February 17, 2013: The First Sunday in Lent

Feb 17 2013

Hymn: Be Thou My Vision

The text for this hymn comes from an ancient Irish poem, “Rob tu mo bhoile, a Comdie cride.” It was translated by Mary E. Byrne in 1905 and later versified by Eleanor Hull in 1912.

Hymn: Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me

The text is John Wesley’s translation of Paul Gerhardt’s hymn “O Jesu Christ, mein schönstes Licht.” Wesley first heard that hymn, written in 1653, as he voyaged to America with a group of Moravians. LindaJo McKim writes that the story is told that Wesley needed the support of this text because he was a misfit.

Hymn: 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.

February 10, 2013: The Transfiguration of Our Lord

Feb 10 2013

Hymn: Arise, Your Light Is Come

“Arise, Your Light Is Come!” by Ruth Duck was originally intended to be an updated, inclusive-language adaptation of “Rise Up, O Men of God.” However, says Duck, “this new hymn text came to me, as if the new wine of the faith I wanted to express would not fit into the old wineskin of the earlier text.” Much like our other hymns today, this one exhorts Christians to go out into the world, making Christ’s name known both in our words and our actions.

Hymn: Fairest Lord Jesus

This hymn’s roots can be traced to Munster, Germany, where an anonymous copy was found in 1662, containing six stanzas. Its English translation was included in a New Yorker’s collection of hymns and songs for choirs in 1850. We’ll sing three stanzas of this translation today as we consider the imagery of the transfigured Jesus.

Hymn: Christ, Whose Glory Fills the Skies

Written by Charles Wesley, this hymn first appeared in three stanzas under the title “Morning Hymn.” Paul Westermeyer notes that the hymn, “as Charles Wesley wrote it is a Christological statement developed by images of light,” and as is true with many of Charles Wesley’s hymns, it is full of scriptural references. The images of light include verses from Luke 1:78-79, “the day shall dawn upon us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness,” and Revelation 22:16, the “bright morning star.”

Anthem: True Light

Composer Keith Hampton has crafted a piece that draws from spirituals and old chant texts that encompasses Christ’s presence as the “True Light.” The piece begins with the beloved “This Little Light of Mine,” before moving to a reimagined setting of the John 1 text of the Word made flesh. A soloist then sings thousand-year-old words from Grigor Narekatzi’s “Book of Mournful Chants,” where the author prays for support and gives praise to the Creator. The choir then builds by section, declaring their intent to let their light shine.

February 3, 2013: The Fourth Sunday after Epiphany

February 3 2013

 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: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

This Charles Wesley hymn is perhaps his best-known work,  “Hark! the herald angels sing” and “Christ the Lord is risen today” notwithstanding. The hymn began as a sort of “spiritual parody,” according to Frank Baker and Carlton Young, of a poem written by John Dryden for Henry Purcell’s 1691 opera King Arthur. That poem read:

Fairest Isle, all isles Excelling

Seat of Pleasures, and of Loves;

Venus here will chuse her Dwelling,

And forsake her Cyprian Groves.

The very end of the hymn is a restructuring of the first stanza of Joseph Addison’s “When all your mercies, O my God,” which read, “[Transported with the view, I’m] lost/In wonder, love, and praise.” Paul Westermeyer writes, “Wesley moves ‘lost’ to the beginning of the line ‘lost in wonder, love, and praise,’ and the line takes on a newly potent scope. Between these points, as usual, he has compressed multiple biblical allusions.”

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.