The scriptural text upon which this song is based is Isaiah, 52: 7-10, the first reading on Christmas Day.
How beautiful upon the mountains
are the feet of the messenger who announces peace,
who brings good news, who announces salvation,
who says to Zion, “Your God reigns.”
Listen! Your sentinels lift up their voices,together they sing for joy;
for in plain sight they see the return of the Lord to Zion.
Break forth together into singing,
you ruins of Jerusalem;
for the Lord has comforted his people,
he has redeemed Jerusalem.
The Lord has bared his holy arm
before the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth
shall see the salvation of our God.
(Isaiah 52: 7-10, NRSV)
It is little wonder that this passage from Isaiah is chosen as the first reading on Christmas Day morning? For Christians, it encompasses much of what is heard in the Christmas narratives, from the Angel’s announcement to the shepherds to the visitation of the Magi. However, is this merely about Christians projecting the birth of Jesus upon the sacred texts of Isaiah, or is what Isaiah saying impacts the presence of God in our world, regardless of whether one is Christian or not?
For those of us who live in the northern plains of Minnesota, the notion of shouting anything from mountain tops is very remote, especially in an area that is, by and large, fairly flat. For the Jewish people of Isaiah’s time and Jesus’ time, anything important to say is proclaimed from atop a mountain. From the covenant of Moses on Mount Sinai to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, important proclamations were made from a place of geographical height.
However, it is not the place of proclamation that is emphasized in this text. Rather, it is about what is proclaimed. The joyful news of God’s Reign cannot be confined to only the mountainous regions of our world. This joyful news needs to be borne upon the feet of all of us who hear the news. As it has been passed to us, so much more must we pass this Good News to all we encounter.
We are entrusted as messengers of God to 1) announce peace, 2) announce salvation, and 3) announce that the Good News of God’s Reign is here and now and supplants the rule of petty humanity with all our human monarchies, dictators, and false semblance of governments that have largely turned our world into one great ruin.
The one consistent message of most Religions is that God reigns over all the Earth and will ultimately restore our Earth to what God intended at Creation. As messengers of God, we are to use our voices, our gifts, our lives to announce this Good News of God’s Reign to all throughout our lives.
Of all the Christmas motets I have composed, this is my favorite. Of all the reimagined piano arrangements of my Christmas motets and psalms, this piano arrangement is closest to what I composed for four-part choir. The only difference is I added a little Coda to end the song.
I composed this motet initially in 1986 for my choirs at St Hubert Catholic Church. I added a third verse with a soprano descant in 1987 and submitted the motet to the Association of Liturgical Musicians (a professional association in the Archdiocese of St Paul and Minneapolis) in a contest they held for local liturgical music composers. While it did not get first prize, it came in third. ALM did record all the winning music on tape at a massive concert. Sadly, the cassette tape of that concert has been lost over the ensuing years.
The motet is composed in the key of A major and is in two part, AB, form with a Coda. I originally scored the motet for both piano and organ accompaniment.
I present two versions of this hymn. The first is a simple arrangement I recorded for voice and guitar (found on my album “Through Jesus”. The second is the version for piano only on my album, “Songs of the Refugee Christ at Christmas.”
