By Jeff Brummel
Listen for the musical notes of joy, sorrow, darkness and light in today’s service.
Now Thank We All Our God was penned in the midst of unimaginable tragedy. It was 1637, and much of Germany was gripped by plague and the Thirty Year’s War. In Eilenburg, Germany, there was only one surviving pastor. Lutheran pastor Martin Rinkart presided over 50 funerals per day, and that year there were over 4,000 funerals in the city. One of those was for his own wife.
In the midst of severe loss, Rinkart wrote this hymn. The three stanzas center on love, nearness to God and doxology.
Today’s prelude, Bach’s Toccata in C, is filled with images of the cross, burial and resurrection. The opening is comprised of three small figures that depict the cross, in this case, three crosses — we know that Jesus was crucified with two others. This pattern of notes includes a moment in which a note crosses back over previous notes in the opposite direction and then reverses again. Don’t worry, you will hear it.
As the scale passages commence, we find ourselves plummeting in a downward spiral to burial. The cross figure comes back dramatically in the pedals, almost depicting a wrestling of sorts. But, something happens next — the stone is rolled away, and we hear the resurrection depicted in the music.
The next section is the meat of the movement, with joyfully ascending scale passages alongside the cross figure. The rest of the movement dances up and down the keys and pedals, impressing us with the profound joy of resurrection.
These two pieces, one vocal and one instrumental, show joy amid sorrow and darkness, and we can connect these two classical works to our anthem. In songwriter Tony Arata’s words, we are in the middle of darkness and sorrow, but out of nowhere we see a light. We have glimpses of hope.
Remember the total eclipse last April? The sun was completely gone, the breeze picked up, the air cooled and for four minutes in Wilshire’s prayer garden we gazed into the heavens wondering what would be next. Then, the slightest bit of light broke free, which was the most spectacular part of the event. I remember how striking that small pin of light was, literally taking my breath away in its beauty. How quickly the smallest bit of light overtook the darkness of the entire sky and ground. It was instantaneous!
Our music today brings a sliver of light and beauty to our dark world as we sing of hope, joy, vision, gratitude and resurrection.