Hymn of the Week:

If Thou But Trust in God to Guide Thee
Hymn 816 in Glory to God

Text and Music by Georg Neumark 1641
Translation by Catherine Winkworth, 1855
 

If Thou But Trust in God to Guide Thee

1
If thou but trust in God to guide thee,
With hopeful heart through all thy ways,
God will give strength, whate'er betide thee,
And bear thee through the evil days.
Who trusts in God's unchanging love
Builds on the rock that nought can move.

2
Only be still, and wait God's leisure
In cheerful hope, with heart content
To take whate'er thy Keeper's pleasure
And all-discerning love hath sent;
No doubt our inmost wants are clear
To One who holds us always dear.

3
Sing, pray, and swerve not from God's ways,
But do thine own part faithfully;
Trust the rich promises of grace,
So shall they be fulfilled in thee.
God never yet forsook at need
The soul secured by trust indeed.

Great translators can make a difference in how future generations will use hymns. Nineteenth-century England had two translators to which today’s hymn singers owe much. What John Mason Neale (1818-1866) was to the translation of Latin and Greek hymns in the mid-nineteenth century, so was Catherine Winkworth (1827-1878) to the promulgation of German hymnody in English toward the century’s end. At a time when increasing interest in the theology of continental Europe meant the Protestant church in Britain was taking an interest in the Pietism of Germany, Winkworth sought to explore the hymn texts of what scholar and hymn-writer Erik Routley called “the real birthplace of congregational hymnody.” Originally, Winkworth undertook the translation of nearly 400 texts by some 170 authors as a personal devotional exercise, revealing her expert skill in the manipulation of language. Her second published volume of texts, Lyra Germanica: Second Series: The Christian Life (1858), contained a single text by poet Georg Neumark, “If Thou But Suffer God to Guide Thee.”

Neumark (1621-1681) first published in 1657 in Jena his original text, “Wer nur den lieben Gott lässt walten,” in his Fortgepflantzter musikalisch-poetischer Lustwald. It contained seven stanzas of six lines, set to an original g-minor tune in a dance-like triple meter. He composed it after securing a tutoring post at Kiel, a point of much relief for him after a period of misfortune and instability. This Trostlied or “song of consolation” admonishes Christians to put their faith wholly in God. The hymn draws on parts of Psalm 55 as well as 1 Peter 3:8-15, the epistle for the fifth Sunday after Trinity, which contains instructions to honor life and seek peace. This text is especially poignant in the context of the atrocities and violence of the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648), which would have still been fresh in the minds of the singers. The tune itself has had its own journey. The haunting melody has been used in various contexts by artists from J.S. Bach (1685-1750) to Lloyd Pfautsch (1921-2003).

Neumark’s hymn (in Danish) is also featured in the 1987 Academy Award-winning Danish film Babettes Gœstebud (Babette’s Feast), and thus has traveled, according to hymnologist Lawrence Lohr, “from Jena in Germany to Oscar night in Hollywood.” Winkworth is known for her sensitivity to the original German in her translations. She said, “a hymn that sounds popular and homelike in its own language must sound so in ours if it is to be really available for devotional purposes, and it seems to me allowable for this object to make such alterations in the meter as lie in the different nature of the language.”

Today’s hymn history comes to us from Ms. Donaldson who is a student of Dr. Michael Hawn, the well-known hymn scholar, who teaches at the Perkins School of Theology.

Today’s hymn tune can be heard in the reed voice. Each four-bar phrase is broken up by Michael Costello in this arrangement with a lovely countermelody. Even as I type this, the pipe organ is being taken apart to be stored in the music room until after construction.

First Presbyterian presents a collection of virtual musical performances to celebrate the 2020 Granville Christmas Candlelight Walking Tour. If you didn’t get to stop by the church to see the program as it was projected outdoors on the east wall of the church, you can still see and hear it on-demand on FPC’s Facebook and YouTube channels.

The 49-minute program features Advent and Christmas anthems sung by First Presbyterian’s Children’s Choir, Angel Choir, and Chancel Choir. Seasonal selections from members of the church’s handbell choirs are featured, as well. Instrumental soloists and accompanists of all ages also join us for this creative virtual concert offered to our congregation, community, and the world, as we endeavor to shine “A Light in the Darkness.”

Hymn of the Week: Angels We Have Heard on High!
Glory to God #113

Angels We Have Heard on High!

Verse 1
Angels, we have heard on high
Sweetly singing o'er the plains,
And the mountains in reply
Echo back their joyous strains.

Refrain:
Gloria in excelsis Deo!
Gloria in excelsis Deo!

Verse 2
Shepherds, why this jubilee?
Why your joyous strains prolong?
What the gladsome tidings be
Which inspire your heav'nly song. [Refrain]

Verse 3
Come to Bethlehem and see
Him whose birth the angels sing;
Come, adore on bended knee
Christ the Lord, the newborn King. [Refrain]

The French people love to sing at Christmas! Chants de Noël (Christmas Carols) from France may be found in most English-language hymnals. In Luke 2:14 we find the canticle of the angel’s song—one of the most famous and frequently sung of the Christmas canticles. The refrain of “Angels we have heard on high” is taken directly from this verse.

Reflecting a common theme found throughout the history of Christian hymnody, a cosmic chorus resounds in the first stanza. The chorus begins in heaven with the angels. Then the “mountains in reply” echo back in response—antiphonally, symbolizing the participation of earth.

The entire hymn is a traditional French carol that originated as early as the eighteenth century and was published in North America in Nouveau Recueil de Cantiques (New Hymnal) for the Diocese of Quebec in 1819. Several versions, or translations, of the text, can be found, but they all stem from the same source and are inspired by Luke 2:6-20.

The original hymn appeared in French – “Les Anges Dans nos Campagnes” – in eight stanzas arranged in a dialogue form alternating between the shepherds (Bergers) in stanzas one, three, and six, and the women (Femmes de Bethlehem) in stanzas two, four, and seven. All sing together in stanzas five and eight.

The carol as we know it today originated around the 1700s, though it was not printed until the following century. Because it uses a vernacular language for the narrative stanzas and Latin for the refrain, it belongs to a special category of hymns called: “macaronic” or mixed-language texts.

Enjoy this week’s JuBellee ensemble playing this much-loved Christmas Carol. This group works hard and I know you will thoroughly enjoy listening to Linda Lamb’s arrangement of this carol.

Hymn of the Week: Silent Night, Holy Night!
Glory to God #122

Silent Night, Holy Night!

[Verse 1]
Silent night, holy night!
All is calm, all is bright
Round yon Virgin, Mother and Child
Holy Infant so tender and mild
Sleep in heavenly peace
Sleep in heavenly peace

[Verse 2]
Silent night, holy night!
Shepherds quake at the sight
Glories stream from heaven afar
Heavenly hosts sing 'Alleluia!
Christ the Savior is born
Christ the Savior is born

[Verse 3]
Silent night, holy night!
Son of God, love's pure light
Radiant beams from Thy holy face
With the dawn of redeeming grace
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth
Jesus Lord, at Thy birth

It was Christmas Eve, 1818, when the now-famous carol was first performed as Stille Nacht Heilige Nacht. Joseph Mohr, the young priest who wrote the lyrics, played the guitar and sang along with Franz Xaver Gruber, the choir director who had written the melody. The story goes that they were set to sing the carol with organ on Christmas Eve that year, but the organ broke down so someone picked up a guitar and the first accompaniment to the beloved carol was with a guitar.

An organ builder and repairman working at the church took a copy of the six-verse song to his home village. There, it was picked up and spread by two families of traveling folk singers, who performed around northern Europe. In 1834, the Strasser family performed it for the King of Prussia. In 1839, the Rainer family of singers debuted the carol outside Trinity Church in New York City.

The composition evolved and was translated into over 300 languages with many different arrangements for various voices and ensembles. It was sung in churches, in town squares, even on the battlefield during World War I, when, during a temporary truce on Christmas Eve, soldiers sang carols from home. "Silent Night," by 1914, known around the world, was sung simultaneously in French, German and English.

Over the years, the carol's mystique grew with its popularity. After the original manuscript was lost, for decades, some speculated that the music had been written by Haydn, Mozart, or Beethoven. In 1994, an original manuscript was found in Mohr's handwriting, with Gruber named as a composer.

The organ arrangement you are hearing is by David Conte. David was one of the last composition students of the famous teacher, Nadia Boulanger, who also taught composers such

as Aaron Copland, Leonard Bernstein, and many of what we now consider some of the greatest composers of the mid-late 20th century.

Hymn of the Week: The First Nowell
Glory to God #147

The First Nowell

The first “Nowell” the angels did say
Was to certain poor shepherds in fields as they lay;
In fields where they lay keeping their sheep,
On a cold winter’s night that was so deep.

Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Born is the King of Israel!

They looked up and saw a star
Shining in the east, beyond them far;
And to the earth it gave great light,
And so it continued both day and night.

Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Born is the King of Israel!

And by the light of that same star
Three wise men came from country far;
To seek for a King was their intent,
And to follow the star wherever it went.

Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Born is the King of Israel!

This star drew nigh to the northwest:
O’er Bethlehem it took its rest;
And there it did both stop and stay,
Right over the place where Jesus lay.

Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Born is the King of Israel!

Then entered in those wise men three,
Full rev’rently upon their knee,
And offered there, in his presence,
Their gold and myrrh, and frankincense.

Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Born is the King of Israel!

Then let us all with one accord
Sing praises to our heavenly Lord
That hath made heaven and earth of nought,
And with His blood mankind hath bought.

Nowell! Nowell! Nowell! Nowell!
Born is the King of Israel!

The popular Christmas Carol, The First Noël, is believed to date from the 13th or 14th century, a time in which all medieval civilization in Europe was springing to life. The inspiration for the story of the song comes from dramatizations of favorite Bible stories for holidays, which were called the Miracle Plays, they were very popular during this time. It tells the story of the night that Jesus was born in Bethlehem, based on the Gospel accounts in Luke 2 and Matthew 2.

Noël is the French word for Christmas and is from the Latin natalis, meaning "birthday." Most medieval poetry was written to be sung, so it is presumed that the words were written with an existing tune in mind. This makes the tune to the song even older and is likely English or French.

The spelling Nowell, which is found in our hymnal comes from the Cornish spelling but many folks do use the French spelling Noël.

Many thanks to David Rinehart’s awesome footage of the sanctuary and Leda Rutledge, Suzy Henry, Austin McElroy, and Ruth Sawyer for the wonderful bell solo.

Hymn of the Week: Now Thank We All Our God

Glory to God #643

Text Martin Rinkart c. 1636
Music Johann Crüger 1647 Harmonized by Felix Mendelssohn 1840

Now Thank We All Our God

1.
Now thank we all our God,
with heart and hands and voices,
who wondrous things has done,
in whom this world rejoices;
who from our mothers' arms
has blessed us on our way with
countless gifts of love,
and still is ours today.

2.
O may this bounteous God
through all our life be near us,
with ever joyful hearts
and blessed peace to cheer us;
and keep us still in grace,
and guide us when perplexed;
and free us from all ills,
in this world and the next.

3.
All praise and thanks to God,
Who reigns in highest heaven
To Father and to Son
and Spirit now be given:
the one eternal God,
whom heaven and earth adore,
the God who was, and is,
and shall be evermore.

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! This week we look at one of the all-time great Thanksgiving hymns. The information today comes from Robert J. Morgan’s wonderful book on hymns, Then Sings My Soul 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Nelson Press.

An old English preacher once said; “A grateful mind is a great mind,” and the Bible agrees. There are 138 passages of Scripture on the subject of thanksgiving. Colossians 3:17 “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”

We sing this most popular hymn every year for Thanksgiving. This German hymn is sung in Germany with as much gusto and reverence as we do our Doxology every week, and Now Thank We continued to be loved deeply on both sides of the Atlantic.

Martin Rinkart (1586-1649) was the son of a poor coppersmith and grew up feeling called to the ministry. After his theological training, he took a small Lutheran church in Eilenberg, Saxony just as the Thirty Years War was raging through Germany. As a result of this war, floods of refugees poured into the walled city of Eilenberg. It was what Dicken’s would refer to as the “worst of times.” The Swedish army circled the city gates trapping its citizens inside. As a result, famine, plague, disease, and starvation ensued. Over 800 homes were destroyed and people were dying in increasing numbers. Many pastors, in taking care of the ill and dying, died themselves from disease and exhaustion. Martin Rinkart was one of the few pastors left who buried as many as 50 people in one day.

Eventually, the Swedes demanded a ransom and it was Martin Rinkart who went to negotiate with the Swedes. The result of this negotiation brought peace to the region. Rinkart, knowing there is no healing without thanksgiving, wrote the text for this timeless hymn for the survivors of Eilenberg.

Through so much suffering, we still have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving!

Stay healthy and safe! Continue to live in the hope for the day when we shall all sing this song together in the Sanctuary once more.

Philip

Hymn of the Week:
Simple Gifts

Song by Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett 1848

Simple Gifts

Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,
'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,
And when we find ourselves in the place just right,
'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.
When true simplicity is gain'd
To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,
To turn, turn will be our delight
'Till by turning, turning we come round right

The song composed in 1848 by Shaker Elder Joseph Brackett as an easy-to-learn tune for Shaker worship -- extolling the virtues of a simple life -- has become one of America's most popular all-purpose melodies

When he wrote the song, Brackett was a 51-year-old Shaker leader in what is today Sabbathday Lake, Maine, which remains the home of the last seven members of the dwindling church. Not much else is known about Brackett, not even the date of composition.

"During the middle of the 19th century, the Shakers composed an incredible number of songs -- over 12,000," Hall says.

Shakers were as vigorous in their worship as they were in their work. They were Christians who believed that Jesus would return to judge the world, so they had better be ready. Men and women were separated in Shaker villages and agreed to lead celibate lives. They lived simply, with few personal possessions.

Their workshops, which supported their villages, were famous for their creativity. Shakers invented the common flat broom and were the first in the country to sell garden seeds in paper packets. They were not shy about sharing their products or their songs with the public, because the survival of their celibate church depended on recruiting new members.

The one time each week when everyone stopped working and men and women mingled was during worship, which involved singing and dancing that sometimes got so wild that outsiders gave the group its common name, Shakers.

Shakers might have frowned at the pyrotechnics in Flatley's Irish revue, but they certainly wanted people to kick up their heels to the tune, scholars agree.

" 'Simple Gifts' was a dancing song. The Shakers called it a quick dance," Hall says. "There are words in the song about bowing and bending and turning, and the Shakers actually did that as they sang those words. The song was both an instruction for dancing as well as an instruction for life."

The song was limited to the Shakers until Copland popularized the melody in his 1944 ballet score, "Appalachian Spring." In the 1960s, Carter's hymn carried the tune into churches. It wasn't until 1970 that folk singer Judy Collins resurrected the original words of "Simple Gifts" and performed it nationwide.

Two years ago, the Music Educators National Conference -- the professional organization for U.S. music teachers -- named it among a handful of songs that every American should know. Teachers ranked it with the National Anthem, "Battle Hymn of the Republic" and "Home on the Range."

"And I've talked with kids in elementary and high schools about it, too. Any youngster can tell you what this song means: Simplicity is sometimes better than complexity, and we shouldn't take ourselves too seriously."

Enjoy the Bell ensemble version of this treasured hymn. Performed by Ruth Sawyer, Leda Rutledge, Suzy Henry, and Austin McElroy.

Hymn of the Week:

We Gather Together
Glory to God #336

Text Attributed to Adrianus Valerius c. 1626
Music From the Neder-landtsch Gedenck-Clanck 1626 Harmonized 1877

We Gather Together

1.
We gather together to ask the Lord’s blessing;
He chastens and hastens His will to make known;
The wicked oppressing now cease from distressing;
Sing praises to His Name; He forgets not His own.

2.
Beside us to guide us, our God with us joining,
Ordaining, maintaining His kingdom divine;
So from the beginning the fight we were winning;
Thou, Lord, were at our side, all glory be Thine!

3.
We all do extol Thee, Thou Leader triumphant,
And pray that Thou still our Defender will be;
Let Thy congregation escape tribulation;
Thy Name be ever praised! O Lord, make us free!

In anticipation of my favorite holiday, this week looks at the popular Thanksgiving Hymn, We Gather Together.

At the time the hymn was written, the Dutch were engaged in a war of national liberation against the Catholic King Philip II of Spain. "Wilt heden nu treden," "We gather together" resonated because, under the Spanish King, Dutch Protestants were forbidden to gather for worship. The hymn first appeared in print in a 1626 collection of Dutch folk and patriotic songs, Nederlandtsche Gedenck-Clanck by Adriaen Valerius. In anglophone hymnology, the tune is known as "Kremser", from Eduard Kremser's 1877 score arrangement and lyric translation of Wilt Heden Nu Treden into Latin and German. The modern English text was written by Theodore Baker in 1894. According to the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada, "We Gather Together's" first appearance in an American hymnal was in 1903. It had retained popularity among the Dutch, and when the Dutch Reformed Church in North America decided in 1937 to abandon the policy that they had brought with them to the New World in the 17th century of singing only psalms and add hymns to the

church service, "We Gather Together" was chosen as the first hymn in the first hymnal.

According to Michael Hawn, professor of sacred music at Southern Methodist University's Perkins School of Theology, "by World War I, we started to see ourselves in this hymn," and the popularity increased during World War II, when "the wicked oppressing" was understood to include Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan.[1]

This hymn is often sung at American churches the Sunday before Thanksgiving.

Hymn of the Week:

Fairest Lord Jesus 
Glory to God #630

Text Münster Gesangbuch 1677
Music Silesian Folk melody 1842

Fairest Lord Jesus 

Fairest Lord Jesus! Ruler of all nature!
O Thou of God to earth come down!
Thee will I cherish, Thee will I honor,
Thou, my soul’s glory, joy, and crown!

Fair are the meadows, Fairer still the woodlands,
Robed in the blooming garb of spring;
Jesus is fairer, Jesus is purer,
Who makes the woeful heart to sing!

Fair is the sunshine, Fairer still the moonlight,
And all the twinkling starry host;
Jesus shines brighter, Jesus shines purer,
Than all the angels heav’n can boast!

Beautiful Savior, Ruler of the nations,
Son of God and Son of Man!
Glory and honor, praise adoration,
Now and for evermore be thine!.

The following description of this hymn text comes to us from the wonderful book, Then Sings My Soul 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories by Robert H. Morgan Nelson Press. Text on the tune comes from the research I have gleaned.

This hymn came from the Roman Catholic Jesuits in Germany and originally had 6 verses. It first appeared in 1677 in a Jesuit hymnbook with the title, Münster Gesangbuch, but the text of the hymn was in existence at least 15 years earlier for it has been found in a manuscript dating back to 1662. Yet the origin of the words remains a mystery.

Who translated it into English? That also remains a mystery. The first three verses are the work of an anonymous translator. The fourth stanza was by Joseph A. Seiss, and it appeared in a Lutheran Sunday School book in 1873. How appropriate the no human author draws attention away from the theme of this great song. There’s no source to distract from the subject, no story to detract from the Savior.

This hymn emphasizes the beauty and wonder of Christ, and it alludes to His dual nature, that he was both human and divine, God made flesh, the God-Man: O Thou of God and man the Son….Son of God and Son of Man.

Looking toward the tune, I am stepping away from the book. The tune is known by many names. It’s title: Fairest Lord Jesus, as well as Crusader’s Hymn and St. Elizabeth. The tune we know today that you hear played by members of Festivo Bell Choir was heard in an Oratorio by Franz Liszt called The Legend of St. Elizabeth (1862). This tune came during the march of the Crusades section of the oratorio. For this reason, I believe many people erroneously think this tune is associated with the Crusades. It is definitely not that ancient of a song. Did the classical composer Franz Liszt compose the tune? Did it come earlier? This information is all unknown, and like the text, I believe it lends itself to the knowing unknown-ness of God. He is both God and Man.

Many Thanks to Judy McNeish, Emily Pagano-McCall, Eric Miller, Lori Fuhrer, and Laura Kurtz for ringing!

Hymn of the Week:

Shall We Gather at the River
Glory to God #375

Text and Music by Robert Lowry

Shall We Gather at the River

Shall we gather at the river?
Where bright angel feet have trod
With its crystal tide forever
Flowing by the throne of God

Yes, we'll gather at the river
The beautiful, the beautiful river
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God

On the margin of the river,
Washing up it’s silver spray,
We will walk and worship ever,
All the happy golden day.

Yes, we'll gather at the river
The beautiful, the beautiful river
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God

E’re we reach the shining river,
Lay we ev’ry burden down,
Grace our spirits will deliver
And provide a robe and a crown.

Yes, we'll gather at the river
The beautiful, the beautiful river
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God

Soon we'll reach the shining river
Soon our pilgrimage will cease
Soon our happy hearts will quiver
With the melody of peace

Yes, we'll gather at the river
The beautiful, the beautiful river
Gather with the saints at the river
That flows by the throne of God

With All Saints coming up this weekend, a time when we remember and appreciate all the saints that have come before us and are with us today, I thought the beautiful and timeless hymn, Shall We Gather at the River by Robert Lowry would be a fitting tribute. Here is a description of the hymn from the author’s own words. The description comes from the website: www.hymnologyarchive.com

Dr. Robert Lowry (1826–1899) provided this story behind “Shall We Gather at the River,” which appeared posthumously in Ira Sankey’s My Life and the Story of the Gospel Hymns (Philadelphia: Sunday School Times, 1906):

On a sultry afternoon in July 1864, Dr. Lowry was sitting at his study table in Elliott Place, Brooklyn, when the words of the hymn, “Shall We Gather at the River?” came to him. He recorded them hastily, and then sat down before his parlor organ and composed the tune which is now sung in all the Sunday-schools of the world. In speaking of the song, Dr. Lowry said:

“It is brass-band music, has a march movement, and for that reason has become popular, though, for myself, I do not think much of it. Yet on several occasions, I have been deeply moved by the singing of this very hymn. Going from Harrisburg to Lewisburg once, I got into a car filled with half-drunken lumbermen. Suddenly one of them struck up, ‘Shall We Gather at the River?’ and they sang it over and over again, repeating the chorus in a wild, boisterous way. I did not think so much of the music then, as I listened to those singers; but I did think that perhaps the spirit of the hymn, the words so flippantly uttered, might somehow survive and be carried forward into the lives of those careless men, and ultimately lift them upward to the realization of the hope expressed in the hymn.

A different appreciation of it was evinced during the Robert Raikes centennial [1880]. I was in London and had gone to a meeting in the Old Bailey to see some of the most famous Sunday-school workers of the world. They were present from Europe, Asia, and America. I sat in a rear seat alone. After there had been a number of addresses delivered in various languages I was preparing to leave when the chairman of the meeting announced that the author of ‘Shall We Gather at the River?’ was present, and I was requested by name to come forward. Men applauded and women waved their handkerchiefs as I went to the platform. It was a tribute to the hymn; but I felt, after it was over, that I had perhaps done some little good in the world” (pp. 132–133).

Henry Burrage, in his Baptist Hymn Writers and Their Hymns (Portland, Maine: Brown Thurston & Co., 1888), provided this more detailed account of how the hymn was written:

The hymn “Shall We Gather at the River” was written one afternoon in July 1864, when Dr. Lowry was pastor of the Hanson Place Baptist Church, Brooklyn, N.Y. The weather was oppressively hot, and the author was lying on a lounge in a state of physical exhaustion. He was almost incapable of bodily exertion, and his imagination began to take itself wings. Visions of the future passed before him with startling vividness. The imagery of the Apocalypse took the form of tableaux. Brightest of all were the throne,

the heavenly river, and the gathering of the saints. While he was thus breathing heavily in the sultry atmosphere of that July day, his soul seemed to take new life from that celestial outlook. He began to wonder why the hymn-writers had said so much about “the river of death,” and so little about “the pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.”

As he mused, the words began to construct themselves. They came first as a question, of Christian inquiry, “Shall we gather?” Then they broke out in chorus, as an answer of Christian faith, “Yes, we’ll gather.” On this question and answer, the hymn developed itself. The music came with the hymn. The author never has been able to tell which had priority of birth. They are twins. When the song had formulated itself, the author sprang up, sat down at his organ, played the tune through, and sang the first stanza and the chorus. Then he wrote it out (pp. 430–431).

Burrage’s account seems to be paraphrased from an older, first-person account, repeated in many other sources without citation.

The hymn text draws largely from the quoted passage of Revelation 22:1, and it uses a question-and-answer format between the stanzas and the chorus. Lowry might have been inspired by another gospel hymn on a similar theme, “Shall We Meet Beyond the River” by Horace Hastings (1831–1899), penned in 1858.

Shortly after writing the hymn, Lowry included it in a set of hymns requested by the American Tract Society, for their publication Happy Voices (1865 | Fig. 1). This first printing contained five stanzas.

Hymn of the Week:
Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us
Glory to God #187

Text Dorothy A. Thrupp 1836
Music William Bradbury 1836

Savior Like a Shepherd Lead Us

1
Savior, like a shepherd lead us,
Much we need your tender care;
In your pleasant pastures feed us,
For our use your folds prepare:
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus,
You have bought us, we are yours;
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus,
You have bought us, we are yours.

2
We are yours, in love befriend us,
Be the guardian of our way;
Keep your flock, from sin defend us,
Seek us when we go astray:
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus,
Hear, O hear your children when we pray;
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus,
Hear, O hear your children when we pray.

3
You have promised to receive us,
Poor and sinful though we be;
You have mercy to relieve us,
Grace to cleanse, and pow'r to free:
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus,
Early let us turn to you;
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus,
Early let us turn to you.

4
Early let us seek your favor,
Early let us do your will;
Blessed Lord and only Savior,
With your love our spirits fill:
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus,
You have loved us, love us still;
Blessèd Jesus, blessèd Jesus,
You have loved us, love us still.

This week’s hymn comes back to us after Karen’s wonderful sermon about the lost sheep on October 11. Savior, Like a Shepherd Lead Us is a tender gospel song with Music by William Bradbury. He, along with his mentor Lowell Mason really began the gospel music movement based on the idea of combining Sunday School and songs. Teachers were looking for songs for the children to sing. Mr. Mason and William Bradbury (who is most famous for the hymn, Jesus Loves Me), felt that the church should have songs that are easy to sing with straightforward texts that are easy to learn and memorize. The gospel song movement was born!

Savior, Like a Shepherd first appeared in an 1836 volume of songs entitled Hymns for the Young which was compiled by Dorothy Thrupp who is attributed to the words of this hymn but that is not certain. What is certain is that the tune comes from Mr. Bradbury and is one of the dozens of children’s hymn books that he put together throughout his life.

Enjoy Brant Olsen’s arrangement played by Susan Larson. Olstad creates a haunting second melody that he weaves in and out of this stunning hymn tune.

Hymn of the Week:
O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing
Glory to God #610

Text Charles Wesley 1739
Music Carl Gotthelf Glaser 1828

O, For a Thousand Tongues to Sing

1
O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer's praise,
the glories of my God and King,
the triumphs of God’s grace!

2
The name of Jesus charms our fears,
and bids our sorrows cease,
sings music in the sinner's ears,
brings life and health and peace.

3
Christ speaks, and listening to his voice
New life the dead receive;
The mournful waken to rejoice;
The poor in heart believe.

4
My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread thro' all the earth abroad
the honors of thy name.

5
To God all glory, praise, and love
be now and ever given
by saints below and saints above,
the Church in earth and heaven.
 

Charles Wesley, M.A. was the great hymn-writer of the Wesley family, perhaps, taking quantity and quality into consideration, the great hymn-writer of all ages. Charles Wesley was the youngest son and 18th child of Samuel and Susanna Wesley and was born at Epworth Rectory, Dec. 18, 1707. In 1716 he went to Westminster School, being provided with a home and board by his elder brother Samuel, then usher at the school, until 1721, when he was elected King's Scholar, and as such received his board and education free. In 1726 Charles Wesley was elected to a Westminster studentship at Christ Church, Oxford, where he took his degree in 1729 and became a college tutor.

This hymn text was written on the anniversary of Wesley’s conversion and originally had 19 verses. Verse 7 became verse one in the hymn as we know it today.

Hymn of the Week: Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
Glory to God #366

HYFRODOL
Charles Wesley 1747 Text
Music Rowland Pritchard 1831

Love Divine, All Loves Excelling

1.
Love divine, all loves excelling,
Joy of Heav’n to earth come down;
Fix in us thy humble dwelling;
All thy faithful mercies crown! Jesus,
Thou art all compassion,
Pure unbounded love Thou art;
Visit us with Thy salvation,
Enter every trembling heart.

2.
Breathe, O breathe Thy loving Spirit
Into every troubled breast!
Let us all in Thee inherit;
Let us find the promised rest.
Take away the love of sinning;
Alpha and Omega be;
End of faith, as its beginning,
Set our hearts at liberty.

3.
Come, Almighty to deliver,
Let us all Thy life receive;
Suddenly return, and never,
Nevermore Thy temples leave.
Thee we would be always blessing,
Serve Thee as Thy hosts above,
Pray and praise Thee without ceasing,
Glory in Thy perfect love.

4.
Finish, then, Thy new creation;
Pure and spotless let us be;
Let us see Thy great salvation
Perfectly restored in Thee;
Changed from glory into glory,
Till in Heav’n we take our place,
Till we cast our crowns before Thee,
Lost in wonder, love, and praise.

Charles Wesley (1707-1788) was a prolific hymn writer, writing over 9000 hymn texts in his lifetime. “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” was first published in a collection of hymns entitled Hymns for those that Seek, and those that Have, Redemption in the Blood of Christ (1747). The beginning of the text was a play on the opening line of John Dryden’s (1631-1700) poem “Fairest Isle, All Isles Excelling” set to music by Henry Purcell (1659-1695) in the generation before Charles Wesley was born.

The tunes BEECHER or HYFRYDOL typically accompany the text in most hymnals. The hymn is written around a progression of thoughts: (1) our prayers for the Holy Spirit, (2) praying for the return of our Lord through the second coming, and (3) prayers for the finalization of his new creation.

This arrangement of the HYFRODOL tune, by Joel Raney, is heard on our very own Steinway which will be heading to the piano shop on October 5, for the next couple months as they repair the tuning board and install new shanks for the hammers to withstand our wetter summers.

Hymn of the Week: Lonely the Boat
Glory to God #185

Text Helen Kim 1921. English translation Hae Jong Kim 1980
Versified by Hope Kawashima
Music Dong Hoon Lee 1967

October 4, we will be celebrating World Communion with churches around the globe. This week, I thought it would be great to look at a hymn from Korea.

Lonely the Boat

Lonely the boat, sailing at sea, tossed on a cold stormy night;
Cruel the sea which seemed so wide, with waves so high.
This single ship sailed the deep sea, straight into the gale:
O Lord, great is the peril, dangers do all assail.

Strong winds arose in all their rage, tossing the tiny lone boat;
Waves billowing high, tossing the boat, lost and afloat.
The sailor stood all alone, wondering what to do;
O Lord, so helpless was he, wondering what to do.

Trembling with fear, deep in despair, looking for help all around,
The sailor saw light from above, “Help can be found;
My God is here in my small boat, standing by my side;
O, I trust in the Savior, now in my life abide.”

“Pleading for your mercy, O Lord, even a sinner like me;
Command O lord, calm to the sea, as in Galilee!
Please save my life from all danger, grant a peaceful life;
O please be merciful, Lord, in times of calm and strife.”

Storms in our lives cruel and cold, surely will arise again,
Threatening lives, threatening us on life’s wild sea.
Powerful and great, God’s hand is there, firmly in control.
O Lord, calm peace comes from you, peace comes to my lone soul.

Dr. Helen Kim

"Lonely the Boat" is based on the narrative of Jesus' stilling the storm found in Mathew 8:23-27 and two other gospels. The original Korean text was translated by Hae Jong Kim (b. 1935), the first Korean United Methodist bishop (1992-2005), in 1980, appearing for the first time in its current form in the United Methodist Asian hymn resource, Hymns from the Four Winds(1983), with music composed by Korean composer Dong Hoon Lee (b. 1945) in 1967. Lee’s music, though harmonized in a Western-style, draws upon the lilting 6/8 meter found in many Korean folk songs.

Written in Korean in 1921 during the thirty-five-year Japanese annexation of Korea, the English text acknowledges this shameful reality veiled in the metaphors of a "lonely boat" (Korea) that is "tossed on a cold, stormy night" in a "cruel sea which seemed so wide, with waves so high."

Just as Christ calmed the storm and brought safety to those in the small craft, God’s "powerful and great" hand is "firmly in control" and will bring "peace to my lone soul" (stanza four).

"Lonely the Boat" still offers comfort and hope to a world full of war and terrorism. Reared in an occupied country, Helen Kim understood the value of freedom. She is quoted on the Columbia University website: "Freedom is not just a word here, not just a concept taken for granted. Its meaning is in the air we breathe, in our thoughts, in our hearts."

Enjoy the organ solo from our very own pipe organ in the Sanctuary as we will be moving the console to the Music rehearsal space on October 5 during our period of construction.

Hymn of the Week: 

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship
Glory to God #396

Text George Atkins/Askins 1819
Music Columbian Harmony

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship
Askins or Atkins?

Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God.
Will you pray with all your pow-er while we try to preach the word?
All is vain un-less the Spirit of the Holy One comes down.
Breth-ren pray and ho-ly man-na will be showe-ered all a- round.

Sis-ters, will you come and help us? Mo-ses' sis-ter aid-ed him.
Will you help the trem-bling mourn-ers who are strug-gling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Sa-vior. Tell them that he will be found.
Sis-ters, pray, and ho-ly man-na will be show-ered all a-round.

Is there here a trem-bling jail-er, seek-ing grace and filled with fears?
Is there here a weep-ing Mar-y pour-ing forth a flood of tears?
Breth-ren, join your cries to help them; sis-ters, let your prayers a-bound!
Pray, o pray that ho-ly man-na will be scat-tered all a-round.

Let us love our God su-preme-ly; let us love each oth-er too.
Let us love and pray for sin-ners till our God makes all things new.
Christ will call us home to heav-en; at his table we'll sit down.
Christ will gird him-self and serve us with sweet man-na all a-round.

 The tune HOLY MANNA, which is part of the genre of American folk tunes, has had a popular and persistent presence in hymnals over the years. While “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship” is the single most prevalent text paired with this tune, according to www.Hymnary.org, the tune appears with at least 45 different hymn texts, including several written recently. This may be attributed to at least two things: first, there has been a resurgence of the use of tunes from the shape-note tune book tradition of the nineteenth century because of their sing-ability due to their 5 note or pentatonic tunes and a repetitive melodic structure of AABA or AABA’, three out of four lines being identical. Both features make these melodies easier to learn.

Hymnologists Paul Westermeyer and David Music describe the origins and qualities of these melodies:

The melodies of American folk hymns appear to have been derived mainly from secular folk songs originating in the British Isles. These songs were brought to America by British settlers, but during the Great Awakening of the early eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries, the melodies were adapted for use with sacred texts. While the melodies might be characterized as British in origin, the forms and uses to which they

were put in America differed considerably from those of the mother country (Music and Westermeyer, 36).

This tune is attributed to William Moore (19th cent.), of which virtually nothing is known, and was first published in The Columbian Harmony (Cincinnati, 1825). It is difficult to know if Moore was the true composer.

The humble and somewhat obscure origins of this hymn (text and tune) belie a complex web of cultural, social, and theological connections. “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship” is a worthy artifact of American spiritualty that deserves to be part of our living repertoire.

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING

“Appalachia’s Lost Hymn: And Why Churches Should Still be Singing It!” Appalachian Magazine (October 18, 2017, n.p.).

George Askin, Obituary. Provided in correspondence with Richard Hulan, (29 May 2019).

Carl P. Daw, Jr., Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016).

Hymn of the Week: 

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship
Glory to God #396

Text George Atkins/Askins 1819
Music Columbian Harmony

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship
Askins or Atkins?

Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God.
Will you pray with all your pow-er while we try to preach the word?
All is vain un-less the Spirit of the Holy One comes down.
Breth-ren pray and ho-ly man-na will be showe-ered all a- round.

Sis-ters, will you come and help us? Mo-ses' sis-ter aid-ed him.
Will you help the trem-bling mourn-ers who are strug-gling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Sa-vior. Tell them that he will be found.
Sis-ters, pray, and ho-ly man-na will be show-ered all a-round.

Is there here a trem-bling jail-er, seek-ing grace and filled with fears?
Is there here a weep-ing Mar-y pour-ing forth a flood of tears?
Breth-ren, join your cries to help them; sis-ters, let your prayers a-bound!
Pray, o pray that ho-ly man-na will be scat-tered all a-round.

Let us love our God su-preme-ly; let us love each oth-er too.
Let us love and pray for sin-ners till our God makes all things new.
Christ will call us home to heav-en; at his table we'll sit down.
Christ will gird him-self and serve us with sweet man-na all a-round.

 This week, let’s look at the individual stanzas of this rich and multi-layered hymn.

Stanza 2. Sisters… This stanza includes the reference of Moses’s sister. There are at least two possibilities in this allusion: Miriam, sister of Moses and Aaron, and a prophetess who first appears in the book of Exodus. Miriam led the Israelite women in song with timbrels and dance following their escape from Egypt and the crossing of the sea (Exodus 15:20-21). This could also be a reference to an unnamed sister of Moses (was it Miriam?), who assisted in his escape as an infant in a papyrus basket where Pharaoh’s daughter found him and adopted him as her son (Exodus 2:5-8).

Stanza 3 concerns the jailor from the New Testament. There are several allusions here. The first two lines are either an allusion to Paul’s incarceration in a Philippi jail where he witnessed to his jailers or the imprisonment of Paul and Silas in Acts 16:22-33. The reference to “weeping Mary” is pregnant with possibilities. Is this a reference to Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus, who wept for him upon his death (John 11:33)? Or is this a reference to Mary Magdalene, who stood outside the tomb of the risen Christ, weeping (John 20:11-13)? Though not explicit in Scripture, may we assume that Mary, the mother of Christ, wept at his crucifixion (John 19:25-27)? The answer is “YES!” We do not have to choose one, but may affirm all three.

Stanza 4. Let us Love our God supremely. The eschatological emphasis in this stanza, typical of final stanzas of hymns from this era, is unmistakable. All of the stanzas are tied together by the abundance of manna, which forms a two-line refrain. There are numerous references to manna in the biblical witness drawn from Exodus 16 as nourishment for the starving, wandering people of Israel. The final stanza transforms this image from “holy manna” furnished in the desert to “sweet manna” served by the heavenly Christ to his faithful throughout eternity, a reference with a eucharistic overtone.

The number of stanzas varies, sometimes only two or three, but rarely include the original five, and subtle textual substitutions are common in more recent hymnals. The Chalice Hymnal(1995) and The Covenant Hymnal (1996), for example, title the hymn, “Christians, We Have Met to Worship.” Several hymnals omit the original stanza 2, which also begins with “Brethren . . .”.

NEXT WEEK WE WILL UNPACK THE TUNE TO THIS TIMELESS HYMN!

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING

“Appalachia’s Lost Hymn: And Why Churches Should Still be Singing It!” Appalachian Magazine (October 18, 2017, n.p.).

George Askin, Obituary. Provided in correspondence with Richard Hulan, (29 May 2019).

Carl P. Daw, Jr., Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016).

Hymn of the Week: 

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship
Glory to God #396

Text George Atkins/Askins 1819
Music Columbian Harmony

Brethren, We Have Met to Worship
Askins or Atkins?

Brethren, we have met to worship and adore the Lord our God.
Will you pray with all your pow-er while we try to preach the word?
All is vain un-less the Spirit of the Holy One comes down.
Breth-ren pray and ho-ly man-na will be showe-ered all a- round.

Sis-ters, will you come and help us? Mo-ses' sis-ter aid-ed him.
Will you help the trem-bling mourn-ers who are strug-gling hard with sin?
Tell them all about the Sa-vior. Tell them that he will be found.
Sis-ters, pray, and ho-ly man-na will be show-ered all a-round.

Is there here a trem-bling jail-er, seek-ing grace and filled with fears?
Is there here a weep-ing Mar-y pour-ing forth a flood of tears?
Breth-ren, join your cries to help them; sis-ters, let your prayers a-bound!
Pray, o pray that ho-ly man-na will be scat-tered all a-round.

Let us love our God su-preme-ly; let us love each oth-er too.
Let us love and pray for sin-ners till our God makes all things new.
Christ will call us home to heav-en; at his table we'll sit down.
Christ will gird him-self and serve us with sweet man-na all a-round.

This hymn’s buoyant tune and text invite a lot of great conversation and has a lot of information for us to unpack concerning the history of the poet who penned the words and the origin of the hymn tune as well as the theology of the text. As a result, we will be looking at this hymn for a couple of weeks.

This week we will look at the lives of two men who may be credited with having written the text. George Askins (b. Ireland; d. Frederick, Maryland; 28 February 1816) has recently been credited by Sacred Harp scholar Richard H. Hulan (b. 1939) as being the author of this text. Little is known about Askins save his birth country, Ireland, and that he made his way to the United States by 1801 as an adult Methodist where he was given a charge as a trial itinerate preacher in the Montgomery circuit of the Baltimore Annual Conference. Still, on trial, he was assigned to the Ohio circuit of the Pittsburgh Annual Conference in 1802 and then to the Shenango circuit of the same annual conference in 1803 in full connection. Between 1803 and 1815, he served as a deacon and then elder in the Ohio, Kentucky, Miami, Virginia, and Baltimore annual conferences (Steel and Hulan, 74-75).

Several songs used in camp meetings helped to bring some of Askins’s hymns to light. Credit for the first printing of “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship” goes to John J. Harrod, who included it in his Social and Camp-Meeting Hymns for the Pious (Baltimore, 1817), a year after Askins’s death (Steel and Hulan, 67).

A second possible author has almost the same name – George Atkins. A recent article in Appalachian Magazine offers an enticing story about a British Methodist minister who, in the midst of the War of 1812 between Great Britain and the United States, came to America, enemy territory at the time, to become a part of the emergent Methodist Church. This was the situation in which George Atkins (b. Lincoln, England, April 16, 1793; d. Abingdon, Virginia, August 29, 1827) found himself. He first pastored in Ohio before taking a charge in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he is said to have composed one of the signature Appalachian hymns of the nineteenth century, “Brethren, We Have Met to Worship” (“Appalachia’s Lost Hymn”, n.p.).

Though this is an attractive narrative, it lacks documentation. Indeed, several hymnals indicate that this hymn is vaguely “attributed” to “George Atkins (19th cent.).” Hymnal companions often have no information on Atkins, stating only that, “The identity of this author is unknown” (Reynolds, 255). Baptist hymnologist David W. Music provides a bit more information:

. . . Tennessee records indicate that a Methodist minister named GEORGE ATKIN (?—1827) was active in the Knoxville area during the first quarter of the 19th century. In 1818 Atkin transferred from Ohio to the Tennessee Conference and was appointed to the Knoxville Circuit. In addition to his activities as a preacher and school teacher, he engaged in newspaper work. Two of Atkin’s sermons were accorded the honor of being printed. In 1826 Atkin was appointed to preach at “Abingdon Town,” but he died the following year. “Brethren, we have met to worship,” the hymn by which he is remembered, is one of the few camp-meeting texts found in modern hymnals (Music, 1980, 247; also Music, 1985, 18).

SOURCES AND FURTHER READING

“Appalachia’s Lost Hymn: And Why Churches Should Still be Singing It!” Appalachian Magazine (October 18, 2017, n.p.).

George Askin, Obituary. Provided in correspondence with Richard Hulan, (29 May 2019).

Carl P. Daw, Jr., Glory to God: A Companion (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 2016).

Hymn of the Week: 

Let All Things Now Living
Glory to God #37

Let All Things Now Living

"Let all things now living
a song of thanksgiving
to God the Creator triumphantly raise,
who fashioned and made us,
protected and stayed us,
who guides us and leads to the end of our days.
God’s banners fly o’er us;
God’s light goes before us,
a pillar of fire shining forth in the night,
till shadows have vanished
and darkness is banished,
as forward we travel from light into light.

By law God enforces, the stars in their courses
The sun in its orbit obediently shine;
The hills and the mountains, the rivers and fountains;
The depths of the ocean proclaim God divine.
We too should be voicing our love and rejoicing;
With glad adoration, a song let us raise,
Till all things now living unite in thanksgiving:
To God in the highest, hosanna and praise.

Sometimes a hymn begins as another musical genre. Such is the case with “Let all things now living.” Katherine Kennicott Davis (1892-1980) published this text as an anthem in 1939 under the pseudonym of John Cowley. She wrote the single stanza above earlier, perhaps in the 1920s, to fit the Welsh tune, THE ASH GROVE.

Katherine Davis was born in St. Joseph, Missouri. Following her high school education, she studied at Wellesley College (BA, 1914), where she won the Billings Prize for Composition, named after the New England composer, William Billings (1746-1800), usually regarded as the first choral music composer in America. Following further study at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston, Ms. Davis returned to Wellesley College to teach piano and music theory. Like many American composers during the twentieth century, she studied in Paris for an interval with the famous composition teacher and conductor Nadia Boulanger (1887-1979). The list of Boulanger’s students included luminaries such as Elliott Carter, Aaron Copeland, Philip Glass, Daniel Pinkham, and Virgil Thomson.

During the 1920s, Katherine Davis taught at two schools, Concord Academy (1921-1923) and Shady Hill High School (1923-1930) in Philadelphia. Ms. Davis is best known for her popular Christmas song, “The Little Drummer Boy” (1941), originally known as “Carol of the Drum,” a song made famous by the Von Trapp Family and the recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale (1958). Simeone’s recording went to the top of the Billboard charts. The song was recorded by a number of vocal artists, perhaps most famously as a duet by Bing Crosby and David Bowie in 1977.

“Let all things now living” is most popular during the Thanksgiving season. The text can be read in different ways. The final line of the first stanza – “as forward we travel from light into light” – might reflect confidence in the ultimate progression of human endeavors for the better under God’s providence, an extension of eighteenth-century Enlightenment thought, and nineteenth-century philosophers John Stuart Mill (1806-1873) and Herbert Spencer (1820-1903). This certainly would have been consonant with early twentieth-century New England liberal philosophical thought. Mission hymns of the era employ a similar idea reflected as a Christian extension of Manifest Destiny. Drawing upon the Exodus narrative, the first stanza alludes to the “pillar of fire shining forth in the night” (Exodus 13:21-22). Appearing between world wars, such optimism might have seemed premature.

Another way to view this text would be from an eschatological perspective as seen in the phrase, “who guides us and leads to the end of our days.” The direction of the Christian life is ultimately consummated in heaven. The beauty of hymn texts is that they may be read in several ways.

The second stanza, much like hymns on creation for over 200 years, reflects on the natural created order, “stars,” “sun,” “hills and mountains, the rivers and fountains,” and “ocean.” All creation joins with humanity to raise a song of “glad adoration” to God.

Much of the popularity of this hymn comes with its paring with the buoyant Welsh folk tune, THE ASH GROVE. The roots of this melody may be found in the eighteenth century. Arrangements published in England in the early and mid-nineteenth century increased its popularity. The tune had been in limited use in evangelical hymnals in the United States with the text “The Master hath come” by Sarah Doudney (1841-1926). Davis’s use of the tune in her 1939 anthem brought the tune to broader denominational prominence in the United States.

Enjoy Devin Sowry’s lovely playing of Joel Raney’s arrangement!

Hymn of the Week: 

O Love That Wilt Not Let me Go

Text by George Matheson (1842-1906)
Music by Albert J. Peace (1844-1912)

O Love That Wilt Not Let me Go

O love that will not let me go, I rest my weary soul in thee.
I give thee back the life I owe, that in thine oceans depths its flow.
May richer fuller be.

O light followest all my way, I yield my flickering torch to thee.
My heart restores its borrowed ray, that in thy sunshine's blaze it's day.
May brighter fairer be.

O joy that seekest me through pain, I cannot close my heart to thee.
I chase the rainbow through the rain, and feel the promise is not vain.
That morn shall tearless be.

O cross that liftest up my head, I dare not ask to fly from thee.
I lay in dust's life's glory dead, and from the ground there blossoms red.
Life that shall endless be.
 

George Matheson was only a teenager when he learned that his poor eyesight was failing further. He was still determined to attend Glasgow University and graduated by age 19. He went on to do his graduate studies in theology but was by then completely blind. His sister moved in with him , learning Hebrew and Greek to aid him in his classes. George’s fiancé, when he became legally blind, broke the engagement which hurt George deeply. He rejoiced with his sster when she became married and it was after her wedding that he came to understand and appreciate more fully God’s love for him. Never limited, conditional, withdrawn or uncertain. He remained unmarried and eventually became minister at St. Bernard’s Church in Edinburgh, Scotland.

The following his Dr. Matheson’s account of writing the hymn in his own words.

“My hymn was composed in the manse of Innellan on the evening of June 6th, 1882. I was at the time alone. It was the day of my sister’s marriage, and the rest of the family were staying overnight in Glasgow. Something happened to me, which was known only to myself, and which caused me the most severe mental suffering. The hymn was the fruit of that suffering. It was the quickest bit of work I ever did in my life. I had the impression rather of having it dictated to me by some inward voice than of working it out myself. I am quite sure that the whole work was completed in five minutes and equally sure that it never received at my hands any retouching or correction. I have no natural gift of rhythm. All the other verses I have ever written are manufactured articles; this one came like a day spring from on high. I have never been able to gain once more the same fervor in verse. ”

The hymn appeared in the Church of Scotland monthly magazine, ”Life and Work, ” in January 1883. The tune was composed one year later by a well-known Scottish organist of his day, Albert L. Peace, who was asked by the Scottish Hymnal Committee to write a tune, especially for Matheson’s text. Peace’s own account of the writing of this tune is as follows, “After reading it over carefully, I wrote the music straight off, and may say that the ink of the first note was hardly dry when I had finished the tune. ”

Morgan, Robert J. Then Sings My Soul 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories. P. 206

Enjoy the stirring violin solo by Susan Larson!

Hymn of the Week: 

In Christ There is No East or West

# 317 in Glory to God Hymnal (ca. 1908)

Text: John Oxenham (1851-1941)
Music: African American Spiritual

In Christ there is no East or West

In Christ there is no East or West,
In Him no South or North,
But one great Fellowship of Love
Throughout the whole wide earth.

In Him shall true hearts everywhere
Their high communion find.
His service is the golden cord
Close-binding all mankind.

Join hands then, Brothers of the Faith,
Whatever your race may be!--
Who serves my Father as a son
Is surely kin to me.

In Christ now meet both East and West,
In Him meet South and North,
All Christly souls are one in Him,
Throughout the whole wide earth.

This week’s hymn is attributed to a businessman turned poet whose name is William Arthur Dunkerly with John Oxenham as a pseudonym. He was a very successful businessman who turned to writing as an outlet or hobby from his work all over the United States, Canada, and Europe as a businessman, He soon found he loved writing more than the business world and turned to writing full time. His first collection of poems was entitled, “Bees and Amber”, from which this text comes. He submitted his book to a publisher who turned him down. Not giving up, he published it himself and it became wildly popular with 300,000 copies. He went on to write many novels, short stories, and collections of poetry.

There are officially two tunes to this Hymn text. The one you hear today uses the title McKee. This was a tune based on a spiritual by Harry T. Burleigh who was well known for starting the well-known choral group, The Fisk Singers. Enjoy today’s jazz version of this beautiful hymn arranged by Michael Hassell.