We Walk By Faith
Adapted from II Corinthians 5:7-9. Lyrics by J. Paul Williams. Music by Jan Sanborn.
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It’s a section of this Substack containing videos of my choir’s anthems, along with my comments. A longer description can be found on the About page. If you subscribe to this Substack but don’t wish to receive notifications for this section, select Manage Subscription from the upper-right menu and turn this section off there.
We Walk By Faith
The publisher’s description, from a distributor’s page:
“We Walk by Faith” is a powerful anthem of faith in the strength and steadfastness of God. This scripture was read at the National Cathedral service following the tragedies of September 11, 2001, and Jan Sanborn's passionate music is truly inspiring. “We Walk by Faith” is a triumphant declaration that we, as Christians, will not be overcome by evil or adversity. We will stand together, united with Christ, for we know of a greater glory that cannot be seen or imagined.
This is the third time we have sung this anthem since I joined this choir, and I am happy for the opportunity to sing it again and again. This recording turned out well.
I was more than a little aprehensive when our rehearsal call time arrived and I was the only alto, but I felt certain that one or two more would arrive, and I moved down from my usual spot on the third row to the first row to wait for them. I am not soloist material. Sure enough, two more arrived. Conveniently, we had practiced this way together the previous week, the same three of us.
I am also not the ideal person to put on the front row — the woman who was behind me is short and I am tall — but this is a simple trick for “growing” a small section. The three of us were close under two of the three microphones, and we held our own against the sopranos. We had done this before, and this time we just did it, without any need for discussion. I feel that we balanced out well.
We are finishing out this choir season, which recesses during late spring & summer following the May 26th service. We also are not singing on May 5th because there are only contemporary services that Sunday — no traditional service. Nevertheless, we are practicing a sizeable collection of anthems, and it looks as though we could be singing more than one of them each remaining week.
Recorded at Christ Community Church, Carmichael, California, April 21, 2024
Excerpted from this livestream.