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.
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