RSS

Tag Archives: The Um Hymnal

Hymn History: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing

For Pentecost May 28, 2023, Pender’s choir sang Come Thou Fount directed by Brian Stevenson and accompanied on piano by Heidi Jacobs.

The Pender UMC Traditional Service Opening Hymn “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing” on Music Appreciation Sunday June 12, 2022 was accompanied by Liz Sellers on piano, Brian Stevenson on Irish whistle, AJ Rios on drums and sung by the Pender Sanctuary Choir and Congregation.

Perhaps all hymns are to some extent autobiographical in that they reveal something of the author’s spiritual experience. In some hymns, the autobiographical thread is stronger and more obvious. Such is the case with British Baptist hymn writer Robert Robinson (1735-1790), who as a barber’s apprentice, fell under the powerful influence of George Whitefield’s preaching.

A favorite line in the last stanza, “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love,” is thought to be particularly autobiographical, referring to Robinson’s early life, when his mother sent him to London to be an apprentice. It was during this time, according to hymnologist Kenneth Osbeck, that “he associated with a notorious gang of hoodlums and lived a debauched life” until he came under the spell of Whitefield.

After his conversion in 1755, Robinson first preached at a Calvinistic Methodist chapel at Mildenhall, Suffolk, and then founded his own independent congregation at Norwich. He was re-baptized in 1759 after taking up Baptist theological perspectives.

This led to his nearly 30-year relationship (1761-1790) as pastor of Stone Yard Baptist Church at Cambridge. Baptist hymnologist William Reynolds notes that Robinson “was an unusual man, and, while lacking formal education, he rose to great prominence as a preacher, scholar.” Robinson published A History of Baptism in 1790.

“Come, thou Fount of every blessing,” written in 1758, was the first hymn in A Collection of Hymns for the use of the Church of Christ, Meeting in Angel-Alley, Whitechappel . . . (1759). Martin Madan included the first three stanzas in his Collection of Psalms and Hymns (1760), which established the practice of eliminating the original fourth stanza.

UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young laments the omission, saying it “eliminates the apocalyptic climax of the author’s invitatory prayer to the Holy Spirit.”

The missing stanza follows:

O that Day when freed from sinning,
I shall see thy lovely Face;
Clothed then in blood-washed Linnen [sic]
How I’ll sing thy sovereign grace;
Come, my Lord, no longer tarry,
Take my ransom’d Soul away;
Send thine Angels now to carry
Me to realms of endless Day.

One of the most obvious biblical allusions appears in stanza two: “Here I raise mine Ebenezer/ hither by thy help I’m come.” The Hymnal Revision Committee for the 1989 United Methodist Hymnal received requests to alter this stanza by omitting the term “Ebenezer,” which means “Stone of Help,” a reference to 1 Samuel 7:12: “Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Jeshanah, and named it Ebenezer; for he said, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’” But not finding a suitable substitute, the Committee chose to maintain the original language.

On this side of the Atlantic, the tune NETTLETON has been the most common but not exclusive musical setting for this famous and well-loved text. NETTLETON first appeared in John Wyeth’s Repository of Sacred Music, Part Second (1813).

Adapted from https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-come-thou-fount-of-every-blessing

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Hymn History: Grace Greater than All my Sin

“Grace Greater Than Our Sin” was the final hymn at Pender’s 9:00 am Traditional Service on June 18, 2023 It was sung by Pender’s congregation, accompanied on piano by Heidi Jacobs and guitar by Brian Stevenson.

The Pender UMC Traditional Service Closing Hymn “Grace Greater than All my Sin” on Music Appreciation Sunday June 12, 2022 was accompanied by Liz Sellers on piano, Brian Stevenson on Irish whistle, AJ Rios on drums and sung by the Pender Sanctuary Choir and Congregation.

“Grace Greater than Our Sin”
Julia H. Johnston
The UM Hymnal, No. 365

Marvelous grace of our loving Lord,
Grace that exceeds our sin and our guilt!
Yonder on Calvary’s mount outpoured,
There where the blood of the Lamb was spilt.

Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that will pardon and cleanse within;
Grace, grace, God’s grace,
Grace that is greater than all our sin!

Julia Harriette Johnston (1849-1919) was the daughter of a Presbyterian minister who served First Presbyterian Church, Peoria, Ill. She lived in Peoria from age 6.

Johnston was faithful to the ministries of the church, serving as a Sunday school superintendent and teacher for 41 years. She was also president for two decades of the Presbyterian Missionary Society, an organization founded by her mother.

She authored several books including Indian and Spanish Neighbors (1905) and Fifty Missionary Heroes (1913). In addition to many Sunday school lessons, she also wrote about 500 hymn texts; today her reputation rests primarily upon the hymn “Grace Greater than Our Sin.”

The writer contrasts the theme of God’s abundant grace—manifest through the sacrifice of Christ on the cross—with “our sin and our guilt” (stanza one), “sin and despair” (stanza two), and a “dark . . . stain” (stanza three).

This “marvelous, infinite, matchless grace, freely bestowed on all who believe,” finds a scriptural basis in Paul’s teaching of justification by faith in Romans 5:1-2: “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Paul continues in verses 14-16, “Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam’s transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come. But not as the offence, so also is the free gift of grace. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many. And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.”

The text and tune of the hymn first appeared in Hymns Tried and True, a 1911 collection by composer Daniel B. Towner (1850-1919). According to UM Hymnal editor Carlton Young, Towner was “a distinguished Methodist musician.” He studied first with his father and then with famous gospel song composers such as George Root and George Webb.

Towner then served in Methodist Episcopal churches in New York, Ohio and Kentucky. In 1893 he was named head of the music department at Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, working with the famous evangelist Dwight L. Moody. Dr. Young notes that Towner “composed over 2,000 songs and was associated with the publication of fourteen collections.”

Baptist hymnologist William J. Reynolds noted that the name MOODY was given to this tune in recognition of Towner’s association with and service to Moody Bible Institute and its founder.

Dr. Hawn is professor of sacred music at Perkins School of Theology, SMU.

Adapted from https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-grace-greater-than-our-sin

 

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,