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Meeting at Hampton with people from several denominations reminds conferees how many ways they can praise God through music. Besides singing through several genres in morning and evening worship services, conferees and visitors enjoy anthems, hymns, spirituals, contemporary gospel, and new arrangements of old favorites at the annual Charles Herbert Flax Memorial Concert.
Meeting at Hampton with people from several denominations reminds conferees how many ways they can praise God through music.
Besides singing through several genres in morning and evening worship services, conferees and visitors enjoy anthems, hymns, spirituals, contemporary gospel, and new arrangements of old favorites at the annual Charles Herbert Flax Memorial Concert.
The 2005 concert moved through many moods, from the jubilation of Alberto Randegger's “Psalm 150: Praise Yet the Lord” to Colin Lett's soulful “Fix Me Jesus” on to the assurance of Wayne Robinson's “He is God (Psalm 46)”, and Mattie L. Robertson's contemplative arrangement of “I Must Tell Jesus.”
Robert E. Wooten Sr, honored as a Living Legend in Church Music Recipient, led his arrangement of Charles A. Tindley's “Beams of Heaven,” the song his choral group always ends with. Charles A. Tindley is sometimes called the father of African American hymnody. Wooten got loud agreement and applause when he said, “We want to keep hymns alive in the church.”
People respond in their own ways at this Thursday concert—sitting quietly, smiling, weeping, tapping feet, swaying, raising hands, shouting “Hallelujah” and “Thank you, Jesus,” jumping, dancing…
Pretty much everyone irresistibly chose the last option, though, as Abbington led the mass choir and soloist Charsie Sawyer through three styles of “I Will Make the Darkness Light.”
First Abbington, ever the church historian, asked Sawyer to sing it the way that Bishop Charles P. Jones wrote it. He explained that Jones founded the Church of Christ (Holiness) U.S.A. denomination in Jackson, Mississippi, and wrote over a thousand songs, including “Deeper, Deeper” and “I Would Not Be Denied.”
Next Abbington asked Sawyer to add syncopation, singing in the style of gospel artist Sarah Jordan Powell. Finally Abbington urged Sawyer and the choir to let loose: “Let's do it the saints' way!”
The setting, song style, text (“What is wrong I'll make it right before thee…on the fatness of the land I'll feed thee…”) and most of all the chorus (“And the high place I'll bring down') powerfully affirmed that no matter how unjust life sometimes seems, God will prevail.
Sawyer solos nationally and internationally, specializing in opera, oratorios, and art songs, so she's used to wowing audiences with her amazing vocal range. But she says singing at the Hampton concert blessed her in several ways.
“Singing ‘I Will Make the Darkness Light' in the old hymnal style was great. That's how my grandma sang it. Hymns are so theologically rich. That's why we don't want to lose them. Also, ‘I Will Make the Darkness Light' is the song that got me through rough times at the University of Michigan, when I'd often be the only African American student in many graduate classes,” Sawyer says.
Even better, the fact that she was able to pull out all the stops in singing three versions reminded her of what she always tells those she mentors. “God's Spirit worked in me at that concert. I'd been teaching all week and had done a ‘Tales of Hoffman' recital. I was not in good voice when Jimmie told me on Thursday afternoon what he wanted me to do. But I thought, ‘Let God use you.' And he did.”
The song “I Will Make the Darkness Light” is part of a new series called “Seven Psalm-based Hymns.” Charles P. Jones wrote them and Abbington arranged them. The hymns are based on portions of nine psalms: 5:8; 18:28; 27:3; 35:1; 77:20; 91:2-4; 107:7; 136:16; and 146:7. “I Will Make the Darkness Light” also draws on Isaiah 42:16.
Psalm-based Anthems:
Psalm-based Hymns and Spirituals
Psalm-based Contemporary Gospel
Tributes to Legends in Church Music
Some of these songs and arrangements are so new that, even a month after the concert, they still weren't listed on the GIA Publications website or in its catalog. But you can phone and request them by name and item number. Order conference and concert tapes, CDs, DVDs, and videos by phone, 757-727-5433, or email, ministersconference@hamptonu.edu. Bookmark this Hampton University e-store to see when 2005 conference items get posted.
