Earlier this autumn, I got to play Dan Forrest’s Requiem for the Living with one of the choirs I accompany. I’ve written before about how much I love playing Forrest’s music. A pianist himself, he writes choral music that requires accompanists to be genuine collaborators. His piano parts tend to be equal parts intuitive—fitting perfectly into a pianist’s hands—and captivating. I can think of no finer example of this than the fourth movement of his Requiem, “Sanctus.”
This movement features a line from the Book of Job at the beginning, which reads: “Where were you when the morning stars sang together?” (Job 38:7). Then, the piano enters with a beguiling eighth-note pattern that conjures an aural image of swirling galaxies. It is an odd combination of cosmic power and intimacy—much like the Book of Job.
But enough descriptors.
Job 38 stuck in my imagination long after the Requiem retired to the back of my accompanying binder. Now, as I move through Advent, I have been pondering that chapter alongside the life of Christ and, as so often happens, found myself scribbling out a new song…
I know how I want the melody and chords to go, but need to brush up my recording skills. In the meantime, I will leave you with just the lyrics in the hopes that they will still be food for thought, prayer, and wonder.
Outside of traditional worship, it can be easy to skip past Advent to Christmas, but this season of waiting is for our good and God’s glory. I hope that these lyrics help you slow down. Don’t rush through this season.
Stop.
Consider the cosmic, intimate miracle of Christ’s birth.
Be shocked in the best of ways.
Give yourself the time to be astonished.
Just…
Stop for a bit.
Finally, before you read these lyrics, I encourage you to read Job 38-39, as well as Romans 11:33-36. These passages speak far more eloquently and potently than I even can; my verses are merely meant to help work the emotion of these into your imagination.
The Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Hear the cry of a baby boy
Who was there when the morning stars shouted for joy.
He shuts his eyes in this lowly place
Who commanded the sun in its daily race.
[Refrain 1]
Oh stop.
Consider
This marvelous work:
The Eternal Son
On the day of his birth.
[Verse 2]
See him swaddled against the cold
Who stocked the sky’s storehouses full of snow.
He is snuggled in secondhand clothes
Who dressed the young oceans in cloudy robes.
[Refrain 2]
Oh stop
And see him
In a manger laid:
The Lord of Might,
This breakable babe.
[Verse 3]
Now watch him measure a plank of wood
Who crafted creation and called it good.
This carpenter’s boy is the cornerstone,
The Maker of Man in flesh and bone.
[Refrain 3]
Oh stop
And ponder
This impossible thing:
A peasant boy
Is the King of Kings.
[Verse 4]
Hear the soft plod of a donkey’s feet
On the palm branches that blanket the street.
He who sculpted proud horses to stride
Unafraid into the fight…
[Refrain 4]
Oh stop
And watch
As he humbly rides:
Sustainer of Life
On his way to die…
[Outro]
How unsearchable, how glorious.
He is here with us.
How unsearchable, how glorious.
He is here with us.
How unsearchable…
Ryanne Molinari 