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Notes on Learning in God, then and now
“O Love,” a choir anthem from a hymn text written by George Matheson before 1906, was tenderly reset to music blending harmonies for sopranos, altos, tenors and basses by Elaine Hagenberg in early 2000.
Notes our Choir Director, Jeremy Roberts shared in the bulletin: “O Love” was inspired by the words of Scottish minister, George Matheson in 1882. Blinded at the age of nineteen, his fiancé called off their engagement and his sister cared for him as he endured new challenges. Years later, on the eve of his sister’s wedding, he faced the painful reminder of his own heartache and loss as he penned the words to this hymn. Given a fresh melody, this setting for piano, SATB choir (and optional cello) uses hopeful ascending lines representing renewed faith. Though lingering dissonances remind us of past heartache, the beautiful promise remains: “morn shall tearless be” (Psalm 30:5).
Background notes: Singing in a choir is something I took up again last fall after nearly forty years. I needed motivation in my recovery from bilateral hip surgery. Valorie Vliek, choir mama and my hip surgery coach, invited me to come sing. I had forgotten how to read music so relied on memory of hymns and other well-known pieces. Or as I told Jeremy, “I sing by ear like some folks play by ear.”
Music runs in my family: I remember my dad playing the pump organ on the porch at my grandparents’ house in Fairview. Dad played fiddle and accompanied me on piano when I sang in high school musicals. He was self-taught and played by ear. Mom grew up singing shape-note hymns with her sisters and learned lyrics to hundreds of show tunes. My brothers John, Bill, and Charlie as well as my sister, Susan, all play guitar and have sung in bands. Charlie and Susan write song lyrics and music. My sister Meg sings in a band called Wildflower and the Weeds. She is the wildflower.
When I sing in the church choir, I remember hearing Meg sing When You Say Nothing at All (Alison Krause) at a bar in Listowel, Ireland. I remember my brother John playing Simon and Garfunkel’s Bridge Over Troubled Waters, and know we have been bridges for each other. I remember hearing mom and dad settle a discussion singing the refrain of “I’m Leaving It Up to You” (Dale and Grace, 1963). If my husband David and I joined our bass and soprano, we might have a duet of “Ode to Joy” when we finish weeding our garden. When I sing in the church choir, I remember singing with our daughter Katie, “A Whole New World” from Disney’s Aladdin. Katie and her husband Andrew sang in their church choir with his parents and brother. We carry on the family tradition of singing and listening to music as we learn of God in notes and lyrics.
Offering notes: I missed singing this anthem with the choir, even though I had faithfully come to practices and daily listened to the recording Jeremy sent us so I could learn “O Love”. Well, I missed two practices because I thought I might have Covid, and then I did have Covid. Not being able to sing reminded me of many folks who miss out on voicing their songs. I think of our son, Will, who neither talks nor sings, but can light up the dark without saying a thing (see Alison Krause above). Will is there in the listening, in his attentiveness to Carulli’s classical guitar music. Will sits with me and listens to FPCA’s December 13 live worship. He rests his hand over mine.
"Oh Love" by Elaine Hagenberg
Singing, and listening to music together takes us to church and brings us into the family of a whole new world where God shows us love that will not let us go.
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