The following post was received from Clark Williamson:

At worship on September 14th, Angie Hoerner and Clark Williamson will play a piano duet entitled “The Church’s One Foundation”, arranged by Lani Smith. The piece for 2 pianos incorporates the hymn tune “AURELIA”, which was composed in 1864 by Samuel Sebastian Wesley, grandson of John Wesley. Besides writing music, Samuel also served as an Anglican Church organist of noted fame. The words of the hymn were originally penned by Samuel Stone in 1866. (The Brits sure liked to name their children “Sam” in the 19th century.) Here are the lyrics for the first stanza in a modern adaptation by Laurence Hull Stookey (1983), found in our United Methodist Hymnal on page 546.

The church’s one foundation is Jesus Christ our Lord;
we are his new creation by water and the Word;
from heaven he came and sought us
that we might ever be
his living servant people,
by his own death set free.