April 22, 2012: The Third Sunday in Easter

Apr 22 2012

Hymn: Hear the Good News of Salvation

LindaJo McKim writes, “John B. Renville was a Native American Dakota, the first to be ordained to the Presbyterian ministry. He thrived in the latter half of the nineteenth century after being licensed and ordained in 1865. This hymn first appeared in the 1879 edition of Dakota Odowan (The Dakota Hymnal), which was edited by Renville and continues in popular use among Native Americans today.”

Hymn: Blest Be the Tie That Binds

This hymn, whose original title was “Brotherly Love,” was written by Baptist minister John Fawcett to be used after a sermon. The text was comprised of six stanzas, four of which we’ll sing today. The fifth stanza, unpublished in The Presbyterian Hymnal (1990), reads: This glorious hope revives / Our courage by the way; / While each in expectation lives, / And longs to see the day.

Hymn: O Jesus, I Have Promised

John Ernest Bode wrote this hymn for his children’s confirmation. It originally read “O Jesus, We Have Promised,” and contained six stanzas. The four in our hymnal are those in common usage. Stanza 4, omitted in our hymnal, reads: “Oh! let me see thy features, The look that once could make So many a true disciple Leave all things for Thy sake: The look that beamed on Peter when he Thy name denied; the look that draws Thy lovers Close to Thy pierced side.”

8:30 Offertory/Second Hymn at 10:55: Come to Us, Beloved Stranger

Edith Sinclair Downing writes of her text, “When I attended my first hymn-writing school this scripture passage was assigned to small groups. Later I kept working on a text for this scripture and it was expanded to its present form. This soul-nurturing story sings of Christ’s lingering presence to brighten our every day and tomorrow.”

10:55 Offertory: Shepherd Me, O God

Composer Marty Haugen writes about his setting of scripture: “The 23^rd Psalm appears numerous times in the lectionary; it is also appropriate for the Order of Christian Funerals. The language of this setting, especially the refrain, moves away from the familiar biblical text not in order to change the meaning of the psalm, but in an attempt to uncover anew the deep and profound truth of God’s love. The images for God are meant to be both inclusive and evocative of God’s intimate relationship with us.”

April 15, 2012: The First Sunday After Easter

Apr 15 2012

Hymn: Thine is the Glory

The text of this French hymn “A toi la glorie” was written by Edmond Louis Burdy and published in Chants Evangeliques (1885).  It was translated into English by Richard Birch Hole (1923) for the first edition of Cantate Domino. (1924).  The tune JUDAS MACCABEUS, named after an oratorio composed by George Frederick Handel, was originally associated with Handel’s oratorio Joshua. As was customary, Handel “stole” the tune from Joshua to be used in a chorus for Judas Maccabeus.  The tune was first published in Thomas Butts’ Harmonia Sacra (1760) as the setting for Charles Wesley’s “Christ the Lord is Risen Today!”

Hymn: Come, Ye Faithful, Raise the Strain

John of Damascus, who also penned “The Day of Resurrection,” wrote this hymn in the middle of the eighth century. Originally, it was used right after Easter.  The ode was originally from an Old Testament canticle “The Song of Moses” from Exodus 15.

Hymn: More Love to Thee, O Christ

According to LindaJo McKim, This hymn by Elizabeth Payson Prentiss was written at a time of personal sorrow.  She wrote most of the hymn at one sitting in 1856.  It was not until thirteen years later that she added a final stanza to the hymn at the urging of her husband, Dr. George L. Prentiss.  The hymn was printed in a leaflet and distributed to friends.  MORE LOVE TO THEE was composed by William Howard Doane in 1870 after he saw the printed text. 

Response: Christ is Risen!  Shout Hosanna!

Brian Wren wrote the text to this Easter piece in September 1984.  Wren was inspired by the Easter text “Christ is Risen, Raise Your Voices.”  The tune HYMN TO JOY is taken from a tune in Ludwig van Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, “Choral.”  Edward Hodges adopted it for use as a hymn.

8:30 Offertory: I Danced in the Morning

LindaJo McKim writes, “This hymn was written by Syndey carter and has become his most famous song. It uses an American Shaker melody which is often sung to ‘’Tis a Gift to Be Simple.’ Carter adapted it and harmonized it for this text. SIMPLE GIFTS is a Shaker tune deriving from the Shaker movement, which originated during an English revival in 1747. The name “Shaker” came from the shaking that occurred during the stress of the spiritual exaltation the members experienced in their meetings. Aaron Copland famously set the tune in his “Appalachian Spring” orchestral suite.

10:55 Anthem: If Ye Love Me

Philip Wilby was born in Pontefract, England in 1949. Wilby is well known for his compositions for brass band; many of his pieces are based on his Christian beliefs.  “If Ye Love Me” is based on John 14:15-18: “If you love me, keep my commands. And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another advocate to help you and be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.”

April 8, 2012: Easter Sunday

Apr 8 2012 Easter Sunday

Hymn: Christ Is Alive!

Brian Wren wrote this hymn in April 1968 for Easter not long after the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. He “tried to express an Easter hope out of that terrible event,” rather than Easter as “long ago, far away, and high above.” The hymn has been revised several times as Wren has sought to keep the original theme of the text while seeking better language. The fourth stanza, not included in The Presbyterian Hymnal, reads, “Women and men, in age and youth, / can feel the Spirit, hear the call, / and find the way, the life, the truth, / revealed in Jesus, freed for all.”

Hymn: Jesus Christ Is Risen Today

The text for this hymn comes from an anonymous Latin manuscript written in the fourteenth century. It was translated into German, then later to English in 1708. The hymn, paired with the EASTER HYMN tune that we’ll sing today, was published in

Lyra Davidica, an early songbook. The tune has been called “extraordinary for its time, anticipating the more exuberant tunes of the Evangelical revival later in the [eighteenth] century.”

Hymn: The Day of Resurrection!

Carlton Young writes, “This text and ‘Come, ye faithful, raise the strain’ are hymns of praise freely translated from the Easter ‘Golden Canon,’ also called the ‘Queen of Canons,’ linking the mighty acts of God: the Hebrews’ exodus and Jesus’ resurrection.” The writer of the hymn, John of Damascus, a poet of the Greek Church and one of its major theologians and hymn writers. It is related to Exodus 15, tying the story of Moses and the Hebrews going out from bondage to freedom with Christ’s winning the victory over death for us.

Hymn: We Know That Christ Is Raised

The author writes of this hymn, written in 1967 when he was a tutor at Cheshunt College, Cambridge: “A good deal of work was going on round the corner producing living cells. This hymn attempted to illustrate the Christian doctrine of baptism in relation to those experiments.” The hymn is, as Paul Westermeyer puts it, a statement of the explosive nature of baptism in all contexts. The text was specifically written for the tune ENGELBERG. Westermeyer writes, “The pulse of this one is so strong that the long notes at phrase ends never sit down but are always propelled onward with enough space for breath.” Sing it heartily and with conviction!

Anthem: Lamb of God

This setting of the Agnus Dei (O Lamm Gottes, unschuldig) was written by Nikolaus Decius about 1541, and arranged for four-part choir by F. Melius Christiansen in 1933. Christiansen is perhaps best known as the founding conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, which helped to encourage a cappella singing in the early twentieth century. The tune for this piece was derived from a thirteenth-century chant setting.

Anthem: Arise, Your Light Has Come

David Danner composed this anthem for the 1989 National Convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Louisville as part of their Hallelujah Amen service. The piece sets texts adapted from Psalm 57:8-9, Isaiah 60:1, and the German chorale “Wachet auf (Wake, awake, for night is flying).”

Anthem: “Hallelujah” Chorus from MESSIAH

One of the best-known pieces in the choral repertory, this chorus speaks for itself. Handel wrote the music for Messiah in the space of 24 days (August 22-September 14, 1741). A legend tells the story of Handel’s servant happening upon his employer after the completion of the “Hallelujah” chorus. According to the servant’s report, Handel had tears streaming down his cheeks as he exclaimed, “I did think I did see all heaven before me, and the great God himself!” The chorus ends Part II of the work, as it transitions from selections for Lent; thus, it serves as a wonderful beginning to Eastertide. 

April 1, 2012: Palm Sunday

Apr 1 2012

Hymn: All Glory, Laud, and Honor

The original text of this hymn comes from a long poem by Theodulph, Bishop of Orleans (760-821). He became Charlemagne’s leading theologian, all the while honing his gift of poetry. The hymn references four different Biblical texts: Psalm 24:7-10, Psalm 118:25-26, Matthew 21:1-17, and Luke 19:37-38.

Hymn: Beneath the Cross of Jesus

Elizabeth Clephane wrote this text anonymously the year before her death. Four years later, it was published in the Scottish religious magazine The Family Treasury (1872) with the title “Breathings on the Border.” It has a devotional quality to it which lends itself to be sung during Lent and other times of penitence.

Hymn: O Sing a Song of Bethlehem

LindaJo McKim writes, “Written by Louis Benson (1899), this hymn is one of the best poetic portrayals of the life of Christ. Using four geographical areas, the hymn lifts up stages in Jesus’ life. In Bethlehem there shone a light that continues today. In Nazareth flowers bloomed and today these flowers bring beauty into the believer’s life. The peace that came over Galilee still brings peace to the believer. Calvary’s redeeming power is adequate to meet today’s needs.”

Anthem: Let All the World in Every Corner Sing

The English composer Ralph Vaughan Williams set a collection of the Welsh poet George Herbert’s texts, Five Mystical Songs, between 1907 and 1911. This is the final piece from that set, composed for solo baritone, chorus, and orchestra. Herbert’s original setting suggests that the poem be read or sung antiphonally; that is, between two different groups or choirs, like a call and response. Vaughan Williams achieves this end by having the full chorus sing “Let all the world in every corner sing,” while having individual sections sing parts of the verses. Vaughan Williams was an authority on English folk music; he edited the 1906 English Hymnal, which included several of his own hymn settings that are still sung today. George Herbert is best known for his poetry, which was published immediately after his death in a collection entitled The Temple.

Anthem: My Song Is Love Unknown

George Herbert has a connection to this anthem; a poem he wrote called “Love Unknown” seems to have influenced Samuel Crossman’s own writing. For example, in Herbert’s poem, Jesus speaks in stanzas; after each stanza comes the refrain “Was ever grief like mine?” Whether or not Herbert’s writing inspired Crossman, the text is a fitting conclusion to Lent as we move toward Holy Week and the Passion. Gracia Grindal writes that a “befuddled balladeer” tells a story with this “contradiction and paradox: ‘Love to the loveless shown / that they might lovely be.’ …Few hymns tell the story so well and so powerfully. And few tell us so much about ourselves.”