410 Praise My Soul Thou King of Heaven

Henry Francis Lyte, the author of this, his second setting of psalm 103, was born in Scotland in 1793.  Originally Lyte wanted to become a medical doctor but changed his mind later and went to theological college.  In 1815 he took Holy Order in the Church of England. He wrote more than 83 hymns and paraphrases of psalms.

This particular hymn text first appeared set together with this tune in 1834.  The tune, Lauda Anima was composed for this particular text and was published together in 1869.  It quickly became a favorite and was used as the processional hymn for the wedding of Queen Elizabeth II in 1947.

The composer of this tune was John Goss whose musical career started as a chorister in the Chapel Royal.  In 1856, he was appointed as the composer for the Chapel Royal

671 Amazing Grace

This week we will be profiling perhaps one of the best known and most beloved hymn: Amazing
Grace.  The author of the words is John Newton whose story was told in a great movie several years ago.  The tune name is Amazing Grace and is from the Virginia Harmony hymnbook of 1831.

In a small cemetery of a small churchyard in Olney England, there is a tombstone with this inscription, "John Newton, clerk, once an infidel and Libertine, a servant of slavers in Africa, was, by the rich mercy of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, preserved, restored, pardoned, and appointed to preach the Faith he had long labored to destroy."  This testimonial was written by John Newton, himself during what has been described as an unusual and colorful life.

John Newton's mother, a godly woman, died when John was just seven years old. he related that she taught hi Bible passages and hymns despite her frail health. When John's father remarried, he was sent away to boarding school.  At the age of 11, he left school and began his life as a seaman.  His early years were described as a round of rebellion and debauchery.  He eventually became the captain of own ship that captured, transported and sold slaves to the plantations of the West Indies and America.  It was a difficult, often cruel lifestyle.

On the night of March 9, 1748 when Newton was 23, the ship encountered a particularly brutal storm that arose too quickly to prepare adequately for.  The next day he cried out to the Lord for deliverance.  He later wrote, "That tenth of Match is a day much remembered by me; I have never suffered it to pass unnoticed since the year 1748--the Lord came from on high and delivered me out of deep waters."

The next several years saw slow halting spiritual growth but he ended his career as one of the most powerful evangelical preachers in British history. He was eventually ordained in the Anglican church, and despite the fact it wasn't done in the Anglican communion, he often held services in the surrounding area.  During these sessions, he told the story of his conversion experience and early life. In the end, he became one of fhe most powerful preachers in British history, a powerful foe of slavery and the author of hundreds of hymns. It is also interesting to note that his life after his conversion had been an opponent and in the year he died, 1807, the British Parliament finally abolished slavery.

Originally the hymn was entitled "Faith's Review and Expectation." There were 6 verses and the text was based on 1Chronicle 17:16-17

686 Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

These week as we look at the theme of grace during our sermons, we have a musical story of a grace-filled life. Robert Robinson had a rough beginning and was himself prone to wander.  His father died when he was young and his mother had a rough time controlling him so she apprenticed him to a barber when he was 14.  He didn't really take it too seriously and often spent time reading and playing with friends rather than cutting hair. He became the leader of a notorious gang and was almost disowned by his family.

in 1752 when Robinson was 17, he and his friends visited a fortune teller.  They had been drinking quite a lot so they laughed about the whole thing.  Young Robert, however, was quite discomforted about their experiences, and although he suggested the young men go to the meeting to make fun of the traveling preacher, he talked them into going to hear the evangelist George Whitefield.

Whitefield was one of history's greatest preachers with a voice that"was part foghorn and part violin."  As the young men were nodding off because of the alcohol, the foghorn voice yelled "Brood of vipers!  Who warned you to flee the wrath to come? Oh my hearers, the wrath to come!  The wrath to come!"

Upon hearing his words, Robinson immediately sobered up and sensed the speaker was preaching directly to him. The preachers words haunted him for almost 3 years until December 10, 1755.

Robert soon entered the ministry and at the age of 23 while serving Calvinist Methodist Chapel in Norfolk, England, he wrote this hymn for his sermon on Pentecost Sunday.  It was a prayer that the Holy Spirit flood into all of our hearts with God's grace and streams of mercy.

There are two different stories about how Robinson's life ended.  One story related that he had been invited to Birmingham, England to preach for Dr. Joseph Priestly, a noted Unitarian.  There he was found the next morning dead at the age of 54.

Another story relates that Robinson in later life did stray from the faith and drifted from the "Fount of Every Blessing."  It is said that one day he was riding in a stagecoach and was sitting by a woman who was reading a hymnbook. She showed him the hymn "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," saying how wonderful it was.  He tried to change the subject but was unable to.  Finally, he said, "Madam, I am the poor man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds to enjoy the feelings I had then."

Whichever end of life story you prefer to believe, there is one thing that no one disagrees with:  this is a beautifully elegant 3 verse prayer that has the power to elicit feelings of gratitude for the grace God has given us and continues to give us.

These verses were set to the tune Nettleton. The source for the melody is widely believed to a traditional American melody that first appeared in A Repository of Sacred Music, Part II, in 1813.

Please do not skip listening to this amazing rendition of this hymn.  It is sung by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir accompanied by orchestra and organ.  Enjoy!

494 Crown him with Many Crowns

Once again, our hymn of the week conversation concerns a discussion of conversion.  The author of the words is Matthew Bridges and he considered his hymn as a sermon in song.  His text was based on Revelation 19:12, ".....and on His head were many crowns."  He originally called his hymn, "The Song of the Seraphs" and it consisted of 6 verses.

Bridges once wrote a book condemning Roman Catholics; he later converted to Catholicism in 1848 and this hymn text was written in 1851.  He followed John Henry Newman out of the Church of England.  He lived for a while in Quebec, Canada before returning to England.

In 1874, a devout Anglican clergyman, Godfrey Thring, feared that Bridges' verses smacked too much of Catholic doctrine.  Bridges' verse 2 had references to the Virgin Mary and Thring decided to add some verses to the text.  Godfrey also wrote 6 verses.  Over the years, these 12 stanzas have become intermingled in hymnbooks, with editors mixing and matching verses.  Most hymnbooks contain 4 or 5 verses.

The composer of the tune, Diademata, was George Job Elvey.  Born into a musical family, Elvey started his musical career as a boy, singing at Canterbury Cathedral. Later, he received more formal training at the Royal Academy of Music. Around 1835, he was appointed master of the boys and organist at St. George’s Chapel, Windsor (one of his tunes, St. George’s Windsor, [the text usually used today with this tune is "Come Ye Thankful People Come"] takes its name from this location). He served at St. George’s for almost half a century. He was knighted in 1871 for his Festival March, played at the wedding of Princess Louise.  This hymn tune is not used for other texts in the mainline hymnals today.

In honor of Bridge's time in Canada, this weeks video contains not only the original text I grew up singing, but also some gorgeous photography from Canada.  Enjoy!

397 Now Thank We All Our God

Gratitude and thankfulness are a common theme in scripture.  There are 138 passages of scripture on the subject of thanksgiving and some are powerfully worded.  In 1Thessalonians, Paul wrote "In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you."

Although there are not that many hymns devoted exclusively to thanking God, the hymn of the week for this week is one of the best known and most beloved hymns on both sides of the Atlantic and around the world concerning this topic.  The German Christians sing this hymn as frequently as we Americans sing the Doxology.

The author of this text, Martin Rinkart (1586-1659) was a Lutheran pastor in a village in Saxony.  His family was poor and his father was a coppersmith but that didn't stop young Martin from feeling and pursuing a call into the ministry.  Rinkart began his pastoral work just as the 30 Years' War was raging in Germany.

That time was a desperate time as refugees flooded the walled city of Eilenberg, Rinkart's hometown.  The Swedish army surrounded the city gates and inside there was nothing but plague, famine and fear resulting in increasing numbers of death.  800 homes were destroyed while the pastors were extraordinarily strained attempting to preach the gospel, took care of the sick and dying and burying the dead.  As the seige and plague continued, the pastors themselves began taking ill and dying until only Martin Rinkart was left alive; it was said that he often officiated as many as 50 funerals.

The town was overrun 3 different times, first the Swedish army, then the Austrians and then the Swedes again.  Afterwards, Martin Rinkart became a negotiator with the Swedish enemy after they demanded a huge ransom from the impoverished city residents.  He did it with such courage and faith that there was soon a conclusion of the hostilities.   Rinkart knew that there could be no real healing for the survivors of Eilenberg, so he composed this hymn; it has been sung around the world ever since.

This majestic tune was written by one of German's finest and most prolific composers, Johann Cruger who first published a hymnal in 1644.  This was such a fine hymnal, that there were 44 editions between 1644-1731.  This combination of tune and text appeared in the 1647 edition.

When I went to YouTube to select a video to include with this entry, I was struck at how many different versions there are available of this song.  I selected two different ones.  One is an arrangement by the modern English composer, John Rutter sung by Cambridge Singers.  Enjoy!

 

Being an organist, I couldn't resist sharing this video of the greatest female organist of the 20th century, Diane Bish playing an arrangement by Karg-Elert of this tune.  It is also a special piece for me because we used it as the postlude after the recessional when my husband and I got married in 1995.  Enjoy this organ virtuosity. 

 

711 Seek Ye First

A graduate of Eastern New Mexico University, Karen Lafferty music, finishing with a degree in choral music and oboe.  She also played pain, saxophone and guitar.  She became interested in climbing the ladder in show business so she started singing in saloons in New Orleans.

She realized as a Christian that the saloon life in New Orleans was not what she wanted to do so she renewed her commitment to the Lord and decided to use her talents for Him.  She auditioned for the Campus Crusade for Christ's chorus but was turned down.  It didn't have to do with her musical ability but rather her maturity as a Christian; she was crushed.  She decided to give guitar lessons but ended up with only 3 students--not nearly enough to support herself.

She was feeling crushed and discouraged--at the lowest part of her life, in fact when he went to a Bible study.  During that study that night, the group looked at the passage from Matthew 6 about how God takes care of the birds of the air.  In that study was the verse, "Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His Righteousness."  That evening she went home and began absent mindedly plucking on the guitar when suddenly this verse and melody came out.  She said, "That was it.  I went to bed and slept in peace, confident that God would do something."

One thing that is interesting as we look at many of the back-stories behind the hymns, often the writer and/or composer has spent part of their life living what we could say was an ungodly lifestyle.  However, God still uses them to do His work.

522 Glorious Things of Thee are Spoken

For this week's blog, we ask the question:  How are the great Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn, the American Confederate Civil War General Stonewall Jackson, and Adolph Hitler connected? Our blog answers that question. 

Oh yes, there is also another "Amazing Connection"

Haydn, born in 1732,  had a modest childhood growing up in a town in Eastern Austria receiving his musical training as a choir boy in Vienna--until his voice changed.  After studying composition and working for a Bohemian nobleman, Haydn entered the service of Prince Paul Anton Esterhazy.  That was the beginning of a musically fruitful 30 years of service.  Haydn also received a Doctor of Music Degree from Oxford University and spent several season conducting concerts and composing many new works while in the service of Prince Paul's son, Nicholas. Haydn's prodigious output includes 104 symphonies, 83 string quartets, 52 piano sonatas, 18 operas and 14 masses in addition to chamber music, songs, arias, oratorios, and other liturgical music.  He was a devout Christian who regarded himself as a steward of the gifts God had given him and prefaced each of his scores with "In nominee Domini" and closed them with "Laus Deo."

After trips to England in 1791 and 1794, Haydn was so impressed with the nationalistic singing of "God Save the Queen."  He wanted to have a piece for Austria. Someone wrote the words and Haydn wrote the music, probably based on a Hungarian or Croatian folk song.  Haydn later used used it in his Quartet in C, Opus 76, number 5.  During World War II, Hitler forbade the playing of the Quartet by musicians because he was afraid it would stir up nationalistic fervor in the Austrians.  It is reported that at one particular playing in Hitler's presence, when this theme was played the quartet played it in a minor key to disguise the true identity of the melody. Ironically after the war, the tune Austria was used for the German national anthem.

What about Stonewall Jackson?  He was a military genius and a wonderful Christian.  His men said of him, "If he ain't a-fightin', he's a-prayin'."  If he wasn't fighting or praying, he was singing hymns.  The fact that he couldn't carry a tune didn't seem to bother him in the least. This hymn was one of his favorites and one night in 1862, his army was bivouacked in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia.  The soldiers had marched 52 miles that day and were exhausted when they heard a strange singing.  The general had watched over his soldiers all night and now the General in his scruffy beard, slouched hat and unkempt hair had his face turned heavenward singing, "On the rock of Ages founded / What can shake my sure repose? / With salvations's walls surrounded, / Thou mayst smile at all thy foes."

Finally the amazing connection:  the words we use today were translated/written by John Newton, the author of the great hymn "Amazing Grace."