Praise to the Lord the Almighty the King of creation
Oh my soul praise him for he is thy health and salvation
All ye who hear now to his temple draw near
Join me in glad adoration
In the course of six days, I both sang and heard this choir
piece in the context of two very different worship services. There were tears on both occasions.
I sang it last Sunday in celebration of my friends Heather
and Jess’ legal nuptials. They had
been illegally married six years prior, in defiance of both the national church
that would not bless their covenant and the government that would not recognize
their relationship. Even so, on
that day they assembled a choir and asked them to sing the F. Melius arrangement
of Praise to the Lord the Almighty.
On Sunday, with the blessing of the national church and the
legal recognition of the great state of Minnesota, they renewed their
vows. Before worship started, they
came into the choir room to thank us for singing, and Heather gave basically
the best pep talk ever.
“Six years ago today we were illegally married, and the
choir sang this piece, and I said it would take an act of God for us to be
allowed to marry legally… * tearing up * …today you get to sing about it.”
Praise to the Lord who will prosper thy work and defend thee
Surely his goodness and mercy here daily attend thee
Wonder anew what the Almighty can do
If with his love he befriend thee
Then yesterday, I heard this exact same piece sung by the
St. Olaf Choir at my friend and mentor Jennifer’s funeral. Jennifer, who beautifully embodied the
grace of God, perhaps better than anyone I’ve ever known, who died at the
tragically young age of 47 after a courageous and graceful battle with brain
cancer. The service was full of
song, both choral and congregational, and was profoundly powerful in a way that
I can’t quite explain, but we all experienced it, even out-of-state friends
watching via livestream on the internet felt and commented about it on social
media.
And then later last night, I was finishing up Nadia
Bolz-Weber’s new book, Pastrix, and in the final chapter she writes, “Singing in the midst of evil is what it means to be disciples. Like Mary Magdalene, the reason we can stand and weep and listen for Jesus is because we, like Mary, are bearers of resurrection, we are made new. On the third day, Jesus rose again, and we do not need to be afraid. To sing to God amidst sorrow is to defiantly proclaim, like Mary Magdalene did to the apostles, and like my friend Don did at Dylan Klebold's funeral, that death is not the final word. To defiantly say, once again, that a light shines in the darkness and the darkness cannot, will not, shall not overcome it. And so, evil be damned, because even as we go to the grave, still we make our song alleluia. Alleluia. Alleluia.”
It made me cry all over again, but
YES. EXACTLY.
Cancer be damned.
Join me in glad adoration.
Praise to the Lord O let all that is in me adore him
All that has life and breath come now with praises before
him
Let the amen sound from his people again
Gladly for aye we adore him
