Hymn of the Day: Holy God, We Praise Your Name, ELW 414
Text: source unknown; tr. Clarence A. Walworth, 1820–1900
Tune: GROSSER GOTT, TE DEUM Katholisches Gesangbuch, Vienna, 1774

Translators are hymn writers too, and they contribute significantly to Christian hymnody. Translating hymn texts for singing is even more challenging than translating prose. The translator must honor the content of the original poetry, while writing a version that fits the meter and word accent of a pre-existing tune. Then the words should sing as naturally as possible in the new language. In many ways, translating a hymn text for singing is like writing a new hymn text.

Clarence Augustus Walworth studied for the ministry at Union College (1838), considering a vocation as an Episcopal priest. Then, following his father’s bidding, he studied law, passed the bar, and became an attorney in 1841. Abandoning law, he continued his study at General Theological Seminary, New York City. According to his obituary, Walworth decided to become a Roman Catholic priest while in New York, entered the Order of Redemptorists and, under their direction, continued his study in Belgium for five years. He served in England for two years before returning to the United States. In 1858 he collaborated with others to form the Order of Paulists. Following a severe bout with malaria, he became a pastor of St. Mary’s Church, Albany, New York, from 1866-1892. He died in Albany in 1900. In addition to publishing a number of works, he was an amateur geologist, developing an extensive knowledge of the geological topography of New York State.

Also known as: FRAMINGHAM, GROSSNER, GROSSER GOTT, HALLE, HUNGARIAN MELODY, LAUDAMUS, PARIS, PASCHAL, STILLORGAN. GROSSER GOTT was set to the German versification in the Katholisches Gesangbuch. Variants of the tune abound.

Offertory Anthem: “Eternal Light Shine in My Heart” K. Lee Scott (1950)

K. Lee Scott has emerged as one of America’s foremost composers of music for the church during the past two decades. His hymns are found in eight hymnals including A New Hymnal for Colleges and Schools (Yale University Press), Voices United (The United Church of Canada), and With One Voice (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America).

The text by Christopher Idle is based on Corinthians 4:6.

Eternal light, shine in my heart; Eternal hope, lift up my eyes;
Eternal pow'r, be my support; Eternal wisdom, make me wise.

Eternal life, raise me from death; Eternal brightness, help me see;
Eternal Spirit, give me breath; Eternal Savior, come to me:

Until by your most costly grace, Invited by your holy word,
At last I come before your face To know you, my eternal God.

God, who commanded the light to shine in the darkness, Has shined in our hearts to give the light of the knowledg Of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.

Opening Voluntary: Aria on “Jewels” Dale Wood (1934-2003)

“Jewels” is a hymn tune and text written by George F. Root, who was born at Sheffield, Massachusetts, and named after the German composer George Frideric Handel. Root left his farming community for Boston at 18, flute in hand, intending to join an orchestra. He worked for a while as a church organist in Boston, and from 1845 taught music at the New York Institute for the Blind, where he met Fanny Crosby with whom he would compose fifty to sixty popular secular songs. At least two of his children, Frederic Woodman Root and Grace W. Root, also became composers. He was a romantic American composer, who found particular fame during the American Civil War, with songs such as "Tramp! Tramp! Tramp!" and "The Battle Cry of Freedom". He is regarded as the first American to compose a secular cantata. Four of his hymns are in I. D. Sankey's Sacred Songs & Solos, 1878. Although he wrote over 400 hymns texts and tunes, he is much more widely known as a composer of popular music than as a hymn writer. He died Aug. 6, 1895.

Dale Wood was known throughout the musical community as a master of melody, and "the difficult art of simplicity." In addition to his prolific volume of published choral works and hymn tunes, his compositions for handbells, harp, and organ are performed on a regular basis throughout the world. Every Christmas, Easter, and Sunday morning, one can expect to hear his music being sung or played somewhere by small church choirs, renowned organists, symphony orchestras, and choral groups as large and well-known as the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, which has performed and recorded many of his works.

Closing Voluntary: “Archangel Suite: I Michael” Craig Phillips 

“Michael" is a trumpet processional with a martial opening in trumpet-tune style portraying St. Michael, the chief angelic adversary of Satan.

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. In 2015 Dr. Phillips was named an honorary canon of the Cathedral Center of St. Paul, Diocese of Los Angeles, at a gala event at Walt Disney Concert Hall, and in 2016 he was awarded an honorary Doctorate from Virginia Theological Seminary.