiste Lully composed the original music for Louis XIV, where Handel heard it and brought it to England. There are several German hymns that employ this tune, and it was also used as the setting for the Russian national anthem until 1833.

Communion Anthem: The Gift of Love

This anthem, written by Hal Hopson as a paraphrase of I Corinthians 13, is set to the British folk song O WALY WALY, which adapted by Hopson. After being published in 1972, the anthem gained enough popularity to be converted and used as a hymn, particularly for weddings. Hal Hopson was a major contributor to the Presbyterian Psalter, published in 1994.