I originally composed a fragment of this song back in 1982 for my Music and Movement class in graduate school at the St Paul Seminary School of Divinity. I later expanded it into a musical setting describing Psalm 65.
“O God, to you we owe hymns of praise in Zion;
to you our vows must be fulfilled, 2 you who hear our prayers
and before whom all flesh must stand. 3 When we are overcome by our sins,
you provide the atonement for them. 4 Happy are those you choose, those you draw near
to dwell in your courts!
We are filled with the blessings of your house,
the holy things of your Temple! 5 With powerful deeds of justice
you answer us, God our Deliverer,
in whom all the ends of the earth
and the farthest seas put their trust. 6 You set the mountains in place by your power,
having armed yourself with might. 7 You still the roaring of the seas,
the roaring of the waves, and the tumult of the
peoples. 8 And those who dwell at the ends of the earth
stand in awe of your marvels;
you make the sunrise and sunset shout for joy! 9 You nourish and water the land—
greatly you have enriched it. The streams of God are full of water;
you provide us with grain as you ordained. 10 Thus have you prepared the land:
drenching its furrows,
breaking up its clods, softening it with showers,
blessing its yield. 11 You have crowned the year with your bounty
and your paths overflow with a rich harvest; 12 the untilled meadows overflow with abundance,
and rejoicing clothes the hills. 13 The fields are covered with flocks
and the valleys are blanketed with grain. They shout and sing for joy!”
(Translation from the Priests for Equality. The Inclusive Bible . Sheed & Ward.)
Over the years, I would return to this song, making adjustments, adding a phrase, changing the harmonic rhythm. Over the past two days, I revisited it again, re-composing it as music for piano.
One of my finest mentors as a deacon is Deacon Len Shambour and his wife Ellie. Len has personified for me exactly what a Deacon is, that is Christ as Servant. Len has farmed all of his life. He has the remarkable ability to see the presence of God abound in the land, the crops, and livestock. Len and Ellie are wonderful examples of Jesus’ parable of the sowing of the seed. They are the seed that falls on good ground and yields a bountiful harvest. Combining his vocation as farmer, husband, and deacon, has been an incredible enrichment for the Church. I dedicated this song to Len and Ellie many years ago, and rededicate this incarnation of the song to them today.
I see this song as not only a prayer for Len and Ellie, but for all farmers whose love for the earth and hard work continue to feed us. It is a prayer for the safety of all farm families, for the upcoming planting season, especially during this time of the Covid-19 virus, and for a bountiful harvest in the Fall.
