June 24, 2012: The Fourth Sunday After Pentecost

Jun 24 2012

Hymn: O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

Charles Wesley titled this hymn “For the Anniversary Day of One’s Conversion,” written on the first anniversary of his own conversion. Methodist hymnologist Carlton Young believes it to be “the most characteristic, widely known, and sung hymn of the Wesleyan movement.” The original poem had eighteen stanzas; Wesley was inspired to write the text after a conversation with a Moravian, Peter Böhler during which he asked about praising Christ. Böhler replied, “Had I a thousand tongues, I would praise him with them all.”

Hymn: Blessed Assurance, Jesus Is Mine!

This text and “To God Be the Glory” are probably the best-known texts by Fanny Crosby. She said the following about her writing of the text: “Sometimes a tune is furnished me for which to write the words. The hymn titled ‘Blessed Assurance’ was made in this manner.” Crosby goes on to say that a friend of hers provided her with a tune and asked Crosby what she said. Crosby replied, “Blessed assurance.” The Psalter Hymnal Handbook notes that the hymn is a “typical gospel hymn of the late nineteenth century. It is simple, truly evangelical in spirit, and has an emotional appeal that comes from its rousing tune and from the personal experience described in the text. It is a fine testimonial hymn of praise to Christ for his work of redemption (st. 1), for the Spirit’s work of sanctification (st. 2), and for the joy of serving Jesus (st. 3).”

June 17, 2012: The Third Sunday After Pentecost

Jun 17 2012

Hymn: Ye Servants of God

LindaJo McKim writes, “The text was written by Charles Wesley as part of a hymn tract series issued for the Wesleys’ class meetings. A caption to the hymn stated ‘To be sung in a tumult.’ The tract containing thirty-three hymns was titled Hymns for Times of Trouble and Persecution (1744).” Carlton Young notes that the hymn “was composed against the background of anti-Methodist persecution, when the followers of the Wesleys were slandered, plundered, and mobbed.”

Hymn: There Are Many Ways of Sharing

In her book Songs of Grace, Presbyterian minister Carolyn Winfrey Gillette explains the basis for her hymn: “This hymn, which is based on 1 Corinthians 12, celebrates the gifts of the Spirit for ministry. It was originally written for services of ordination and installation for Elders, Deacons, and Ministers of the Word and Sacrament. It could also be used in worship services recognizing volunteers in the church or in the community, or celebrating the gifts and daily vocations of church members.” In our worship service, we celebrate the work of VBS volunteers, and remember the story of the Ethiopian who went away rejoicing after being baptized.

Hymn: Alleluia! Sing to Jesus!

This hymn was first published in 1867 and was titled “Redemption by the Precious Blood.” LindaJo McKim draws attention to “the number of titles given to Jesus Christ in stanzas 3 and 4. The first ‘Bread of angels’ is a reference to Psalm 78:25 and an allusion to John 6:32.” Paul Westermeyer calls it “hearty,” because of its multiple images of communion, Easter, and Ascension from multiple scripture passages.

Anthem: Jesus Loves Me

"Jesus Loves Me!" is a hymn written specifically with the faith of children in mind. In The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion, author Lindajo McKim writes this:

"The text was written by Anna Bartlett Warner for her novel Say and Seal (c. 1859). The main characters of the novel were a dying child Johnny Fax, his Sunday school teacher John Linden, and Linden's fiancee, Faith Derrick. Toward the end of the book, Linden carries the child and sings to him what has now become the familiar children's hymn." William Bradbury, a pupil of Lowell Mason, and an organist who held annual children’s music festivals, provided the musical setting for the text.

June 10, 2012: The Second Sunday After Pentecost

Jun 10 2012

Introit: When We Are Living

Gertrude Suppe supplies the background of this hymn: “In February 1980, after a church meeting in La Trinidad United Methodist Church in Los Angeles, CA, I saw a woman standing off to one side by herself. I got acquainted with her and found that she was visiting from Mexico. I asked if she remembered any of the songs they used in her church in Mexico. She did, and her sister, Ana Maria Domingues, sang a number of simple songs… “Pues si vivimos” was one of them.” The first stanza is based on Romans 14:7-8: “We do not live to ourselves, and we do not die to ourselves. If we live, we live to the Lord, and if we die, we die to the Lord; so then, whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.”

Hymn: To God Be the Glory

Fanny Crosby wrote this hymn for children and titled it, “Praise for Redemption.” It was published in an 1875 hymnal and long forgotten until 1954. In that year, someone suggested the hymn to Cliff Barrows to be used during the Billy Graham Greater London Crusade. It soon became a favorite of the crusade and was used at the 1954 Nashville Crusade. This particular hymn is different from other Crosby works in that it takes a more objective, distant point of view rather than a subjective, personal nature.

Hymn: My Faith Looks Up to Thee

Ray Palmer was teaching at a girls school in New York City when he wrote this hymn. He states, “These stanzas were born out of my own soul with very little effort… ‘Oh, bear me safe above, A ransomed soul!’… the thought that the whole work of redemption and salvation was involved in those words… brought me to a degree of emotion that brought abundant tears.”

Hymn: Fight the Good Fight

This hymn, based on 1 Timothy 6:12, is by John Monsell and was published in 1863. The passage reads, “Fight the good fight of the faith; take hold of the eternal life, who which you were called and for which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.”

June 3, 2012: Trinity Sunday

Jun 3 2012

Introit: How Lovely, Lord
Arlo Duba wrote this paraphrase of Psalm 84 after being struck by the fact that other musical settings of the psalm did not seem to carry with them the understanding of God's house being a wonderfully pleasing place in which to be.

Hymn: Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty!
Reginald Heber wrote this hymn for Trinity Sunday, building it on Revelation 4. Paul Westermeyer writes, "This accounts not only for 'Holy, holy holy' and its reminder of Isaiah 6:3, but for the imagery of 'golden crowns' and 'glassy sea,' which point beyond the realm of our experience and comprehension to the numinous (and which, as for the book of Revelation generally, when turned into literal figures become meaningless)."

Hymn: My Hope Is Built on Nothing Less
When speaking of his hymn, author Edward Mote said, "one day it came into my mind as I went to labor to write a hymn on the 'Gracious Experience of a Christian.'" The firstfruits of his labor were four stanzas and the refrain of this hymn. After leaving a meeting, he visited a sick parishioner, where they sang the original four stanzas. He then returned home and penned the final two. The hymn was published in 1836 under the title "The Immutable Basis of a Sinner's Hope," and originally began, "Nor earth nor hell my soul can move." The tune SOLID ROCK was penned by William Bradbury, who also wrote "Jesus Loves Me."

Hymn: How Firm a Foundation
The authorship of this hymn is still shrouded in mystery. First published in John Rippon's A Selection of Hymns (1787), it was signed "K." Baptist hymnologists David Music and Paul A. Richardson searched for a definitive author, but their labor yielded only "tantalizing clues" with no "conclusion." It was originally titled "Exceeding Great and Precious Promises, 2 Pet. iii.4." Paul Westermeyer writes that "the hymn runs that out in seven stanzas as a paraphrase of Isaiah 43:1b-3. Then, at the end, where the final line is 'I'll never—no never—no never forsake,' an asterisk points to a footnote," which references a translation of Hebrews 13:5: "Keep your lives free from the love of money, and be content with what you have; for he has said, 'I will never leave you or forsake you.'"

Anthem: Hymn of Promise
Author and composer Natalie Sleeth writes of her work: "...I seem to have been much involved in pondering the ideas of life, and death, spring and winter, Good Friday and Easter, and the whole reawakening of the world that happens every spring. ...One evening we entertained a friend for supper, and he, too, had been pondering such themes, and, even shared a work by T.S. Eliot in which there was a phrase something like "In our end is our beginning." That was virtually the catalyst for the form of the text of "Hymn of Promise" which I wrote the next day or two. ...I worked on the words very carefully, choosing just the right "pairings," attempting to get across the idea of someting inherent in something else even though unseen, and I even bought a tulip plant (though it was in bloom and bright yellow) to contemplate the idea of the "bulb" leading to the flower even though the bulb itself seems 'dead.'"