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.'"

May 27, 2012: Pentecost

May 27 2012

Hymn: Rejoice, Ye Pure in Heart!

Edward Hayes Plumptre wrote this hymn for the Peterborough Choral Festival of 1865. The full text contained ten stanzas that were condensed and edited over the years. Written as a processional hymn, it works well with our Pentecost procession this morning as the children wave their “festal banners—“ in this case, it’s their streamers of fire!

Hymn: On Pentecost They Gathered

LindaJo McKim writes, “The text by Jane Parker Huber was written for the celebration of Pentecost. There are some hymns that mention the person and work of the Holy Spirit but few speak of the Pentecost event as ‘the birthday of the church.’ This hymn contains several direct references to Pentecost from the second chapter of Acts. It ends with hope that the singular event which inspired the disciples to ‘turn the world upside down’ (Acts 17: 6) will move modern-day Christians to do the same.”

Hymn: Listen, Sisters! Listen, Brothers!

Hymn writer and Presbyterian minister Carolyn Winfrey Gillette was inspired to write this text after attending a conference where the Bible study series focused on 1 Corinthians. She writes in her book Songs of Grace, “The central theme of this hymn can be found in the third line: ‘We have life in Jesus’ name.’ Everything else about faith hinges on what is found in 1 Corinthians 15.”

Introit: Like the Murmur of the Dove’s Song

Carl Daw wrote “Like the murmur of the dove’s song” for the The Hymnal 1982, the Episcopal Church’s songbook. Paul Westermeyer writes, “It is a litany-like prayer to the Holy Spirit to come. The first stanza identifies the Spirit with images of the Spirit’s likeness, the second stanza indicates to whom the spirit comes with images of the church, and the third stanza unpacks some of the gifts that the Spirit brings.” In writing this hymn, Daw had in mind “Isaiah 38:14 and 59:11, which use the moaning dove as images of praying in distress.”

Anthem: Gracious Spirit, Dwell With Me

The tune for this anthem, ADORO TE DEVOTE, is a beautiful melody that comes from seventeenth-century French songbook. It has changed little over the centuries, and its chant-like quality makes it very singable. The American composer K. Lee Scott set the tune with a text from Thomas Lynch, an English minister who published a nineteenth-century songbook (The Rivulet), which almost caused a split in the Congregational Church. The “Rivulet Controversy,” as it was called, centered on Lynch’s frequent references to nature in his hymn texts, but the controversy was probably exacerbated by his fresh poetic style. “Gracious Spirit, Dwell With Me” doesn’t contain examples of his controversial imagery, but does demonstrate Lynch’s creative poetic style. 

May 20, 2012: Youth/Graduate Recognition Sunday

May 13 2012 Youth Sunday

Hymn: 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.

Hymn: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

The English Baptist minister Robert Robinson wrote this hymn about 1758 and had it published a year later. Methodist hymnologist Carlton Young notes that hymn was originally four stanzas long, but, hymnal editors in the eighteenth century eliminated the final “apocalyptic climax,” a pattern which has been followed to present day. The fourth stanza reads as follows: “O that Day when freed from sinning, I shall see thy lovely Face;/Clothèd then in blood-washed Linnen [sic] How I’ll sing thy sovereign grace;/Come, my Lord, no longer tarry, Take my ransom’d Soul away; Send thine Angels now to carry/Me to realms of endless day.” In the hymn, it is helpful to know that “Ebenezer” means “Stone of Help,” as found in 1 Samuel 7:12, and a “fetter” is a kind of chain or manacle. The tune NETTLETON is an American folk hymn, named after the famous nineteenth-century evangelist, Ahasel Nettleton. Young writes, “The hymn’s strong evangelical themes and its singable and rousing tune have made this one of our most beloved hymns.”

Hymn: Here I Am, Lord

Daniel L. Schutte wrote the text and tune of this hymn in 1981 for a diaconate ordination. Paul Westermeyer writes, “It plays off the potency of Isaiah 6:8—“Then I heard the voice of the Lord saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?’ And I said, ‘Here am I; send me!’”—followed by God’s hard words, “Say this to the people: ‘Keep listening but do not comprehend.’” These potent and hard words are blunted in the latter part of the twentieth century by hymns like this that place the words of God in the congregation’s mouth. This is further complicated by the first-person pronoun in the refrain, where it no longer refers to God but to the singer.”

May 6, 2012: The Fifth Sunday of Easter

May 5 2012

Gathering Song: Come Sing to God

Fred Anderson wrote this paraphrase of Psalm 30 for use in Pine Street Presbyterian Church, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. It was published in Singing Psalms of Joy and Praise (1986), a collection of Anderson’s metrical psalms.

Hymn: O Worship the King, All Glorious Above!

A free paraphrase of Psalm 104, this hymn was written by Robert Grant and was first published in 1833. The text of stanza 2 was altered by the Presbyterian Hymnal Committee to reflect the language of the psalm more completely.

Hymn: Christ, the Vine, and God, the Gardener

Author Edith Sinclair Downing writes, “At a workshop led by Flora Wuellner I was reminded that we are to be the branches, not the vine! Sometimes, becoming overzealous in our ministry to others, we forget that Christ is the vine. As we live in him, and he lives in us we can share the fruits of the Spirit.”

Hymn: Christ Is Made the Sure Foundation

The author of this Latin hymn which begins “Angularis fundamentum” is unknown, and has been traced back to the eighth century, although its origins may be even earlier. It is based on several passages from scripture (1 Peter 2:5; Revelation 21; and Ephesians 2:20) and was used in medieval rites for the dedication of a church. Paul Westermeyer writes, “Neale’s translation address Christ the sure foundation and cornerstone ‘who, the two-fold walls surmounting, binds them closely into one.’ There is good reason to sing the hymn as we have it, ‘binding all the church in one,’ but the hymn’s intention was probably more precise, the ‘two-fold walls’ being a reference to Jews and Gentiles.”

Response: Let Us Talents and Tongues Employ

LindaJo McKim writes, “This lively ‘Communion Calypso,’ as Fred Kaan titled the hymn, was written at the request of Jamaican composer Doreen Potter. Mrs. Potter, whose family lived on the same street in Geneva as the Kaans, brought the adaptation of a Jamaican folk melody to him and asked him to write a text. He decided on a hymn of celebration for the Lord’s Supper.”

Anthem: Christ the Way of Life Possess Me

American composer K. Lee Scott set British minister Timothy Dudley-Smith’s text for the Chancel Choir of First Baptist Church, Monroe, NC in 2002. Dudley-Smith penned the words based on four images from the Book of Proverbs: the way of life, the well of life, the tree of life, and the path of life.

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.