This Week’s Music:
“We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace”
Arranged by William Appling (1932-2008)
This week’s anthem, sung by the tenors and basses of the Chancel Choir and led by Craig Barfield, is a particularly appropriate piece for Lent. The text, clearly inspired by the 23rd Psalm, and melody are of unknown origin, but the piece is generally considered an American Spiritual. Lent is, in many ways, the “valley” of the Church Year. It is a time of waiting and of preparation, through which we journey with Christ through his 40 days of fasting in the desert, some of us through giving up our favorite foods, some of us through less “screen time,” others through intentional prayer and worship. In this way, it is a valley that we ourselves choose, as practice for the valleys we will not have the good fortune of choosing in the future. What I love about today’s anthem is the refrain’s reminder about all life’s valleys: “And if Jesus Himself shall be our leader, we shall walk through the Valley in Peace.”
– Andy Eaton