Hymn of the Day:  Lord, Whose Love in Humble Service ELW 712
Text: Albert F. Bayly, 1901-1984
Tune: BEACH SPRING, The Sacred Harp, Philadelphia, 1844.

Albert F. Bayly wrote this text in response to a Hymn Society of America search for new hymn texts dealing with social welfare. It was chosen as the theme hymn for the Second National Conference on the Churches and Social Welfare held in Cleveland, Ohio, October 23-27, 1961. The Hymn Society published the text in Seven New Social Welfare Hymns (1961). The text begins with recognition of Christ's ultimate sacrifice on the cross and then points to the continuing needs of the homeless, the hungry, the prisoners, and the mourners. Bayly's words remind us of modern refugees, AIDS patients, and famine victims who are as close as our doorstep or who are brought to our attention via the news media. The final two stanzas encourage us to move from Sunday worship to weekday service; such integrity in the Christian life is truly a liturgy of sacrifice, pleasing to God.

Albert F. Bayly was born in Bex­hill on Sea, Sus­sex, Eng­land. He received his ed­u­cat­ion at Lon­don Un­i­ver­si­ty (BA) and Mans­field Coll­ege, Ox­ford. Bayly was a Congregationalist (later United Reformed Church) minister from the late 1920s until his death in 1984. His life and ministry spanned the Depression of the 1930s, the Second World War, and the years of reconstruction which followed. Af­ter re­tir­ing in 1971, he moved to Spring­field, Chelms­ford, and was ac­tive in the local Unit­ed Re­formed Church. He wrote sev­er­al pageants on mis­sion themes, and li­bret­tos for can­ta­tas by W. L. Lloyd Web­ber.

Offertory: “Children of the Heavenly Father” Paul Sjolund (1935)

Caroline W. Sandell Berg (1832- 1903), is better known as Lina Sandell, the "Fanny Crosby of Sweden." "Lina" Wilhelmina Sandell Berg was the daughter of a Lutheran pastor; she wrote hymns partly to cope with the fact that she witnessed his tragic death by drowning. Many of her 650 hymns were used in the revival services of Carl O. Rosenius, and a number of them gained popularity particularly because of the musical settings written by gospel singer Oskar Ahnfelt. Jenny Lind, the famous Swedish soprano, underwrote the cost of publishing a collection of Ahnfelt's music, Andeliga Sänger (1850), which consisted mainly of Berg's hymn texts. This hymn promises amazing life and hope from a woman who lived in great pain and anguish. Much like Horatio Spafford’s timeless hymn, “When Peace like a River,” Lina Sandell-Berg’s “Children of the Heavenly Father” was written under the influence of incredible grace amidst heart-wrenching pain. The gorgeous tune is just as comforting as the lyrics, lifting the soul and calming the spirit. The tune for this hymn is called TRYGGARE KAN INGEN VARA. The exact composer is unknown, but the tune is probably a Swedish folk song— although variations on the tune are known to have been in Germany in the early 1800’s.

Paul Sjolund is a leading composer of American church and choral music. The range of his style includes a wide spectrum of majestic anthems, fanfares and festival hymns, poignant children's music, and exhilarating range of spirituals and folksongs.

Children of the heav'nly Father, safely in His bosom gather;
nestling bird nor star in heaven such a refuge e’er was given.

God His own doth tend and nourish; in His holy courts they flourish.
From all evil things He spares them; in His mighty arms He bears them.

Neither life nor death shall ever from the Lord His children sever;
unto them His grace He showeth, and their sorrows all He knoweth.

Tho' He giveth or He taketh, God His children ne’er forsaketh;
His the loving purpose solely to preserve them pure and holy.

Opening Voluntary: “Morecambe,” Pamela Decker (1955)

Frederick Atkinson (1841-1897) wrote the Victorian tune MORECAMBE, named after a town in England’s Midland district. His intent was to provide a musical setting for Henry Francis Lyte’s famous text, “Abide with me, fast falls the eventide”. Indeed the rhythm is identical between EVENTIDE, the tune associated with “Abide with me,” and MORECAMBE. There is, however, no doubt that MORECAMBE is well suited to the text “Spirit of God.” In the first stanza, a descending melody accompanies the words, “descend upon my heart.” Likewise an ascending melody in the third line allows the words “mighty as thou art” to blossom. This rising figure works amazingly well with the text of each stanza. The final three notes of the melody, all on the same pitch, do not end on the customary tonic, home tone or first degree of the scale, but on the third degree. By concluding the melody on the third degree of the scale, there is a floating quality to the ending of each stanza, reminiscent of the hovering of the descending Dove, one of the metaphors of the Spirit.

Pamela Decker is Professor of Organ/Music Theory at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona and she also serves as organist at Grace St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Tucson.  She has won prizes in national and international competitions for organ and composition.

Closing Voluntary: KIRKEN DEN ER ET (Built on a Rock) Wilbur Held (1914-2015)

Composed for this text by Ludwig M. Lindeman (1812-1887), KIRKEN was published in Wilhelm A. Wexel's Christelige Psalmer (1840). A bar form (AAB) tune in the Dorian mode, it is a suitably rugged, folk-like tune for this text, with a satisfying climax in the final line.

KIRKEN (also called LINDEMAN) was the first hymn tune Lindeman wrote. Born into a family of musicians, Lindeman received his early organ training from his father, for whom he became a substitute organist at the age of twelve. Although he studied theology in Oslo (then called Christiana), after 1839 he turned to a career in music. He was the organist of the Church of the Savior in Oslo (1839-1887) and became a virtuoso performer. In 1871 he was invited to come to London to give inaugural recitals on the new organ in Albert Hall. Lindeman published hymn collections and organ works as well as the influential Koralbog (1877), which contained tunes (restored to rhythmic shape) for Landstad's hymnal of 1869. He was also an excellent teacher and founded an organ school (later the Oslo Conservatory) with his son in 1883. A scholarly collector of Norwegian folk music, Lindeman traveled the country collecting folk songs, which he published in a series of volumes (1853-1867) and which influenced the works of composer Edvard Grieg.

Wilbur Held was born in the little Chicago suburb of Des Plaines. Dr. Held’s mother was an accomplished violinist, and there was always music in his home and his church. But piano lessons were poorly practiced, and the decision to get serious about music didn’t happen until after graduation from high school when he enrolled at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, studying organ with Frank van Dusen and theory/composition with John Palmer. After getting serious he did pretty well, and midway in his studies he became Leo Sowerby’s assistant at St. James Church–an association that lasted seven years. He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the conservatory. In 1946 he joined the faculty at the Ohio State University, where he became Professor of Organ and Church Music and head of the keyboard department. He remained in this position for over 30 years, and for most of that time was also organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio.

Hymn of the Day: Healer of our ev'ry ill ELW 612
Text: Marty Haugen, 1950
Tune: HEALER OF OUR EV’RY ILL, Marty Haugen

Marty Haugen wrote this meditative song during the winter of 1985-86. During this time, his family was staying at Holden Village, a retreat center in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State. On January 28, 1986, the space shuttle Challenger crashed shortly after takeoff. According to Haugen:

In addition to the loss of seven astronauts, this crash was a symbolic loss for Americans. At Holden we had very infrequent communication with the outside world, so we did not know of the disaster for a couple of days. When we got some information, we held a service in the evening together, and “Healer of our Every Ill” was written as an expression for our community to grieve together (Daw, 2016, 795, quoting Westermeyer, 2010, 451).

Haugen uses the text of this hymn as a prayer for healing, not only of the body but also of the mind and spirit. The refrain, “Give us peace beyond our fear, and hope beyond our sorrow,” is a powerful prayer and helps us express thoughts we find difficult to put into words. This hymn is also about joy, as evidenced in stanza two with the words, “your grace is still unfolding.” Stanza three’s text, “Give us strength to love each other,” uses language that urges us, even in times of sorrow and fear, to show love and kindness to our sisters and brothers in Christ. The last verse of the hymn asks us to teach Christ’s way of healing and to fill each heart with compassion.

Marty Haugen was born in Wanamingo, Minnesota. Haugen studied piano, violin, trombone, and organ through high school, and he played organ in the Lutheran church where his family attended. He holds degrees from Luther College and United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, and participated in graduate work in Pastoral Studies at what is now Luther Seminary and the St. Paul School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas (Canterbury Dictionary). His hymns have become very popular and can be found in many hymnals today, including the Chalice Hymnal and Evangelical Lutheran Worship. The majority of his compositions are published by GIA publications, including two settings of the liturgy for Lutheran use, “Holden Evening Prayer” and “Now the Feast and Celebration.” He has also composed settings of the Catholic Mass, including the “Mass of Creation.” Haugen has composed numerous choral arrangements, sacred songs, and hymns, including “Gather Us In,” “Eye Hath Not Seen,” “Canticle of the Sun,” “We Are Many Parts,” “We Remember,” “Shepherd Me, O God,” and “Awake!” Currently, he writes contemporary hymns and liturgies for the Lutheran church and holds a position as composer in residence at Mayflower Community Church in Minneapolis.

Offertory: Sing a New Song Michael Praetorious (1571-1621), Mark Schweitzer, arr.

This is the famous cannon offered today in 3 parts with a dance-like arrangement by Mark Schweitzer and a text based on Psalm 96. Michael Praetorius was a German composer, organist, and music theorist. He was one of the most versatile composers of his age, being particularly significant in the development of musical forms based on Protestant hymns. His family name in German appears in various forms including Schultze, Schulte, Schultheiss, Schulz and Schulteis. Praetorius was the conventional Latinized form of this family name, Schultze meaning "village judge or magistrate" in German. The Latin Praetorius means "magistrate-related or one with the rank of a magistrate."

Sing a new song, sing to God with a voice of triumph,
Make his praises known to all the nations,
Sing the honor of his name.

Opening Voluntary: “Prelude” from Suite Breve Craig Phillips (1961)

Craig Phillips is a distinguished and popular American composer and organist and Director of Music at All Saints’ Church, Beverly Hills. His choral and organ music is heard Sunday by Sunday in churches and cathedrals across the United States, and many of his works have been performed in concert throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He was named the American Guild of Organists Distinguished Composer for 2012 — the seventeenth recipient of this special award. Dr. Phillips joins an illustrious list that includes past honorees Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem, Daniel Pinkham, Stephen Paulus and David Hurd.

Closing Voluntary “Herr Jesu Christ! dich zu uns wend” Sigfrid Karg-Elert (1877–1933)

The text Herr Jesu Christ! dich zu uns wend, was first published in 1648. Whoever the composer was, the hymn soon became justly popular, and in 1678 it was formally directed to be sung in all the churches in Saxony on all Sundays and festivals. It is a simple and forcible hymn, which survived the Rationalistic period, and text and tune are currently found together in 136 hymnals.

The chorale improvisation based on this hymn, is one of my favorites by Sigfrid Karg-Elert, who composed primarily for small ensembles or solo instruments like organ, piano and harmonium. The 66 Chorale Improvisations on Evangelical Church Hymns Op. 65, are his first organ works composed directly for this instrument. And I find it interesting he wrote 30 Caprices for Flute specifically for a friend, a flautist bound for service in the war. These short exercises were designed to challenge linear one-staff thinking and in short, keep the friend from becoming bored. They are now a standard set of technical, dynamic, and phrasing exercises for young flute students all over the world.

Hymn of the Day: Oh, that the Lord would guide my ways ELW 772
Text: Isaac Watts, 1674-1748, alt.
Tune: EVAN, William H. Havergal, 1793-1870

“Oh, that the Lord would guide my ways” (ELW 772) is a prayer that God will give us the will and the ability to live according to God’s ways, which are called “a delightful road.” “Statutes” is one of the synonyms for commandments that occurs in our translation of the psalms. Isaac Watts wrote this hymn as a versification of part of Psalm 119, the psalm for this day. Watts is called the father of English hymnody. Although many in his church asserted that the only songs Christians could sing in worship were the psalms straight from the Bible, Watts wrote over six hundred hymns and psalm paraphrases that have become classic staples in Christian worship around the world.
— Gail Ramshaw

William H. Havergal was educated at St. Edmund's Hall, Oxford (B.A. 1815, M.A. 1819). On taking Holy Orders he became rector in various churches until, 1845, when he became Hon. Canon in Worcester Cathedral from 1845. His hymns, about 100 in all, were in many instances written for special services in his own church, and printed as leaflets. Several were included in W. Carus Wilson's Book of General Psalmody, 1840 (2nd ed., 1842); and in Metrical Psalms & Hymns for Singing in Churches, Worcester, Deighton, 1849, commonly known as the Worcester Diocesan Hymn Book, and of which he was the Editor. In Life Echoes, 1883, his hymns are given with those of Miss Havergal. Of those in common use the greater part are in Mercer, and Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory. Although his hymns are all good, and two or three are excellent, it is not as a hymnwriter but as a musician that Canon Havergal is best known.

Opening Voluntary: Trio #3 “Allegretto” from Ten Trios for the Organ, Op. 49 Josef Rheinberger (1839-1901)

Josef Gabriel Rheinberger was an organist and composer, born in Liechtenstein and resident in Germany for most of his life. Young Josef showed exceptional musical talent at an early age. When only seven years old, he was already serving as organist of the Vaduz parish church, and his first composition was performed the following year. In 1849, he studied with composer Philipp M. Schmutzer (1821–1898) in Feldkirch, Vorarlberg. In 1851, his father, who had initially opposed his son's desire to embark on the life of a professional musician, relented and allowed him to enter the Munich Conservatorium. Not long after graduating, he became professor of piano and of composition at the same institution. When this first version of the Munich Conservatorium was dissolved, he was appointed répétiteur at the Court Theatre, from which he resigned in 1867.
Rheinberger married his former pupil, the poet and socialite Franziska "Fanny" von Hoffnaass (eight years his senior) in 1867. The couple remained childless, but the marriage was happy. Franziska wrote the texts for much of her husband's vocal work.

The stylistic influences on Rheinberger ranged from contemporaries such as Brahms to composers from earlier times, such as Mendelssohn, Schumann, Schubert and, above all, Bach. He was also an enthusiast for painting and literature (especially English and German).

In 1877 he was appointed court conductor, responsible for the music in the royal chapel. He was subsequently awarded an honorary doctorate by Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich. A distinguished teacher, he numbered many Americans among his pupils, including Horatio Parker, William Berwald, George Whitefield Chadwick, Bruno Klein, Sidney Homer and Henry Holden Huss. Other students of his included German composers Engelbert Humperdinck and Richard Strauss and the conductor (and composer) Wilhelm Furtwängler. When the second (and present) Munich Conservatorium was founded, Rheinberger was appointed Royal Professor of organ and composition, a post he held for the rest of his life.

Rheinberger was a prolific composer. His religious works include twelve Masses, a Requiem and a Stabat Mater. His other works include several operas, symphonies, chamber music, and choral works.
Today Rheinberger is remembered above all for his elaborate and challenging organ compositions, including two concertos, 20 sonatas in 20 different keys (of a projected set of 24 sonatas in all the keys), 22 trios, and 36 solo pieces. His organ sonatas were once declared to be undoubtedly the most valuable addition to organ music since the time of Mendelssohn. They are characterized by a happy blending of the modern Romantic spirit with masterly counterpoint and dignified organ style.

Offertory: Andante Maurice Greene (1696-1755) Maurice Greene

Born in London, the son of a clergyman, Greene became a choirboy at St Paul's Cathedral under Jeremiah Clarke and Charles King. He studied the organ under Richard Brind, and after Brind died, Greene became organist at St Paul's.

With the death of William Croft in 1727, Greene became organist at the Chapel Royal, and in 1730 he became Professor of Music at Cambridge University. In 1735 he was appointed Master of the King's Musick. At his death, Greene was working on the compilation Cathedral Music, which his student and successor as Master of the King's Musick, William Boyce, was to complete. Many items from that collection are still used in Anglican services today.

He wrote very competent music in the style prevalent in Georgian England, particularly longer Verse Anthems. His acknowledged masterpiece, “Lord, Let Me Know Mine End,” is a representative example. Greene sets a text full of pathos using a polyphonic texture over a continuous instrumental walking bass, with a particularly effective treble duet in the middle of the work. Both this section and the end of the anthem contain superb examples of the Neapolitan sixth chord. His organ voluntaries - published only some years after his death - are more contrapuntal than melodic. They display a more reflective and profound character, and do not specify manuals or stops unlike later contemporaries such as Bennett, Boyce and Stanley.

He died in 1755 aged 59 and was initially buried at St Olave Old Jewry. On the church's demolition in 1887, he was reburied in St Paul's Cathedral.

Closing Voluntary: Voluntary in B flat Jonathan Battishill (1738-1801)

Jonathan Battishill was a near contemporary of Haydn (1732-1809) but belonged to a quite different musical tradition, namely that of English cathedral music and the London stage. Handel had been living in London for over 20 years at the time of Battishill's birth and his powerful influence on eighteenth century English music can be felt in his compositions. And yet the melodic shapes and certain musical gestures found within the piece are distinctly Battishill's.

He seems to have been a man of remarkable mental powers, but a failed marriage led him to drink; and this, in turn, robbed him of achieving his ambition to become Organist of St Paul's Cathedral. Nevertheless he was buried in the crypt of St Paul's and you can see his near that of the composer William Boyce and a later composer of music for church and (more famously) the stage: Arthur Sullivan.

Hymn of the Day: Soul, Adorn Yourself with Gladness ELW 488
Text: Johann Franck, 1618–1677; tr. Lutheran Book of Worship
Tune: SCHMÜCKE DICH, Johann Crüger, 1598–1662

This text is often considered the best and most popular of the Lutheran chorales for the Lord's Supper. The dominant tone is one of deep joy enhanced by a sense of awe. We express joy and praise for "this wondrous banquet" (st. 1), and we show reverence in receiving Christ (st. 2). Thankful for "heavenly food" and drink (st. 3), we rejoice in Christ's love for us and in its power to unite us (st. 4).

Johann Cruger composed the hymn tune specifically for the text. Johann S. Bach used this tune in his Cantata 180; he and many other composers have written organ preludes on the melody.

Offertory: “Hungry Feast” David Cherwein (1957)

In recent weeks Pastor has remarked on the recurring references to “bread” in the readings. And in the music we have sung or heard, “bread” has certainly been well represented, including today’s three organ pieces.

Ray Makeever (1943) wrote this hymn text and music for a communion liturgy, after hearing Gordon Lathrop speak about the eucharist as a hungry feast—hungry for a word of peace, hungry for a world released from hungry people of every kind, and hungry that the hunger cease. It was first published in With All Your Heart: Songs and Liturgies of Encouragement and Hope (1984).

Opening Voluntary: “Bread of Life” Seth Bingham (1882-1972)

Seth Bingham was born in Bloomfield, New Jersey, the youngest of four siblings in a farming family that soon relocated to Naugatuck, Connecticut. After extensive childhood activities in church music, he studied organ and composition with Harry Benjamin Jepson and Horatio Parker at Yale University, gaining a B.A. in 1904. Taking time also to study in Paris with Alexandre Guilmant, Vincent d'Indy and Charles-Marie Widor, Bingham earned his B.Mus. from Yale in 1908, and subsequently taught theory, composition and organ at Yale from 1908 to 1919. Beginning in 1913, he was organist and choirmaster at Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, a position he held until his 1951 retirement. He was an associate professor at Columbia University from 1922 to 1954, received an honorary doctorate from Ohio Wesleyan University in 1952, and lectured at the School of Sacred Music at Union Theological Seminary from 1953 to 1965.

William F. Sherwin (1826-1888) composed this tune, BREAD OF LIFE, for Mary Artemisia Lathbury's hymn in 1877, the same year the text itself was written, and the two were published together the next year in Chautauqua Carols. It is a quiet and meditative tune that fits the stream of what Sherwin's teacher Lowell Mason considered a "chaste" European model with "scientific improvement" and "correct" tunes.

Closing Voluntary: “Holy Manna” Wilbur Held (1914-2015)

The tune HOLY MANNA was composed by William B Moore (1790-1850). He was born, possibly in TN. Having contributed tunes to Wyeth’s Repository (1810), he is known for his tunebook Columbian Harmony (1825). He also composed and arranged several tunes in William Walker’s Southern Harmony (1835).

HOLY MANNA is most often found paired with the text “Brethren, we have met to worship.” The tune’s name comes from this text, where the last two lines in each of its five stanzas is some form of “holy manna will be shower’d all around.”

Wilbur Held was born in the little Chicago suburb of Des Plaines. Dr. Held’s mother was an accomplished violinist, and there was always music in his home and his church. But piano lessons were poorly practiced, and the decision to get serious about music didn’t happen until after graduation from high school when he enrolled at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago, studying organ with Frank van Dusen and theory/composition with John Palmer. After getting serious he did pretty well, and midway in his studies he became Leo Sowerby’s assistant at St. James Church–an association that lasted seven years. He received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from the conservatory.
In 1946 he joined the faculty at the Ohio State University, where he became Professor of Organ and Church Music and head of the keyboard department. He remained in this position for over 30 years, and for most of that time was also organist-choirmaster at Trinity Episcopal Church in Columbus, Ohio.