The Servant Song

Introduction

Today’s session is on the Servant Song anthem/hymn, both the original work by Richard Gilliard and the subsequent adaptation by David Schwoebel’s[1]. The FPC choir most recently did the Schwoebel piece as an anthem on 9/23/2012. We’ve done this song before, as it’s both a fairly straightforward anthem and one with with a good message. The tune for this Schwoebel arrangement is based on a common hymn, Beach Spring, while Gilliard composed both the lyrics and melody for the original.

There are lots of songs which go by the name of Servant Song, and the servant songs also refer to the songs of the suffering servant in Isaiah ( Isaiah 42:1–4, Isaiah 49:1–6, Isaiah 50:4–9, Isaiah 53, and (to some) Isaiah 61:1–3). Today, at least, we’re not talking about Isaiah, as the scriptural basis for this song comes from the Gospels.

Lyrics

The lyrics and original melody were composed by Richard Gilliard (b 1953) in 1977[2]. Gilliard was born in England and was moved to New Zealand when he was 3, where he still lives. Interestingly, he’s worked as a teacher and then in a warehouse. His faith background includes a mixture of Anglican and Pentecostal.

• First, let’s look at the lyrics as written by Gilliard.

Brother, let me be your servant.
Let me be as Christ to you.
Pray that I might have the grace
To let you be my servant, too.

We are pilgrims on a journey.
We are brothers on the road.
We are here to help each other
Walk the mile and bear the load.

I will hold the Christ-light for you
In the night time of your fear.
I will hold my hand out to you;
Speak the peace you long to hear.

I will weep when you are weeping.
When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow
Till we’ve seen this journey through.

When we sing to God in heaven,
We shall find such harmony
Born of all we’ve known together
Of Christ’s love and agony.

*Compare this with the adaptation used by Schwoebel

If anyone would be first, they shall be the last of all,
they shall be the last, they shall be the last;
be the servant of all.

We are trav’lers on a journey, Fellow pilgrims on the road;
We are here to help each other walk the mile and bear the load.
I will hold the Christ-light for you in the night time of your fear,
I will hold my hand out to you, speak the peace you long to hear.

Sister, let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant, too.

Brother, let me be your servant, let me be as Christ to you;
Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant, too.

I will weep when you are weeping; When you laugh, I’ll laugh with you.
I will share your joy and sorrow, Till we’ve seen this journey through.
When we sing to God in heaven, We shall find such harmony,
Born of all we’ve known together of Christ’s love and agony.

• What do you see as differences and similarities?
• Where do you see points that resonate with you, points that call you to action, points where you have some concerns?

For the original Gilliard version, the United Methodist Reporter article[2] on this piece provides a good summary of the biblical basis, as an article relating to the song in The Faith We Sing.

Matthew 20:26b–28 provides the primary scriptural background for the song: “… Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (NIV)

Stanza two speaks of “pilgrims” on a “journey” and encourages us to “walk the mile and bear the load,” reminiscent perhaps of Matthew 5:41: “If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles.”

Stanza three speaks of “hold[ing] the Christ-light … in the night-time of your fear.” We are called to reflect Christ’s light in the world. Several passages come to mind including Matthew 5:14 and, of course, many passages in John including John 1:4–5; 3:19; 8:12; 9:5.

Stanza four is one of empathy—weeping, laughing and sharing together. One is reminded of I Corinthians 12 in general, but perhaps especially verse 26: “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.” (NIV)

Stanza five provides an eschatological perspective, as “we sing to God in heaven.” The joy of making “harmony” together offsets the “agony” of all that suffering on earth.

The music

• Listen to Haas version of the original lyrics and melody[3]. Note that this is similar to that used in the United Methodist The Faith We Sing hymnal (#22220[4]. It’s the same melody at least. What thoughts and impressions does this create? And what do you hear that he’s adapted?

• Listen to the Schwoebel version^[schwoebel]. Can anyone name the hymn in our (blue) hymnal which uses this melody?[5]

• Further discussion points and ideas:
  • How can these two different arrangements be used?
  • Do the differences in the music create any different responses in you?
• Some thoughts that occur to me:
  • The passage “pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too” is powerful for me. As we’ve discussed, this is a part of footwashing that I (and lots of others) have problems with. This is an important part of the song for me, as it calls us to be a servant, but also to have the grace to let other people serve us. In some ways, allowing someone to be a servant (minister) to us can, in return, be a ministry for that servant. Obviously, this is not something to be abused, and a very key message to me is that we must have the humility and grace to allow others to serve us, in addition to having the servant’s heart to serve others.
  • This particular presentation of the piece uses a lot of rubato, which I like. The conductor is really painting the music. An example is at 0:25, at the end of the first stanza, where the conductor really draws “servant of all” out. He does this again with “we are travelers”, really drawing out the word “travelers” (0.38), and using that rubato to emphasize the length of the journey.
  • The way “Christ light” at 0:57 moves up is sort of like a sunrise to me.
  • At “night time of your fear” 1:04, the music moves on fear from four part to two part, and is a bit of a hollow chord.
  • I like the harmonization with “speak the peace you long to hear”, as well as the message of these words. This passage is sung in a peaceful fashion. How are we speaking peace that others long to hear? That’s perhaps a particularly interesting question, both for us at FPC given the events over the past months and years, as well as for us as a nation as we move past the rather rancorous “debate” leading up to this election and as we face the challenges ahead of us.
  • I’ve always liked the way that the women sing the Sister let me be your servant stanza, with the men singing the “brother” stanza immediately following (though should I be surprised that the women interrupt before the men are quite finished at 2:14 :-) ).
  • An even stronger ritard at the end of the second passage at 2:28.
  • The last verse uses a descant, which is probably worth discussing. ATB are singing the melody, with sopranos as the descant, except for where we break into 4 part for “harmony” at 3:12
  • In the last refrain, we have a different antiphon (3:43), with now the men first singing “they shall be the last”, the sopranos echoing first, then the altos echoing, then the tenors back, and then finally the basses with the last “be the last”. This is a good message to keep repeating. If anyone would be first (in the eyes of God), they shall be the last of all.
  • And the organ gets the last word on this piece, in nice peaceful reflection.
  • I also did get the Maranatha Singer’s version of this piece, which is interesting[6].
    • The movement from solo on the first verse to duet on the second is neat.
    • I wonder why they left out the third verse

• What are your thoughts about these different adaptations of this song?

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1. http://www.davidschwoebel.com/the-servant-song-satb-worgan-oboe-cong/ is the artist’s site, which is also the source of the MP3 file used in class. One place to purchase the sheet music is http://morningstarmusic.com/viewitem.cfm/item_id/50–5202.  ↩

2. http://umportal.org/article.asp?id=9009  ↩

3. Of the music based more directly on Gilliard’s work, the one I liked best is by David Haas, from his Living Spirit, Holy Fire collection, available through iTunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/living-spirit-holy-fire-volume/id269034822. Haas does change the lyrics some, making the first verse a gender-neutral question, rather that a (surface, at least) masculine statement, and he omits the last verse, which  ↩

4. Hoyt Hickman (editor) The Faith We Sing (2000) Abingdon Press. Available from http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/FaithWeSing.aspx?div=home and other places. We have the spiral bound Simplified Edition (ISBN–13: 9780687090570)  ↩

5. #422 – God Who’s Giving Knows No Ending. And, for what it’s worth, this tune was not used for any hymns in the older red hymnal.  ↩

6. “The Servant Song”, Track 11 (closing track) from Sieze The Moment - Worship for Men (1994) Maranatha! Music https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/seize-moment-worship-for-men/id253214218  ↩