{"id":11395,"date":"2018-03-31T14:39:06","date_gmt":"2018-03-31T18:39:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=11395"},"modified":"2018-03-31T18:54:36","modified_gmt":"2018-03-31T22:54:36","slug":"resurrection-and-brahms-requiem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=11395","title":{"rendered":"Resurrection and Brahms’ Requiem"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When I was a young adult, I was part of a choir, the William Locke Singers, that sang Johannes Brahms’ A German Requiem<\/em>. We were told that this is a Protestant Requiem, and is all about hope.<\/p>\n

We sang it in English, and indeed the text is entirely taken from the Bible – verses full of hope and about the beauty of heaven and about comfort.<\/p>\n

Some time before we performed the Requiem, a college friend died in a freak accident. This requiem – and singing those words over and over again – comforted me.<\/p>\n

I often play the Requiem over and sing along at Easter when I’m thinking about Resurrection.<\/p>\n

This year, today I’m attending a memorial service for an elder of our church who died after a long battle with cancer. He was only a little older than me, and leaves a wife and two adult kids – and a grieving church.<\/p>\n

So – today not only am I listening to this wonderful requiem, I’m going to type out all the verses in the text.<\/p>\n

Now, in the music form, this is extremely, extremely repetitive. So learning this piece gets you thinking about these things and repeating them in beautiful music over and over and over again. The words are beautiful – but singing them in this incredible piece of art puts them right into your heart.<\/p>\n

I.
\nBlessed are they that mourn, for they shall have comfort.<\/p>\n

They that sow, that sow in tears, shall reap, shall reap in joy.
\nWho goeth forth and weepeth, and beareth precious seed,
\nshall doubtless return with rejoicing, and bring his sheaves with him.<\/p>\n

Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall have comfort.<\/p>\n

II.
\nBehold, all flesh is as the grass, and all the goodliness of man is as the flower of grass;
\nFor lo, the grass with’reth, and the flower thereof decayeth.<\/p>\n

Now therefore, be patient, O my brethren, unto the coming of Christ.
\nSee how the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit, the precious fruit of the earth,
\nand hath long patience for it, until he receive the early rain and the latter rain.
\nSo be ye patient.<\/p>\n

Behold, all flesh is as the grass, and all the goodliness of man is as the flower of grass.
\nFor lo, the grass with’reth, and the flower thereof decayeth.<\/p>\n

But yet the Lord’s word endureth, endureth for evermore.<\/p>\n

The redeemed of the Lord shall return again, and come rejoicing unto Zion;
\nJoy everlasting upon their heads shall be.
\nJoy and gladness, these shall be their portion,
\nand tears and sighing shall flee from them.<\/p>\n

The redeemed of the Lord shall return again, and come rejoicing unto Zion;
\nJoy everlasting, joy upon their heads shall be.
\nJoy everlasting.<\/p>\n

III.
\nLord, make me to know the measure of my days on earth, to consider my frailty,
\nthat I must perish.
\nSurely, all my days here are as an handbreadth to Thee,
\nand my lifetime is as naught to Thee.<\/p>\n

Verily, mankind walketh in a vain show, and their best state is altogether vanity.
\nMan passeth away like a shadow, he is disquieted in vain,
\nhe heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them.<\/p>\n

Now, Lord, O, what do I wait for?<\/p>\n

My hope is in Thee, my hope is in Thee.<\/p>\n

But the righteous souls are in the hand of God, nor pain nor grief shall nigh them come.<\/p>\n

IV.
\nHow lovely is Thy dwellingplace, O Lord of Hosts, O Lord of Hosts!
\nFor my soul, it longeth, yea, fainteth for the courts of the Lord;
\nmy soul and body crieth out, yea, for the living God.<\/p>\n

How lovely is Thy dwellingplace, O Lord of Hosts, O Lord of Hosts!
\nBlest are they, O blest are they that dwell within Thy house;
\nthey praise Thy name evermore, they praise Thee for evermore!<\/p>\n

How lovely is Thy dwellingplace.<\/p>\n

V.
\nYe now are sorrowful,
\nhowbeit, ye shall again behold me, and your heart shall be joyful.<\/p>\n

Yea, I will comfort you, as one whom his own mother comforteth.<\/p>\n

Look upon me; ye know that for a little time labour and sorrow were mine,
\nbut at the last I have found comfort.<\/p>\n

Yea, I will comfort, will comfort you.<\/p>\n

Ye now are sorrowful;
\nhowbeit, ye shall again behold me, and your heart shall be joyful.<\/p>\n

Yea, I will comfort you, as one whom his own mother comforteth.<\/p>\n

VI.
\nHere on earth have we no continuing place,
\nhowbeit, we seek one to come.<\/p>\n

Lo, I unfold unto you a mystery.
\nWe shall not all sleep when He cometh,
\nbut we shall all be changed,
\nin a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the sound of the trumpet.<\/p>\n

For the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible,
\nand we shall be changed.<\/p>\n

Then, then, what of old was written, the same shall be brought to pass.<\/p>\n

For death shall be swallowed in victory, yea, in victory!<\/p>\n

Grave, where is thy triumph?
\nDeath, O where is thy sting?<\/p>\n

Worthy art Thou to be praised, Lord of honour and might,
\nfor Thou hast earth and heaven created,
\nand for Thy good pleasure all things have their being, and were created.<\/p>\n

VII.
\nBlessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.<\/p>\n

Saith the spirit, that they rest from their labours,
\nand that their works follow after them.<\/p>\n

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord from henceforth.<\/p>\n

Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Amen.<\/p>\n

I looked for a youtube video of Brahms’ Requiem sung in English, and found this playlist<\/a>, which should take you through all the movements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a young adult, I was part of a choir, the William Locke Singers, that sang Johannes Brahms’ A German Requiem. We were told that this is a Protestant Requiem, and is all about hope. We sang it in English, and indeed the text is entirely taken from the Bible – verses full […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,34,24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11395","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional-thoughts","category-gods-love","category-joy"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11395","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11395"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11395\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11395"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11395"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11395"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}