January 22, 2012

Jan 22 2012

Hymn: God Is Here!

The story of this hymn’s advent is as follows: The text was written by Fred Pratt Green in 1979, at the request of the co-director of music at University United Methodist Church in Austin, Texas, who wrote: “We are in need of a hymn. It would be sung for the first time at the closing service of an eight-month long festival centering round the themes of Worship, Music and the Arts...” The closing service was to be a “dedication of new reading desks, communion table, and font, and finally, the rededication of the people to the life commanded of us and given through Jesus Christ.” The text was written in 8.7.8.7.D meter so that the tune ABBOT’S LEIGH could be introduced to the congregation.

Hymn: Though I May Speak

This text originally appeared as an anthem written by Hal Hopson as a paraphrase of I Corinthians 13, set to the British folk song O WALY WALY. 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.

Hymn: O God, Our Faithful God

This hymn originally in German was written by Johann Heermann and titled “A Daily Prayer.” Paul Westermeyer writes, “Like Psalm 90 it contrasts the ever-flowing fountain of God—without whom nothing is—with the speck of humanity who nonetheless confidently ask God to turn with compassion to us and prosper our handiwork.” Englishwoman Catherine Winkworth, a prolific translator of German hymns, performed the translation. She promoted women’s higher education, and wrote a book, Christian Singers of Germany, which has long been of interest to music scholars. A tablet on the wall of Bristol Cathedral states that she “opened a new source of light, consolation, and strength in many thousand homes.”

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. 

January 15, 2012

Jan 15 2012

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: Live Into Hope (8:30)

From LindaJo McKim in The Presbyterian Hymnal Companion: The text is by Jane Parker Huber for United Presbyterian Women’s National Meeting and is based on Luke 4:16-20. The team planning worship wanted a hymn that expounded the Luke passage, was written in inclusive language, raised one’s spirits even in difficult situations, and was familiar enough to be sung with enthusiasm when first heard.

Hymn: Let Streams of Living Justice (10:55)

Here is what William Whitla, author of this hymn, says about it: I wrote the hymn in 1989 just after the events in Tiananmen Square, and when the Mothers of the Disappeared in Argentina were bringing their campaign to the conscience of the world. At the same time, the religious and racial disputes in Ireland, Israel-Palestine, the Congo and other parts of Africa, and in Canada and many other countries over First Nation or Aboriginal rights all seemed impossible to solve. Unfortunately, similar events are still replayed, and only too-similar images in the Near East, Iraq, Afghanistan, and now Somalia—not to mention the school shootings at home—recur and are now extended well beyond those earlier sad happenings. So I used some images from those events, especially in verse two [omitted in the insert, printed below], to tell of the bad news before the Good news of verses three and four. Subsequent events only sharpened those images, alas.

To me all of these parts are needed for a full expression of the biblical promises of hope and justice so long awaited, including the too-common images of both the child with the gun and the old ones dreaming for peace.

Stanza 2:

The dreaded disappearance of family and friend;

the torture and the silence—the fear that knows no end;

the mother with her candle, the child who holds a gun,

the old one nursing hatred—all seek release to come.

Each candle burns for freedom; each lights a tyrant’s fall;

each flower placed for martyrs gives tongue to silenced call.

The tune THAXTED comes from English composer Gustav Holst’s orchestral piece, The Planets, where it is the theme for “Jupiter, the Bringer of Jollity.” The melody is in ABA form, with the first two lines and last two lines matching identically.

Hymn: O Christ, the Great Foundation

The original text of this Chinese hymn was written by Timothy T’ingfang Lew in 1933. The English translation by Mildred A. Wiant appeared in the 1977 revised edition of Hymns of Universal Praise, sponsored by the Chinese Christian Literature Council of Hong Kong. The original hymnal, published in 1936, was the result of Lew’s work to prepare a Chinese Union hymnal. The tune AURELIA is one of the most popular Victorian hymn tunes in the repertory. Samuel Sebastian Wesley, the grandson of Charles Wesley, was so confident that the tune would be popular that his wife named it aurelia (“magnificent” or “splendid”) from aurea (“golden”).

10:55 Anthem: Offertory

This piece was originally written by John Ness Beck as a vocal solo, and was later rearranged as a choral work by adding alto, tenor, and bass parts to it. The sopranos carry the melody throughout while the other voices support the melody with their own part. It sets the text of Micah 6:6-8, outlining what the Lord requires of us in both our daily living and devotion.

Response: Song of Hope

The text was written by Alvin L. Schutmaat in 1984 and first published in the Mission Yearbook for Prayer and Study, that year. As the tune name suggests, ARGENTINA is a folk melody of unknown authorship, which Schutmaat harmonized for this text.

January 8, 2012

Jan 8 2012


Hymn: Baptized in Water
Each stanza of this hymn begins with allusions to John 3:5 (Jesus’ baptism) and Ephesians 1:13 (marked with the seal of the Spirit), then unpacks what God does in baptism—cleanses, makes us heir sof salvation, promises, frees, forgives, etc. and leads us to give our thankful praise to God. In The Presbyterian Hymnal (1990), an alteration was made to the third stanza, where “born of one Father” became “born of the Spirit.” Other hymnals have accepted this change since its publication, although the author does not agree with the change: “By removing father, (a) the Trinitarian significance is omitted and (b) ‘Spirit’ is repeated unnecessarily.”

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!

Hymn: Shall We Gather at the River
Robert Lowry wrote this hymn during a period of exhaustion, during which his imagination took wing, and he asked why “hymn writers had said so much about the ‘river of death’ and so little about the ‘pure water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.’”

8:30 Offertory: Wash, O God, Our Sons and Daughters
Paul Westermeyer comments on this hymn: “‘New life’ and ‘Living waters’ imply many facets of baptism. Some of them are made explicit in this hymn by Ruth Duck: God’s washing, cleansing, numbering, blessing, compassing with love and light, anointing, renewing, guiding, freeing from sin, and made one with Christ in his death and new life—so that we are reborn, recreated, and transformed.”

10:55 Anthem: I Was There to Hear Your Borning Cry
In 1985, John Ylvisaker was working for the Media Services Center of the American Lutheran Church. While working on a baptism series called “Reflections,” he began to write a song with a “dance-like beat and fast rhythm” before he saw the video to which the music would be set. Once he saw the film, he realized that “the lyrics were on target, but not the music. Thus began the most arduous task any composer can face—changing a completed work into something else. However, the original ‘false labor’ later gave way to the ‘birth’ of ‘Borning Cry’ which is now included in songbooks and hymnals around the world.”

January 1, 2012

Jan 1 2012

Hymn: Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee

Henry van Dyke wrote this hymn in 1907, and from the outset intended that it be sung to the famous tune from the final movement of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony. Dr. van Dyke wrote of his hymn writing, “These verses are simple expressions of common Christian feelings and desires in this present time, hymns of today that may be sung together by people who know the thought of the age, and are not afraid that any truth of science will destroy religion, or any revolution on earth overthrow the kingdom of heaven. Therefore these are hymns of trust and joy and hope.” Indeed, an appropriate way for us to begin the New Year, singing of trust, and joy, and hope.

Hymn: Our God, Our Help in Ages Past

Isaac Watts wrote this hymn as a metrical version of Psalm 90:1-5, and had it published under the title “Man Frail, and God Eternal.” John Julian, a famous musicologist, once wrote that the hymn is “undoubtedly one of [Watts’] finest compositions and his best paraphrase.” Much like our opening hymn, this one serves to remind us of the strength and assurance God has provided to us in the past, and that which God will provide in the future.

Hymn: As With Gladness, Men of Old

This hymn, written by William Chatterton Dix, was penned while the author was sick in bed and was inspired by the Gospel lesson for the day. The tune used was originally penned by the German Conrad Kocher, and was later modified by William Henry Monk, who set the text to his tune, and named it after the author.

Solo: The God of All Eternity

The author of this text, John Bell, is a minister in the Church of Scotland and has been an influential speaker and writer on congregational singing for several decades. He writes of this setting, “New Year’s is a good time to remember that God is the Lord of tomorrow rather than the patron saint of yesterday.”

Lessons and Carols 2011

Lessons and Carols 2011

Opening Hymn: Once In Royal David’s City
As per tradition at Cambridge’s Lessons and Carols, this hymn begins the service. A solo soprano sings the first stanza, and the congregation is invited to join at the second stanza. The hymn was written by Cecil Alexander and included in her Hymns for Little Children (1848), as an illustration of the Apostles’ Creed’s statement on the birth of Jesus.

Carol: Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus
While we generally associate this hymn with Advent, Charles Wesley wrote and included it in his Hymns for the Nativity of Our Lord (1745). Another hymn with roots in the Hebrew Scriptures, this one draws from Isaiah 9:6 (“For to us a child is born…”) and Haggai 2:7 (“desire of every nation”). Geoffrey Wainwright and Robin A. Leaver write, “Christ’s redemptive and liberating rule is seen here stereoscopically in all its stages, from prophecy through the Incarnation to present sovereignty and final triumph; it bears individual, communal, and ultimately cosmic dimensions.”

Anthem: Lo, How a Rose E’er Blooming
There are two forms of this hymn; the first has twenty-three stanzas (we won’t be singing that setting!), while the second contains six. Based on Isaiah 11:1, the hymn originally referred to Mary as the “rose,” but sixteenth-century reformers changed the emphasis of the hymn to Jesus.

Carol: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel
The text for “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” comes from a seven verse poem that dates back to the eighth century. It was used in a call and response fashion during the vespers, or evening, service. The original text created the reverse acrostic “ero cras,” which means “I shall be with you tomorrow,” which is fitting, as we look back and forward to the coming of Christ.

Anthem: “There Shall A Star from Jacob Come Forth” from Christus
This chorus comes from Mendelssohn’s unfinished oratorio, Christus. An oratorio is a large-scale work, like an opera, but is often not staged in a dramatic production. Well-known oratorios include Mendelssohn’s Elijah and Handel’s Messiah. This chorus begins with a paraphrase of Numbers 24:17 and Psalm 2:9, foretelling the coming of the savior. The second half of the piece is a setting of the German chorale tune Wie schön leuchtet der Morgenstern ("How lovely shines the morning star"). The chorale’s text comes from Psalm 45 and Revelation 22:16, where Jesus is referred to as “the bright morning star.”

Anthem: Climb to the Top of the Highest Mountain
Carolyn Jennings’ piece is based on Isaiah 40, particularly verse 9: “Get you up to a high mountain, O Zion, herald of good tidings; lift up your voice with strength, O Jerusalem, herald of good tidings, lift it up, do not fear; say to the cities of Judah, ‘Here is your God!’” A recommendation: have Isaiah 40 open as you hear the anthem, and dwell on the text as it is brought to life in music.

Carol: Canticle of the Turning
The term “canticle” refers to a text in the Bible that was sung. In its strictest sense, it refers to those texts that are not the Psalms. Examples include the songs of Moses and Miriam in Exodus 15:1-18 and 15:21, as well as Mary’s Magnificat. Paul Westermeyer writes that the Magnificat is “a revolutionary text, not appreciated by dictators. If anyone thinks biblical and liturgical texts are tame, this one will quickly set the matter straight.” This paraphrase of the Magnificat, written by Rory Cooney, has an edge to it not found in many modern hymns. Cooney says he “simply wanted to write a setting of the canticle that attempted to capture the revolutionary spirit of the gospel, of a God who ‘pulls down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the lowly.’”

Anthem: What Child
William Chatterton Dix originally titled this poem, “The Manger Throne.” The poem details the paradox of Jesus’ coming to earth as a weak, helpless child, all the while being God incarnate.

Anthem: Where Shepherds Lately Knelt
Jaroslav Vajda, an American hymn writer of Slovak descent, wrote this moving text detailing the birth of Christ as the shepherds approach the manger. It also uses Old Testament references to the Messiah, as Jesus’ incarnation fulfills the prophecies.

Carol: The First Nowell
An old English carol, the hymnal employs the Old English “Nowell” as opposed to the more familiar “Noel.” First published in 1823, the carol has no attributed author, as is the case with many English carols and folk songs. The tune THE FIRST NOWELL has been used with this text since 1833.

Carol: Joy to the World!
Isaac Watts wrote this hymn at the age of fifteen, shepherding in a musical revolution in Reformed worship. Before this time, hymns were written solely as paraphrases or word-by-word settings of biblical texts; after Watts began writing, hymns began to appear that were composed by humans who wished to provide new texts to old stories from scripture. LindaJo McKim writes, “Watts believed our songs are a human offering of praise to God. Therefore the words should be our own.” Indeed, this is why we find such texts as “Joy to the World” and “Canticle of the Turning” used in the same service: each serves as a means of expressing one writer’s (and, by extension, a generation’s) faith to the next.

Carol: Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
Charles Wesley’s hymn has been edited many times over; the first line from 1739 originally read, “Hark, how all the welkin (an archaic term referring to the sky or heavens) rings, Glory to the King of kings.” The text was then altered by Wesley in 1743; the present first line comes from George Whitefield’s A Collection of Hymns for Social Worship, published in 1753. The tune, MENDELSSOHN, comes from a melody written by Felix Mendelssohn in 1840.

December 11, 2011

10:55 Gathering Song: Beautiful Star of Bethlehem

John Jacob Niles

“Beautiful Star of Bethlehem” is an Appalachian folk carol that is highly representative of the genre. Most traditional music from this culture is based on folk ballads and instrumental dance tunes. The ballads were almost always sung a cappella (unaccompanied) by women, as they were responsible to preserve the heritage of their families’ culture. John Jacob Niles is largely responsible for reviving the American folk music heritage in the 1950s and 1960s, having collected ballads for much of his life. The University of Kentucky holds his collection at the John Jacob Niles Center for American Music.

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.”

Hymn: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

The past several weeks we have focused on the origin of this hymn text, as each stanza focuses on a different description of the Messiah. This week, we turn our attention to the tune, which finds its roots in a French Franciscan nunnery, where it was employed as a processional hymn during a funeral mass.

Hymn: Canticle of the Turning

Rory Cooney

The term “canticle” refers to a text in the Bible that was sung. In its strictest sense, it refers to those texts that are not the Psalms. Examples include the songs of Moses and Miriam in Exodus 15:1-18 and 15:21, as well as Mary’s Magnificat. Paul Westermeyer writes that the Magnificat is “a revolutionary text, not appreciated by dictators. If anyone thinks biblical and liturgical texts are tame, this one will quickly set the matter straight.” This paraphrase of the Magnificat, written by Rory Cooney, has an edge to it not found in many modern hymns. Cooney says he “simply wanted to write a setting of the canticle that attempted to capture the revolutionary spirit of the gospel, of a God who ‘pulls down the mighty from their thrones and raises up the lowly.’” The tune, STAR OF COUNTY DOWN, is the Irish version of KINGSFOLD, which is the setting for several hymns in The Presbyterian Hymnal. You’ll notice that the first two lines of the tune repeat, almost identically; the third line is new, and the fourth is same as the first two. The refrain is exactly the same as the third and fourth lines.

December 4, 2011

10:55 Gathering Song: The King of Glory Comes

Willard Jabusch, a Catholic priest, wrote this text in 1965 to be used for a folk-music ensemble at a Catholic parish in Illinois. Jabusch wrote five stanzas in the original text; we will sing the first and third today as they relate to Christ’s coming. The first stanza and refrain are based on Psalm 24:8 and Isaiah 7:14, while the third references Isaiah 53.

Hymn: O Lord, How Shall I Meet You?

This text, written by Paul Gerhardt and published in 1653, has found itself used many times over since its initial publication, perhaps no more famously than in J.S. Bach’s Christmas Oratorio. Gerhardt was a German pastor who served several churches and wrote over one hundred hymns. The tune VALET WILL ICH DIR GEBEN is also known as ST. THEODULPH, and is used as the tune for “All Glory, Laud and Honor.”

Hymn after Proclamation: O Come, O Come, Emmanuel

The text for “O Come, O Come, Emmanuel” comes from a seven verse poem that dates back to the eighth century. It was used in a call and response fasion during the vespers, or evening, service. The original text created the reverse acrostic “ero cras,” which means “I shall be with you tomorrow,” which is fitting, as we look back and forward to the coming of Christ.

Hymn: Let All Mortal Flesh Keep Silence

The Psalter Hymnal Handbook notes that the Greek text of “Let All Mortal Flesh” may date back to the fifth century. It is based on a prayer chanted by the priest when the bread and wine are brought to the table of the Lord. The author writes, “The text expresses awe at Christ’s coming (st. 1) and the mystery of our perception of Christ in the body and blood (st. 2). With the images from Isaiah 6 and Revelation 5, it portrays the glory of Christ (sung to by angels) and his victory over sin (st. 3-4). Although it has a eucharistic [communion] emphasis, the text pictures the nativity of Christ in a majestic manner and in a much larger context than just his birth in Bethlehem. We are drawn into awe and mystery with our own alleluias.”

Response: Feel the Spirit in the Kicking, stanza 2

Richard Leach wrote this hymn as a setting for the meeting of Mary and Elizabeth in Luke 1, when Elizabeth hears Mary’s voice and the baby she is pregnant with “leaps for joy.” The second stanza, which we’ll sing today, draws from Mary’s song, the Magnificat (“my soul magnifies the Lord”).

Timothy Dudley-Smith, hymn writer

10:55 Anthem: He Comes to Us as One Unknown

Timothy Dudley-Smith wrote this hymn while on vacation in 1982, and has written, “The opening line of this hymn is part of a longer sentence from the closing pages of Albert Schweitzer’s The Quest of the Historical Jesus (1919), which says of Christ, ‘He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lakeside, He came to those first men who knew Him not.’” Paul Westermeyer writes, “The hymn moves in the first two stanzas from a ‘sense of the divine’ which is part of the human experience to an increasingly Christian confession. The third stanza makes allusions to Revelation 1:15 (his voice like the sound of many waters), 1 Kings 19 (the still small voice), and 1 Chronicles 14:15 (the sound in the tops of trees a signal from God). By the fourth stanza ‘the text is explicitly Christian in its reference to both incarnation and to atonement.’ With stanza 5 ‘there is the personal response of faith to the Lord Jesus Christ of the New Testament,’ with allusions to Luke 24:27 (where Jesus on the Emmaus road interprets things about himself in the scriptures) and 1 Peter 1:8 (even though you do not see him you believe in him).” The tune for the hymn comes from the oratorio Judith by the English composer C. Hubert H. Parry. This anthem setting was arranged by John Ferguson, an esteemed American arranger of hymns who is in the midst of his final year of teaching at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.