Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah - William J. Kirkpatrick

Familiarity is a useful quality, particularly when a song’s universal recognition permits a large crowd to rejoice as one, with a common energy and spirit. I think that that recurring experience is what I have come to cherish the most about my own church experience, as I reflect on the last 20+ years…remembering an almost angelic (?) lifting of song toward the heavens by the gathered…maybe even shaking the rafters! However, as I think about my latest ‘song scoop’, the tune’s pedigree almost defies the purpose of this blog. How can someone like me, a mere amateur music historian, discover something novel about a song like “Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah”? The song’s composer, William J. Kirkpatrick, is also a well-known figure, so my sleuthing skills are really challenged. If you, the reader-worshipper don’t mind, however, let’s re-dig the well a bit here, and re-appreciate what Kirkpatrick has given us.


William J. Kirkpatrick lived in 19th and early 20th Century Pennsylvania, and wrote “Hallelujah, Praise Jehovah” in 1893 after spending several decades as a musician in various capacities. He began to consider a career in music in the 1850s, and apparently learned to play the violin and cello, in addition to using his voice and his hand at composing. All these skills he used as part of the Wharton Street Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia (you can read Kirkpatrick’s biography on the cyberhymnal site: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/k/i/r/kirkpatrick_wj.htm). Kirkpatrick eventually published scores of hymns while taking part in choirs, singing societies, and special church programs, totally immersing himself in music. He was most certainly a worship minister before the term became fashionable!

Kirkpatrick’s diverse abilities shine through not only in the volume of his life’s accomplishments, but in the song we appreciate so much today, 116 years after it was written. We do not know the specific background to the song’s inspiration, but its message is not a mystery. God was magnificent to Kirkpatrick on many levels, as his words communicate in three verses. Kirkpatrick had already lived 55 years, and his composition exhibits a mature faith, appreciative of the blessing God represents not only to believers but also to us as this planet’s inhabitants. His words show he loved God for the variety of ways that we can relate to Him. Perhaps you’ve noticed this already, but allow me to conclude this scoop this way: Verse 1 reminds us that the Holy One is a celestial, heavenly king; Verse 2 tells us that God can unleash in His creation an awesome, terrifying power; Verse 3 makes us reflect upon the Lord’s creative, beautiful, life-giving nature. As I sing now, and let the words of Kirkpatrick’s words put to music flood my senses, I also reawaken my respect and fidelity to Jehovah.

Our God, He Is Alive - A.W. Dicus

If you were asked to tell someone what life is, what would you say? It seems a bit absurd, doesn’t it? This should be easy…if it breathes and moves around, it’s living. Right? I guess I’m just too much of a simpleton, or really just not that technical about it, because scientists say there’s much more to ‘life’ that I had not even considered. At the risk of boring you, Wikipedia says that life has seven necessary elements, so here they are: 1.homeostasis, or an organism’s ability to regulate its internal environment to maintain stability (like perspiring to keep cool); 2. having one or more cells; 3. metabolism, or otherwise known as having an energetic nature; 4. growth…something gets bigger; 5. adaptation…over time, something can change in response to its surroundings; 6. response to stimulus…I yank my finger off the hot stove – ouch!; 7. reproductive ability. I don’t know if Aaron Wesley Dicus considered the scientific method when he wrote “Our God, He Is Alive”, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise if he did.

A.W. Dicus was a scientist in the field of physics during the early and mid-1900’s in Tennessee and Florida. So, he no doubt spent some considerable time studying phenomena in the world that most of us tend to ignore and take for granted. He trained several students who eventually worked at Oak Ridge Laboratories, and whose mission was to decipher the basic building block of life – the atom. Prior to his career in physics, Dicus also preached God’s message in Bloomington, Indiana and, strangely enough, also invented the turn signal for the automobile. This guy evidently wasn’t content to theorize about our existence…he tried to practically improve his own environment and get others in touch with the ultimate Life-Giver. His song’s words hint that God was more to him than mere thought waves of speculation. Dicus had apparently made a pledge to his Lord many years before, promising to work for Him in exchange for a formal education. If you look carefully, it seems like the song is something like a culmination of this promise, and a combination of Dicus’ professional and spiritual acumen. According to Dicus (a scientist), God controls the ‘germ’ of life (verse 3), a fact that we may never fully understand in a scientific sense. Maybe Dicus had reached such a conclusion after his own study. The first verse of Dicus’ song also may tell us something about his faith, in the face of human struggle. The physicist-turned-composer is said to have suffered from cataracts and glaucoma, a condition leaving him nearly blind in his retirement years when he wrote the song.

 If you read TIME magazine in 1966, when Dicus wrote the song, you might have wondered if he was also responding to the magazine’s readers. The April 8, 1966 issue of TIME featured a cover story entitled “Is God Dead?”, in which some pundits proposed that God is lifeless. Dicus’ song can be seen as a response to that national debate, telling others that God, though ‘concealed’ to him, was still real. Cataracts and Glaucoma had taken their toll, dimming Discus’ vision of God’s creation. Yet, this man had seen enough, studied and experienced enough, to declare with vigor that God was indeed true, believable. In our time, perhaps like none other, it’s in vogue to acquire knowledge, to have information at our fingertips. Dicus’ song is proof that the intellect doesn’t have to shut down to believe in the Divine Being. In fact, the more we know, the more God makes perfect sense.

The biography of Aaron Wesley Dicus and the song ‘Our God, He Is Alive’ is available at: http://www.apologeticspress.org/articles/1968 .

The story also may be available by finding the following book: Finley, Gene, ed. (1980) Our Garden of Song (West Monroe, LA: Howard Publishing Co.)

See also the April 8, 1966 Time Magazine cover story (“Is God Dead?”) at the following site: http://www.time.com/time/covers/0,16641,19660408,00.html

Great Is the Lord - Steve McEwan

How does a typical Monday morning begin…for the typical 21st Century Christian? A radio alarm, some gobbled breakfast (or maybe not), traffic, and maybe a cranky computer thrown in for good measure. It’s almost certainly not the mountaintop exhilaration, the ideal world that you sang about the day before, is it? Yet, it is the one I occupy in the present. And I do it five days a week, so I’d better find a way to make it endurable, if not meaningful. It helps me to have something, especially a song that sticks with me, a steady drumbeat that reminds me of certain things. There will be lots of urgent tasks, naturally, that scream for my attention. But with a tune that’s fixed between my ears, I have an undercurrent of contentment that’s an anchor.

It doesn’t have to yell at me. In fact, a drumbeat, like a heartbeat, is better if it’s just humming gently, reliably consistent. Yes, that’s what I think of when I hear Steve McEwan’s song “Great Is the Lord”. Was a heartbeat on Steve McEwan’s mind when he wrote the song? McEwan is a native of the United Kingdom, but was in South Africa, a nation best known probably for its volatility in the late 20th Century as it struggled with apartheid. One of McEwan’s friends was shot and killed in 1985, as South African violence framed our television news. I don’t know what its like to lose a friend like that, a sudden bitter end, but it’s said that McEwan composed “Great Is the Lord” in the wake of the tragedy. His friend’s heartbeat had stopped, but the words of the song show that McEwan refused to wallow in anger. He’s not focused on future vengeance or a temporal justice. In fact, he’s thankful for the present – that God is great, that we have victory…victory?! To one without God, McEwan’s words produce skepticism and maybe even rage. A faith that sustains despite calamity, though, is a powerful testimony. The reality of eternity means that even unfair deaths cannot dim hope. McEwan’s creation allows the singer to say something not only to others nearby. When I sing the second stanza, I address God directly, as in prayer. I reach for the intimacy He offers. That’s what the hurting person, even a believer who’s certain of the afterlife, needs most from God here and now. I want to feel His comfort when nothing here makes sense.

As 2009 begins, I know there will be highs and lows…that’s the only thing that is certain here. With the Lord, I know what I can count on, and that He will be in my life, somehow, some way. Songs like “Great Is the Lord” are the EKG (electrocardiogram) of Christians. When I sing it, I can feel my pulse, a rhythm that’s in South Africa, in Europe and Indonesia (where you can see believers singing the song on the global net), and here in the U.S. Sometimes my faith struggles, frankly, and my songs don’t seem very audible, but knowing that this heartbeat is on four continents is breathtaking. At times, God might seem a bit too distant. But now, when I sing this song, I’m reminded that I have have a steady, consistent, and dependable God whose Spirit permeates this planet.

Great is the LORD, and most worthy of praise,

in the city of our God, his holy mountain. (Psalm 48:1)

The following websites were accessed to gather information about Steve McEwan and the song “Great is the Lord”: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E_kTQssB0I

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJFol7e-9h8&feature=related 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wv4V4WoavO8&feature=related

 

Read about the songwriter here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_McEwan 

Shout Hallelujah - Randy Gill

"I tell you," he replied, "if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out." (Luke 19:40) David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets. (2 Samuel 6:14-15) When’s the last time you shouted? No, not in disgust at the other driver on the freeway, but a gleeful expression. It’s the unashamed, utterly unreserved celebration that I’m pondering. A sports fan might declare it was when the team executed the clinching play, sealing the championship. It’s the kind of moment you could live a lifetime to experience. It’s not something I express every day, or even weekly, if I’m pacing myself, maintaining that emotional balance. After all, no one wants to burn himself out, right? It’d be a pity if I never jumped in excitement, though. And so, although it’s a risk, I engage in life, attaching my emotions to things bigger than myself that offer the chance for that climactic ‘yahoo!’ If you seek the experience, admit it -- you do the same. Randy Gill’s song “Shout Hallelujah” is that championship-caliber moment, when I’m exhorted to let loose in celebration.


 Randy Gill has a wealth of educational and professional background as a musician. He has degrees from four institutions, including a doctorate in choral and church music from the University of Southern California. He’s been a professor for most of his professional life, and now is a worship leader in Nashville, Tennessee. Perhaps it’s the interaction with young students that helped him create “Shout Hallelujah”, a celebration not unlike the youthful exuberance that college kids can radiate. Gill has creativity not limited to this one song. He’s collaborated on several musicals, and has several arrangements to his credit on Word albums. So, he has the wherewithal to be complex, erudite with his craft. Yet, his song carries an uncomplicated message. Rejoice! …that’s it. I don’t need to learn anything new…just access what’s deep inside, and engage my vocal cords. Appreciate God. Revel in the moment. It’s the same type of moment when Jesus told worshippers not to hold back. Indeed, Randy echoes Jesus when he says, “’Shout Hallelujah’ was an attempt to help us worship more freely and with joyful abandon.” True, some observers will no doubt scoff or be alarmed. The unrestrained, unashamed spectacle you create might disquiet someone close, like Michal when David and his army returned with the Ark. But, as someone else has written, don’t let those stones worship for you!


What’s your most memorable “Shout Hallelujah” moment this side of heaven? I can remember mine. I’ve had the privilege of sharing it with others, even many others through a theatrical production. Twenty-one years ago, I felt desperate for a job and a life that I had dreamed was only remotely possible. I prayed for months, sometimes in anguish. ‘Help me, God’! I still remember the moment I discovered He heard me, and that He was saying ‘yes’. My mom shook she was so overjoyed. I floated on a cloud, as I went about the farm’s evening chores that day in November 1987. And, sometimes when I have felt frustrated about life, and even the job to which God led me, I have accessed that November 1987 moment. I don’t rely on my memory…I have some of the moments, on paper, stuffed in a briefcase! The official letter of the job offer is there, locked inside the dusty burgundy leather attaché. But, the most important part is deep within me. I hope I never forget how much God meant to me that day. I bet Randy Gill’s had moments like that too. A Christian should, and I’m glad he’s recorded words and music that let me show God my feelings, in a simple but potent way. If you can drop your reserve for a few moments, think about how the Holy One has rallied around you, lifted and strengthened you. Share that with others, and celebrate it anew, with a shout! Yahoo (this 21st Century Christian’s Hallelujah)!


 Information on Randy Gill in the story was gathered from the following sites, and from an e:mail he sent the author on 30 December 2008: http://www.sbmp.com/WebPagesTwo/RandallGillBio.html http://woodmont.alsw.com/page.asp?SID=1&Page=172

Thou Art Worthy, Great Jehovah - Karen Chandler Eagan Tynan

(See an updated version of this song story on the 12/13/2010 blog entry.)

Anonymous, unknown, secret, mysterious, unidentified, Jane/John Doe. Thankfully we are not called these things when we call out to God, for He knows even the number of hairs on our heads (Matthew 10:30). Yet, sometimes we might think that even well known people can become hidden, if by accident or perhaps even by design. It’s said that Mozart’s grave was unknown, perhaps a commoner’s, in keeping with burial practices in 18th Century Vienna. Today, some composers may still be virtually unknown, including the creator of “Thou Art Worthy, Great Jehovah”, Karen Eagan. She wrote the words and the music in 1980, but we know almost nothing about her. Did she compose other songs? Where does she live, and what in her life channeled her thoughts toward creating this simple, yet powerful, tune? Perhaps it’s intended that she be but a shadow, in comparison to the One she writes about in the song. 

 

 Karen Eagan is probably the same person as Karen Chandler-Eagan, the one piece of information we can surmise from public records (at least via the internet) and her name’s association with this song. So we can assume she married someone named Eagan, but that’s it. Compared to God, she has but a few names that we can use to identify her. God has many, so that I can relate to Him in various ways, and Karen Eagan chose four potent names for this composition, her ode to the Lord. ‘Great Jehovah’, the covenant-maker, the faithful God that Abraham knew as the original Promise Keeper. ‘Mighty God’, the Deliverer, whose power can overwhelm anyone or anything. I have a friend who always ends his public prayers by extolling God’s ‘Mighty Name’, so you might presume he has been strengthened by God in some meaningful way. And yet God is capable also of being my ‘Abba Father’, a tender, gentle being who intimately caresses my head. Finally, ‘Lamb of God’, a unique term only Jesus can wear, one filled with import for me, as a believer who cannot approach the throne without His sacrifice. Are there names of God that speak to you? When in your life has the Holy One been available for you? God’s presence may resonate at various times, and we can imagine that for Karen Eagan -- and indeed for all of us who sing her song --perhaps God kept a promise, extended his mighty hand, or held us close in his embrace. Certainly, His surrender on the cross is huge, incalculable. 

 

How many lambs, or other animals, did the Jewish nation offer to God before Jesus became ‘the Lamb’ – millions, right? So God is special, in fact essential for me, especially when I change. If you sense these times, as I have, try adding to Karen Eagan’s song with some names of God that draw you toward Him, that remind you how He’s been present lately. Here’s a verse I wrote: “Thou art worthy, Blessed Redeemer. And I love you, Comforter, Friend. You are Wisdom to your children. Come and feed us, Bread of Life.” Share yourself with the rest of us…what names say something to you? You may be a question mark, like Karen Eagan, before lots of people. Yet, God knows you…get in touch with that, and let others know how God is shaping you.

 

Scant information on Karen Chandler-Eagan is at:

http://www.flutelagoon.com/1703906.html

Hallelujah, We Shall Rise - John Edmond Thomas

What’s your favorite Christmas memory? Lots of people might be prompted to think about this, as the Yuletide season is upon us, decorations are lifted in place, and parties descend upon office workers. If asked, most people might think of a childhood episode, perhaps from the morning when presents were exchanged, and when wishes came true for the tricycle or some other toy that fascinated a youngster. You know, the kind of gift that would make an 8-year old behave if he thought Santa Claus might come through in the clutch. I think the Christmas mornings I anticipated most were ones that involved Hot Wheels cars or Hardy Boys books. Yep, those gettin’ up mornings were pretty special! I think my Christmas morning memories help me get in touch with another morning I anticipate, one that a composer wrote about over a century ago. John Edmond Thomas was born in 1860 in Arkansas, though he spent most of his life in neighboring Texas. His father died in 1874, and J.E. Thomas, as the oldest son, had a heavy load as he worked to support the family his father left behind. Even so, he pursued music study from the age of 17, and finally launched his career as a teacher, composer, music collector, and publisher in 1890. With the help of others, he founded two music companies (Trio Music and The Quartet Music Companies) in Texas. Then, on the 30th anniversary of his father’s death in 1904, John Thomas penned “Hallelujah, We Shall Rise”. Was Thomas thinking about seeing his earthly father again when he recorded the words in verse two of the song “…What a meeting…fathers and mothers, and our loved ones we shall see”? Indeed, what a morning, a resurrection morning! If you can think of how you awaited Christmas as a child, with anxious breathless expectation, a child jumping with excitement, your imagination can see what John Thomas was expressing with his music. He returns repeatedly to the image of a morning, one on which all of God’s elect will rise. It’s not an exaggeration to say ‘hallelujah!’, as we think of that time, one which will defy death.

If you’re a believer, you may know that hallelujah means ‘Praise ye Jehovah’, a refrain from several Psalms (106, 111-113, 117, 135). ‘Hallelujah’ in Revelation 19 is part of the apostle John’s vision of heaven, a word that we will shout there. The words in John Thomas’ song, and not just the words, but the melody, the counter-melody, and the harmonies, make the spirit soar as I listen to them. This song really shows me why God created music, I think. It would be impossible to capture the visceral, deep sense of what God has prepared for me with just mere words. God worked through John Thomas to give me more, to give me a beautiful echo of heaven’s hallelujahs that I read about in Revelation. With music, I come closer as an earthling to approaching the cosmic, mind-boggling scenery that was in the apostle’s eye. I encourage you to listen to a recording of this song, particularly Tom Fettke’s Masters Chorale production (“The Lord Is My Song” album), a recording with lots of angelic voices (like what we’ll hear at the throne)…and do yourself a favor – close your eyes, turn up the volume, and warm up your voice with a ‘hallelujah’, the word you’ll become familiar with in eternity!

Information about John Edmond Thomas’ life was gathered from The Cyber Hymnal at the following website: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/t/h/thomas_je.htm

When All of God's Singers Get Home - Luther G. Presley

If I said someone named ‘Presley’ was a notable 20th Century songwriter born in the South, you most probably would guess that I was referring to Elvis Presley. Well, Elvis might be nicknamed ‘the King’, but if you interviewed residents of Faulkner and White Counties in Arkansas, they might guess that Luther G. Presley was in fact a more prolific composer than his namesake from Memphis, Tennessee. By some accounts, Luther (1887-1974) wrote 1,500 or more gospel songs, beginning officially in 1907 when his first song was published. He had in fact written his first song “Gladly Sing” some years earlier when he was just 17 years old, a few years after he had started attending music school and directing the choir at the Free Will Baptist Church near Rose Bud, Arkansas. Perhaps Presley (the lyricist) and Virgil O. Stamps (the music writer, of the Stamps-Baxter music publishing company) are most well known for the 1937 song “When the Saints Go Marching In”, but it would be unfair to limit their accomplishments to that song alone. I for one have sung many Stamps-Baxter productions that I appreciate as much or more than “When the Saints…”, and in a similar way, I also appreciate another of Presley’s songs – “When All of God’s Singers Get Home”.

 

 

Written in 1937, in the heart of nationwide deprivation, Presley’s words for “When All of God’s Singers Get Home” are nevertheless ebullient…does happiness, delight, mirth, joy, light, and bright -- all words in this song -- sound like someone singing the blues, like somebody who’s desperate? His life must have been impacted during the Great Depression, but you sense something besides his physical environment was guiding him. One could say that Luther Presley must have been Spirit-led. His music life was abundant, despite whatever his circumstances might have dictated. Frequently, after a difficult time, he’d compose when alone, a mode reminiscent of Jesus who would also escape his surroundings and go to a mountain seeking prayer time with His Father. Presley also wrote by drawing upon real-life experiences, including “I Know the Lord Is With Me” after being in a car accident in which no one was injured, and “Give Them Red Roses (The Boys Will Be Coming Home)” near the end of World War II as he thought about his sons Clarence and Leister who were in uniform in Europe. Leister says his father also drew upon his personal loss - his wife and second child died during childbirth (although what tune or tunes he wrote at this time we do not know). It is said that he always carried paper scraps on which to record his thoughts, perhaps indicating that Luther was prepared for, and counted on, the Lord making random thoughts into something special. (I confess I now feel better about all those Post-It notes I scatter everywhere!) 

 

 

Yes, Luther Presley had a gift, one so amazingly employed over such a long time…it reminds me of the title of a book, “A Long Obedience in the Same Direction” (Eugene Peterson). I have tried to sum up Luther Presley’s life, but I think his own words say it more powerfully through the music he wrote. Do you have a favorite Luther G. Presley song, perhaps one that he wrote in collaboration with the Stamps-Baxter company (like “When All of God’s Singers Get Home”, or “When the Saints Go Marching In”)? Share it here, tell us what it means to you, and enrich the rest of us a little more. 

 

 

* Much of the information gleaned from an April 21, 1998 Arkansas Democrat-Gazette article written by Bob Sallee. http://www.ucalldatmusic.com/L_G_Presley.htm