Yesterday I led the Sanctuary Choir at Glen Mar Church in presenting “Come, O Children”, my first original choral composition. A live recording is available. The text is based on Psalm 34, a personal prayer of thanksgiving for God’s deliverance from a crisis. The music arose from my own thanksgiving after I dodged a personal crisis of my very own, and in searching for an appropriate Scripture, I soon found this beautiful Psalm that was largely unfamiliar to me. No longer! Here’s the adapted text as it appears in the piece:
Come, O children, come to me. I will teach you; listen to me. Depart from evil, and do good. Seek peace, pursue peace. I will bless the Lord, my God, I will bless the Lord. I will bless the Lord, my God, forevermore. Magnify the Lord, magnify with me. Exalt His name. Come with me! Taste and see that the Lord, my God, is good to me. I sought the Lord, my God, and the Lord, my God, did answer me. I sought the Lord, my God, and the Lord, my God, delivered me. Look to God and be radiant, so your faces will never be ashamed.