Hymn Notes
Weekly Hymn Notes
Learn about the origin of hymns, lyrics, and melodies, and other music that will be used during Sunday worship service. Contact Don De Bruin, Director of Music Ministries for more information at 608.233.9751.
Hymn Notes for August 20, 2017
From The New Century Hymnal Companion, Copyright 1998, The Pilgrim Press.
#312 We Love Your Realm, O God
Timothy Dwight (1752-1817) based this text on Psalm 137:5, 6. He supplied thirty-three metrical versions of psalms that Isaac Watts had not versified in his famous psalter and published them in 1801 along with other texts. This version is an adaptation made by Lavon Bayler in 1992.
Timothy Dwight, a grandson of Jonathan Edwards, assumed the presidency of Yale University in 1795. A Congregational minister, he prepared a revision of Watts's Psalms of David for the Presbyterian Church, adding thirty-three of his own hymns; the revision came to be known as "Dwight's Watts." This hymn is a paraphrase of Psalm 137 from the volume.
Aaron Williams (1731-1776) either composed this tune or included it from an anonymous source in his 1763 edition of The Universal Psalmist. It was later abridged to this form and named ST. THOMAS in his subsequent collection of 1770, New Universal Psalmist.
Aaron Williams was born and died in London, England. In his lifetime, he published a number of books of music for use in singing the psalms, the only acceptable texts fro us in worship during his lifetime. In addition, he worked as a teacher and music engraver.
#175 O Christ, the Healer, We Have Come
Fred Pratt Green (1903-2000) wrote the first draft of this hymn overnight when the committee for Hymns and Songs (1969) could not find a suitable hymn on the subject of the healing ministry of Jesus. Originally entitled "A Prayer for Wholeness," it was one of the first modern texts to deal with mental and physical health.
Fred Pratt Gree was the son of a leather manufacturer, and he worked beside his father in this business for four years. At one time, Green planned to become an architect. At Didsbury Theological College in Manchester, England, he wrote his first play, Farley Goes Out, as well as his first hymn.
Richard W. Gieseke (b. 1952) composed the tune KENTRIDGE in 1988. At the time, he was serving as a teacher and director of music at Word of Life Lutheran School in St. Louis, Missouri. In addition, he has worked as minister of music for various churches in the St. Louis area.
Richard Gieseke was born May 15, 1952, in Elgin, Illinois. He attended Concordia University in River Forest, Illinois, where he studied with Richard Hillert and Carl Schalk, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees. In 1989, he joined the editorial services department of the Concordia Publishing House.
#394 In Christ There Is No East or West
John Oxenham (1852-1941) wrote this hymn as part of “The Pageant of Darkness and Light,” which was presented at the London Missionary Exhibition in 1905. The pageant was a major attraction of that month-long event and later toured Europe and the United States.
John Oxenham was born as William Arthur Dunkerley in Manchester, England, on November 12, 1852. He used a pen name because he was a successful businessman in England and France. Oxenham eventually turned to writing full-time, producing over forty novels and twenty other works of poetry and prose.
Harry T. Burleigh (1866-1949) adapted this tune from a spiritual, “I Know the Angel’s Done Changed My Name,” for use with Oxenham’s text. It is named MCKEE for the minister of St. George’s Protestant Episcopal Church in New York City. Burleigh, grandson of a Maryland slave, was baritone soloist at this church for fifty-two years.
Harry T. Burleigh was born in Erie, Pennsylvania, and began his musical career as a chorister at St. Paul’s Cathedral there. He rose to be one of the greatest singers of his day, accompanying Booker T. Washington on his fund-raising trips and singing for King Edward VII. Burleigh was the composer of songs and anthems, including “Deep River,” and a founder of ASCAP.
Hymns by Title
Hymns by Date
| Service Date | |
|---|---|
| August 20, 2017 | |
| August 13, 2017 | |
| August 6, 2017 | |
| July 23, 2017 | |
| July 16, 2017 | |
| July 9, 2017 | |
| July 2, 2017 | |
| June 25, 2017 | |
| June 18, 2017 | Hymn #569: Touch the Earth Lightly |
| June 11, 2017 | |
| June 4, 2017 | |
| June 4, 2017 | |
| May 28, 2017 | |
| May 21, 2017 | |
| May 14, 2017 | |
| May 7, 2017 | |
| April 30, 2017 | |
| April 23, 2017 | |
| April 16, 2017 | |
| April 13, 2017 | |
| April 13, 2017 | |
| April 9, 2017 | |
| March 26, 2017 | |
| March 19, 2017 | |
| March 12, 2017 | |
| March 5, 2017 | |
| March 1, 2017 | |
| February 26, 2017 | |
| February 12, 2017 | |
| February 5, 2017 | |
| January 29, 2017 | |
| January 22, 2017 | |
| January 15, 2017 | |
| January 8, 2017 | |
| January 1, 2017 | |
| December 25, 2016 | |
| December 24, 2016 | |
| December 18, 2016 | |
| December 4, 2016 | |
| November 27, 2016 | |
| November 20, 2016 | |
| November 13, 2016 | |
| November 6, 2016 | |
| October 30, 2016 | |
| October 23, 2016 | |
| October 16, 2016 | |
| October 9, 2016 | |
| October 2, 2016 | |
| September 25, 2016 | |
| September 18, 2016 | |
| September 11, 2016 | |
| September 4, 2016 |
