Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful

The snow seems to have fallen early this year in our little town.  I always look forward to the Christmas season.  Magic fills the air as hearts reach out in love and service to others.  Nothing quite compares to having family and friends gather to celebrate the birth of the Savior.  One especially fond memory I have that somehow became a family tradition is that of Julie, Dineen, Jen and Julie K rocking out singing back up while my dad sat beside the piano and, in his Santa hat, chanted Twas the Night Before Christmas.  Priceless.

Back to the music — I started this piano solo in a minor key, letting my thoughts drift towards young Mary in her travail.  The mood quickly shifts to the wonder and awe of the newborn babe lying in His mother’s arms.  Midway through the piece it slips back into minor again as I contemplated shepherds journeying on, following the star.  Then at last, choirs of angels singing as shepherds kneel beside the cradle and witness for themselves the newborn king.  

“It is proper during this season when we commemorate His birth that we remember the Lord Jesus Christ in reverence and with love. He has done for us what we could not do for ourselves. He has brought meaning to our mortal existence. He has given us the gift of eternal life. He was and is the Son of God, who was ‘made flesh, and dwelt among us, full of grace and truth.’  

God be thanked for the gift of His Son, the Redeemer of the world, the Savior of mankind, the Prince of Life and Peace, the Holy One.”   — Gordon B. Hinckley

Terri Crockett Hutchings · Oh, Come, All Ye Faithful

Click HERE to download free sheet music  

Come, Ye Thankful People

The parable of the growing seed is found in Mark 4:26-29.

  

“And he said, So is the kingdom of God, as if a man should cast seed into the ground;  And should sleep, and rise night and day, and the seed should spring and grow up, he knoweth not how.  For the earth bringeth forth fruit of herself; first the blade, then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear.  But when the fruit is brought forth, immediately he putteth in the sickle, because the harvest is come.”

Wilfredo R. López explains, “In this parable the sower plants in faith and harvests in joy. Once the planting is done, he simply awakes one day to find that his seeds have grown to maturity. He discovers that under the influence of the soil’s richness and the sun, rain, wind, and dew, as well as other factors he cannot manipulate, the leaf sprouts and the ear is formed.”

It brings me peace knowing that God can and will accomplish his purposes.  And we, his children, become the harvest.  Our faith can grow even as a seed.  Near the end of the arrangement, using a chromatic ascending sequence I tried to represent a growing seed — the spiritual growth of one who believes in Christ.  

Come, ye thankful people, come;

Raise the song of harvest home.

All is safely gathered in

Ere the winter storms begin.

God, our Maker, doth provide

For our wants to be supplied.

Come to God’s own temple, come;

Raise the song of harvest home.

All the world is God’s own field,

Fruit unto his praise to yield,

Wheat and tares together sown,

Unto joy or sorrow grown.

First the blade, and then the ear,

Then the full corn shall appear.

Lord of harvest, grant that we

Wholesome grain and pure may be.

- Henry Alford

Terri Crockett Hutchings · Come, Ye Thankful People

Click HERE to download free sheet music  

Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing

Lord, dismiss us with thy blessing;

Fill our hearts with joy and peace.

Let us each, thy love possessing,

Triumph in redeeming grace.

Oh, refresh us, oh, refresh us,

Trav’ling thru this wilderness.

Oh, refresh us, oh, refresh us,

Trav’ling thru this wilderness.

Thanks we give and adoration

For the gospel’s joyful sound.

May the fruits of thy salvation

In our hearts and lives abound.

Ever faithful, ever faithful

To the truth may we be found.

Ever faithful, ever faithful

To the truth may we be found.

Text: John Fawcett

Suitable for postlude or piano solo

Terri Crockett Hutchings · Lord, Dismiss Us with Thy Blessing

Click HERE to download free sheet music 

Shine On

When we are born, we enter this world with the Light of Christ within us.  Even as small children, that light can grow as we come to know and love the Savior.  As we love and serve one another, that light shines brighter and brighter and can light the way for others.  

As recorded in Matthew 5:14-16, Jesus taught, “Ye are the light of the world.  A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”

                                                        Painting by Simon Dewey

Each Sunday at church I have the opportunity to accompany the children as they raise their voices in song.  They are a joy to be around.  It’s my favorite place to be.  These children willingly share their light without hesitation.  

When I grow up I want to be just like them.  

My light is but a little one,

My light of faith and prayer;

But lo! it glows like God’s great sun,

For it was lighted there.

Shine on, shine on, shine on bright and clear;

Shine on, shine on now the day is here.

I may not hide my little light;

The Lord has told me so.

’Tis given me to keep in sight,

That all may see it glow.

Shine on, shine on, shine on bright and clear;

Shine on, shine on now the day is here.

  --Joseph Ballantyne

Arranged for children’s voices 

Terri Crockett Hutchings · Shine On

Click HERE to download free sheet music

 

Battle Hymn of the Republic

Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord;

He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored.

He hath loosed the fateful lightning of his terrible, swift sword;

His truth is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

He has sounded forth the trumpet that shall never call retreat;

He is sifting out the hearts of men before his judgment seat.

Oh, be swift, my soul, to answer him; be jubilant my feet!

Our God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

In the beauty of the lilies, Christ was born across the sea,

With a glory in his bosom that transfigures you and me.

As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free,

While God is marching on.

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

Glory, glory, hallelujah!

His truth is marching on.

         Julia Ward Howe, 1819–1910

Terri Crockett Hutchings · Battle Hymn of the Republic

Click HERE to download free sheet music 

A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Introduced in the early 16th century, this powerful piece is one of the best known hymns written by German theologian, Martin Luther, who helped usher in freedom of religion into the world.   

A mighty fortress is our God,

A tower of strength ne’er failing.

A helper mighty is our God,

O’er ills of life prevailing.

He overcometh all.

He saveth from the Fall.

His might and pow’r are great.

He all things did create.

And he shall reign for evermore.

                                                                        

                                                             Painting by Greg Olsen

Terri Crockett · A Mighty Fortress Is Our God

Click HERE to download free sheet music

Lift Up Your Voice and Sing

I used to love singing this song as a child in Sunday school.   The words and simple melody would set my heart soaring.  

A song is a wonderful kind of thing,

So lift up your voice and sing!

Just start a glad song, let it float, let it ring,

And lift up your voice and sing!

We shall make music to brighten the day;

Music will help us to lighten the way.

Lift up your voice! Lift up your voice!

Lift up your voice and sing!

Music.  Who can live without it?  I can't.  One of the favorite go-to movies at our house is Mama Mia.  At the very end as the credits are rolling Amanda Seyfried sings ‘Thank you for the Music’.  It stirs my heart every time I hear it. 

Years ago I wrote a research paper for an English class.  The entire focus of the ten week course was to write just this one paper.  For my topic I chose to explore the motivation behind Antonin Dvořák’s New World Symphony.  For weeks and weeks I researched.  It was an exhilarating journey and I think I came close, but I never really felt comfortable declaring what was going through his mind while writing his masterpiece.  Evenso, my greatest discovery in writing the paper was stumbling upon the American poet Marianne Boruch.  Her words spoke to my soul.  I leave you with a few of the thoughts I gleaned from Boruch’s article Worlds Old and New …

In Walt Whitman’s poem, “A Song of Occupations,” he philosophically reveals,  “All music is what awakens from you when you are reminded by the instruments.”  I love that notion — that the instruments simply remind us of what has been there, in the silence or in ourselves, all along.  Melody dips and turns and opens into the brain’s most secret part which remembers odd detail and feels it chill.  

So music rewards us with its abundant sorrow, a curious form of happiness …which stills and darkens even as it gives us the shining world.  What depths open in us when we are so reminded? 

Terri Crockett Hutchings · Lift Up Your Voice and Sing

         

Click HERE to download free sheet music