Our recessional hymn at St. Bartholomew’s was “As with Gladness Men of Old” (hymn tune: DIX). Click here for the  descant for the final stanza (with modulation and new key of G). This is  free to reproduce and use in your church.

My music files are now posted on ScoreExchange, the new music sharing from Sibelius Music Notation Software in the free SCORCH format (think of SCORCH as PDF for Music). Safari users – please use IE or FireFox (in 32-bit mode).  If you find you can not download, please let me know, and I’ll be happy to send a PDF via.

At St. Bartholomew‘s we began our service today with the first two verses of “Rejoice, the Lord Is King! (tune; GOPSAL) segueing to “Crown Him with Many Crowns (vs. 1, 3, 5 in The Hymnal 1982) as our processional.

In place of the “Gloria” we sang “Lord Most High” (Harris/Sadler) and “Agnus Dei” (Michael W. Smith).

The appointed Psalm was 100 – I chose the metrical setting in the hymnal “All People That on Earth Do Dwell (OLD 100th). I utilized the accompaniment from the choral arrangement for choir and congregation by R. Vaughan Williams composed for the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953. The 3rd verse with just voices and  the solo “trumpet” from the organ was especially nice.

Our sequence hymn was the first two verses of “Come, Ye Thankful People, Come” – our only direct nod to Thanksgiving.

During the offertory, the Chamber Singers offered C.H.H Parry’s “My Soul, There Is a Country” with beauty, precision, and conviction. Hats off to director David Madeira and the choir!

During communion we sang “Grace Alone” (Nelson/Brown), and introduced a new song (composed by my assistant director David Madeira) “High King of Heaven,” with text based on passages from Psalm 98 and Isaiah 11 and 49. I’ll be using this for Advent, but it fit Christ the King Sunday as well  it seemed  a good time to introduce it to the parish. Communion concluded with Tom Howard (my former assistant director)  and Gary Sadler’s “King of Love,” a song rich in imagery of Christ as King, both suffering and reigning, and “At the Name of Jesus” to my hymn tune BELLE RIVE,  first published in the the GIA hymnal Hymns for a Pilgrim People.

Our service concluded with the Michael Parry text “Christ Triumphant, Ever Reigning” set to GUITING POWER by John Barnard.

If your church observes Christ the King Sunday, what music was chosen?

Tucker, an ordained Episcopal priest, was on the committees of both the 1940 and 1982 hymnals of the Episcopal church,

as well as the revision of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer. The 1940 hymnal contains 6 of his hymn texts (all of which were also included in the 1982), including “All Praise to Thee, for Thou, O King Divine“.

The tune is MONKS GATE, a Sussex Folk song arranged by Ralph Vaughn Williams and first published in The English Hymnal 1906. It is often paired with Bunyan‘s text “He Who Would Valiant Be“.

Jesus, Our Mighty Lord

Here is Wesley’s original text:

1. Come, let us with our Lord arise,
our Lord who made both earth and skies,
who died to save the world he made
and rose triumphant from the dead;
he rose, the prince of life and peace,
and stamped the day for ever his.

2. This is the day the Lord hath made
that all may see his love displayed,
may feel his resurrection’s power
and rise again to fall no more,
in perfect righteousness renewed
and filled with all the life of God.

3. Then let us render him his own,
with solemn prayer approach the throne,
with meekness hear the gospel word,
with thanks his dying love record;
our joyful hearts and voices raise
and fill his courts with songs of praise.

And here is my adaption with the new 4th verse:

1. Come, let us rise and sing God’s praises,
Creator of the earth and heavens;
who died to save the world He made,
and rose triumphant from the grave;
ascended, living Prince of Peace,
and claimed this day forever His.



2. This is the day the Lord God fashioned
that all may see His love emblazoned,
feel now His resurrection power,
and rise again, to fall no more,
in perfect righteousness restored,
and filled with all the life of God.

3. Offer to God the praises due Him,
in prayer approach the throne of Heaven,
eagerly hear the gospel Word,
His love, in Wine and Bread, record
with thanks; let joyful voices raise,
and fill His courts with ceaseless praise.

4. To Father, Son, and Holy Spirit,
Creator, Savior, Sanctifier,
give glory, honor, thanks, and praise,
One Unity, Ancient of Days;
King of All Kings, the Prince of Peace,
Spirit of Love, blessed Trinity. Amen.

The hymn is set for unison voices and organ (or piano) accompaniment. [Click here] to download the pdf score. I’ve also written a reharmonization and descant for the final verse as an option. [Click here] to download the pdf score.

You are free to use this hymn in public worship services free of charge. If you report to CCLI, please include this use, but if you don’t its not required to use. If you use this hymn, please let me know how it is received by your congregation.

If you’d like a higher resolution version, or melody line only in .tiff to print in your service bulletin, I’ll gladly email those to you.

Here is the revised document. I welcome any questions or comments.

A Theology of Music in Worship

St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church • Nashville, Tennessee

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At St.  Bartholomew’s, the rector (Fr. Jerry Smith) serves as the worship leader for the parish; the music director I assists the rector in matters of music. Our vision for music in worship at St. Bartholomew’s is one of worship of the Triune God with all our beings, with all of our emotions, and with all of our intellect–hence we worship joyfully and exuberantly, as well as meditatively and reverently.

Using the description of Prayer and Worship as found in The Book of Common Prayer (1979), our focus begins with who God is: in songs of adoration and praise we worship Him and proclaim His goodness, greatness, love, mercy, holiness and all of His attributes, asking nothing in return but to enjoy His presence. We then move to expressions of thanksgiving for what He has done for us–in all that he has given to us. Songs of penitence remind us of our sins, our need for forgiveness, and resolve to live rightly. With songs of oblation, we offer both our resources and our lives to God for His service. With songs of prayer, we ask for what we desire and need, when we bring to God our and intercessions and petitions, on behalf of others, and for ourselves. As we worship, our primary purpose, starting point, ending point and overall “umbrella” is an acknowledgement of who God is, and our response His call. This is a very God focused, rather than me focused expression.

At St. Bartholomew’s, our musical offering is a reflection of who we are as believers living in a post-modern world, connected to the ancient historic faith. We draw from various styles and periods of music, including classic hymns, chant, and anthems, as well as fresh new expressions of music from around the world­­–modern hymns, praise songs, Taizé music from France, music of renewal from the Roman church, Celtic music, music written by our own parishioners, and other sources.

We sing music that is hundreds of years old, because in addition to the truth it contains, it reminds us we are a part of the historic church. As we sing now the same music the saints of old sang, we are joined as one church universal.  We sing modern music,  because God has put a new song in our hearts. We draw from the wealth of resources from then varied faith (denominational) traditions that are found in our parish. We sing in other modern languages (Spanish) to remind us that we are part of a global church, and we sing in Latin, which was the language of the church for much of church history.  When we sing in Spanish, we connect to the believers in our own church body who worship with us for whom Spanish is their first language. When we sing in Latin, we connect with the historic language of the church–a language that is still sung each week by millions of believers around the world. When we sing the service music  (ritual song) we join our voices “with angels and arch angels and all the host of heaven” (i.e. the cloud of witnesses), as well as other Christians gathered in worship.

The architecture of our buildings, while modern, is rooted in history. Our sacred space includes stained glass depicting the story of redemption and the history of the church, and is constructed of materials from creation (wood, stone, brick. fabric), The church building faces east, and is shaped to represent Noah’s Ark as a reminder of the covenant. Just as our building are designed to be different in style than other buildings in our daily life, our musical expression will intentionally sound different than the music we hear during the week.  Our expression, as believers directly connected to our creator, will be unique­–not foreign from our culture, but set apart, as our sacred space is, for worship.

For the principal Sunday service, we have one integrated service plan that is repeated as needed (currently two ninety-minute Sunday morning times) that incorporates historic, modern, and global music. To use the metaphor of food, rather than offering a “smorgasbord” of sound (take your pick of what you like–a traditional service of hymns and anthems, or a contemporary service of modern praise and worship), or a blended “soup” (everything is a blend of somewhat classical, somewhat pop, somewhat Broadway middle-of-the-road offend-no-one music), in the context of convergence (Ancient/Future), we offer musical “stew”–an expression of various styles, all working within a context of taste appropriate for Sunday worship, each with its distinctive flavor, yet a part of the whole in one unified, cohesive “dish”.

In practical terms, rather than having a distinct division of classic hymns and anthems (organ, choir) and praise band (rhythm section of piano, bass, drums, guitar) we find ways to create a modern “chamber music” approach of find the right combination of instruments to best support a given piece of music. This is usually a combination of acoustic grand piano, acoustic guitar, percussion, bass, and one additional instrument (usually orchestral). The configuration varies from week to week depending upon the availability of musicians and the music chosen. Because we believe that music is an offering from the heart, and as such is to be authentic and expressive, we do not use pre-recorded instrumentation in our services; rather, we find the best accompaniment from the musicians available to support the music being sung.

Our music is primarily congregational, as we hear from God and are best transformed into his likeness within the context of community. Because we view the human voice as the primary instrument through which we offer praise, we sing some music unaccompanied (a cappella) each week. As we lift our voices alone, we are certain to hear the voices around us, (not just the instruments offering accompaniment), and are reminded that we live and worship in a community of joined voices and lives. On occasion, a soloist, or choir offers music as an offering. During this time, we engage in active listening as God speaks to us. Other times, we are silent and listen to hear the Spirit speaking to the Church.

The music in our worship is intentionally Christo-centric–in every service we use music to help retell the story of God’s saving acts throughout history–from creation, the exodus, and other events in Hebrew history–to the incarnation, death, resurrection and reign of Christ and the coming of His Kingdom. Our selection of music includes a balance of songs about, to and in praise of the Father, Son, and Spirit, as well as combined Trinitarian language. At least one Trinitarian doxological expressions is usually chosen. We are careful to include songs that speak to both God’s transcendence and imminence. In his transcendence, He exists apart from us, and is not encumbered by our physical, or human limitations; he exists in majesty, beauty and power above and beyond all that we understand. In his immanence, he has purposely chosen to intersect our universe, and through the incarnation, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, He participates within this material world, and knows our every joy, sorrow, pain and weaknesses. The music we sing is evaluated to achieve a balance of texts that remind us of God’s revelation toward us, and our response to God’s call upon our lives, as evidenced both in personal transformation into the image and likeness of Christ, and a call to work for justice and peace in our society. We strive to maintain a balance of expressive, instructive, aesthetic, and memorial dimensions in the texts chosen. We sing a balance of psalms (the Hebrew Hymnal), hymns (songs of praise to God), and spiritual songs (songs of testimony and experience). In the four-fold pattern of worship, we select music of Gathering, Word, Table, and Sending.

Living in community, the gifts of musical composition within our parish are encouraged, and used so that our expression through music is uniquely ours (hymns, modern songs, service music, chants, Psalm settings, anthems, etc.). The musicality of our composers determines the palette from which we illustrate our expression of praise to God.  Thus many of the praise songs, anthems, and new settings of hymns, as well as the majority of our service music, are composed by members of our parish.

–Eric Wyse  ericwyse@stbs.net  Director of Music (2001, revised 2008, 2011)

7 – Be Thou My Vision

5 – Great Is Thy Faithfulness •  How Great Thou Art

4 – It Is Well (With My Soul)

3 – Lift High the Cross • Come Thou Fount • A Mighty Fortress

2 – Praise to the Lord, the Almighty •  O, the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus •  Amazing Grace • Holy, Holy, Holy •  Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah •  I Am the Bread of Life •  In Christ Alone • Just As I Am •  Faith of Our Fathers •  The Church’s One Foundation •  There Is a Hope •  Eternal Father, Strong to Save

I wish there was time to sing them all, but I chose from this list, plus others requested, to create a service that had a good cross section of hymns across styles, content, denominational traditions, and familiarity.

We will use The Hymnal 1982 as well as printed scores for hymns not found in the hymnal. The accompaniment will be varied, including organ with choir descants, piano, acoustic guitar, bass & percussion, as well as singing several a cappella.

Here is a link for the Service Bulletin.  If you’re in the Nashville area, please join us. The address is 4800 Belmont Park Terrace, Nashville, TN 37215. The service will last an hour. Childcare is provided.

The Hymnal 1982 uses the phrase “where the young Prince of Glory died” rather than the usual “on which the Prince of glory died” which I like better. The last stanza replaces the word “present” with “offering” which to me has deeper meaning.

This tune is one of the great tunes of the church – based on Tone 1 of Gregorian Chant, it was composed by Lowell Mason. It consists of only a 5 note range, but the melody is both memorable and interesting.

CLICK HERE for a PDF of the hymn in the key of D with a descant we will sing Sunday.

Baptist hymnals are arguably the most significant ecumenical documents produced by Baptists. They implicitly recognize hymn writers from a wide variety of traditions throughout the history of the church as sisters and brothers in Christ by including their hymns alongside hymns by Baptists…[In addition to numerous] patristic hymns, Baptists receive through their hymnals the gifts of Francis of Assisi and Teresa of Jesus, Martin Luther, the post-Reformation Roman Catholic author of ‘Fairest Lord Jesus’ from the Münster Gesangbuch, the Methodist Charles Wesley, and more recently the Pentecostal pastor Jack Hayford, to name a few hymn writers whose ecclesial gifts Baptists have gladly received with their voices and hearts.

In that previous post, one of several things I praised about the Celebrating Grace Hymnal was this:

I’m delighted that the Celebrating Grace Hymnal has resisted the practice of altering the wording of hymns by non-Baptist hymn writers that were sometimes perceived in their original wording to be at odds with aspects of Baptist theology. While perhaps done with the best of intentions, such Baptist tweaking of hymn texts often results in disasters both theological and aesthetic. Case in point: “The Church’s One Foundation” by nineteenth-century Anglican priest and hymn writer Samuel John Stone (1839-1900). The first stanza of the hymn originally began with this couplet: “The Church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ her Lord; she is his new creation, by water and the word.” That last phrase seemed to suggest a theology of baptism that was a bit too sacramental for Baptist voices to sing, so many Baptist hymnals–including the two hymnals of most of the period of my own Baptist formation, those published in 1975 and 1991 by the Southern Baptist Convention–altered “water and the word” to “Spirit and the word.” Not only did that ruin a nice alliterative pair of words; it communicated a soteriology that is ultimately Gnostic. Thankfully, the Celebrating Grace Hymnal retains Stone’s original wording. Many Baptist hymnals also excised the third stanza, which describes a church “by schisms rent asunder, by heresies distressed,” and also omitted the original fifth and final stanza that began, “Yet she on earth hath union with God, the Three in one, and mystic sweet communion with those whose rest is won.” With the omission of those two stanzas, many Baptists missed the opportunity to be formed by an ecclesiology that values the visible unity of the church, the doctrinal catholicity of the church, and the nature of the church as a Trinitarian fellowship in which all the redeemed of all the ages participate in God and in one another. The Celebrating Grace Hymnal restores these stanzas, too.

Recently I discovered in the Celebrating Grace Hymnal another instance of this salutary practice of receiving the ecclesial gifts of the hymns of other traditions without distorting or ignoring the theology embedded within them. [more...]

• a church musician – Dir. of Music/Organist at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, Nashville, TN
• a hymnwriter – “Wonderful, Merciful Savior,” “Our Father in Heaven (The Lord’s Prayer),”
• a church music publisher marketing director –  Celebrating Grace, Inc.
• a hymnal editor - The Christian Life Hymnal
• and finally, a student - Master of Church Music, Lee University

This Sunday at St. Bartholomew’s our recessional hymn is “Lead On, O King Eternal.” Here is a descant in the key of C for the final verse.